Am I the only one who feels like the Blazers are the luckiest team ever? The shots they have been hitting this series are unbelievable
Rockets bench has been shooting poorly. Daniels is shooting well. I don't see the problem. Troy Daniels can make a name for himself.
Gotta say that took some balls. You gotta make those risky decisions to get the advantage sometimes, and he didn't take the safe way out here. Give McHale a bunch of credit for this win.
I don't know if this was a coaching decision but I hated the fact that they went away from the pick and roll in crunch time and decided to go to Dwight in the post.
LMAO can't people here are bashing Mchale for trusting Daniels who actually hit the go-ahead 3 pointers. IMHO Mchale has been spot on for the player rotations tonight specifically for: 1) Not subbing out Lin after he made the almost game breaking missed layup+open 3 by Batum. I was ready to strangle Lin after that play however he has actually been playing the entire game, and was responsible for a ton of good plays+ a go ahead pass that sealed the deal. 2) Finally listening to common sense and putting DH on LMA instead of Asik on LMA. Asik is too slow to deal with LMA, LMA gets the space he needs to unleash that godly floating step back J from his that is actually a horrible shot but he seems to make almost every time. DH can match him step by step so his release isn't as refined and his shot gets rushed. 3) Aforementioned Daniels sub in over the brickmasters on the bench. Even if they are vets we need somebody who can knock open 3s. THat's Daniels. Great job Mchale for ekking out the win.
McHale almost cost us this came. We won in spite of his bad coaching...that last play where Daniels drains that three...we were lucky because it was originally an iso for Harden who was running on fumes. We got lucky Jeremy made a great defensive play and more lucky that the rook hit the three. McHale should get ZERO credit for this win.
Starting Asik turned out to be a good decision...but as usual the execution late game.. ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO ISO really McHale? we're lucky to win this game...
No other coach in his right mind would've even considered Daniels. He deserves all the credit in the world for this win.
I'm quite anti-McHale at this point, but I haven't got much of a problem with this game (would have said that in a loss as well). There was some good and some bad choices. That ridiculous lineup to start the second was the worst. Daniels over Garcia worked for me. It was also clear that some slightly altered schemes for LMA postups had been discussed - still a lot of single coverage but there were guys hedging into the lane allowing Asik to play almost exclusively for the jumper and not worry about being driven on, which helped. It wasn't a brilliant coaching job, but it looked like the work of a mediocre to average NBA coach instead of a homeless guy they brought in off the street.
I was a bit worried. Luckily, Williams was fouled out, so that Daniels wasn't beaten on defense end. He did a good job on team defense and rotation though. Better than anyone on the bench, and can shoot and spread the floor.
By the way, is it me or does our PnR suck relative to Portland's? Our guys don't seem to know that you shouldn't leave space between you and the screener (or that the screener should try to set less noticeable screens) for the defender to go through while portland's been running Harden, Lin and Bev through walls.
You're absolutely right, if the coach instructs you that the key strategy to success is to "get open shots" and you miss them.... that's all on the player... I mean, what more can a coach do....
Late game execution should be on the coach with a young team like this. McHale should be giving directions.
its not all his fault, but no his coaching still isnt all that great. why no h&h pick and roll till game 3?
