We never had 11 guys who can play in a series against GS. We always had 7, but unfortunately LMM hurt his shoulder, and we downgraded to GG. Ryno, Nene, Black, JJ are situational guys against teams like the Wolves or Jazz. Warriors are a different animal altogether.
Im just gonna say that it was really poor coaching that when the Warriors had Looney and Bell together on the court, you DONT counter with Anderson. That lineup shouldve NEVER had success, and they did.
you are right, but the coach needs to make adjustments. it's obvious why we got CP3. We played into their hands for having Harden go 1x1 and not pass. He also needed a break. That's on Mike to do that.
Oh my God, what is wrong with you? A simple, accurate, non-hysterical explanation? Get out of here with your postgame rationality.
his shoulder is still not right. they need to roll the dice on other players Joe johnson is too slow put Ryan Anderson in there he needs to be there
Even if they aren't, they have to give us some rebounding/ defense. Ryan, Luc, maybe Nene for a few fouls. Aaron Jackson maybe? We have no other choice. Playing Harden heavy minutes was a silly thing to do.
Realistically, we should have 9 guys playing. But D'Antoni figured it would be great, atleast in his mind, to go into the postseason with a 7 man rotation. He cut the rotations late in the year. These guys haven't played in over a month so they're waayy out of rhythm, and D'Antoni does take fault in that. Paul/Gordon Harden/Green Ariza/LMM Tucker/Ryno Capela/Nene All should be playing, with one of LMM and Nene right now since both are kind of in ruts. But our players aren't machines. They need rest.
Mike can be a moron sometimes. Game was over and he is still playing Harden knowing full well we are on short rotation, and Harden will most likely have to carry the load without CP on Monday. I mean seriously dude. What is so hard to understand about that?? What are you trying to do? Making sure Harden is not rusty for game 7 because he did not play the 4th quarter of this game???
MDA needs to really look in the mirror, because we have one of the deepest benches in the league and somehow he managed to turn it into the thinnest one. Nene could've gotten some minutes against their bigs, Joe and even Ryno. At least give them a few minutes in that 2nd quarter where we didn't have the energy to keep that lead or extend it! Then there's mind-blowing 4th quarter where he leaves the starters in. I don't get that.. Also he needs to implement more plays, but in the end it's on the players. If you do not recognise that all these iso step back threes at some point are a bad idea then what can you do? Green had it going for two straight games, no plays run for him. Gordon had it going, no plays run for him. Tucker had it going, nothing run to free him up. Instead we get Ariza to shoot contested threes, Harden but that's a given, drives with no intent of kicking it to an open man and that's the game right there.
Currently, I can't argue. His defense was key for us all year, but ever since that 2nd shoulder injury, he looks pretty done. I think, unfortunately for us, that he needs the offseason to recover and get back into shape/form.
We can point to so many things that contributed to this loss. Reality is that 25 points in a half has to be systemic. A team that is tanking and playing rookies and journeymen would be able to top that against the Warriors in an elimination game. If the problem is systemic, then it will show symptoms. I see a lot of people pointing at those symptoms to explain what happened. It's not both things. This loss was on the coaching staff. Not just tactically in this game, but strategically in dealing with minutes. Telling players this is the most important game in their life will last for a quarter or two. It will not make an entire team suddenly develop 48 minutes of unheard-of stamina against a dynastic team. Belief is in the mind, and the body does not have as much potential as the mind. The Spurs, Heat and Warriors picked this up years ago, much like MDA understood the future of offense before any of those teams did. I also see people wanting to dig into MDA. That's stupid. The players did their best, you could see it. They were exhausted as soon as that first burst of adrenaline ran out. MDA messed up, but MDA also got us here through 82 games and 2 playoff series. He has been murdering other coaches tactically, Kerr has been criticized heavily in this series. MDA gets to make a mistake. It's the worst time ever, but he gets to make a mistake. We are not only alive, but we still have the opportunity to go for the kill. The problem now is about whether MDA's character will evolve. Harden evolved. Paul evolved. In fact, this whole team evolved. They have played better than the sum of their parts and they have dragged the champions to the brink of elimination. Watching the game, I wanted to get pissed at our players or the refs. But I realized after reading the Warriors boards that the refs have given us (and them) a decent series overall. The players have reached their capacity in terms of effort - there is no more effort left to unleash. Everyone is dying out there 6 minutes in and they have sustained it for 5 and a half games. We asked them to out hustle the Warriors and they have for almost all of this series. You can't even be mad at Harden because you can't play excellent defense and MVP offense for 48 minutes. I believe in MDA. I also believe we can win many ways, including with MDA's stubbornness. But this is not on the players or the refs or the commissioner or dirty plays. This is 25 points in a half with the players putting in incredible effort. That's a design problem, not a talent problem. Instead of going to our bench strength, MDA regressed to his shorter rotations and smaller players - which Kerr anticipated and demolished by using 3-4 bigs tonight. As long as the person advising on physical fitness and offensive tactics takes responsibility and shows initiative, we will win it in Houston. But stop blaming the guys who executed the game plan and gave everything their body had. Aside from Harden, the rest of the team had 3 assists. Capela had 2 points and 15 rebounds - that's effort minus tactics. We had 25 or so fast break points, that's effort. We missed 9 of 17 FT's, that's exhaustion. We turned it over after most drives, that's exhaustion. We got confused on switching - something we've gotten progressively worse at - that's exhaustion. We had twent five points in the second half. That's exhaustion.
The turnovers were the biggest problem tonite. Im sure it lead to more than 20 points or so and most couldve def been avoidable. Like when the pass bounced off Gerald when he wasnt looking...found it funny same thing happened to the other Green as well. The backcourt violation call did seem really close tho and that sparked a run.
The shouldet is obviously not right, and LMM head is not in it because. Sad thing because he was ballin before that laker game and probably the difference maker that would have put over GS in 5. But o well Rockets in 7 then
