Lillard might have made the shot, but Lopez beat us.

Yup. That defensive assignment absolutely baffled me.

 

I knew Lopez was decent in Phoenix, but he just played so solid this series. Short of missing shots, he made almost no mistakes as far as I was concerned. He was always in the right spot for a putback or rebound. He was no star, but he absolutely filled his role and earned whatever the hell they're paying him.

 

1) The Harden on Lopez and

2) Playing Jones in the second half and hoping he rebounds for us

...absolutely killed the Rockets.

Those were head scratchers for me.

 

lopez did the same thing in the last game too. he scored easily every time we put harden on him. as he should because that's a joke.

 

He also made the only 2 FTs he attemtped which had he missed just one... ahh but then again if your Aunt had balls she'd be your Uncle so...

 

I still think DMO should have gotten 3 or 4 minutes of spot time...and for those very type situations.

 

Yes, especially when it has been tried in G4 with the same result. I understand that Asik need some rest and that Harden operate better on the offensive side w/o the TT. Just put Howard on Lopez and Harden on LMA. At least Harden has some success guarding LMA.

 

to be fair...lopez is the one who botched the rebound on the play that parsons scored on with .9 seconds. but, yes, he played a good series and is a solid big.

 

Lopez was good for the series you know why?

1) seemed to hit the shots that were giving to him, a random jumper, hook here and there
2) offensive boards wtf
3) blocks
4) decent rim protector

hes a solid big that works really well with the team.

but let's not pin it on that exact moment where we gave up points. i felt it was also a coaching mistake to give it to dwight that much in the 4th, he was bound to miss his FTs and he did. should mix it up please.

new coach - next.

 

Lopez is very steady and plays big. The Aldridge/Lopez lineup, I feel, made for a difficult matchup. They play hard and hit their FTs. They don't present much liability in the court, at least not in this series. But in my home we were all going "WTF??!" watching Harden D up a 7 footer.

 

Why didn't we play DMo?

I get that he can be clumsy at times but he does two things all the time...

A.) Gives 110 percent
B.) Never thinks he's bigger than the team. Moves the ball...

For Dmo to play all season and get 0 mins is just stupid. At one point of the season he played better than Jones and he didn't even get a shot...

Any ways...yeah it was dumb. Thought Dmo might get a shot with the foul trouble but Mchale thought Harden could guard a dude half a man taller than him.

 

McHale didn't respond in time to their big lineup in the fourth. Took like 4 possessions to Jones, not that it helped.

 

Blame goes to Mchale...

 

I thought that, given the situation, putting DMo in just to be tall could buy time for the team so Asik could rest. Just put the kid in and remind him to keep his hands up, foul hard, and flop.

I think McHale left some good stuff in that guy just chilling on the bench all season.

 

Re-watch the game. Everything i say here is true. Lopez got pushed on a lay up and he missed his first shot. From then on he pushed everyone around and he fouled dwight a lot. He grabbed everyone when they shot it and wrapped their arms/held them so they could not rebound. The refs pretty much told him go ahead and beat everyone up, we wont call it.

Expect him to foul out a lot next series.

 

Which other nba coach would put Harden on Lopez? I cant think of any.

 

2 early home losses cost us