Yeah, he seemed to be backing off the "PG" part of the question, but still looking at someone. Hard to tell.
**Tough game and one of our worst of the year. **Perimeter D was pretty carved up. They did a good job spreading us out. We were switching and doing different coverages and none were executed well or worked well. **Yeah, I don't know if rebounding is a huge issue with the smaller group. That lineup is out-rebounded but not by much. We did win the rebounding battle for the game. There are trade-offs. There is no perfect trade-off for the coaching staff. They went with the small group, yesterday at the end it didn't work for us. **Definitely risk with making trades. We knew that. This was one that set us up well in the future and risk in the short run. I think we'll be fine. Donatas has given good minutes. Greg, over the course of the season has given good minutes. We've played well small and we'll see how Thomas does as we integrate him in. When you do make a move, you do add some risk. **Delfino has been fine. We feel pretty good now that we have Garcia, who can step in and has experience as well. The training staff is feeling pretty good about Carlos being able to play the minutes he is playing and now we have more insurance in Garcia and Anderson, so hopefully we'll be okay. **We had a lot of good things last night as well. They made their threes, we relatively didn't. We missed our FTs. A lot of factors went into this loss. A couple of our players didn't have their best game and that hurt us. Overall, disappointing. I'd say perimeter defense was the main thing. **Offensive end, both Jeremy and James weren't efficient as a combo. That hurt us. I'm still pretty focused on the defensive end and breakdowns we had there. Those were the main issues for the game. **Motiejunas fits well in the starting lineup. I didn't know how coach would do it, who would get the minutes after the trade. Obviously we leave that to the coaching staff. Donatas, we were hoping he was someone who could step up and he has. He's hit shots, he's been fine on D, rebounded okay, and playing next to Omer is a very good pairing if it's going to work in that he can stretch the floor, post up, and his two primary weaknesses rebounding and on D, Omer helps cover up those weaknesses. **His ability to space the floor is huge. You gotta guard him. His ability to shoot. He has ability for an early post-up in transition. Defensively, he is getting better. He came in and has gotten stronger. We feel good. He has given us good minutes thus far. **We're looking close at some different additions. Not sure which will pan out. We're looking closely at adding another player to the roster and we'll see how it pans out, where we make a move. **(Close games) Probably just a random event frankly. Yesterday a perfect example of why we try to have a lead. Having a lead is better than not. That's my brilliant analysis this morning. Stuff happens in close games. Overall, we're a little under .500 in close games. Hopefully, if we're in a close game again, the ball will bounce our way. Close games come down to fouls, offensive rebounds, lose balls, things that are hard to control so you do want to stay out of those games. **It was a 3-for-0 instead of a 2-for-1(ending the game). Gave me flashbacks to our game against Utah in 2007. I still have nightmares, when they got like 4 straight offensive rebounds at the end of the game. **We were high on Larry Sanders. Not as high...that was Patterson's draft. We thought it would take awhile for him to pan out. We didn't know if he would turn the corner. Milwaukee is a very good team now at this point. Redick a good pickup for them. They're gonna battle into the playoffs and give whoever they play a tough matchup. **Stevie Nicks & Fleetwood Mac, two thumbs way up. **I have seen Fleetwood Mac in Massachusetts and in Houston. **I have seen them more than once. The Celtics tax accountant is Fleetwood Mac's accountant. I know someone pretty well who works with the band. I did get to meet the band. ... Amazing group. **(Caller question: General philosophy on PnR coverage?) We had 3 different coverages yesterday. On the side, we trap it like we did when Adelman was here. We're more aggressive with our bigs when we trap it on the side. If we execute that well, it's better. It requires more execution how we're doing it here, up on top, if there is a shooting big, the big won't be able to provide as much help. That's why you have shooting bigs. It's hard to execute our gold coverage when we're going against a shooting big. We did switch it late. I'd have to go back and watch. To your point, if it's a non-shooting big or 2 perimeter guys, we'll slide it, what you're talking about is going over but we'll also slide it if at the last minute we can't get over the screen cleanly. Overall, they all require good execution. To put things on myself, when you add in new players, PnR coverage is probably hardest to get down and execute well and making a change like we did challenges our ability to guard it. **Delfino does better with bigger guys because he has more sand in his pants. He's been in the league longer, a little stronger, a little thicker, more veteran guile when he's guarding those guys. As much as it's challenging for Carlos, it's challenging for the team on the other end. Whoever he is guarding doesn't like chasing him on the perimeter. **(Caller question: Can we watch the Rockets on TV again?) That's a frustrating one. Frankly, I have a lot of empathy. I'm not close or part of those negotiations. I don't call Tad and suggest what to do. I know they're working hard and are frustrated. **Curry is the best shooter in the league right now, who took over for Nash, who I thought was the best. He's the best shooter by