Why you don't take out Dwight during hack-a-Dwight

While they rush the ball up court and hit 3s in 5 seconds. Which is exactly what happened.

 

And 2 points in 3 possessions is .66666 (you get the msg) points per possession . If Dwight hits 2 out of 4 he stays in. He missed all 4.

 

Except they didn't run the clock.

 

Didnt Morey have a stat whenever the other team goes into Hack-A-Dwight? Rockets win an overwhelming majority of those games. I don't care about Howard's demeanor how many shots he misses, McHale needs to keep him in and TRUST him, he is one of your two best players!

Looking back on the game I don't think Mchale took Dwight out solely because they were intentionally fouling him. I think it was a combination of the Hack-A-Dwight and Dorrell Wright playing Center bringing Dwight away from the paint. Pretty ingenious by Portland Coach.

If Dwight was being fouled AND there was a center in there letting Dwight man the paint, Mchale wouldnt have taken him out.

It wasnt a complete choke job by Mchale, but it was a lack of adjustments.

 

They can do that whenever, it doesn't matter if they're hacking Dwight or not. What I'm concerned with is the easy shots at the basket, which started happening as soon as Dwight came out.

Dwight made 2 out of 6, missed 4 in a row, but the more he shoots, the better rhythm he gets in. After the 4 missed free throws, he went 4-5 in overtime. He is a 55% shooter. It's reasonable to expect him to make them at about that rate during hack-a-Dwight. If McHale would have left him out there, he likely would have started making them. At least, that's what has happened many, many times this season when teams have tried hack-a-Dwight and the coach wasn't dumb enough to panic and take him out.

 

This thread is dumb. We weren't getting stops and Dhoward was missing FT's.

 

That's why the Rockets will be making a coaching change at the end of the season. Year 1 of Dwight is pretty much a grace period to account for building chemistry. But starting next season with a third all-star most likely acquired, it's time to go all in. That's where you'll see Morey and Les making a large investment on a coach. Maybe we'll even trade for one? :grin:

 

So sitting our best defensive player makes that better how? Hacking Dwight is almost a sure point for us at least per possession. I'll take that anytime.

 

You only take him out if it seems to be bothering him, and if it seems to be causing the team to let down.

 

I think sitting him is why he came back and drained the next ones. With Dwight it is all mental. The benching helped him get his mind right and he came back and drained them. McHale might have saved Dwight's FT psyche by pulling him and letting him regroup.

 

I mean I guess that's possible, it just goes against what we've seen all season long. Sitting Dwight allowed the Blazers to get multiple layups at the rim in rapid succession, and without Dwight our offense is one dimensional.

 

We missed 14 FTs ladies and gentleman and Howard accounted for 8, I was almost screaming for McHale to take Dwight out so I thought it was a good move.

 

Yeah I thought this at the time. Dwight should've been left in. Statistically he's likely to hit his season average of 55% moving forward, which is good enough to be worth it--there's also the issue that if you take him out, you lose his defense and rebounding, which proved to be VERY important indeed.

 

If rockets dont make it out of the first round, it's most likely mchale is canned. And he knows it.

 

I'll tell you why, because our coach is named Kevin McHale

 

Take Dwight out, our defense dies, LMA just scores instantly, we don't score, we lose. I'd risk Dwight making FTs than taking him out

 

To think the Rockets are a pretty good team but a lousy FT shooting team mainly because of Dwight is just a killer to this team's chances to ever win a championship. It's hard enough to overcome the other team by making more plays. Then, you have to contend with this self-defeating strategy. And, I expect we will see this strategy employed every game in the playoffs here...unless the other team has a big lead.

Dwight will never help us win a championship as long as this strategy is effective and used. Period.

 

Maybe this has already been mentioned, but another reason to leave Dwight in during that time is that it increases the foul counts of other players. This could have been helpful especially in a game like Sunday's that goes in to overtime to get the opposing team fouled out earlier.

 

The next time they do this **** just put Omer in. Dwight might miss some FTs but a)with Asik you get a better chance for an OREB and b)our defense improves.

 

I'm in the camp that says leave him and let him get into a rhythm. I think this applies to any poor free throw shooter with decent mechanics on their shot.