My read on that is that Omer didn't feel well so he preferred not to play. The flu is making it's way through the team so maybe he had a legit reason not to play.
I feel like that would of been known pregame though, I mean coach wouldnt ask him to go out there if he knew he wasn't feeling well. But we may never know.
Kevin McHale on 790AM - 12/5/2013 Before having McHale, Charlie Pallilo pretty much called out Harden for his jacking up of 3's, taking stupid shots, saying he has to reign in his ego and flat out said his D sucks. I am glad he called him out. More of the media need to do this. Note: I'm just trying to type this out as I hear it. Not word to word. CP: How you doing? KM: Not too good, lost last two games. I don't care how many people are hurt. Two games we have to win. Not playing well, not executing well. Missed shots. But we're going to miss shots but we have to keep going, got into our D. Told team we have to find ways to go through these games and we've got to be able to win games when shots are not falling. Not about missed shots but how we reacted. We did not react well at all. Conversely we had a big lead in SA, they made a huge comeback and we readjusted and did what we had to. We just got to dig in and fighting. CP: Did you think after SA game, there might be a comfort zone. Oh ok we won at Blazers, it's just Utah? KM: We just have to play better. Make the extra pass, make the extra cut. We were not sacrificing for each other. Players not getting back on transition D. Again, we have a lot of improvements to do. Our biggest improvement has to be just go out and find a way to win games CP: 22 TO last night, 12 in 1st half. You play uptempo fast pace, more TO's. How many TO's would you like to be at? KM: When you look at the TO's, they are pretty basic. We had 8 boneheaded TO's last night when you literally be like WTF. Then you have standard NBA TO's. Bad 3s violation, a travel, a 24s violation where we didn't recognize clock. There are times when D makes good plays and makes you adjust but got to stop the boneheaded TO's. They scored 25 points of our TO's. We have to get those down and we did. There was a stretch where we did. CP: Suns young, energetic team and leading team in fast break points. Did you talk about that? KM: We talked about that a lot and being ready to play. Be more physical, be more alert. We did none of that stuff. They ran us out. They denied our wings all the way out. During the game we kept saying we have to attack them. AB did a better job at that. We did not react at all. We had only 7 healthy bodies at practice, Omri went to lighthouse. CP: Elite players are going to have clunker games. JH had one yday. I thought he took 2 early shot clock 3's but he kept shooting. KM: We showed him stuff. They were being physical with him. He did not dive with the sole purpose of driving and dishing. He held it and held it and forced a few 3's which he should not have. He never really had it going for him. Attack the big, someone is going to pop up open. last two nights we were just bad. CP: Casspi going to white house, great experience for him. DO you have most memorable white house after championship? KM: Yeah when we went there it was 150 F. Ronald Reagen came in and wanted to know if Havlicek was still playing. Really really hot. Actual ceremony was ok and one was enough. I went with family 5 years ago and had a guy give us a personal tour of white house. Another segment to follow.
Repped. Thanks for making the effort. And for beating J.R. to the punch by not waiting until the segment is done!
CP: Medical report starting with CP and acupuncture. I think it's hope for the best with CP KM: Yeah it is but it has been that way last couple of games. We'll see tomorrow CP: Well rounded player CP. Specific element that has been missed that he offers KM: He can drive, cut. Another guy out there who is a playmaker. Just a good basketball player. CP can just make those extra plays. CP: JL has turned the corner thinking he can get back better. KM: Yeah he shot a bit today, did a bit of running. I would be surprised if he is able to play before the 10 days 2 weeks timeline to heal and then re-evaluate. And then it's conditioning and timing. CP: Omer Asik and thigh KM: Week to 10 days CP: Greg Smith KM: Week to 10 days of trying to amp it a bit and get running more. Last night he turned it up a bit. Took a bunch of fluid out of his knees. CP: Did you ever try acupuncture or anything exotic in your career? KM: Most hurtful thing I tried was when my foot was tightening up. I saw this guy. He kinda digged to bottom of leg and tired to break all scar tissue. Most painful thing I have ever done. Walked out of that and said OMG I'll never do that. But my foot was better. CP: Hope GSW is much less painful tomorrow night. Curry and his shooting ability. I won't be surprised if they end up winning West. KM: Curry and Klay really shoot well. But the guy playing well is Barnes. FOr us, we got to be good and try and get into their bench a little bit. Challenging team to play no matter the circumstances. CP: How key is Bogut if he can give them 65-70 games a season. KM: They'll run offense through him. He can play at the post and passes really well. Protects rim, rebounds, a skilled big guy and then they have O'Neal. Between them two if they keep them healthy, they'll be handful. CP: Last time down 27, started raining 3's and came back. Not like they put themselves in a hole to see if they can get out. At your peak with Celtics, legendary game where Larry decided to shoot lefty where there moments were you messed around? KM: We all tried shooting lefty. At half time, we'd come back trailing and we'd have a big 2nd half. Nature of playing a bad team and falling into a trap CP: Best pure shooter you've ever seen. KM: I think it's Steph. Quick release, beautiful stroke. You want him making the last shot.