a wide margin. Good example when you're showing kids how to make the NBA. The level of training that went into his shot is unbelievable. He worked with his father for countless hours to get where he's at. **(Curry)He's in the conversation(All-NBA teams). I prefer James. Russell has 2 way ability. Slightly on the outside looking in but terrific. **I like our chances of winning gold when our best players show up. If we get our best players, it's definitely a layup. **I've seen the rumors of Coach Pop and Rivers. Can't go wrong with either. I've worked with Doc Rivers, Doc is tremendous. Having gotten our butts kicked by the Spurs pretty much every year since I'v been here, Pop is about as good as it gets. **We wouldn't want to lose Sampson but would be happy for him. He's ready. He's been a HC pretty much his whole life. We really have three assistants who have HC ability, which is unique and has helped coach McHale. All those guys have the ability to be a HC. **(Caller question: Overall take on Donatas Motiejunas?) He played really well. Matt made the point earlier, his ability to make plays for others. I think he has done very well early. That was not a big part of his game I expected and don't know how well he'll do that going forward. As far as taking time, speed is a big advantage relative to the guys he's playing. Obviously he has to make smart decisions but we want quicker decisions. That allows him to use his speed to his advantage. **(Sloan Sports Conference) We get together and try to learn from other sports and what they're doing. That's where we generate our ideas to hopefully improve the Rockets down the road. Not many woman here. Some sort of a nerd sausage fest. **For example, there are a lot of research papers, one this year is on the trade-off of whether offensive rebounding vs transition defense, which is one of the harder ones to attack as a team, that's one of the research papers. A panel of Michael Lewis, Nate Silver, Mark Cuban will be there. **Won't enjoy it much if we lose. That's the key factor in the enjoyment going forward. ... Thanks for having me on.
Crapola. I even tested the link before screwing up on the recap. Would have just cut and pasted from the browser window, but it was one of those where it rewrites the link after going there.
Reminds me of how we laughed and laughed at the Knicks as we won trade after trade and changed from a perpetual playoff team to a perpetual lottery team while they changed from a perpetual lottery team to a playoff team to a first place team all in three years. But we sure had a lot of laughs at their expense! Good times!
<iframe width="658" height="371" scrolling="no" src="http://www.sports790.com/player/embed.html?autoStart=false&useFullScreen=true&mid=22955637&osu=null&startButtonColor=0xffffff" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" ></iframe> **(2 games against the same team and drastically different): I wish it was like European basketball, where they play home and home and just add the two scores together. That would have been better for us. Yeah, disappointing. Obviously the loss, tough night overall. Only Utah losing and Cleveland really helped us. Some good performances but overall, not enough. **We should be 4-0 based on that(outscoring the Mavs by a huge margin this year). Unfortunately, that's not how they record wins & losses. **(Pleased w/ Robinson's progress and pleased that he has given coaches reason to put him out there?) Yeah, very. Robinson is really focused on the defensive end, which the coaches have asked him to do. Rebounding, he has been solid. Finished at the hoop pretty well. I'm really happy. When we made the trade, we didn't know how much he would play and given he has already got the coaches confidence through his energy is fantastic. He really liked what Robinson and Beverley were doing yesterday. **(You play at a fast pace. Is it because there is concern with turnovers that the last 5 minutes of a game, things slow down or do you think you could get better shots on the offensive end if you continue to play at a fast pace even at the end of the game) We want to stay with our style that we know works. We're a better team in transition. The game naturally slows down because A)the other team slows down, and B) it's human nature to try and instrument things. To try and direct the ball, to try and do things where you're applying more control in those key moments but we know playing at a high pace is the best way for us(offense?) to succeed and we're up to 3(rd) in best offensive team in the league. We know what works on offense. Playing that way the whole game as much as possible is best. **(Procedures at what they did at half - the Lin shot was waived off. ... How did you see that and the way it was officiated?) You're trying to get me in trouble. I'm trying not to get you in trouble. I didn't ask you about the Beverley play. I didn't ask you about the ball they gave Dallas at the end of the game. I didn't ask you if that's the most animated you've ever seen McHale on the sidelines. I asked you about a simple procedural question. I would say they do have angles we don't. Maybe they saw something there. ... Bang bang plays and tough calls. Some go your way and some don't. **(The NBA, when meeting with refs, say we need more emphasis on this this year or we missed this, this and this, and these are things we want to look at. Does the league go over the same thing with coaches and GMs, "Hey, we're gonna be calling this more closely this year or we're going to keep an eye on." Do they go over that with teams before the season starts?) They do before the season starts. They'll have points of emphasis. Things they may call slightly differently or interpret differently. They'll go over that in the