9 man rotation tonight, only Howard did not play. And Rockets won this game BECAUSE of small ball 5 out line up. All you wanna be coaches need to apologize to MDA and enjoy this amazing win. All those who conceded the loss, hope you learned that quitters never win.
Re-watching the game using the NBATV feed, and boy, Kevin McHale was on Utah's dick all night! Come up for air, Kevin.
It's a lame duck however you spin it. He will have good games and also tons of dud games. It's not just about MDA, the bench needs a revamp session, everyone needs a change.
Awesome win, very tough defense and man Gordon & Rivers just attacked. I don't think this game says much aside from the obvious though: give guys playing time and touches and they will give you effort and results. Thabo brought out some vintage moves to drop on his former team, that was awesome. The team was playing freely with no expectations so if they can bring that mentality to every game then it all started here. However, then MDA needs to play these guys and take away some touches from Westbrook and especially Harden. We played a lot of iso, but of course with some more movement and guys initiating who usually don't like Thabo. I like with Frazier showed, Hartenstein was solid and I will give MDA praise for timeouts and going small to try to take Gobert out of the paint, but let's not make him out to be a genius. If we're honest then there was some clear luck in winning this game too. They missed wide open threes from the likes of Bogdanovich. Got some fouls against them that I wouldn't say were obvious. There was no rocket science to what happened today, MDA's hands were forced and the guys just played their hearts out. The guys did what they had to do. I will give MDA more praise if he learns from this game, but I highly doubt it. Once Harden is back, it's all iso and 7 man rotation.
Rox won this game because EG was on fire, scoring 50 pts including 50% from 3. That's not MDA that is EG's own talent manifesting itself. If's not like MDA had some crazy sets that set him loose the Rox played the way they always do EG just got hot and Harden/WB werent there so he was able to put all the shots up he wanted. If you can point to some of things MDA did that resulted in an EG career night then please show me. I can admit when I'm wrong. Yeah ok let me apologize to Dumbtoni when EG is the one with the career night. Why the MDA praisers always need to be credit grabbers? Everytime the Rox win its always cuz of Dumbtoni but when the Rox lose its never cuz of Dumbtoni's nonexistent coaching and adjustments, blame Harden, Morey, Tillman, depth, LTS. Blame everyone except him. Cmon man gimme a break.
We won because of the following: 1. EG had a monster game 2. We hustled on defense and rebounded 3. Players got a chance to play their game and not stand around watching someone play summer league basketball 4. Players hit open shots but had more of them to take to get into a rhythm. Watching the Rockets is like watching 12 year old AAU team with a great player.
Agree with everything here and I would add that dantoni had some decently timed time outs. I was expecting to go to sleep at halftime but stayed up for every second. 4:15 came early this morning. GORDY IS THIKK
I think some other posters made good points on this. I too, hated small ball, and MDA's approach. I hated watching everyone but Harden and Westbrook stand around the arc waiting for a wide open shot. The great in this game is that our so called scrubs proved capable of beating one of the best teams in the league without James or Russ carrying any load. They were impressive, and initiated more plays themselves. It was a different style of play. I liked it more, but wonder if we will go back to the old way when James comes back. The bad side to winning with small ball is that Tilman and Morey might decide we don't need a stretch wing now. Unless, they decide we don't need a center all the time and trade Clint for that upgrade at forward. That might actually be a good thing, if that forward plays a mean defense, and can hit the 3. Even better if we got a draft pick too Kudos to everyone last night, for their hustle, heart, and fight to the finish. I enjoyed the show, but am not unrealistic in knowing that as good as it gets, we can't always depend on living and dying by the 3. The great is fun, but the ugly is almost unbearable to watch. We need more guys to drive it in, and not hesitate initiating plays, just like last night. Whether MDA and our leaders will encourage and incorporate more of that is the big question. All I do know is I can never seem to get enough Thabo time to enjoy. He's impressed me for awhile now.
There is different kind of talent. The Rox need talent that can go 15-20 ppg on limited attempts and not some role players who need 15-18 FA. We'll see with Gordon, how he adapts to playing with 2 ball hawks.
Already admitted that Mike made me look like a dumbass earlier in the thread, but go on, rub it in. **** takes deserve to be called out lol
That's one way to put it. Another way to put is this: MDmA really knows what he's doing out there. He utilized the strengths of every player who touched the floor. He knew the best combos to be effective. He utilized Frazier when no one thought that Frazier was the right player to be out there. Most people were hoping that'd be Harty. He also challenged a call he could actually win. Coach D'Antoni was awesome last night. Great choices all around! He got my man EGo a 50 spot and the win... in Utah! Heck yeah! MDmA needs that extension immediately!
