I want to know everyone's short observations from this debacle. Here are mine. 1. Jeremy Lin- is not a rotation player on a NBA Playoff team. Silly turnovers - Can't play defense - Liability on the Court. He is a borderline NBA player. 2. James Harden- is an elite offensive player but is just awful at defense. Most of defense is pure "want to" and Harden has none. His D is a joke. 3. Kevin McHale- is not a good enough coach for the playoffs. The in game adjustments have been bad. The out of timeout plays have been terrible. And for some reason he can't motivate Harden to play any defense. This was just my way to vent. However I still dont feel any better.
Howard has been great, but I also am not a fan of going to him all the time. He get 17 FGA to get 27 points. It looks good on paper, but we can't win if he's our closer. We need Chandler, Lin, and especially Harden to step up and make clutch shots or plays. We need to utilize the pick n roll more as well. It was great watching James and Dwight terrorize the Blazers with it. I think over all we're more talented than the Blazers, but we're just catching bad breaks seemingly every play. Mostly in the 4th quarter..
Rockets needs to improve in the following departments: 1. 3 point shooters - Every championship caliber team has good 3 point shooters who can take advantage of double teams of their superstars. It's no coincidence that we won the only game with Daniels got his first minutes in the playoff. 2. Veteran leadership - Harden, Parsons and Lin looked anxious and lost confidence at times and we need a leader who could calm their ass down. 3. A better coach who can make in-game adjustments and draw plays. Mchale can't get the job done.
This is lazy and dumb. He's vastly inconsistent, yes, but that doesn't mean he 's not a rotation player on a team. He's played pretty well in games 1 and 3 and wet the bed in games 2 and 4. I could say more, but that was just a pathetic play Lin so I won't. And don't forget about Howard. He's showed up in every game and I feel bad for him that he may not get out of the first round despite his great play. I almost feel bad for him for not signing with the Mavs and playing under a real coach
1. Lin cannot be trusted in high-pressure situations. He makes extremely foolish decisions that costs the team, and is not a reliable backup point guard. 2. Harden needs to expand his game and learn how to finish without relying on getting to the line. He is not going to get the whistle during the playoffs like he does during the regular season, so he needs to take his reliance on the refs out of the equation and put the ball in the hoop. I'm getting the feeling that he just isn't in good enough shape to give 100% on offense and defense every game, so his conditioning needs to be a priority during the offseason. Also less partying. 3. Mchale cannot get by with playing playground basketball. We have the talent to get by more often than not during the regular season, but during the playoffs we need a well oiled machine on offense. Our culture clearly doesn't emphasis defense and this is a huge problem. We have a few individuals (Beverly, Howard and Asik) that can play one on one defense, but everyone gets lost during rotations and leaves people open on the perimeter. These are all signs of a poorly coached team. 4. Our bench is atrocious. Lin, Garcia, Casspi and Hamilton are lucky to still be in the NBA and are not capable of contributing to a championship contending team. I know you said 3, so consider 4 a bonus.
Observation Harden is not flawless - vanished against Miami years ago Rockets except for a few...Dwight and so on are not ready for the playoffs, still inconsistent contender Haven't watched Lin much but I believe he had only one ok game PG, PF spots are still shaky We are pretty bad in Overtime most of the time, offensive meltdowns because of too much ISOs and non creative offense and little defense Blazers I thought were a 8th spot team before the season but they surprised me. They are playing really well as a team.
1. Lin is stupid. 2. Lin sucks. 3. Lin is a combination of 1 & 2. This is coming from a guy who likes him.
1) The offense really stagnates at the worst times. 2) There's not enough defensive consistency. 3) There's a lack of awareness of when to call timeouts by the coach and the team as a whole.
1) This team would be downright devastating with a coach who was competent in drawing up plays and had a success rate of less then 50% at having a turnover after a timeout. 2) This team has some really, really low IQ players on it. Numerous times there's been such a stupid decision made. Just from game 4 alone off the top of my head: - Dwight trying frantically to get rid of the ball on the ground and eventually losing it to Matthews who called a timeout. Just secure it. Let them call a jump ball. Have you lost a jumpball all series against this team? - Asik setting screens the play directly after Portland are called for an offensive foul - and being called for an offensive foul himself (this happens I wouldn't say frequently, but it's been a fair few times already this year). This isn't really Asik's fault as much as it is the BS officials - but use common sense in knowing that the refs are going to look for any opportunity to get the call back. - Lin.. God where to begin. 3) Dwight Howard is dominant. A lot of us knew it. Some listened to the media too much. Unfortunately the people that do the best job of stopping him are rocking zebra prints.
