Na, he's still a bad coach by all means. I'd take a new improved coach in the blink of an eye. Wouldn't put Rox in desperate situations. It was the team that got it done not the the buffoon coach.
This is great post. I feel like we have all had our doubts about him but man not too many coaches have won a ring as a player and now have the chance to do it as a coach. I realize that the game is different today but winning still takes the same qualities it always has. I think anyone that has been a champion especially multiple times should get peoples respect. On a side note my company is headquartered in Boston so I go there 3 to 4 times a year for work. It is kind of fun to see your coaches picture up everywhere you go in that city. I kid you not it is in just about every sports bar and restaurant. I took a tour of Fenway and they had a huge picture of McHale in the Redsox team store. A basketball player in the baseball team store. Pretty cool.
Well said about Rudy T. He didn't even want the job. Dawson had to convince him he was the right guys and he'd teach him the x's and o's of the game. Clutch City NEVER would have existed if it wasn't for Rudy's ability to get the guys to trust each other and most importantly themselves. McHale is working that same angle with this group. Go Rockets
The only reason we won this game is Mchale's treatment of Josh and giving him the confidence to play big when they needed him to. Without his coaching, Josh would have remained an NBA outcast. Props to Mchale.
I don't get it with some people. He's literally gotten better as an in-game coach every year and you guys still aren't satisfied.
i never wanted him fired. i just wanted someone better and make him the lead assistant. if rockets cant get anyone then keep him. i hate his lack of x's and o's knowledge. he's arguably the best player-coach.
Kudos to him, man. I've been accused of being a McHale apologist here, but even I was literally standing in front of the TV w/ my index finger on the screen, trying to swipe Harden off the bench & into the game down the stretch. x_x I'm glad McHale knew better than I did.
I can't believe it either. But he had balls sitting Harden out in the 4th and running with Smith to the end. I don't trust it completely but at least we looked good.
He made adjustments 1 game too late........BUT he might get away with it. And if he does he deserves that extension he got earlier in the season ten fold. I think there's only a handful of coaches that can bring out the best in Josh Smith. 1) Milk Hair 2) Milk Hair 3) Milk Hair 4) Milk Hair 5) Milk Hair
I felt like I was the only person who was over-joyous when McHale decided not to go with Harden in the 4th. I love me some Harden, but the squad out there was getting it done. I know a lot of people we screaming for Harden over Terry, but I don't know. Terry played some good pressure defense on CP. The match ups were perfect. Everybody on that floor was in sync and locked in completely. Smoove was feeling it offensively. Dwight was a freakin beast defensively. Brewer was a mad man. Ariza was giving you the typical jack of all trades game, and Terry was just out there Jetting it up. Harden had a good game despite the poor shooting night. I'm glad McHale stuck with those 5 guys though. I have always said we can't win a series if we rely on Harden going for 43 on 20 shots. It's a good game for sure, but we win as a team. We will always win a team. That unit was playing like more than a team. They were brothers on enemy territory declaring it Clutch City. McHale did well.
It takes a ballsy coach to do what he did the last few games and he's adjusted very well. Rudy T was more pro-active with his moves, but very much the same as McHale and he deserves a lot of credit. Still hoping for that X's and O's assistant / head coach in the future though, because we need more diversity. If we had lost this game, those few minutes with Harden holding the ball, let the shot clock expire and desperation shots was cringe worthy. Still believe a coach needs to step in there and take charge more, but we live and we learn. McHale might become a better coach with the years, who knows, he has shown that with us at least. Definitely better and more adjustments than previous years, better chemistry with different groups on the floor and even some flashes of genius here and there
Sitting Harden for the entire 4th was ballsy and incredibly risky, but I'll give him props for sticking with it. I don't think I would've had the stones to do that with the entire season on the line. But there's no denying that unit that was out there was playing incredible ball. And I don't even think this thread is necessary. McHale is not getting fired. The Game 5 blowout win alone put the odds of that happening at close to 0%. After the Game 6 comeback, he's gonna be here next season. As he should be. BTW, one factor that's been almost completely ignored by everyone in the media(although Jon Barry did allude to it briefly late in the game) is that the Clippers were likely totally out of gas in the 4th. Especially Paul and Griffin. When you play almost the entire game and have to carry the team's offense, you're gonna be spent in crunch time. Notice how the guys on the Rockets who led the comeback hadn't logged too much time up til then(aside from Dwight)? They could crank it up another gear or two while the Clippers had nowhere to go and were forced to slow the game down and try to hold on for dear life. That's the key BTW going into Game 7. The Rockets won Games 5 and 6 by basically allowing Griffin and Paul to get theirs and holding the rest of the Clippers in check. Just follow that same formula(while playing solid D), and they can close this out on Sunday.
He has gotten better. The Maverick's coach Carlise who the crowd qualifies as a coaching genius, and who who was partly responsible for Rondo quitting, said before the series that McHale is a student of the game who just loves it. He is getting better.
When the guys were down, but not quite out, there was McHale saying: (close but not exact per telecast) "OK guys, be joyous and have fun. There's some more basketball to be played. Go for it."
Was the dumbest thing ever McHale employing the hack-a-strategy with the lead or was it Doc doing it later on in the same game? Or maybe it was McHale using it with a lead to close out game 5? Or maybe it was Pop using it effectively, with the lead in his series against the Clippers or during the regular season? Or maybe it's only the dumbest thing ever when McHale does something that doesn't work because you already have a preset narrative about him being dumb. I swear, McHale could call a brilliant play that got James Harden a wide open 3 to end the game, and if he missed the shot people would say McHale was dumb for not going to Dwight. If he made it they'd say it was obvious to go to Harden and talent carried him again. LOL I knew as that 4th quarter was going on that McHale would be insulted no matter what happened. If he brought Harden back and they lost, he killed the momentum again. If he left Harden on the bench and they lost, he was an idiot for not bringing back his best player. If he did either and won he got lucky.
