Idk, do you think a unit led by Eric Gordon and Austin Rivers are capable of something like that? Idk...look at Dallas's bench unit ...do you think their roster is better or is it just that Carlise is that good. Who knows? We have Westbrook sitting on the bench not playing, so Mike never has had to play it this way without him being out. This second point is definitely a good one. And maybe Mike is the problem. If we lose, we'll definitely find out that question for sure.
The issue of the bench is something you resolve during the season by giving them meaningful minutes and coaching them. Every team needs their bench to play important minutes come playoff time including the Rockets.
It doesn't matter who the coach is Harden is going to do what he wants regardless of who the coach is.
I have no problem with the overall philosophy . But , I'm convinced if we win it will be in spite of Mike . I think WB balances out some of his flaws. I have no idea what happened down the stretch .. but the problem was that it was even a close game . All those things we said in game 1 and 2 about being a deeper more talented team than OKC are true . 2 games in a row the refs get in our guys heads. Yes, its because they seem to favor OKC ( im biased , but trying to be unbiased i think its been bad ) .. my point . If its that bad , MDA has to ACT to either try to change the refs minds , or do something to get his players to calm down . My analysis of last 2 losses . G3 - played great for 3 quarters , refs screwed us unbelievably AND we missed wide open 3 pointers .. i mean easy. Got tired at the end from defensive effort. G4 - refs again a factor but not quite as bad in first half, we didnt D up as well . 2nd half we played well then massive choke down the stretch , slight reffing adv to OKC but not too bad. We shot well from 3 at different points. Harden played almost all second half ( maybe all ) and team got out executed at the end/ OKC made shots we didnt. Tough losses. Are they inexcusable ? I dont know , probably not. Though if we suffer hangover effects and start looking more sluggish then maybe they weigh even worse . Biggest factor has been the refs, we got gamed bad in G3 playing so hard in a game the refs purposefully kept close .. granted had we hit our shots ... More than anything its been in our guys head. IMO the coach needs to step in here . He's got to find a way to settle the guys. If the officiating again looks biased in the next game ( i have feeling the tides will turn our way ) MDA needs to get a tech ( at the very least ) . **** , ive thought the reffing had been so bad i wanted him to put in carrol or bruno and have them foul hard. its a game of runs . our runs havent been as powerful in these last 2 games . partially refs , partially cold streaks , partially defense not being as good , partially OKC sensing they are getting a chance . I also thought one of his timeouts today was strange , 4th Q, we had the ball , past half court , pretty full shot clock ... and he calls a TO to draw a set play ? OKC snuffed it out or we didnt execute , but if i remember correctly we had looked OK for a few possessions in a row there . ( i think like 102-104) MDA gets labeled an offensive coach , but its not because he doesnt know defense ... i think part of it is because sometimes your offense really is the best defense. The way we play , its kinda true . In game 3 , had we hit more of our 3's our 4th quarter defense would've been pretty ****ing good because we would have been up 20 . This game , i bet our defensive intensity would've held on better had we splashed a couple while OKC was making their run. If we lose game 5 things are gonna get rough
Every year the same DUMBNESS... Game one he rested James Harden early in the first quarter, great rotation they won the game with no problem, game 4 NO REST just a crazy rotation.. He needs to go..
Yea but the reason we have two Superstar PGs on this team is that we never have to deal with that. If we had Russ right now healthy, best be sure we would NEVER have to deal with bench units being run by Rivers or Gordon. So what's the point? How much do you reasonably expect him to do with the little amount of time given? And why should he do it during the season either when the plan was never to have these guys run complex sets. Do you even think the players on this team are capable of doing so?
he should have been fired after the sperms series. and if not then, definitely after last season. tilman didn't want to eat his $4M salary though
rivers-gordon-house-roco-green is as good as any unit OKC can put out there without Cp3 . Plus is OKC has dort in that lineup then James is resting while dort is playing . But i think Billy O is taking out Cp3 earlier and running him in the stretch that james sits. WB back solves this problem , or MDA coulda done a similar substitution pattern.
The fact is if MDA was OKC’s coach over 1/3 of their roster/rotation would not even see the court. Talent doesn’t matter.
Rivers and Gordon have been terrible, they really have. Gordon has statistically been one of the worst players in the league. Trey Burke by himself has outperformed both of them. House-Roco-Green are starters. They are also mostly spot up shooters who should not run an offense. The point to having depth and a good bench is to give those guys a spill which is something we dont have. But hey if we lose, you 'll definitely find out that for sure. We'll see what happens. I hope Westbrook is as good as we believe him to be.
Well you don’t wait until Westbrook is hurt, you start in the preseason. This whole thing is a staple of DAntoni’s career.
Why would you expect a dude who is supposed to play more games than Chris Paul to miss a lot of time? Why would you not spend more time working on the defense? That is the reason they lost tonight.
I’d expect any dude his age with his playing style to miss time. The decline of Westbrook is going to be dramatic. As soon as he can’t drive and finish he’s going to irrelevant because he can’t shoot.
You should at least expect him to play more than a 35 year supposed injury riddled star. And it sounds like you are saying we never should have traded for the dude in the first place(my stance on that will come depending on what happens in these up coming games).
From the time we had out 15-point lead in the 3rd to the time we missed the last of those 15 straight 3s, McLemore (our best 3-point shooter) didn't take a shot. I'm not certain, but I don't think he was even on the floor. Seems like after 10 straight you'd want to have our best shot out there to stop the bleeding.
McLemore played only 9 minutes tonight and he’s been the Rockets best 3-point shooter all season. Meanwhile, Eric Gordon Is shooting the worst three-point percentage in the league during the playoffs and doesn’t get yanked after missing almost every shot in the fourth quarter. What gives? There’s a pattern here... it’s pretty clear MDA doesn’t make in-game adjustments or game to game adjustments.
I’ve said it all along and been treated poorly for saying this, but I’ll say it again...this team will go nowhere while MDA AND Morey are here. They are the problem and need to go. Horribly overrated!
If we are winning big then it’s all good However when the playoff games are close, I don’t trust Mike to make adjustments or the right moves during crunch time. We have seen this movie before
