Sources: McHale using Sampson's absence as an excuse for poor defense

I think he's suggesting doubling LMA and seeing if other Blazers step up.

 

October??.... They will be fine come May when they get to go to Cali for an early vacation.

Tom Haberstroh from ESPN commented about sort of the Locker room aura of the Rockets, and the conclusion he came to was Harden was frustrated that Dwight was refusing to run the P&R with him, and was insisting on posting up every play and it really threw their normal offense, and James' game out of whack.

Tom didn't report any in-fighting or punches thrown. If there was ANYTHING there to report, I'm sure he would have commented on that. The media guys have been dying for a Dwight implosion all season long so I'm sure if they got anything, we'd hear about it.

During the season, Dwight ran the pick and roll quite a bit, and if you recall they had a ton of success with those plays where Harden posts, Dwight makes the high post pass, and they switch for a Dwight dunk.

Those types of plays have been non-existent in the playoffs thus far, and alot of it has to do with the fact that the Rockets offense has a completely different identity, and that has really hurt Harden's game. People need to get out of Dwight's ear about being Hakeem on the low post. Its great that he's stepping up, but it has to be within the Rockets normal offense. The Dwight post up should only really be a part of their offense, and should be primarily to draw a double team to get open shots for everyone else. Sometimes he has to be Hakeem on the low block to draw the double team, but often he needs to only be getting his post ups within the normal offense.

However, come next Summer in training camp, and next season.... the normal Rockets offense will obviously be what this team goes back to. The problem is come playoff time, will they be able to devise any of their normal sets into a slow it down, playoff setting? That's on the coach because its his responsibility to put his best players in position to be as good as they can be. He's not doing that in this series.

I dont feel angry at Dwight for trying to dominate and put the team on his shoulders (isn't that what Shaq, and EVERYONE has been saying he should do because that's how they played in Orlando?), and I don't feel angry at Harden being frustrated because he's not getting involved to play-make.

This is on the coaching for being reactionary and frantic with their insistence on needing to change their entire identity in the playoffs when they are playing against a team that is built for half-court playoff offense (even though they are stat savvy, and LOVE going small when they can).

The Harden blame the past few days has been very much over the top. The guy has a right to be a bit frustrated. This coaching scheme has completely eliminated the effectiveness of the best player on the team.

 

Do you see any other players in the team that completely gave up and didn't make much efforts when the coach decided to change their roles or reduce their minutes? Its called not being professional and not a team player. In contrast to what he thinks, he is not bigger than the team. Acting like a baby in playoff games when getting frustrated? The problems with having 'super stars' is the media tend to hype them up so much. Its bad when even the players started to believe the hypes. People start to believe Harden and Dwight are the best in their positions. That Bev can shut anyone down. Parsons thinking he is the 3rd star. Everyone playing hero ball. Well now, the emperor has no cloth and the reality bubble has burst.

 

Blame whoever you want bubba. Obviously James deserves criticism sure. However it's not the sole reason they have lost the first two games.

The root cause is that this team completely let the playoffs take them away from what they normally run.

Hardens reaction to the team being out of rhythm sucks, but it's not the root of the problem, just a systemic reaction that should be expected when a superstar diva gets frustrated because he can't get involved in the offense. Right or wrong it should be expected and planned for when this happens and the team and coaches don't adjust to get the team and their stars going.

 

Don't forget Luis, he played great when Yao started having problems with fronting.

 

This is TMac 2.0. Houston loves to scapegoat and chastise the stars because it's therapeutic I guess. However when the star is gone or no longer in their prime you whine about the good ol days.

Typical disgruntled houston fans. H town has some of the best fans but also the most disgruntled. Just remember to enjoy what you have now cause it won't last forever.

Signed,

Bagwell
Warren Moon
TMac
The Oilers
Yao
Etc.

 

Sources: I'm starting to believe OP has no sources.

 

I sincerely believe, no matter what McHale does, he will be fired. I really hope we win tonight. However, we go 0-3... even though we're 4th seed, we're in no better position than last year when we were 8th seed.

 

When Houston was down 0-2 to Phoenix the roar of bad coaching by Rudy was legendary. I was there. CH's point is well taken. We are in the same place today. Too many fans turn like rabid dogs. If McHale is not re-signed it'll improve Harden's shooting by 30% of course. Ridiculous. And Lin will think about what he's doing BEFORE jumping into the air. Naturally.

McHale hasn't had a turn over yet, so there's that.

 

I'm not a big McHale fan, and there were definitely things he could have done better. You can say the same for Harden, as well as others. In fact, you could probably find blame on just about everyone on the team to some degree.