Kevin McHale used to **** around during games. This is why he allows Rockets players to **** around during games, too.
"I would be surprised if he is able to play before the 10 days 2 weeks timeline to heal and then re-evaluate" Always doubting the hardest workers on the team smh. Lin knows what Bo doesn't know.
Omri went to "white house" ... not lighthouse. Haha! If Omri missed a practice to go visit a lighthouse ... Clutchfans would be in total uproar.
J.R. just forgot to turn on the auto-robot function/neurolinguistic algorithm today. J.R. is the man!
No seriously. Every time I try to rep you it tells me I still have to spread some around before I can rep you again so OP beating you gave me a chance to do just that.
McHale on 790 a few minutes back on Charlie Pallilo's drive home show. Nothing major. A few tidbits. CP: What makes you decide to wear a tie or not on game day? KM: I'd rather not wear a tie but I just take one and pop it if I have to. CP: Wilt or Russell? KM: Russell because of winning all those championships, Wilt just based on stats. CP: Back to back against Memphis. Do you like this scheduling? KM: I like it. I wish there were more of those especially against those teams within a close distance. Memphis have a big team with Gasol back. Lot of length with the frontlien of Gasol, ZBo and Prince. I would like to have a big body back. Missing Greg and Omer. Hopefully TJ is good to go. CP: What is Dwight better at than you anticipated? KM: Dwight is a really good player. He has great footwork. Nice left hand, can spin either way. Very deliberate in his moves and can really score with a variety of moves. CP: The rapport between Dwight and Harden is there. Overall is the team getting better at playing with DH? KM: Yeah I think it's getting better. A lot of these guys have never played with a center like DH. The game has changed from back in the day. Even the college game has changed with emphasis on shooting. We are getting better at it. The more we do it the better we'll get. CP: 119 points when you did not shoot the 3 ball well. Can a team win a championship without the 3 being a big part of the offense? Rockets shoot a lot of 3's KM: I think you may be. We lead the league in paint points at 67%. SO much emphasis on paint points, lay ups and free throws esp with all the analytics. It never makes sense to shoot a 19 footer when it's worth 2 points and a 21 footer is worth 3 points. I still think you have to make some 3's to win a championship. Take Miami for example, Miller and Battier two not so great players. Miller went 6/9 in the close out games 2 seasons back and Battier when 5/7 in close out game last year. CP: As a sport is the NBA getting a little too 3 happy? Will the NBA game get better if the court is wider? KM: No I don't think so. I think it's fine. I don't think you're ever going to get to the point where 5 teams are shooting 45% from the 3 point line. The free throw line has remained the same and free throw % hasn't changed much. I like it the way it is. CP: What are updates on TJ, Greg and Omer against Memphis? KM: Gasol is back and Memphis are starting to push for a playoff spot. They have a huge front court with ZBO and Koufos too. They have no small guys upfront. Really iffy on TJ. The staff normally gives me a countdown if a player is getting ready to be back about 5-7 days ahead. I have not heard any of that. Omer and Greg are not on the floor but in the rehab room.
