TNT crew says Rockets aren't legit contenders; Howard isn't a great player.

Agree on all three. The Rockets have had the same problems all year and none of them seem to be getting fixed. They're lazy on the defensive end and we saw that again tonight when they came out and allowed a literal layup drill for the Thunder. That's inexcusable and it's all on McFail.

On offense, they lack any creativity. It's either dump it into Dwight, drive and kick out to the 3-point shooter, or have Harden ISO. And here we are at the halfway point of the season and the turnovers are still plaguing this team. Again, it's on McFail.

The bench is a joke. Garcia gets a ton of playing time and produces zero on either end of the floor. Why play him then? Are you seriously telling me there's no one in the NBA, D-League, or overseas we could bring in who would be better. And what the hell exactly is Morey's plan with Asik? Yes, the trade deadline is a month away, but by then, we'll be so far back in the standings that home court advantage in any round will be a pipe dream. Which means the Rockets will be one-and-done yet again. Not exactly the way to generate interest in a franchise that has accomplished nothing in nearly 2 decades.

 

Brooks made adjustments during halftime like any good head coach.

Mchale....

 

Yeah I remember that. I recall Durant tried to initiate contact to get the call but Dwight actually moved out of the to avoid it which resulted in Durant throwing up a bad shot hoping to get a call. Kerr said he got fouled right after it happened. On the other side I remember a sequence where Dwight drove in on and he got clobbered by Perkins, got the rebound but got blocked by Ibaka. Absolutely a foul on Perkins but Kerr was too busy sucking off Ibaka for the block.

 

If they don't get an All Star pg they will be 1 and done "again"!! In the playoffs IF they even make the playoffs..

McHale is terrible at substitutions & match ups. It's a disaster AS IS!!! This game tonight was embarrassing!!!!

 

Championship teams can win games in different ways. Sometimes the offense carries the day, sometimes the defense, sometimes FT's and so forth.

That is what you have to do to win consistently against good teams and especially in the playoffs when match ups can go against you, you don't get whistles, shots don't fall, or it just is not your day.

This team can win basically only 2 ways:

1. Perfect fluid, free-flowing ball-moving offense which they can never seem to string together for more than a quarter or two at the most.

2. Hero Ball, be it by Harden, Lin, or whoever is hot that day.

Some of it comes down to coaching. McHale expects players to turn that switch on and take over the game in one area to win the game. It's how he played. It's what he watched Bird, Ainge, and all the rest do every game. It's what he watched with Garnett in Minnesota.

That player doesn't exist here. There is no Kobe, Lebron (now), Jordan, Garnett player with the personality and presence who will manhandle his team to performed to the level he feels it should.

So without that player (and sometimes even with that player), it falls on the coach to build a system and identity to put every player in a situation to succeed with the team, a la Pistons few years ago and Spurs every year, etc. (Yes, you still need transcendent players, but they need to be the right system).

McHale/Sampson/Finch's system is not working. You can say whatever you want about the team still being young and not having played together for a while. But you can see consistently how it feels like squares being pushed into triangles.

 

I'm tired of this team.

 

Morey, there are no stars on this team. Howard is declining. Harden is flawed.

Your plan isn't working. This team is not growing; it's regressing.

I'd say reboot. Otherwise it will be TMac-Yao again. Wasted years

 

TNT crew just stating the obvious.

 

^^ Agreed it's obvious looking at the game. But that's their problem they only see the obvious. Mostly they are idiots, Ernie is the smartest of the bunch. But he can't give too much insight because he is the one without real basketball experience. As if basketball experience makes you a good analyst or coach.

 

At least the Knicks have a J.R. Smith to blame. Our whole team sucked last night, including the coaches.

I hope the media really gives it to the team. Les and the FO needs to wake up and realize major changes need to be made. The players and the coaching system we're running don't mesh well.

 

"""The players don't trust each other, there is no leadership on the floor and McHale is a failed coach.

I gave Lowry crap for his attitude, I was wrong, Kyle is one smart MFer, he saw how inept McHale was and couldn't stand it.

