It's different because - you said it was. The Rockets made up a 10 point deficit to take the lead within minutes of, and as a direct result of instituting, the Hack-a after halftime. If you worship at the church of Hack-a/whatever it takes, a la your Hemis-Fair Heroes, the Spurs and Hack-a High Priest Greg Popovich - It was obvoiusly the right thing to do - the results speak for themselves. Again note, there are no qualifiers here. This logic applies regardless of time on the clock.
No, it's different because when you do it at the start of a half, ALREADY with an injury riddled team, you are using up fouls you may not have for the end of the game. Rockets got into the game because they hit their shots. Hack-a doesn't work if the team being hacked plays defense, as Shaq pointed out. If they don't hit those threes to get back into the game, Stan never takes out Drummond and dares JB to continue using fouls he doesn't have.
I mean it worked... I feel bad for KJ, but other than my sympathy for him, I can't knock it too much. Went from a double digit deficit, to having the lead. Completely threw the Pistons out of rhythm one offense, and got Drummond out of the game. The problem is, we suck so bad, that when it was time to play real basketball again, we completely fell apart again. That's the embarrassing part of this whole thing. We had to resort to hack-a, it worked to absolute perfection, and we couldn't actually play good basketball long enough to get a win.
Bickerstaff himself said it DIDN'T work: http://www.nba.com/games/20160120/DETHOU/gameinfo.html?ls=iref:nba:scoreboard
the actual strategy worked at the given time. but it didnt work in the end because the rockets don't play defense so it defeats the purpose. things will eventually even out in the end
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">KJ McDaniels on his five intentional fouls in nine seconds: "Anything for my teammates. I know they'd do anything for me. "</p>— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/status/690019624482664448">January 21, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Yeah, get your ass down there Daryl and coach this team you created. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Based on everything I've gathered Rockets players and coaches not happy with Hack A Shaq. Front office suggested it & it didn't work.</p>— Calvin Watkins (@calvinwatkins) <a href="https://twitter.com/calvinwatkins/status/690308350983024640">January 21, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
between morey's hack-a-suggestion and cyber reporting that lawson was started for showcasing, at least for this particular game the micromanaging is quite strong. have to wonder if any real coach will be able to 'cooperate' and get along with morey.
why is the ****ing fail of a GM continuing to dictate how we run our offense? His philosophy on coaching is why the rockets are such an embarrassment.
"J.B. always makes the final decision." Yeah right... what other GM does this? This is exactly why Thibs isn't here and will never be here. At some point Les has to decide Morey or Thibs, you can't have both.
If that is true then nope. No coach worth his salt is going to want the GM meddling with how he coaches a game. Coaches barely tolerate the trades GMs making adjustments to the roster.
Don't bother trying to explain it man , I've already tried . People think it worked because the score got closer . Beyond the idea that it doesn't matter if you are down 9 or tied up with 22 minutes left in the game , that strategy also left us in foul trouble , in the penalty , and going against a set defense when used . It's not like Drummond was torching us . And clearly he wasn't making a bit impact defensively otherwise we wouldn't have scored going against their set defense . It was a really really stupid idea , and makes me question how smart JB is .
What else would he say? Take my hat off to him, but feel sorry at the same time as this is his career being wasted in Houston. He deserves much better.
