i know folks this game 6 was a tough one, but just for fun what would you do on that last defensive possession if you were kevin mchale? for me if i was kevin mchale i would tell my players to give everything they got to to extend this series to a game 7 in houston and i would pointout to watch for lilard to take the game winning shot that its ok to give up a two instead of a three (in that way if portland makes a two the game will be in overtime) since the score was 96-98. also i would tell t-jones to pressure the inbounder as much as he can. feel free to comment down below folks i wanna know what your thoughts on this
It would have never gotten to that because I'd have made adjustments and played the matchups and had DMo out on Lopez instead of Harden or Jones so that the team would have actually kept the lead. It takes a really "special" kind of coach to think putting a SG on a 7 foot center is a good idea.
If you were going to have a man on the inbounds, it should have been Dmo, not Jones, it's about size and trying to obfuscate vision. But then i don't think the inbounds pass should have been guarded, I'm putting Harden on the inbounds with his eyes on the distance and playing Parsons on Matthews, Lin on Williams and Bev on Lillard.
Back off of the guy inbounding since he's useless offensively with 0.9 seconds left. Then put 2 guys on Lillard and make sure he cannot get a clean look at the 3. The other 3 guys would then match up with the remaining 3 Blazers. Basically my gameplan would be to force someone other than Lillard to beat me. Not saying it couldn't happen, but I'd much rather Batum be taking that 3-pointer than him.
I don't think I would have worried about telling them to give everything to get to game 7. I'm pretty sure the players really didn't care about winning the series. Chandler Parsons was laughing and high fiving after Lillard made the shot, he thought it was all just a big joke, he could care less about defending. And he only looked bad because it was his man - whoever they passed to would have been wide wide open. Is this thread for real??? I'm pretty sure we would have all done the same as McHale, tell them to guard someone and switch on all screens. Unfortunately we had a breakdown when it counted most - sux, but that's life. Good shot Lillard from way downtown, let's retool into a 60 win team for next season.
harden had no reason to be in the last defensive play. put in anyone but harden... also guarding the inbound.......
Parsons on inbounder - jumping like crazy and not giving any space taking away angles to the 3-point line. I would have put Bev, Garcia and Lin on the perimeter and told them to switch everything. No need to gamble on the catch just make Lillard work for the spot. The player that guards the inbound has to make that difficult. Stotts or Lillard said that Aldridge was the 1st option - same with Dwight - make him work for the spot but don't get beat on the catch. I just can't understand why McHale said to them to stay on your man. It's obvious in a situation like that to switch everything and no allow anything open from perimeter.
It's ***king 0.9 secs. You double Lillard from the get go with Lin and Parsons. Put Asik/Howard on the inbounder to shut the daylight and the other on LMA. And PBev guarding two men where the ball is going. Harden should be subbed out. McFail really lives up to his name.
The one obvious thing is TAKE HARDEN OUT, he had no business being out there for the last play! That's a no-brainer! ....... ....... .......
1. Sub Harden for Lin. 2. Put Parsons on the in-bound pass to reduce passing angles. He's actually smart enough to see a play developing and provide weak side help defense on a curl/screen. 3. Put in Garcia for TJones. TJones is a post defender, NOT a perimeter defender. Bev/Lin - Lillard/Mo -- they're the only 2 that are fast enough to match foot speed to contest Dwight - LMA - duh. Parsons - inbound, long and smart enough to provide help side Garcia - Matthews/Batum - long enough to contest and experienced perimeter defender Defensive line up of Dwight, Lin, Bev, Parsons, and Garcia.
You have to put in your best defensive lineup, that is Howard, Lin, Bev, Garcia, Parsons. Since Batum is inbounding the ball, you have one free safety, which will be Parsons. Parsons does not guard Batum, instead he plays free safety in the lane. Howard is to front Aldridge, that takes out any plays towards the basket since there is no way they will make a lob pass to aldridge with Parsons playing behind in the lane. Since Parsons is playing free safety in the lane, bev, Lin, and garcia are all to play ball side since there is no danger of a backdoor play because parsons is playing free safety in the lane. That means that worst case is that Portland only has two options, one is a very risky, lob to the far corner, or alternatively, a short on the wing with a man right in his grill.
That's the problem. We have no offensive go-to plays. We have no defensive go-to plays. We should have been coaching Hamilton, Garcia, even DMo for moments like this. Instead we make half our roster spectators. We should have been using defensive/offensive substitutions. They're still discussing how to guard last second plays. My God, you had the whole season to polish that.