But let's be honest, any number of small changes and we would have won these two games. Would you still be complaining then?

In both of these games, the Rockets didn't play their style of offense that they have thrived on all season. I think this is for a number of reason, like trying to go to Dwight more than normal, taking mid-range jumpers when outside shots were available, not getting out on fast breaks, etc. But ask the question--Why?

Here are some of my observations:

• Harden is shooting 30% from the field for the series so far
• Aldridge is shooting 60% for the series so far
• Houston shot 23% from three in the first game
• Houston shot 19% from 3 in the second game
• With Aldrige hitting a large number of his shots in mid-to-long range 2, that didn't allow Houston to get out on the fast break as often--Portland was spaced out well and not many near the basket, which means players are too far down court after a make to really get an speed.
• Since Houston wasn't hitting their outside shots, why not try some mid-range shots?

Think about it this way--late in game 2, we're down by a couple of baskets and Harden pulls an ISO--blame Harden. Wait, but there was no movement of other players, so he didn't really anyone open to pass to--blame the others on the floor. But wait, McHale didn't tell them to move the ball--blame McHale.

You can argue any number of these points and place blame on whoever you want.

I agree Harden should be shooting better. This timing is unfortunate.
I agree that Houston hasn't been playing their style of play. Numerous reasons here.
I agree Howard shouldn't be refusing to do P&R b/c it's been really successful.
I agree that the team looked dejected and defeated the last half of the 4th quarter, even when they got close.
I agree McHale should have made adjustments, period.
I agree that the team should be shooting better from 3 (we live or die by it).
I agree that we shouldn't be taking mid-range shots. Gotta make outside shots.

Just realize that if ANY of these things would have been different we WOULD have won Game 1 and LIKELY would have won Game 2.

We've played terribly, and we've nearly won both games, while Portland has played quite well (though Batum has not really shown up).

 

Also had Joel Przybilla and Greg Oden front Yao which was his kryptonite.

 

Good post!

 

From Bill Simmons' mail bag... ouch.

The NBA isn’t complicated — to blow a series when you have a more talented team, you’d need an offensive game plan that’s two steps below rudimentary, no defensive mind-set whatsoever, a slew of head-scratching rotation decisions, an overall emphasis on aggressively sloppy play, a stubborn refusal to change anything that’s not working, a lack of recognition for basic stuff like “That guy is headed for 40 points again, maybe we try something different defensively,” and the confidence to keep making terrible game-management choices in the final minute without learning from the previous game’s terrible game-management choices. Basically, you’d have to do everything that Kevin McHale is doing in the Houston-Portland series.

http://grantland.com/features/nba-playoffs-2014-33-burning-questions-from-round-1/

 

Its painful when you're reading this and realize its about your own team.

 

Seriously. It was in response to a question about Wittman and the Wiz, so I wasn't even thinking about Houston. Then as I started to read I was like heeeeeeeeey, that sounds like... oh.

 

damn, scola in prime would be great for this team. way better post ups than dwight howard and great midrange shooting.

 

Damn... that is brutal

 

ANY TIME you get to OT, literally ANY ONE THING would have won the game.

 

Its funny how Bill's own basketball consultant buddy Zach Lowe pretty much said the opposite that the Rockets should keep single coverage on LMA and continue to keep Dwight/Asik on him.

However Zach did say that he felt the quickness in game 1 to go to the TT within 5 minutes of the start of the game seemed panicky (which I agree with) but then Tom Haberstroh disagreed and said it was a power move.

Look guys.....

McHale is simply getting out-coached. That is a fact.

However it is, at best, a 50/50 call on alot of these in game coaching decisions. But to me what stands out is the LACK OF confidence McHale seems to have in anything the Rockets do. I can see that from a mile away.

Whether you double LMA or not is a debatable coaching decision. What isn't debatable though is that all great coaches would have made the decision confidently to do what they are going to do, and not panicked even when they had to make adjustments.

They also would have devised coaching schemes to force the OTHER TEAM to play into their strengths. That's not what McHale has done. The Rockets team that dominated the NBA January to March in a key chunk of the season is nowhere to be found, and instead we see a dis-jointed group of individual players that seem to be having an identity crisis.

This above any debatable coaching scheme holds more weight in the overall picture for the Rockets and their leadership in the end.

 

Folks need to get real honest with themselves

McHale wasnt brought here to win a championshp. He was brought here to babysit the team while Morey moved "assets" around

Anybody can tell he is not an x and o's guy. He keeps bringing marbles to play chess.

Morey should have this guys pink slip filled out and should be already looking for a real coach