DD"""

 

Exactly my thoughts, why dont we just be patient and see how the team plays out the year. Theres still plenty of room for improvements.

 

Starting PG will always be our weakest position if the coach insists on having our SG handle the ball.

 

Change coach. Simple. Mchale will never cut it

 

I think we are fine at PG. You can call me crazy or whatever but I am satisfied going to war with Lin and Bev.

What we need is a better bench and a better coach. We need a legit backup center who can provide Howard some relief. That way Howard may not play so damn timid knowing that, if he gets into foul trouble, we have a seven footer to come in for him. We need a player off the bench who can create their own shot. Is that Lin? Or do we need to bring in another guard/wing to play that role?

I don't know how we can fix our play calling without a new head coach entirely.

 

1. This never was never going to be a contender in the first season together.

2. If you thought we were as constructed you were kidding yourself.

3. The concern is the team is not getting better at fundamentals, that is on the coaching staff for not being able to develop those skills. As we saw again tonight, when our jumpshots are not falling and the opponent plays strong, fundamental defense the team cannot get any good looks. Then these fundamentals start to really hurt us because the 3 ball is not over compensating for those errors.

4. Every individual player has issues which hurt the team, from Harden to Lin to Dmo to the coaching staff. Stop placing blame on players you don't like (Unless you are mocking Lin fans who think he is the key to our success lol) and look at the big picture with objectivity.

5. This team needs to change the coaching staff. I am fine with sticking with Mchale until his contract runs out so or until Howard and Harden lose faith in him. We need a veteran coach who can take these young players and improve their game.

I doubt we can get JVG as I wouldn't give up his current job to coach these guys with guaranteed contracts lol. The guy I would go for is George Karl. The coached a fast tempo team in Denver and did pretty well. He is a vet and obviously still has the passion to coach.

6. Shaq is an idiot. We scored 73 in the first half and he was focusing on how Dwight wasn't getting the points. I can only image how frustrating it is to play with perimiter players who all get addicted into getting their own shot. They got used to having a big who did nothing but set picks on offense.

7. The other problem with Dwight is he has to work to hard to get position and gets pushed to far away from the basket. Mchale needs to be able to call out a play that gets Dwight better position where he isn't working so hard. That is a problem with the entire offense.

8. How many plays do we run where there are multiple scoring options? They make it obvious where the ball is going, there is only one option to worry about and the players will follow the play even if the defense is for example doing a good job of defending the passing lane. How many times did Jones pass to a guy who had his defender right on his hip?

The style we play will NEVER win a championship because jump shooting and volume scoring does not work in the playoffs. We need to have an offense that has PURPOSE. The current style was fun when the team had no expectations, Mchale did a great job at getting the best out of the talent he had, but I doubt he has it to take a team to the Championship level.

I would ditch the 3rd star path, and go for depth with a new coach. I don't think Morey wants to piss off Howard since Mchale is one of the reasons he came here and he knows the only way to overcome Mchale is to have a 3rd star.

Do the Pacers have 3 stars? They have depth! They can win games in spite of bad shooting not because they got hot from deep for 2 quarters. What happened to the Spurs last year? Danny Green went cold and then they missed free throws.

Also we are in a conference where 2 teams, the Clippers and Thunder play our style better than we do.

I just want to see these fundamental flaws be improve on.

 

Actually, I appreciate this thread. I don't have cable and cannot stream the Rockets when I have work to do (I rely on Ballstreams).

 

I kno dem feels bro

 

OKC is without their 2nd best player and this is the best the Rockets got?? I think I'll watch GSW instead, at least they give it effort and have clutch Curry who can shoot even with the toughest D. Plus I can't watch how Lin gets benched until the Rockets are pretty much done after ABs horrific D, All the rest of the team get shut out, Howard is being improperly utilized on this Mike DAntoni lite offense. I think DAntoni wasnt wrong in saying the Rockets aren't much different in offense than the Lakers.