Rotations I was rather bugged by McHale subbing Parsons out while he was heating up... he never hit rhythm again during the game. Not keeping a big in there for defense during Hack-a-Dwight when Portland was attacking the basket just pissed me off. The play calling after time outs has been atrocious since day one... so that part didn't bug me as much.
Yep, this is what I said earlier. This has nothing to do with the refs. In the end the calls evened out and we had a 11 point lead with 4 minutes to go. NO WAY we should be losing that kind of lead at home. We lost this game because of inept coaching. 1. Parsons was hot to start off with. I don't care if he has played 15 mins in a row. These are the playoffs and he had one week's rest. You ride the hot hand!! 2. When it comes to Hack a Howard, you either take him out if he is not hitting his free throws after a few trips to the line or you ride with him throughout. This taking him out half way BS just kills all momentum and doesn't allow enough time to get back into rhythm. Doc put it best when asked about DJ and hack a DJ. If he is hitting 2 out of 2 great. If he is hitting 1 out of 2 OK. But if he is hitting 0/2, he better get stops at the other end or he is coming off. 3. Timeouts and play calling!! Seriously why does McHale have a board. I don't care what McHale aplogists like jtr say about Rockets having no set plays but calling the right plays at crucial times is important. Typical McHale timeout when a basket is needed. "Clap, clap, guys we got to play harder. Effort, effort, everyone one of you has to play hard." Takes out white board. "Chandler you're the trigger. Jeremy go spot up in this corner. Cisco go spot up in the other corner. Dwight set a screen. Harden get the ball from Chandler and do your thing. Everyone else clear out" YAWN So many chances to get a good play but lack of coaching skills and drawing up good plays bites us back really hard.
Seems like McHale went to the George Lucas school of directing... MORE INTENSITY MORE INTENSITY! And... Harden... he should have passed out once he hit a dead end... Jordan won his first championship by passing off to Paxson... (yes, I have been a fan since the Dave Jamison, David Wood, and Scott Brooks days...)
Yeah, I was thinking that too. Remember how going into that 2007 series, we all thought T-Mac and Yao were a far better tandem than Boozer and D-Will? And how by the end of Game 7, the Jazz duo had outplayed ours? Although at least in that series, you could make a case that Utah did have a better overall team than the Rockets. Our bench was Luther Head and Juwan Howard. They had Brewer(back when he could shoot), Giricek, Harpring, Millsap, and Fisher.
The series of offensive rebounds to prolong possessions also made me have flashbacks to that series as well. Rockets need to realistically win 2 out of the next 3 games (probably 3 out of the next 4) to have a legit chance of advancing. I really don't want to have to go to Portland for Game 6 being down 3-2 needing two wins to advance. C'mon, guys!
Mchale is just a puppet controlled by Morey. The real culprit is Morey. If he fires. Mchale he should come forth and say my bad guys for that gimmicky system. I've said this many times.
After last night, I'm on board with this thread. We're scary talented but unfortunately there are several teams in the West in this category. Great teams are defined by their coaches: Phil Jackson, Pat Riley, Red Auerbach, Gregg Popovich, etc. When crap starts to hit the fan, great coaches rally the troops and clarify direction. McHale gots to go.
This game was on McHale honestly. This is the first time I've said this all year but McHale taking Howard out sealed our fate. Just a horrible decision.
westbrook going down last april saved us from getting swept, but doomed us to another wasted year with mchale on the bench. we still have a decent chance of winning this series against portland, but only in spite of this trainwreck of a coaching staff. in any case, les needs to take control of this team's direction after we're gone fishing. a lot of pieces are in place, he just needs to add some more talent around the core (even if it means paying the lux tax) and install a coach to give them structure, discipline, nuance.
Ive been yelling this all season. Come playoff time we will get out coached. Talent can only take you so far. Its pretty frustrating when you think about it. We have enough talent to make it to the Finals, but these iso plays and run and gun with little defense is clearly a concern.
