D’Antoni had 4 months to prepare for a Harden double-team and make a game plan around it, and looked clueless on what to do when Vogel did it in 4 straight games. Absolute disaster of a coaching job, rivaled by his 2017 WCSF debacle.
The short answer is some of both. The Lakers did make some adjustments in game two. The Rockets however largely did not adjust for the rest of the series. However all of it was not adjustments made by the Lakers, some of it was that the Rockets did not even try to push it a lot. One way to keep the paint from being packed is to get out in transition and to also hit 3’s and most the time the Rockets were not taking as many 3’s. MDA also didn’t do things like have McLemore play, who can hit 3’s. Also when Harden is doubled, Westbrook should be able to get off or at least get open 3’s for guys. He freely admitted he didn’t know what the hell was going on. That is at least partially coaching.
I think MDA gave Harden and Westbrook WAY too much leverage. Yes, Harden is a genius offensive player, but you are his coach, not his cheerleader. You are supposed to help him improve, not sit by and let him go without guidance.
we definitely need to give the Lakers credit...they did a good job of trapping and also getting out to the shooters we were able to play fast in game 1 and bomb away from three because the Lakers had yet to adjust their defense, and we were getting stops...the Lakers shot 42% from the field and 11-38 from deep in game 2, they shot 57% from the field in game 3, they shot 55% in game 4, they shot 49%, but it was well over 50% until they fell way off in the 4th...it shouldn’t be a surprise that in that 4th quarter we were able to play fast and speed up the tempo which also allows us to get looks from deep as the Lakers are scrambling we only have 2 ways of killing a team...Harden greatness, or exploding from three...we’re too limited all these other teams don’t need to shoot 50+ threes, and they still have better playoff offenses than we do...u need diversity and multiple ways to score in the playoffs...if a team doubles or traps Harden, and is able to do a good job getting out on shooters, we’re cooked unless we’re just flat out the better team and can still beat them regardless Why do the Rockets have to be so dependent on shooting 50 threes, especially when our shooters suck? It would be 1 thing if this extreme approach to efficiency translated to the postseason, but it never does.
If you actually watch Lebron, he does the stationary thing too, and is easy to double. I'm not making this up. Watch him vs LAC. Count how many time he's 25-30' out watching the play, or in the post being doubled, or out high with his drive clogged. So, since Lebron is on the best team now, and doing that, how can we say it's "a severe fault". Why can't you acknowledge that? They aren't mutually exclusive premises.
Maybe Harden saw improvement only in terms of improving his own game rather than improving the team game. Anyway, letting Harden get doubled clearly didn't work. I can't decide whether it's Harden being stubborn or MDA being stubborn. From MDA's comments, he seemed to be catering to the player's desire rather than telling him what to do.
Either way I put that mostly on MDA. If he allowed players to walk over him then he clearly did a poor job setting the teams culture and needs to move on to another situation or retirement.
Russel cant be a productive player because he will get exposed because he cannot shoot and is a bad scorer in general. If this happens to Giannis who is way better than Westbrook how do you see him having success?
But it does allow you to play 82 games. As dumb as he is, his energy/motor when healthy is still a problem for other teams.
If good teams can stop Giannis, they can certainly stop Westbrook who is vastly inferior to him and who is only going to get worse with age. He's never gonna be efficient enough to help this team win. Look at his TS% the last 3-4 years. This playoffs was one of his worst ever, he didnt even break 50%
Who is this magical play-drawing-calling scheming genius offensive mind who can also coach defense (or hire coaches who can)? Totally agree there should be a change, but... Same with the GM if you really wanted a change...Who? We all remember that these hires will be run by, approved by, and made by...Fertitta
This may now be my favorite internet sports quote ever. Up there with "Feng shui ain't got **** on Tron, son." But that one's not from this bbs and is not germane to the conversation.
You just can't have a dumb coach who doesn't know any Xs and Os, simple as that. Dumbtoni always gets outcoached and according to SAS he spends his the halftime going to his office instead of making adjustments on his team. I know WB gonna get scapegoated again but if the dude doesn't get any instruction what he heck is he supposed to do? We all know WB's BBall IQ isn't the highest, and while JH is a bball genius he has a tendency to be extremely passive at times. Both of them need a proactive coach who will take the reigns and give them direction ala Nick Nurse, Spoelstra, Vogel or even Budenholzer.
You don't need an offensive genius, for defense we already got Elston Turner who did a good job on defense. The Rox just need a tactician who knows how to make adjustments, no need for another trailblazer when you already have Harden.