1. Rockets are not really that good, at least a coach and 2 players away from really contending. 2. OKC's read on Harden is right, not worth the money. 3. DH good but can't carry a team. 4. Moreyball only works if you have 2,000 trials.
1. Mcfail is dumb. Needs to go asap. 2. Harden the No 1 SG? just shows how rubbish SGs have become in today's NBA. 3. Linsanity is a fluke. 4. Parsons is actually soft and not worth 12 mil. 5. DH the only true superstar on this team. 6. Live and Die by 3s' is a flawed offensive scheme which will never work in the playoff. 7. Defense wins championship. Always true.
howard is the best player on the team our perimeter defense is pathetic moreyball needs to understand the mid range game we cant wait for our young players to work on their game with howard turning 29 this year and making 20+mil per year. should have big roster changes this season.
Something needs to be done by the NBA to help cut down the bad calls made by the refs. I only want 2 things, consistency (if you're going to call ticky tack fouls for one team, do it for the other. If you're not going to call them for one team, don't do it for the other), and a way to eliminate bad calls. Do something to either make more plays reviewable, or even consider having someone on the sideline to review all controversial plays. I definitely don't want to slow the game down more than it already is, and that, I believe, will be the toughest thing about this. I am so tired of seeing players get preferential treatment. This kind of goes back to the first one. If you're going to give a superstar a call, everyone in the league should get the same call. This seems so obvious, and nothing has been done to address it. If it has been discussed, then I definitely don't see any changes. Even if this greatly affects Hardens game, so be it. I just want to see a fair game called. Mchale needs to go. I am so tired of seeing our lack of ability to runs plays, even out of timeouts. Then the little things, obvious changes that need to be made (like double teaming LA), sitting or playing players when they're hot or cold, playing guys too many minutes during the regular season (up by 15 with 2 minutes to go? get Harden, Howard and Parsons out of the game!), or even something as simple as motivating his team. He doesn't seem to be enthusiastic at all, and it seems as though he's getting a reputation as a lower end coach. If this is true, and we lose the series, I can see the players losing respect and faith in him as a coach. Harden needs to expand his game. I love his efficiency due to him getting to the free throw line, but if he's not going to get the calls in the playoffs, then he has to do something else to contribute (especially if he's not going to play defense a majority of the time). He can't just ISO all the time. He has a wide body, maybe he could develop a post game? Even if it just leads to him posting up 3-4 times a game....at least the option is there. Jeremy Lin.....I've never been a fan, but for the most part have kept my mouth shut. For a kid from Harvard, I would expect more from him in regards to making smart plays. Call a timeout, pull back when you're up and the clock is in your favor, probably a few others I left out. If you're going to bash him, you have to give him some credit for his positives, such as Yeah, I didn't finish that last sentence on purpose. To be honest, the only thing I've ever liked about his game is his ability to drive, come to a quick stop, spin, and hit that little 5 foot fadeaway. We need to improve the bench. Hopefully once we have Lin and Asik's contracts off the books, we can bring in some more talented players. We also have our MLE. I'm almost to the point of being ok with them trading away some future draft picks to obtain immediate help. Usually I am not a fan of this, but our window isn't terribly large. We need help now, and may not have the time to develop a lot of young players. I don't know what the problem is, but there must be something we can do to keep from consistently giving up leads. It doesn't matter who we're playing or how much we're up by, we always seem to find a way to make it close, or lose the lead all together.
1. Team has way too many isos and little ball movement, worked way too hard for their points and got gassed...compared to portland tons of screens every cutting. 2. both of pgs do not have championship level ball handling skills, dribble way too high and out. 3. Only true 3 pt specialist on the team is daniels...need 1 more for next season. All the other guys on the team are average at 3 pts at best.
1. Lin needs to go and we need a legit 2-way starting PG and PF 2. Harden needs the ball taken out of his hands more often. He dribbles the air out of the ball like he's doing a Steve Francis impersonation, and when he's cold he is a team killer 3. McHale is not a championship caliber coach. We need a guy that preaches defense and holds players (HARDEN) accountable for their mishaps. This along with an actual set of plays would launch this team to a whole new level. 4. Our bench sucks. The only guy worth anything these playoffs has been Daniels. Sign some vets on the cheap that can contribute and be leaders.
This crystallized it perfectly. I will only add that I wish we would not post up Dwight at crucial moments.