Hit the rim? One thing he should definitely not try to do is iso himself. 3 seconds is a decent amount of time. They both sucked. I mean sucked last night. It was their worst game together I've seen. How harden got to 30 is beyond me.
puting a small line up in late 3rd and begining 4th that f up the lead, didn't call time out at the right time to stop laker's momentum, nothing but Harden ISO in OT, putting Delfino on Gasol, no set plays throughout the season, Lin and Harden sucking in second half.
I lost count but there was about 30 - 45 minutes in the 4th where every single time the Rockets had the ball on offense, and sometimes on defense, something bone-headed happened where I screamed at the TV "WTF was that??" (my dog was very upset) Here are some of the things I can recall yelling at- -Stupid fouls -bad shots -not pushing the ball -no movement -way too much ISO, with no structured P&R plays -allowing Gasol to have a field day passing the ball for open looks -Not blocking out for rebounds So its DEFINITELY wasn't just one thing. So blaming one person for last nights loss isn't fair to anyone. It was a team collapse, and I felt that the coaching staff lost control of the team a bit. I generally think the Rockets have a 1st class coaching staff. Even though McHale himself is far from a perfect coach, the staff overall is very, very good. Last night I felt like they let the inmates run the prison too much on offense. However, thats the offense they run. Its essentially a free-for-all style of play that we all know wasn't going to work perfectly in playoff style basketball. Lets face it- In the playoffs this year, nobody should have thought this team was going to be able to contend with teams that can play in the half court well. They had success this season running teams into the ground, but its just not going to work in the half court. We should all just try to enjoy 4 or 5 fun games (2 at the TC) against a star studded OKC team that will probably get lots of national airtime. It will be a great learning experience for this young team, and give them lots of motivation this Summer to improve. I believe a 2nd round birth might actually lead to a false sense of accomplishment, and lead to a poor offseason. Last night sucked cause it was a national embarrasement, and it just so happened to benefit the Lakers significantly. However, it wasn't just one person, or one play that led to their demise last night. It was a team breakdown at all levels.
THe Rockets lost due to lack of ball movement (Harden hogging the ball) and the refs swallowed the whistles late in the game. The Rockets could not get a foul in the fourth quarter but we couldn't touch and LA player cause it was an immeadiate foul. Oh well, you can play the blame game all you want...it is what it is.
Good question followed by another one. Did we RUN ONE LEGIT PLAY THE ENTIRE 4th QUARTER OF THE PAST 2 GAMES?
JVG was on it all night. Lin is an 'outstanding' PnR player. Why wasn't there any in the 4th?? WHY!!! WHY McFAIL!!!!
I actually thought the Rockets were trying to actively throw the game. That's how bad the rotation was.
Harden ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO fail. The guy doesn't have the offensive skill of melo wade or kobe but he insist of going 1 on 1 just to shoot a 3 pointer at the end of shot clock.
No, they were playing great coming out of the half. A lot of ball movement with 3 pretty assists by Lin... THEN MCFAIL DID THE DUMBEST THING 2 GAMES IN A ROLL. YOU BENCH THE HOT HAND. YOU TAKE AWAY THE KEYS (LIN) TO THE CAR! Why! If you look at the game thread, every Clutch poster saw it coming.....how can 'everyone' see it coming except for Mcfail? FIRE MCFAIL!!
We lost because we played Harden played too much. Not necessarily this game, but the whole year. Delfino against Gasol was stupid. Didn't run enough. We should have ran more to tire out the old Lakers. Shoot earlier in the shot clock. Should have developed your best players earlier in the year for end of game situations even if it costs you some games (Lin, Asik etc...)
When almost everyone sees the lack of ball movement, this is what Harden saw: "It was my fault; I couldn’t make a shot. All of my shots felt good, it’s just they were short on the front of the rim."
I'll chalk this one up to the trade that gutted our PFs, and left us with a quartet of rookie/inexperienced players still learning their way. Didn't watch the second half but my guess is that PPat could have done a decent job on Gasol and also spread the floor a bit, taking pressure off our guards and wings. The trade definitely caused a short-term hit...the befuddling thing is that Thomas (whom Morey obviously coveted) can't even get off the bench. D R
Trying to draw fouls on the lakers in the last minutes of the game is a bit futile. Harden passing the ball to Lin in the last seconds of the shot clock really hurt and the lack of anyone pulling up mid range and hitting a jumper instead of bowling all the way to the basket praying for a foul is beyond me. My judgement may be off though. 5 Makers straight will do that to you.
