the game was pretty much +/- 0 when harden himself was in. it wasnt until lin come in 4th quarter that the houston start blowing the pistols out
Blame Douglas for not being able to run the point. Literally, after seeing a few minutes of Douglas flopping around out their with the second unit, McHale had to get someone that can distribute on the court, Lin was also in foul trouble so it came down to Harden stepping up to carry the team last night. Hopefully, Douglas or Machado step up their games so they can actually contribute to the team because we can't have our starters play the entire game, especially if we have back to backs on one of those nights. McHale is old school, he expects players to sacrifice for the team, this has its benefits and draw backs. Still the fact is that Harden was needed last night but we can't have more nights like that unless we want to run him into the ground and in 2 or 3 years have another McGrady situation.
I was thinking the samething too, but it's still only the 1st game of the season. The rookies will get more mins once they are more ready.
The Rockets are one good backup PG away from having a VERY interesting 9-man rotation: PG - Lin, ?? SG - Harden, Delfino SF - Parsons, Delfino PF - Patterson, T. Jones, Parsons, C - Asik, G. Smith
It's important to get the 1st win, and there wasn't a good time to take Harden and Lin out last night otherwise we would have lost. Hopefully the backups are ready soon and before we play Harden/Lin to death.
I mostly agree here. I think Jones is an unknown (to work consistently at this level) so id say we have 7 guys who seem ready. I too think 9 is the number, so with 2 spots suspect, there is going to be some gaps in our play until this is resolved.
delonte west is a FA. not that i like him, but just putting it out there. I wish we kept livingston though, he's a far better playmaker and ball handler than douglas.
Conflict of interest. Spread minutes and develop youngsters while preventing injury is good for the team long term, but it hurts the record and coach's(even GM's) reputation in short term. Remember when yao came back from foot injury and the medical staff limited his minutes to 20 minutes? Adelman played yao for exactly 20 minutes right before his 6th foul in his first game back. He would have played yao longer than the limit in first game had yao not been fouled out. Why? Because it's his record and reputaion at risk. Patience and long term planning is one of reasons why Spurs and OKC are so good. They develop talent slowing with patience.
