Yeah, if you wanna talk coinflips, imagine Lin not recovering that loose ball and kicking it to Daniels for the open 3. Hell, the only reason Daniels was even in there was cuz Parsons fouled out. The Rockets nearly lost Game 3 and that would've meant getting swept.
The players believe in him. He knows what it takes to win, and he is leading the fight from the bench. The change in personnel and team chemistry along with growth has made a huge difference. He is not a big X and O's guy. It remains to be seen how he would handle situations like Game 6 against Portland. McHale deserves a lot of credit.
One thing people don't want to admit about that playoff loss is age. We had perhaps (I'm guessing) the youngest team in the playoffs last season. And if we weren't the youngest, we were very close for sure. The collapses that happened also have to do with that. We have a wealth of experience this year on our team. Vets who have done it at every level. That's a huge difference. Kudos to Morey for addressing that need as well. And good job McHale for coaching up this team. The assistants deserve credit as well.
Today was the first time since that day I've had the courage to look that shot up, and I wasn't wrong. I won't post it out of respect for others that feel as I do when they see it, but Lillard got a clean look and was set before Parsons could contest. He knew he only had time for a quick catch and shoot so you could argue that Parsons had no effect on him anyways. Contesting a shot like that comes down to not letting your opponent get set in the position and lift with the release as he would want to. He had all that.
Yeah i'm sure a ****ing youtube video forced harden to play defense. Let's just ignore his hall of fame coach who said in numerous interviews that he challenged harden in the offseason to step his D up. Lets also ignore that under McHale harden went from a stellar sixth man to a franchise player. But that was ALL harden right? Hell Mchale is probably holding harden back right? Am i doing it correctly?
That youtube video gave Harden the national spotlight of being a joke of a defensive player. A lot of it was cherry picked and wasn't fair, but you could argue that Harden could have one of the best defensive seasons ever and still wouldn't win an award due to public perceptions.
Actually Harden was a very good SG defensively last season. And yes, I have the stats to back it up. Harden was just not committed enough to play every possession 100%. This year he looks like he is. I honestly do not know if it matters much in the grander scale of things. Twenty plays off defensively in 76 games? A nit.
My point was that while the video was horrible its very clear that McHale also had a big part to do with Harden's recent focus on defense. In his most recent interview (rockets cast live) Mchale talks about his conversations with harden about taking the next step and becoming a two way player. The notion that a video was the sole reason for his improvement is laughable. McHale may not be an X's and O's mastermind but he sure has hell holds his team accountable for their ****.
I really love what Mchale is doing right now. I have even pointed out some things that I have never seen him do his whole tenure as the Rockets coach, but lets not cross over into the ludicrous zone... The first game as a Rocket a couple hours after stepping off the plane, Harden still had OKC stink all over him, went out and had 37pts 12ast 6rebs! Then the next game he dropped 45! that wasn't Mchale that was Harden You may have a case for the other stuff you were saying, but Harden is the one that cultivated his skills not Mchale. I just dont think that Mchale deserves that much credit for Harden's development.
McHale's doing a fine job this season. And by that I mean letting his assistants take over the defense. McHale won't give you Xs and Os, but he seems to be managing things well this season. Good relationships with players as well. The real test will be in the playoffs. Can he make necessary adjustments in a playoff series?
Fraid not. McHale explicitly stated that the defense was his. And he designed the underlying strategy. Per him.
I'm calling things as i see them. An NBA coach develops players, that is his job. That is not a ludicrous statement. You are ASSUMING and SPECULATING that McHale has nothing to do with Harden's development. Are you at practice? Are you witnessing him not affecting Harden's Development? I didn't understand that now praising an IMPROVED coach is ludicrous. Jesus christ.
Really? McHale and the coaching staff tore up that offensive playbook more than two years ago and instituted the R&R with a healthy chunk of DDMO. That actually took a lot of insight and effort.
I'm not sure if this is sarcasm or not(?) In the roundtable discussion a few days ago McHale explicitly stated the opposite, that Bickerstaff has handled the defense this season, and that last season McHale wanted to be more conservative and Bickerstaff wanted to be more aggressive, he's turned it over to Bickerstaff this season.
McHale absolutely deserves credit. Brandon Jennings dropped 50+ points in his first week or two as a pro. Where has he been since? A coach is a steadying influence and McHale's personnel management ability is elite.
You do need to watch it again. McHale was just spreading the successes and taking all the blame for the failures. Like any good head coach should do.