preseason. The more challenging one is I do think they make tweaks as the season goes on. Those are harder to communicate to the teams. **(Caller: To interpret a rule, it was to my understanding that it had to be conclusive for a ref to change a call on the court, both the Lin shot and the Harden play at the end of the game were changed calls. Is that the interpretation? McHale, if you guys were to acquire a big man, would McHale want to change the offense to a half court offense or do you want to keep the uptempo style and will your offseason moves move toward keeping up with that uptempo style?) First one, the rule is they have to have conclusive evidence to overturn it. My guess is they felt they like had that. The second one, we're trying...you always want to mold your offense and defense to your personnel. If we got a dominant low post presence, we would change things up to try and implement that. **(Phoenix came close to winning a championship playing fast paced, 6 seconds of hell or whatever the hell they were calling it. Do you think this is a style you can win big with?) Yeah, absolutely. A couple things on that: one is, they were close to winning it. Two, Miami basically played uptempo and small and won. Three, no one talks about the 24 teams that play traditionally every year that don't win the title as well. **(Caller: Going back to offensive sets, I'm not quite understanding why halfway through the season we don't have any kind of sets in the half court. I know it's kinda a read and react offense that McHale is trying to run but in the half court and down in crunch time, as much as he writes down and scribbles plays, it's 1-4 down. I don't see why we don't have motion or we just go high PnR. Why does that always seem to be the case, 1-4 down? If you're going 1-4 down, why not put another offensive threat to put pressure off Harden when he is on the floor if you're going 1-4 down? Our half court offense is very good, also top ten in the league and one of the reasons our offense is I think 3rd in the league right now. We do have plays in the half court. We also play in the half court while in crunch time. The problem isn't the offense. The problem is still the defense and why you'll see Coach McHale make substitutions that he thinks helps us on defensive end. Both Beverley and Robinson were defensive substitutions yesterday for him. Beverley, he liked what he was giving us defensively. Thomas, he liked the ability to switch screens and he thought the energy he was giving us on defense was very good yesterday. That's why you'll see McHale make some of those changes. **(Is Robinson, coming out, did you see him as a weak side shot blocker or someone who could give rim protection?) We saw him as someone who could block shots. Coming out of school, the main things we liked was his rebounding, uptempo play and thought he had offensive potential for sure to catch and finish and over time, we thought his offense could be solid and shot blocking, we saw as weak side guy but we aren't really overly focused on shot blocking. The evidence there is that it isn't as impactful. There are few guys who can block shots and not take themselves completely out of position. It's a good thing when you have it and it's done well but sometimes can hurt your defense as well. ..... ..... **(Kobe playing at a high level. Do you think Kobe will, mentally, be able to walk away before he is the game's all-time leading scorer?) I think he'll play until he can't. He's the ultimate competitor. **(Agree that he is playing at a high level, no worse than the 3rd best player in the league?) Yeah, a high level. I don't know what number to put on it. I thought if the Lakers struggle this year, it would be because Kobe is mortal. That hasn't been why. It's been injury and chemistry. **(Where is the areas of his game Parsons can improve and push himself to another level?) We don't know what his ceiling would be. His shot is still the number one thing. On his drives to the basket, right now, he is turning it over at a decent rate. Not that it makes his drives bad but tightening up his handles through traffic. Defensively, guarding smaller guys is one area he has had some challenges. It's a testament to the coaches that they give him those assignments. **(Do you envision Harden or Parsons having more low post option to their game or don't want to clog the floor?) It couldn't hurt over time. I like bigs posting up, for the misses frankly. It would be alright. I don't see that as a big priority. I would like our bigs to keep developing their game. **(Keys for the Warriors game?) Still defense. They have great shooters all over the floor. Defending their shooters is the number one thing. We'll have to make our shots and keep them in transition. Bogut will be healthy so another reason to stay out of half court against them.
I don't think it's the case yesterday... ISO ISO ISO. Maybe it is when both Harden and Lin are on the court?
I never agreed with it but everyone keeps saying all we do all game is give the ball to Harden and Lin just hangs out in the three point line, so all credit goes to Harden I guess. The Beard god has spoken.
It's to be expected. All those 3s we hit, aren't from transition. We penetrate and swing for open 3s very very well. It's a big part of why our offense is so strong. We have excellent penetrators and passers in many positions.
What does he mean that he likes bigs posting up for the misses? More O rebounds and less run-outs for opponents out of these misses vs other types?
Yeah I would think so.. I've always noticed that a missed layup, hookshot slowly rolls off the basket. Common sense says this allows for easier put-backs, and slower rebounds from the other team (gives more time for Rockets to get back on D).
