Lineups, Matchups & the McHale Substitution Pattern

Dalembert must be hurt. Either that or the Rockets are mailing it in to stay in the 8th spot because of playoff match-ups.

 

They are not guaranteed of the playoffs now, they had a good shot, now they are about 50-50 assuming they can split with Denver.

DD

 

I guarantee you, both Dally and Camby will play in both 4th quarters in the upcoming games. Unless the Rockets jump back to 6th after tomorrows game.

 

You know what I'm saying. He can drop into the lane and step out. He just plays off until the penetrator heads for the rim. You know exactly what I'm saying.

And if your idea is to go down the stretch depending on Camby and Dally hitting jumpers you have another thing coming. If they're gonna be shooting from 12 feet, where do you think Gortat is? He's in the paint within an arms length. That's why I'm saying to spread the floor they gotta be out 20 feet.

What you are describing isn't a small ball spread it out and post up offense. You are describing Adelman's high post and cutters offense. And while Camby can do fine in that role, Dally would be a disaster trying to pass from the high post. Now, the reason we haven't run that offense most of the season is Camby just got here.

Chuck Hayes was very pivotal to the high post offense because of his ability to thread the needle with his passing when the defender played off of him and because when the defender attempted to smother him to prevent the pass, he had the handle to take it to the rim. Camby can't put the ball on the floor. He's either got to throw the pass or take that awkward looking jump shot. And the only way to get the spacing required and to bring Gortat out far enough for the cuts to work is Camby has to stand out at the top of the key or further back. He can't stand at the FT line and operate the high post offense.

What you are wanting is just not feasible with our personnel. Even Scola has trouble passing out of the high post. He automatically looks to the rim off the pick and pops and he forces way too many passes. While unselfish, he's not an elite passer.

The direction you are trying to go in would be met with the same failure that McHale is attempting to go in by running Scola at the low post and having shooters around him. Our personnel is just not good enough to do those things. McHale runs Scola out there at the 5, he gets his butt kicked on defense and a good long 5 just has to stand there with his hands up and shuffle his feet to give Scola a difficult time offensively. Not to mention we really can't run 4 shooters out there around Scola's post ups. We've got Parsons out there as one of the 4. And Courtney Lee running hot and cold from distance. Those aren't good enough shooters to be running small ball post up offense. And Camby nor Dally are effective enough shooters to be able to run the high post effectively, not to mention Dally is a horrible decision maker with poor passing skills.

What we should be running is Pick n Roll, not pick n pop, with the two bigs. You have a double post offense with Lowry and a big on one side and Dragic and a big on the other side. Whoever the big is on that side sets a pick and rolls to the rim. If they can't get it done, they roll out to the baseline, reverse the basketball and attack with the pick and roll from the other side of the floor. That's how you would play with two bigs on the floor. You get the D and you just run pick and roll until it is oozing out of the opponent's pores.

 

The point is we need a center in the game, and all they have to do is hit an occassional elbow jumper to keep them honest.

Scola at the 5 is a failed strategy, has been all year long.

DD

 

Looks and sounds as if Camby agrees.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ao-dhNPyo3w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

Camby's not happy, that's for sure and who can blame him. Guess he was ready to go which means McHale is definitely worrying me now..

 

He is being diplomatic, but he is 100% right in that he should be playing in the 4th quarter, McHale's navy has some wacky substitution patterns, no rhyme or reason, and no workie, either.

DD

 

I'm sure the poll results would have been much different as well if the board voted after any of those other games.
Someone else mentioned that maybe we are winning based on our players and in spite of of McHale's decision making?? Looks to me we have the pretty much the same roster as the two previous years and the record is producing about the same maybe a little bit better. Not much has changed, Daly for Hayes, not much if any of an upgrade. Dragis is playing lights out but so did Brooks and Lowry before him when they got their chance to shine. Scola is a year older and Martin has been hurt for over a month.
What we are is a slightly above average team with a slightly above average coach. We are going to win some games we have no business winning and lose some we should win.
Our main problem is we are a perimeter dominated team. Camby is a nice defensive presence but he does not give you a post game on offense. He settles for the 18 foot jumper which in my opinion is low percentage shot.
Daly is not a post presence and only helps on the defensive end.
What we need is a true post player. Our only option for that right now is Scola. When he is not going and our perimeter players are not hitting we are in trouble and you see 0-12 spells like last night.
I’m all for defense and rebounding but just don’t think it would have mattered last night because we could not hit a shot. Also let’s not forget that this small lineup has worked and won in several games this year.

 

McHale will get the message when the Rockets are not -16 in the third quarter when Camby played the entire qurarter.

http://popcornmachine.net/cgi-bin/gameflow.cgi?date=20120413&game=PHOHOU

 

D-U-M-B

If Dally were playing the entire 3rd quarter we would have been
-25.

And if Camby was the problem in the third quarter, McHale would've yanked him a lot earlier.

McHale was hoping the small ball lineup would give him a quick burst and get us back in the game before he brought Camby back to close.

 

One of the 7 footers must be on the floor at 95% of the game. We hardly ever finish with the 7 footers, we mostly finish with Scola as the biggest guy on the floor. I dont like this Patterson+Scola combo at all.

Both of those guys can hit outside shots, Sammy has moves down low as well. I would even dare to say at this point in their careers SammyD looks better in the post then Patterson.

 

I picked the first two options, even though they are contradictory.

Because I think for the most part, his substitutions are fine. However I think we do need to have a center in the game in the 4th. I don't believe that we have been losing in the 3rd quarters because of Camby.

 

If he's jacking around with the lineup out of confidence that his team is going to make the playoffs then he's worse than I thought.

Camby was extremely effective in the first half....and we gassed him entirely, apparently. So then where was Sam? I'm sorry, but our presence in the paint was what had us winning that game in the first half. To completely go away from having a legit center entirely in the 4th quarter is just a joke. We were one shot and out in the 2nd half it seemed. If you need to get Camby less minutes in the first half, then fine. Do it. But you can't go into the 4th quarter without a center at all and expect to win.

 

Was McHale a good coach or bad coach during the 4-0 road trip?

 

I'm not trying to make an overgeneralization about good or bad...I'm telling you I think it was a mistake to manage the game Friday night the way he managed the game.

 

Small ball has worked many times during the season. Those who are saying it doesn't need to reach back farther than the last couple of games.

McHale has his flaws, but when you're down, you need to try something different. He's not afraid to shake the rotations up, and he makes decisions based on the flow of the game. That..is his strength and weakness. He will not manage the minutes very well, but the players are never idle. Always playing hard to stay in the game.

Bottom line is we need to have Lowry healthy for the playoffs, so he can give McHale more options. McHale is a different type of coach than anything we ever had, but he definitely knows basketball. I'm still very excited about our chances in the playoffs.

 

Small ball with the personnel we have will not work against quality teams with quality coaches, which is what you face in the playoffs and in the push to get to the playoffs.