ClutchFans Game Thread: Blazers @ Rockets 4/23/2014 (Playoffs Round 1, Game 2)

The biggest being blake. No fouls called on him last night after fouling out in game one.

 

Blazers gonna get kicked by about 30.

 

Troy Daniels needs to play.

 

If Harden keeps bricking 3s and refuses to attack the paint, I'd rather see Daniels. Can't be any worse. Doubt it will happen though.

 

Don't think Mchale will try, but can Troy Daniels guards someone like Mo-Williams?

 

Howard and Asik will control the interior and Harden will get off.

It sounds like Bev should be alright.....

We blow them out.

 

I think Troy Daniels will help a lot as the back up. He's better than Omri Casspi and Jordan Hamilton who I think are useless.

 

games tomorrow brah

 

Lol. Got him!

 

off the bench: Lin, Troy, Garcia, Asik + have Bev or Parsons in there to stagger minutes.

I'm feeling Troy to spread the floor so Lin can attack hard and kick it out to Bev/Troy/Garcia/Parsons

 

If McHale does not come uo with another game plan, then Rockets are in trouble.

Stotts out coached, out thought, out maneuvered and prettty much bullied McHale last game.

McHale has to punch back harder.

Posters say coaching doesn't matter but come playoff tiem it does and in a big way.

 

The difference is that OKC is a much better road team than the Rockets. Frankly, we've stunk away from Toyota Center for nearly a month. I'm not worried about Game 2. I think the Rockets will play better(how could they not?) and Portland won't play as well. Plus the refs won't be as awful(how could they?). Add that all up and it equals at least a close win for the home team.

What worries me are Games 3 and 4. Does this team have the mental toughness to go into Portland and take back home court advantage? And yes, they need to win one of those 2 games. If they come back to Houston down 3-1, they ain't winning this series.

 

Aha ...Guilty as charged. I WISH it was tonight! :grin:

 

Garcia really needs to get ouf that 3pt slump, he was forcing it against Portland, took two contested shots and not even in rhythm. It is also up to the coach to get that guy some shots cause he can get hot. In general if our 3pointers from the guards is not falling, I agree to give Daniels a shot.

 

Are people on here really saying that? I think some may have argued that this team could be talented enough to win in spite of McHale's shortcomings as a coach, but I think most of us are in agreement that it is important to have a quality head coach.

Shoot, I posted in the "Fire McHale" thread the other day how every team that's won a title in the last 30 years has had a coach who ranged from very good(Rudy T, Spoelstra) to Hall of Famer(Jackson, Riley, Popovich).

 

Mchale does not impact the game at all with his X's and O's and he seems to have no understanding of how to react through coaching to spirited/momentum game changing situations. As a player he had it but as a coach he is unconscious to doing anything proactive or outside the box that would actually give us a competitive advantage.

 

A team can be talented enough to win in spite of an incompetent coach in the REGULAR season but come playoff time, it's a different animal.

Heck, case in point is the Rockets. 54 wins were attained inspite of a McHale not because of him.

Come play off time, irrespective of how talented a team is, they need a real coach who can inspire confidence, make adjustments on the fly, the right rotations, call the right timeouts etc for that team to succeed and McHale is not that.

 

I think we have a VERY good chance of winning this game. Game 3 in POR will be the real test of the series...

 

No argument there. McHale did a horrible job in Game 1. No adjustments made on Aldridge or Lillard. The Rockets seemed to have no clue how to even get Harden free when they were inbounding the ball late in the game never mind what to do on offense once he did receive it. Taking Dwight out but not replacing him with Asik(or at least doubling Aldridge at that stage of the game).

McHale's biggest shortcomings all year long IMO have been his inability to get his team prepared for games(especially against inferior opponents), make in-game adjustments, and coach defense. All of those came back to bite the Rockets in the backside in Game 1.

 

Portland is not that better than us on the road either, n they managed to beat us

If we dont win game 2, we're in big trouble