MDa is a damn wierdo and we all know it. How you go from playing 0 minutes to playing the whole 2nd qtr and the whole 4th qtr while also having a short leash? You going to expect this guy to play defense and shoot threes with no legs? First you can't trust him then you trust him with all the minutes? Gary got to take advantage of his opportunities because MDa is ready to yank his ass if he does something wrong. If MDa was playing Gary already, I wouldn't be thinking this was weird. I would love if MDa just permanently puts this dude in the rotation.
Yeah, I'm not liking the super short leash that Clark appears to have the MDA. Like nobody on this team commits mistakes over and over. Smdh... Clark needs to be part of the rotation, if anything, due to his length which is severely lacking on this team. In this game he got himself 8 rebounds and numerous tips for second chances.
The NUMBERS say. Surely you can't be serious. MDA's .700 winning percentage is 2nd in the NBA over the past 3 seasons. Only second to Steve Kerr and the (previously) STACKED Warriors. That's a pretty good track record. BETTER than Pops, BETTER than Carlisle. BETTER than Rivers. Give the man some credit. Are you saying that Jeff Van Gundy could have done BETTER over the past 3 years? He would have been the king of the hill? Right. . . If JVG is THAT GOOD, then why is he not a head coach right now? If he is BETTER than .700 then teams would be backing up the Brinks truck for him. So far, I've heard (the unemployed) Dave Joerger's name and JVG (not coaching in the NBA) as MORE CAPABLE replacements over D'Antoni. THESE guys are going to take us to the promised land, eh? The reason I bring this up is that you and people like BasketMAD do nothing but whine and complain. EVEN WHEN WE WIN! (like tonight). We know you don't like anything. But, also don't offer any solutions. ONLY complaints. MDA has a PROVEN .700 record (we've covered that only 1 other coach has topped that since MDA has been here). So, what would happen if Joerger were to be inserted and we take a nosedive, say .500 ball. THEN what?? Ooops. We've DIGRESSED. But, Digression is NOT what we want. SMART money says stick with the hot hand, and .700 is a VERY hot hand in NBA coaching circles. Our STAR MVP loves D'Antoni. THAT factors in as well. MDA has made James a STAR. James was NOT the force with McHale that he is NOW. You can't just bring in 'a coach' with a suit and a tie and expect them to magically raise us to an .800 winning percentage (I guess YOU can) What if a new coach butts heads with James? Then we have lost a winning coach and possibly our cornerstone franchise player too. A LOT of variables. What you are proposing is if you were a poker player in a game of 5 card draw and you were holding a full house, you'd want to trade in a couple of cards for unknowns. That's not a very sound strategy. Good strategy says to hold on to one of the best hands in the game. And right now, we HAVE a winning hand. . . . Sure, feel free to criticize some of his decisions. But you CAN'T argue with success. The man also deserves some kudos as WE as Rockets fans get to celebrate a W 70% of the time. That sounds pretty good to me We could do a LOT worse (even a LITTLE worse is STILL worse). For me, I'll try to be content with a Full House. . .
Clark and House were the difference tonight, once again the 4th qtr was ugly, gave up 40 holy Jesus seriously that’s just inexcusable once again. They are lucky they had a 26 pt lead at one time... glad we got the win though !
I'd be okay with more PT as well. Although in previous games he hasn't fared so well. He did GREAT tonight. Maybe that's why he kept him in so long?? I'm not against you. I just find some of the wild variable complaints to be contradicting. GIVE HIM MORE PLAYING TIME!!! NO, DON'T PLAY HIM THAT MUCH!! I'm guessing if he had put him on the bench to rest him, we'd be hearing. . . WHY IS CLARK ON THE BENCH! HE WAS TEARING IT UP!! THIS COACH IS AN IDIOT!! I just see that we have the winningest coach in the game and yet, he gets lambasted for simple things and rarely gets any credit for winning. It's like the old joke about the guy who adopted a lab puppy to train to be a hunting dog. As he began to work with him, he learned that the dog could walk on water! He was so excited about his new dog so he invited his VERY pessimistic friend hunting with him to show him his new dog. After a day of hunting and having the dog walk on water to retrieve, on the way home, he asked his friend "So, did you notice anything unusual about my dog today?" The reply "Yep. . . he can't swim" Sometimes we only see what we want to see. . .
No arguments here, always playing small ball at least Clark’s length have us some rebounds and he hit some shots. Just don’t understand MDA a lot of the time but I’m not a basketball genius so ... the team looked so flat and out of sync most the 4th they had that short window where they hit 3/4. 3s in a row and that saved the game but otherwise they were pretty cringey on O and not much better on D (esp since Olynck was destroying nuance on boards and 3s - of course no real length inserted to guard him better).
Players already getting tired? Must be working too hard...these 4th quarters are not a good sign at all and without Butler this should've been a much easier win. Defense first is still lost on these guys and it starts with MDA, Harden and Russ.
They were up 20 most of the game How is having clark and tucker vs bam and kelly in the 4th qtr wb and hardens fault?
I was at the game tonight and saw James semi limping. Nothing serious, but I imagine that he is banged up. The solution is for EG to get back so we can have another scoring threat and park Ben Mac on the bench. Maybe Clemons could provide some scoring relief but coach refuses to play him.
I love reading posts that are logical. Everybody wants to measure success by championships, that's just not logical in the NBA, otherwise many coaches would hardly survive. Sometimes changes are needed, but if there isn't a great candidate out there, then why the hell are you going to make a drastic change if you are that close. If Brad Stevens, Mike B or Rick Carlisle suddenly became available, then **** yeah you weigh your options, but if all that is available is JVG (who has only coached young USA talent in 10+ years) or Dave Joerger (Mr. Let Me Alienate Everybody), then what the hell do you gain by firing a damn good coach lol.
Maybe it was my hopeful wishing we stopped playing small ball, but it sure seemed like our defense and lead vanished when Chandler, Clark, and Hartenstein were out and we went back to "no center" ball.
Nice to watch Harden and Westbrook share the ball evenly, also others hitting there shots. Playing defense when it counts. Great win, should always come out to play like this, even on the road
