No semblance of defense most of the game except toward the end when it was panic time. Rockets don't box out, no transition defense, leaving guys wide open. What the hell is going on during practice?
My coworker that rarely watches games said this game is intense. I told him, get your popcorn, its every game. He said he is definately going to take his wife to the rockets game. Asking me all kinds of questions. Instant rockets fan.
If you watched the GSW vs LAC game, the intensity, skill level, the cohesion/teamwork, the pace, I think you'd have to be a total homer to not realize the Rockets are definitely one level below.
At this point more than one level. The Warriors individually and collectively have a much higher basketball IQ than the Rockets. You can see them figure things out quickly on the fly. They're fun to watch if you like that old style team basketball.
"It's a new team in some ways for me," McHale said. "I'm having a hard time getting to the pulse of it. A lot of times when you're with guys and you're with them long enough, you say, 'When do we [substitute] in this game at this point? Do we need this guy? Who does this?' I'm not sure what we're getting out of guys. It's a lot of hit and miss. It feels, honestly, like live darts you're throwing at the dartboard and seeing what you get. But we'll zero in as a team." http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/1...g-chemistry-amid-newcomers-preseason-injuries Translation - "Idk what the f*$% im doing, but ill keep trying random things till it works."
Kevin McHale's coaching: It feels, honestly, like live darts you're throwing at the dartboard and seeing what you get. :grin: You have 5 new guys, 2 or 3 of which aren't even playing. Lets not act like it ****ing rocket science. Trevor Ariza --- Trevor Ariza Patrick Beverley --- Patrick Beverley Corey Brewer --- Corey Brewer Clint Capela --- Clint Capela <strike>Joey Dorsey</strike> --- Sam Dekker James Harden --- James Harden Dwight Howard --- Dwight Howard <strike>Nick Johnson</strike> --- Montrezl Harrell Terrence Jones --- Terrence Jones K.J. McDaniels --- K.J. McDaniels Donatas Motiejunas --- Donatas Motiejunas <strike>Kostas Papanikolaou</strike> --- Chuck Hayes <strike>Pablo Prigioni</strike> --- Ty Lawson <strike>Josh Smith</strike> --- Marcus Thornton Jason Terry --- Jason Terry
New team?? In what way?? You had an entire off-season and training camp to figure out how you were going to incorporate Lawson into the team. Outside of that, we didn't change a single piece of the puzzle. I will say Harden is clearly out of shape, and it's obvious that while he may have physically kept himself in shape, mentally he completely checked out this off-season. That definitely mucks things up, and maybe that's just too much of a burden for this team.
Off season and training camp does not incorporate an all star caliber pg onto a team especially when the primary players he's going to play with aren't even practicing or playing. That doesn't truly happen until you get into real game situations and get those bodies back where things get adjusted and played accordingly. This is where you truly learn how to play with others. Its not a pick up game.
Coaches of struggling teams get torched when they are tight lipped with the media, but are torched even more when they actually talk to them. McHale needs to stick to the Bill O'Brien playbook and just say tired meaningless phrases when he's interviews.
True. For instance, you can see Ty and Dwight are developing a good alley oop game. It's not something that just clicks on like a light bulb, especially given their preseason conditions. A lot of things are going to develop around Ty Lawson over the course of the season. Ty Lawson is a huge alteration to this team. Fortunately a lot of good things are going to develop from this alteration, but it takes time.
You have 5 new guys, 2 or 3 of which aren't even playing. Lets not act like it ****ing rocket science. It actually is 'Rockets' science :grin:
