One game...? You must not be paying attention, this wasn't one freak accident... This isn't a fluke... This just a game where the stats make it glaringly obvious to even the all-is-well-turn-a-blind-eye-to-what-you-see-on-the-court analysts... How many wing players have had career nights against the Rockets just THIS season.. as early as it is...? How many times has Harden been called out for contributing to this nonsense...? Along with every one of our wings... It's happened with Parsons and Lin on the team, it's merely magnified in their absence... There's a lackadaisical aura without reproach that's nothing new about this team and it stems from it's "leading" superstar... Now you have Dwight expressing dissatisfaction with the level of effort from the team... What more do you need..? The only "nutjobs" here are the ones that refuse to face facts... The same kind of mentality that's enabling this nonsense to continue ... "It's an 82 season, this happens", says Harden... What more do you need to see that there's a problem...?
There is no reasoning with some of the idiots on this board. Apparently one bad decision by Popovich in the NBA Finals no less - outweighs the ludicrous amount of good things he has done - and provides fuel for the fire that 'OMG GUISE poppy made a mistake he should be fired too hehehe'. That is seriously the only arguement I see from a couple of fools on here. I cringe because I know they truly believe it.
Should I upload the clip of the final play that McHale drew up after calling a timeout? Get the ball in, pass to Howard, Howard hands off to Harden & everyone get out of the way. I love my Rockets more than anyone can imagine. I love Dwight Howard & James Harden...heck, I even admire Coach McHale, but it doesn't mean I don't cringe every time he picks up his white board to draw up a play. Some guys are X's & O's and some are motivational 'rah, rah!' types. We have the later. Prove me wrong.
It okay having a rah rah coach but when you another Sampson rah rah coach and a mime in finch, we are doomed
There was a game this season where Dwight was worse than Asik and Mchale pretty much let Asik close the game out. The Rockets were playing well with that unit, and the Rockets were able to squeak out that win. Howard wasnt even mad that he wasnt on the floor. He accepted the decision as the right one. Mchale had a chance yesterday to reign in Harden last night. Harden was just playing bad basketball. He shouldve have stuck with that unit which got the lead down to 3 or even swapped out Howard with Tjones. Instead, he decided to bring back Harden as well...and the offense totally stuck and the Suns quickly reestablished control of the game. Mchale needs to man up and coach this team.
If you haven't notice already, Harden, Parson and Beverley are untouchable. They will get their 40 minutes a night. Everyone in the league saw what Tucker did to Harden and there will be more and more tactic like this. They will put a man on Harden and tell him to ignore team defense.
If you are a coach and cannot control your player, then you have to go. It is no different than being a manager that your team don't respect.
From Reddit: Coming out of deadballs, Rick Carlisle drew up plays resulting in scores 9 out of 10 times for 20 points Tired of watching this team turn the ball over consistently or play hero ball after a time out. Dwight is wrong, this is about play calling and player management. THAT is coaching.
A terrible list honestly. Also Popovich has NOTHING to do with McHale. There is only one Popovich and what he does or does not do has no value when addressing the merits of McHale. Coaches utilize different strategies and different philosophies. Popovich is arguably one of the 3-4 best coaches ever, he is obviously better than McHale for a variety of reasons. However, Popovich is not available.
Normally I could see what you're saying, but... Of our first two units, roughly half of it was injured- and a good portion of our healthy players outside of Harden were also playing bad. When you have so few players to play to begin with, and most of them are struggling, it's only natural to put in your best offensive player- in hopes that he will suddenly spark in the 4th quarter (which, let's be honest, Harden has had a handful of games where he stuck for the first 3 quarters and then scored 15+ in the 4th quarter). I'm honestly not sure why it's such a big deal that Harden was kept in, given the lack of choice McHale had.
however this happens when all of those players mentioned are available. Scoring hasn't been an issue of ours since jvg's first couple of years. Infact, you add Asik and not harden to the 2011-2012 roster they get a higher seed than last year's team. Harden needs to try to play defense in order for us to take that next step, otherwise what harden is doing is not much of an upgrade from what kmart used to do in his early years. What good is being able to create a shot for yourself when you kill 15 seconds off the clock, seconds that could be used in the basketball finding a more open shooter.
I get what you're saying, but I don't believe in that philosophy. I've always been a fan of going with the "hot hands". The starters were playing like crap the entire game. And the bench came in and wasn't just doing "okay", they were dragging us back into the game. When faced with one unit playing like crap, and the other unit dominating, then you ride it and see what happens. I get that Harden is a Vet, but it wasn't like Harden was just a little off and the bench was "okay", Harden was terrible to that point and the Bench was playing great. Harden's allowed to have an off day. That's not on McHale. Letting Harden back in when it's clear that he's not himself and the Bench is lighting it up... that IS on McHale.
I would say a couple of our bench players (Brooks and Casspi) were playing decent, but not great. In the end, Casspi had some sloppy plays and Brooks was only shooting 39%. If they were absolutely blowing the Suns off the court with their performance, I could understand keeping them in. I just can't blame McHale for believing that decent play out of two players on your second unit isn't enough to sit by far your best offensive player- even if he is having a bad night up to that point. Especially since, like I said, Harden has plenty of history of playing meh for 3 quarters and then having a monster 4th quarter. Overall McHale is pretty good about staying with the hot hands, so I actually think that aspect of his coaching is very good usually. I suppose I'll just have to agree to disagree. All in all, though, I don't think we need to worry too much at the moment. So far we're still having a very good season.
McHale probably isn't a good coach for this squad anymore... you can blame the players for their lack of effort, drive, accountability, whatever, but at the end of the day, there's only so much you can blame on the players. It's always easier to replace the coach rather than the player. Harden really needs a coach to motivate him to put in effort. :X This team needs a coach who can smooth out egos and hold players accountable. This is not a knock on McHale being a fail coach. If anything, his above .500 record every season shows that he's pretty good compared to the rest of the NBA coaches as a whole. But in terms of getting the team to a championship... questionable when he can't hold players accountable on the defensive end.