Alright. I am posting here because it seems the relevant place, but I am not out for McHale's head like many of you already are. I want to see him succeed. But playoff games are like a chess game -- identifying an opponent's weaknesses and capitalizing on them. And then having the opponent make a counter maneuver and so on. I want to see that McHale is able to engage in that sort of strategizing over the course of these playoffs. Stotts' came out with a game plan for Harden and Howard yesterday, and luckily for him it worked. It won't always. I am not sure we had a game plan for LMA and Lillard. Another point -- I had forgotten just how intense playoff games are as compared to regular season games.
Portland came out with a game plan for the playoff (one that makes a lot of sense). Houston came out with the same plan used in the regular season (not bad since we won 3/4). Portland made plenty of adjustments, especially late and their stars were put into a position to succeed. Houston made slow adjustments, throughout the game, with some really weird one as pointed out already by many. - When we went with the TT to counter LA and Lopez (all good), Portland went small (Robinson in, Lopez out). We stayed with the TT as if that was part of the game plan and we can't adjust to their adjustments. TT should only be used against their two big, not a big and a typical PF. Jones against Robinson would be better for Houston. - Taking Parson out when he was red hot was strange. - Up 5 still in the 4th, taking Howard out and going small when you need defense more than offense was really strange. - Again taking Howard out with 24sec left in OT on a defensive possession and Hou Up 1 leaving no paint protection. Lillard ended up driving to the basket and got 2 FT from it. This is McHale adjustment to Portland adjustment (when Lillard got 2 and 1), but it's all wrong. - Not a single trap or double for their two stars especially LA. They have good shooter, so this isn't that strange, but after some point (40+pts, you think you need to do something). I don't mind the Harden ISO at the end... been doing that all year, so nothing strange there. It was the last play of the game with no defensive possession left so I don't know why McHale wouldn't spread the floor with all shooters (could have gone super small w/ Daniel in place of Jones). Hint to McHale - what did Portland do that took Howard out of the paint just moment before that ended up in a basket and 1 ft for Lillard? Two Rockets didn't show up for this game. Harden and McHale.
... I was as upset as anyone about last night's loss. I couldn't sleep. But I still trust the team to deliver. Yesterday's game was important ... but not terribly indicative of their character IMO. I don't know why but I just feel that way. But I believe the game Wednesday will say a lot about their heart, and character and desire.
Asik should be in more and maybe he plays the 5 and Howard at the 4. That Howard got his numbers against Robin Lopez doesn't mean much if Aldridge is going to put up those kind of numbers. I think D-Mo should get some time too to at least get his hands up when Aldridge shoots and obscure his vision. As Barkley said on the TNT broadcast, for Aldridge, shooting over the smaller TJones is like shooting over a chair. I also think that McHale will need to slot Lin in as the starting PG AND give him the primary defensive assignment against Lillard. The team defense should be focused on guarding without fouling and getting defensive rebounds. Lillard is a really good player but he is still a low 40% FG shooter. You can turn him into a volume shooter. All Lin has to do is keep him off the line and make him take shots with a hand in his face. He might get blown by a few times, but Lin will do the same to him at the other end.
Clearly McHale is in over his head. That bleak look on his face as he left the court after the game really said it all. This JV coach just doesn't have it in him. Some simple timely time-outs, or removing Dwight from the game a little earlier during Hack-a-Dwight rather than saying, "Oh well, we're up by 10, we're okay....Oh well, we're up by 8, we're okay....Oh well, we're up by 6, we're okay....Oh well, we're up by 3, we're okay....Oh well, we're tied, James will shake off his drunken stupor and save me---er, US, I mean, save us, we're okay." The ability to draw up some kind of play. Having a real game plan other than "our stars should be all we need". McHale was brought in 3 years ago to shepherd the team around in circles through the wilderness, a sort-of Moses with a pronounced limp, constantly waiting for word on high which does not arrive: "Hey, Joshua, did God call? No? (sigh) Okay, keep them moving. Yes, I KNOW that water was bad, I've got the s***s, too. Hey, look, you think I like it here, wandering all this time? But what am I gonna do? I don't know what to do! We've....GOT...TO...PRAY....HARDER, guys!" Granted, if James Harden was more of a self-starter and actually cared enough to show up for the playoffs, this thread would have fewer posts. And there are other factors that did not help a coach with no imagination who almost looks like he's coasting into retirement from the coaching ranks.
