"Stupid" is a little strong IMO. You can argue it both ways. He's a weak defender, but its not like the Rockets have a surplus of strong, experienced defenders sitting on the bench. Martin provides some length and quickness to chase players around the perimeter if need be, and he's your best foul shooter which could come in handy on a rebound. I think you presuming too much to blast the coach for not using the foul at the end. We don't know what strategy was discussed in the timeout. I don't think its 100% that you have to use your foul there. Players usually won't commit the foul unless the player makes a move fairly early. If its under, like, 5 seconds, you don't necessarily gain anything by committing a foul. That can actually hurt you -- you give them another chance of setting up a play and possibly getting a man wide open (Popovich is pretty good with those side out-of-bounds plays).
Defense is better, offense is worse... probably a wash. McHale and co. still better fit going forward.
I am wondering where Chandler Parsons was on that play, and Dally too....you know - 2 of your best defenders. I think you are covering up for him here, most coaches use that foul, it is pretty much standare MO. Pop is pretty good, because he is a very good NBA coach, McHale - well, he was a great PF for the Celtics... DD
If we make the playoffs it's not a mistake. Adelman is the better coach that's for sure but Mchale is proving himself so he is doing that now as it stands and is doing pretty good.
next game against Wolves will be interesting, going against RA, i do hope we win but at the same time i also wish RA a good career with Wolves, that organisation have finally taken the right direction, their core of Rubio/Love/Beasley/Johnson but they're still at least 3yrs away from being an elite team like when KG was there.
Parsons and Lee came in for Patterson and Dalembert. The Rockets were guarding against the 3, not a 2-point field goal. Good substitution, IMO. So on that final play, Parsons is guarding Gary Neal who shoots a contested 27-footer with about 9 seconds remaining. Hardly a few seconds came off the clock before Neal launched. You think we should have fouled Neal 30 feet from the basket? In my opinion, if you have a foul to give and the offensive player is doing something that could compromise your defense then go ahead and commit the foul. But if the defense has the offensive player where they want him then why foul just for the sake of it? In any case, its quite possible that McHale directed his players to foul if it made sense to do so, and the foul just didn't happen because the opportunity to make a clean foul didn't present itself. Maybe Parsons was worried about making contact with Neal as he's going into a shooting motion so he chose to simply play solid defense instead. What I saw on that play just isn't enough for me to presume McHale didn't tell his players that there is a foul to give.
martin is lengthy and is quick enough to contest a shot.. yes he sucks at keeping guys in front but we were not worried about someone driving past him and who on this team knows more about screens then him? BESSIIDESS they had martin, lowry, dragic, lee and parsons .. if you dont like martin in there who would you have rather had? patterson, hill, dalembert, bud??? come on that makes absolutely no sense. And if that wasnt enough, martin guarded the inbounds, why not put a center to make that pass difficult you say??? bc with 9 seconds left thts too much time to ask a big guy to stay with a guard... IF you watch the last timeout he makes a mention of the foul not sure exactly what he says but right at the end he says then foul.. plus neal catches the ball and drives to the basket and pulls up for a 3 and what point do you foul and still ensure its not in the act of shooting? you shouldnt just criticize to criticize, they should be valid criticism .. If those are the strategies you would use, I am glad you are not our coach haha .. ohhh maaan im still laughing at the idea of having either bud, twill, flynn or one of our 4s or 5s at the end of the game chasing 3 point shooters ..that is a good one
They're barely over .500. If I recall, wasn't their record in the last couple months of last season well over .500? Do you really think their record would be worse at this point if Adelman were still coach? Do you think they're playing better basketball?
ARE YOU KIDDING .. did you even watch the game??????? i mean i can understand you miss parsons if he is on the floor and the camera doesnt show him .. but parsons was guarding the guy who took the last shoT!!! how can anyone take the opinion of a person seriously when he doenst even know who is guarding the SHOOTER and the announcer says .. parsons guarding neal I think you are covering up for him here, most coaches use that foul, it is pretty much standare MO. it is standard if they have their back to the basket .. you dont have to go far, in the LAST game rockets used a foul they had to give, in this situation that situation never came up bc the guy caught the ball dribbled and shot, if we had fouled it woudl have been 3 free throws not THAT would have been dumb
the substitutions at the end by McHale are questioned only by the people that don't have a good understanding of basketball and situations. you put in smaller/more agile/smartest defenders to guard the 3 (the only way the other team even has a chance to tie) because you can switch everything to protect the three point shot. case and point was minn vs clips when mcgee was screened for a wide open love 3 ftw. if vinny went small on that play and told them to switch everything, they would have been able to contest that shot much better. how can people be complaining about mchale when we are on a 6 game winning streak (albeit not very convincing wins against not very good teams)?
jury is still out... i'll give him at least 1 season and see what develops... seein as he had a shortened offseason and preseason...
Even though this thread IS extremely premature....I will give it props for illuminating what posters genuinely think they are more knowledgeable about how to run a basketball team than a NBA coach.
If you watch the replay you can hear Mchale CLEARLY remind the team they have foul to give right as Bill starts talking.
McHale and his fouling and all that is fine... His rotations often bug me, but I LOVE the fact that he force fed Patsquatch 28 minutes tonight... Play Pat huge minutes now and we will be rewarded later this season...
Mchale's Rockets -> 9-7, 4th SW RA's Wolves -> 7-9. 5th NW Also we start 0-5 last season under RA, so while Mchale isn't perfect I think he's doing a better job this year than RA did last year. I for one, couldn't be happier with Mchale. He's not perfect, but he's open to trying anything to get wins on the court. He also doesn't make pre-determined subs and then sticks with them no matter what's happening on the court, something that drove me nuts last year.
