This loss is on every one! Harden for playing like careless and having dumbass TOs. D'antoni for only playing 7 players when every one is tired af, and not even giving Harrell some burn to get rebounds, Morey for being an idiot and not getting another big before the trade deadline, me for yelling at the tv and almost causing Hell rise on earth, you all for existing and causing basketball to exist. ****!
D'Antoni took a calculated gamble and it burned us. Maybe we don't even make it to OT if he plays Decker or Harrell. Lesson learned, move on to the next game.
Rockets blew teams out in the regular season. There were virtually no OTs. No experience gained from that.
If Morey is going to hire a coach who refuses to play young players in the postseason, he should go ahead and ship all the young players out and replace them with vets. Luhnow did the same thing with the Astros. Brought in Beltran, McCann, Redick, and Aoki, and the manager not surprisingly inserted all of them into the starting lineup. The offseason should consist of chasing stars and loading the roster with reliable vets.
This is a coach's observation and judgement based on what he sees and what his team is doing. Everyone bashing Harden for the loss and rightfully so, he played horrible in the waning minutes so the bashing is justifiable (even though the Rockets would be an 8 seed at best without him and out of the first round even if they had made the playoffs). However, look at the other side! Leonard (the opposing teams superstar) was hurt and still effective, scoring points and playing defense. His coach recognized that his superstar could hurt the team down the stretch and sat him down. Harden was playing awful to the point that a change should be made and coach just let his team spiral out of control. This isn't just on Harden, the entire team was playing HORRIBLE, but still had a led. Not saying that he should have taken Harden out of the game (which would be justifiable if he did), but he should have rallied his troops. The moment I mentioned in the OP was the turning event of the game. When the ball crossed half court and the score was 104 - 101, in favor of the Rockets, a time out should have been called and a play drawn up to give his team a much needed rest and to give them the best chance to score. If the time out was taken and the Rockets couldn't score, oh well, we tried and lost. However, coach had three time outs at his disposal. Failure to use one cost the Rockets the game., and perhaps the series. Only playing a 7 man rotation is also on the coach, not Harden.
Harden looked gassed. Playing defense in the post against Gasol and Aldridge took its toll on him, he cannot keep doing that consistently the entire game and still be expected to run the offense. There has to be a way to play Dekker and Harrell a combined 12-15 minutes a game without having a dropoff in production.
What we are seeing is an issue that should have been addressed a long time ago. In the first round offensively the Rockets did not play well in the waning minutes to close out games, fortunately for us neither did the Thunder. The Spurs are a more discipline team, they will move the ball around for an open shot or drive to the basket. The Rockets dribble the clock down to 6 seconds and then try to make a play, there is often not a lot of time to move the ball around to get a good shot or for a second drive and kick, and yes we seem to be turning over the ball a lot at this time too.
This loss was squarely on Harden. He had the ball in his hands and made poor decision after poor decision down the stretch. If you tired, get your a** off the ball and let Gordon create something. Holding the damn ball til 5 secs on the clock is horrible. He should know better than that. He blew a perfect opportunity to steal game 5 on their court, with that bullsh*t play he does holding the ball and dribbling in one spot running down the clock. He HAS to play at a faster pace. When he slows it down that gives the defense a chance to lock in on him. He is making simmons look like a star. To James Harden: If you feeling a lil winded, MOVE THE DAMN BALL MAAAAAN! Gordon can play.
There's a saying if you've ever played the game before "fatigue makes cowards of us all", Harden (the rockets PG) in the short rotation was pushing Gasol and LMA down low on defense for many stretches of the game and he looked spent towards the end with many mental lapses and his inability to go one on one against several Spurs defenders. I'm not making excuses for Harden but anyone in the league not named Lebron would have been exhausted at the end of that game. Who would have thought at the beginning of this series Harden would have to check LMA and Gasol for long stretches of a game.
I agree that's why I feel MDA is a huge part of last night's debacle. However, Harden has been a mental midget before during the playoffs when the rotation wasn't short.
This falls entirely on coach, no excuses. Dekker and Trez deserve to see the court. His stubborness might have cost us the series, a series we could of easily won had he had the presence of mind to adjust on the fly. If Rudy T. wouldn't have had the balls to trust Sam Cassell we would of never have beaten NY. But this guy wants to prove he knows best. He's letting his pride get in the way, and that is inexcusable!
This is where I am at. It is one thing to push pace and be the team engine, but Harden has that extra burden of all that energy bodying up Aldridge & Gasol in the post. That is going to take it's toll. It saps his energy and makes him more likely to take pull up 3's (with tired legs) versus driving to the basket or probing the lane. Also makes him more prone to mistakes and turnovers. It was all on display. I think Harden on PF's defensively is fine in stretches. But for the "entire game" that is another matter. They haven't dealt with that situation all year. Even if MDA doesn't want to play Harrell, giving Dekker 10 minutes would at least be something. Also, if memory serves, Harden came back at the 8min mark vs the 6min mark in the 4th. 2 more extra minutes on those legs.
This is the truth, this loss is on Harden. MDA gives him free reign to dictate the offense and last night James failed to execute in the ot period. Besides who can stay mad at a basketball lifer like this
Absolutely is on MDA. I don't care who is or isn't on the bench, if Pop can find minutes for Kyle Anderson and David Lee, MDA can find something for Dekker/Harrell. No excuse to go 7 deep, especially when 3 of the 7 are little guards. Harden was gassed at the end. All the mistakes he made, I chalk it up to fatigue, no legs to drive by guys or elevate. And when you're tired you don't make the best decisions. He at times had to guard Kawhi, chase around patty mills, bang with gasol and LMA, in addition to being the Alpha and Omega on offense. You can't tell me fatigue isn't an excuse after all that. From today's Ringer article: The best D’Antoni teams had the same fundamental flaws: an extremely short rotation, and an exposed vertebra. At his most successful, he finds a singular player capable of serving as the backbone to his organizing principles — but it comes at a price. In a battered Harden, D’Antoni is confronted by the specter of his past: an overclocked Steve Nash, whose burden of being a one-man system always caught up to him in the postseason as his body broke down.
I hate to sound like I know the team better than D'Antoni. He clearly knows his team better than anyone on this board. That said frequently what we've seen in championship runs is the ability for a bench player to provide key relief for the stars. For those who remember the 1996 championship will remember how Charles Jones, who some didn't think should be in the league, ably stepped up against Shaq to give Dream some needed rest. Expanding your bench to include players who are young or old, and have seen little playing time is always a risk but so is running your stars into the ground.
