There is something going on and it's not even about Basketball

The team making Dwight take Games off.

Harden to busy enjoying the lovely night life instead of focusing on the big prize ahead.

Mchale clueless and lost out there.

Those three suppose to be the leaders. We all know this team will go as far as Harden and Dwight will take them.

With that being said, Harden has checked out mentally 4 Gamez out of 5.

And Howard missing what 4 games out of 9.

Not good ladies and gents.

 

Seriously?? Now we've got to the point where we are blaming Harden's personal life for this team's performance? Who, other than people on here, is saying that Harden isn't focused??

The entire team is playing **** right now. Before tonight's game, other than Thornten (47%) everyone else not a PF/C was shooting in the 30s or worse!

It's not even that they aren't getting good looks - they are, they just aren't making them (this has to change soon. No way they keep missing shots at this rate - I hope ). They are getting out-hustled most of the time and can't even hit layups.

Harden actually is the only one who seems to (somewhat) improve with every game. Yeah Harden is still struggling and yet he is somehow averaging 29 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 6AST, nearly 2 SPG and 1 BPG.

There are many issues with this team right now and coaching is definitely the main one! As bmd had mentioned in a thread, most guys are playing out of position a lot of the time - this too has a lot to do with the defense being as bad as it is right now. We sometimes go with small lineups in situations where we shouldn't be doing that. Then guys who seem to be hot (just to name a few: Thornton in earlier games or TJones last night) end up being on the bench for way too long.

Also factor in that you have people in and out of the lineup due to injuries. This obviously doesn't help either and furthermore Ty and Harden have to learn how to play together. Ty just looks lost and timid. They need to learn how to play off each other, initiating the offense at the same time, move& cut when they are off the ball and not just take turns running the offense with the other guy just standing around waiting their turn. You can see that good things happen when Harden initiates the offense - same goes for Ty. But if they just watch the other do their thing, it takes a lot away from their game and thus will hurt the team. I'm sure that they will figure it out soon enough though!

 

While Har(d)en is a offensive juggernaut, his attitude is something that is dragging team down.

Someone said it best in the other thread: if Mo Williams was here, he would be playing like crap.

It all starts with your main man.

 

The difference in Haren this year from last year's Harden is striking. Wish he played Team USA ball every summer.

 

Players get tired when coaches don't make the in game strategy or gameplan benefiting to the players/team. Mchale does nothing x's and o's wise that catches the opposing team off guard. It wasn't needed in years past because Houston playing street ball was not something any of the opposing organizations took really serious to gameplan against. Now after having playoff success the opposing teams have the Rockets on notice. Mchale has done nothing to adjust to it. Rick Adelman talked about that all the time. You have to prepare your players/team for in game strategies where the opposing team takes away the top two strongest strengths your teams execute. Mchale doesn't even execute any type of method or change to address this at all. He's a terrible coach that will not get through to the players in a serious enough nature to get them championship minded ready. Mchale is like that parent that is his child's friend but never enforces that he is the parent and your the child strong enough. These guys are immature and already believe they have arrived. Ty Lawson gets here and doesn't even fit in at all. There is nothing Mchale can do about it because he simply cannot coach x's and o's basketball and he doesn't have the players respect when it comes to really being serious and holding themselves accountable within a championship mind state. Mchale didn't even run a adequate training camp. Most teams fighting for a championship themes their training camp on becoming a elite defense... this idiot opens up the training camp complaining and making excuses about injuries. It's always excuses with Mchale and the results will always be less than full potential results but ok because of great the roster is. Houston needs to fire him now before we lose this championship roster.

 

Nah, it's the coach.

The way teams play us now is different. We haven't adjusted.

 

DMo is definitely missed in a big way. Ty will get integrated. Dwight will play consistently.

We were always going to be a work in progress, peaking later in the year...and that's fine...because we have enough to win it all if healthy.

Chill.

 

lol this team will never win it all with mchale as head coach.

 

This team has issue from the top down...

Everyone keeps hollering for a coaching change, my question is will it do any good if they have to run the GM's offense. So the first issue is the GM needs to be the GM and the coach needs to be the coach. The GM should not be telling the coach which players to play and what offense to run.

The coach needs to have a game plan and play the guys that will run his game plan, no matter who they are. (This is why I love Pop and Hornacek is also no-nonsense).

Right now you have guys playing out of position.. Ty and Harden are both pg's and both need to have the ball in their hand. Harden is not an off the ball player. So why not put Harden along side of Thornton.

Ariza is a cutter and a three point shooter.. He will get hot every now and then, but he's not consistent. So the plays you run for Ariza, run them for Thornton.

We need a PF, i've been saying this all summer.. DMo is not an option and want be one for a while. Harrell is young and looked completely lost on the floor.

The players need discipline and need to understand that they have to play both ends of the court.. It seems every game they are getting worst.

Harden needs to pull his head out of his @$$ and stop being a diva. His attitude right now is one of arrogance. There has not been one player who has won the championship by himself... That goes for Wilt, Hakeem or Jordan. It takes a team to win the entire thing and McHale should sit his behind on the bench until he understands that... The same way he did in the playoffs last year and that should go for any player on the team.

T_Man

 

So in other words...

Spoiler

#soon

 

Remember when he was calling himself "Wolverine"?

 

Let's cut to the chase. An NBA team is only as good as their best player.

It's on Harden. Just like it was on Dream, Franchise, and T-Mac. Some man up and some self destruct. Most players, even stars, aren't like Jordan. They can't burn the candle at both ends and still go out an will their team to victory.

 

Rudy T, had to convince Dream that he had to trust and rely on his teammates.

Once he started doing that, the waters parted and he found out that he could be even more successful.... The same thing happened with Jordan and Phil.

Harden cannot win a championship on his own...

T_Man

 

This offense looks awfully like JVG's offense. They just changed the name from McGrady to Harden.

We've got an elite scorer-playmaker. Just let him do his things. You guys just watch and get ready to catch the pass.

 

Adamantium crutches.

 

Funny, I'd say half of the board is clamoring for JVG or his assistant Thibodeau.

I guess at least they'd get their defense but they'd still be complaining about the offense.

Neither are coming here.

 

To be fair, our defense is a bigger problem than our offense.

 

Even though it's a bigger problem, our offense is also pretty bad.

We're scoring 99 and giving up 106 per 100.

 

To put that in perspective. Last year we were scoring 104 and giving up 100.