Audio/Video of last huddle. McHale called for no switching. "Stay with your guys"

The coverage was botched from the beginning because of the switch itself. Lillard already had Parsons beat from the second he switched. He's just too fast for Parsons. It's like chasing down a Porsche with a pick up truck.

 

No Harden wanted to be the guy facing the inbounder instead of Dwight as coach suggested (which ended up being TJ); noone was thinking about not facing the inbounder.

Mchale: "Dwight's on the ball"
Harden: "I'll take it on the ball!"
McHale: "No."
McHale: "Listen guys ..%#$%$#???"
McHale: "...STAY WITH YOUR GUY"

 

They did stay with their guys. Lillard has said Parsons and Beverley were confused on the play. They were discussing with each other whether they should switch or not. Harden pointed to them and then they matched up before the play started. For all we know, Harden could have been relaying what the coach said in the huddle. And, yes, he could have been overriding the coach, too.

Once they got going, they didn't switch. They stayed with their guys. Parsons just got flat out burned and out positioned.

The Harden screw up we are searching for may be a miscall as to who should matchup where. But it don't think the audio addresses who should have been guarding who.

Having Harden on the court wasn't a completely bone headed decision, given his defense most of the night. The errors in that play go far beyond Harden and switching. It is just kinda sad.

 

parsons is slow as mud but got assigned to guard lillard. bad coaching

 

Guarding a last second attempt is easy. All you have to say is switch on all picks No matter what !!!
why? Well because they are attempting a miracle shot with no time left, so it's better to have someone, regardless of who, with a hand in their face than have someone chasing behind and have seperation, which is all a player needs to heave up a 3 with space.
Just don't understand why not switch all picks, I don't get it.

 

Whether or not Parsons or Bev was supposed to be on Lillard is another question. McHale said he was and maybe Harden was the only one of the three who paid attention to that detail during the timeout. If Beverley would have played it the same way and stayed on the wrong side of Lillard it wouldn't have made a bit of difference either.

This is a very good point! Maybe Harden was doing what the coach wanted. Who knows?

 

i don't fault the players' effort. chandler just wasn't fast enough. i do fault them not understanding the situation - whether that's more on the players or the coaching, i don't know. but they let batum make the easiest pass instead of forcing him to take a tougher angle. the easy pass leads to an easy catch by lillard and an oustanding look, which becomes wide open because chandler doesn't have the quicks to keep up with lillard. just a lack of recognition of what the high percentage play and the low percentage play is in that situation.

 

People keep saying there was a screen or double screen. There was NO SCREEN. If anything, it was a fake screen. Lillard just took off and left Parsons in the dust. That what makes this loss hurt the most. Dude was wide fucking open.

 

If you watch Harden, he has no intention of switching, so maybe he was thinking McHale's strategy of no switching so maybe Harden is innocent and Parsons and Beverley were lined up incorrectly, possibly thinking of switching.

We need a Rockets TV or some media personnel getting to the bottom of this.

 

Mo Williams is standing there. Are you blind?

 

He clearly runs around the outside of Mo WIlliams. I don't give a damn what Mo's posture is like. It's a damn screen/pick whatever you want to call it. It sure as hell serves a purpose.

 

Does anyone think the reason for them not being between the ball and Lillard was that they wanted him to try to take a 3 rather than send them into overtime?

 

yes definitely a screen. lillard didn't exactly rub his guy off on the screen, but chandler still had to take a longer route to catch up to lillard than if nobody were there. harden should have immediately picked up lillard as soon as he saw him taking off, and forced the inbounder to pass over the top, cross court for a much more difficult catch and shoot. instead lillard gets free and batum drops off an easy pass from 5 feet away and all lillard has to do is rise up and sink a great shot.

hindsight is 20/20 and it's clear this could have been defended better, but i am disheartened if our professional coaches with years of experience couldn't have contemplated this scenario and gameplanned for it better.

 

Where was the screen? there is no body contract, nothing is impeding Chandler's chase, not even Mo. Lillard just takes off and Mo even follows him. Look at this angle, I see no screen.

 

Jones wasn't really guarding the inbounder though, he was almost zoning a pass to Aldridge without actually doing it, since Aldridge dropped right into the rim he was guarding absolutely nothing. I can't for the life of me figure out what possible pass Jones was defending.

 

chandler has to run over the top of williams and matthews. they weren't standing there randomly - the play was designed for them to screen chandler. just because lillard ran further away and didn't force chandler to run into the screens, doesn't mean they weren't screens. if they weren't there, chandler would be able to cut a straight line and probably contest the shot better.

 

Bad coaching, and the team fell asleep. It just shows how flawed this team is, we need a better tactical coach, 0.9 and no one switches is absurd....and Tjones is just funny, he is guarding a tough pass for an Aldridge turnaround over Dwight, instead of patrolling the 3 point line. That's comedy.

 

ETA: Nvm. Had a link that showed the screens very well but looks like that site is banned.

 

Terrence jone didn't even try to denied the entry pass. He just jump straight up and down in one spot. Eyes need to be on the ball and move around where ever his hand is. Not just straight up and down. So much fail

Why would you have your arms straight up in there air like that? A lob pass would be difficult for a catch and shoot. Instead batum has a chance to zip a pass right by him.

 

Obviously they are not just standing there. Chandler wouldn't have caught up to him regardless if anyone was there or not. The initial take off, Dame was gone. Caught Chandler off guard. Hes not getting back to him. The only defense here would be Harden switching to Lillard.