Luc was healthy. Luc blew out his shoulder at the last game of the season, not at the buyout deadline.
The fact that Joe Johnson ever played last year is an indictment on D’Antoni as a coach. The belief that he was good at all kills his credibility. House was shook? What the **** was Gerald Green then? Nene could’ve easily played 20 MPG in the past series against GS. SHOULDVE been used as a high post option like David West/Jokic/Cousins his entire time in Houston. Faried would’ve been far better against GS the than Capela as well. You’d think watching GS and SA use “scrubs”, and old guys kick this team out of the playoffs(without their best players) two of the past 3 years would make you know what actual good coaching looks like. Danuel House struggles as a shooter on the road against two great defenses(Most role players do). Play him at home, and by god play him over the horrific Gerald Green and we could’ve easily won a close game or two. The margin for error was SLIM. Good coaching is a must.
I do partially agree with you. Nene could have gotten more minutes. I don't think 20 minutes a game would have been possible. Faried could have given energy/ rebounding in short bursts despite his poor defense. Capela was all at sea. House was injured and this affected his play despite being overawed. I have very little faith in MDA and only slightly more than that in Morey. We need change, but more of the same is likely to reoccur.
DA should be moved on. He is not a primetime coach, never has been. He, Harden, and Paul are perfectly matched, and that is the problem. Isolation basketball is never going to beat "team" basketball, never. This is especially true of GS whose talent level is unprecedented.
Nope. He blew out his shoulder earlier on the season, then came back and blew it again in the last game of the season.
Just curious; who should replace him? And this is genuine curiosity. After that final playoffs appearance I don't think there are any potential changes that are 100% off the table.
Never? Cleveland did it. that's actually been the only basketball that's proven to hurt the warriors during their run. anything else whatever you want to call it has proven to not even have a chance.
Something has to change. Definitely role players and going into the lux tax to find the right fit. Will find out if TF is blowing smoke about going all in.
at the 1:44 mark the referee actually makes contact and pulls MDA's arm down (looks like he was pointing at the replay on the big screen). how the F is an official allowed to do that?
I think people need to face some basic things right now- the Rockets have overachieved given their baseline talent for years. Stack up the rosters against the other top teams. Outside of James Harden, who comes close to being an all-star? Nobody. They either too old, too inconsistent, or simply not talented enough. Mike has helped maximize James Harden. If the Rockets haven't got over the hump against one of the greatest assemblages of talent in league history [four top 20 players! Two certified top ten players! Draymond Green has been a top 5 player in the league in this playoffs!] ever, it's not because of strategy, or use of timeouts, or using the bench. Golden State has been Drogon against every other team in the league in the playoffs, yet the Rockets had them teetering on the edge. That's not in spite of Mike D'Antoni. It's as much due to him and his relationship with Harden as anything else.
lol Rachel getting her licks in Same with the other 2 I do hope we move on from MDA , but not because media blowhards say we should . MDA has "led" us to the precipice multiple years in a row and for whatever reason has failed . I say "led" because how much is it really MDA and how much is it the talent we have ? You could say the same thing in regards to us not getting over the hump ... blame MDA or blame talent / players ? Here's my view ... two years in a row we had the chance to knock them off and two years in a row they out-executed us . Sure , the challenge is harder on our side , we have to try and account for all of their talent ... BUT when KD goes out , it was GS that got the jump on us . Inexcusable IMO . Sure it's one game , and klay and curry could get hot . But it's not like they blew us out from the start . We had our chances and couldn't build a lead . To me you can't say that harden lacks killer instinct and absolve the coach of blame . You can't create a "system" that is "give the ball to James and gtfo." If mike ran a system where everyone (most of the time ) touched the ball and THAT resulted in a good play vs letting James or Chris create it all ..... THEN I would be included to say "hey we are the only ones that got close , let's keep MDA and go at it again." But both years we were so close , I have to think that if MDA makes a better adjustment , or calls a momentum stopping timeout , or plays a guy who gives unexpected energy..... then we would have pulled it out . Instead he's done what's he always does . Relies on his PG and shorten the rotation to avoid playing guys that make mistakes . So let's step back for a second and think a bit ... what if the warriors really are just too good ? Then we have to look back to the spurs series . The one in which he refused to play Harrell , and "admitted" after the series that guys were tired . Did he learn from it ? Last year we had injuries so I won't judge too harshly . This playoffs I still think he could have tried farried and house more . I just don't think Mike's a guy whose style can take you all the way unless you have overwhelming talent . Last year in the regular season when we were healthy .... I think we qualified as such . Give MDA a superstar point and his system of giving them the ball and getting out of the ways will win you 50 games reliably , more if you have good depth. But he won't play that depth during the playoffs unless it's GREAT depth or he literally has no other players .... and even then it's a fight . I thought he did a good job of helping to develop Harrell and Dekker , but yanking them from the rotation entirely is not the direction I would have gone . Of all the players who love MDA and have had their best years under him how many didn't fall under "ball dominant guard , 3-d wing , rim running center ? " that may describe the majority of players . But has MDA's shown skill at working in other styles to his system ? I think at its root , how MDA views how to maximize players is very linear . He's not a guy who can take a square peg and work it into the system . If he is presented with a square peg for his round hole , then that peg is gonna suck . Tempo , post scoring , midrange , bigs handling the ball , bigs making passes , guards cutting to the rim . How much of these elements were incorporated into our scheme ? How many of them have been there at all for the last 3 years ? You don't have to make these things a priority , still the defense can force you into these situations and you better be prepared for them . This is the third year in a row where if after harden penetration ... they close out on our shooters and the guys in those positions CANT take advantage of it . That's on the coach . I'm tired of thinking that we need a better player who knows what to do to magically come along . How about we instruct the players that we do have ? How about worry a bit more about practice and a bit less about pretending to monitor James' workload . I don't expect anything new from MDA at this point . Color me absolutley shocked if he improves his decision making . I think maybe Morey will be able to get him a better roster which will mask his flaws until he decides to cut his rotation in the playoffs and guys start getting tired and making mistakes . This will all happen as other teams play as a team and share the load ... meanwhile mike will draw up plays to get the ball to James .... not create a shot for him .... no , James has to do that by himself .
Because, like I said, Mike avoids confrontation. He doesnt want to get in the mud and get his feet and arm dirty to game the refs for the team like other good coaches do. You think a ref would even dare to do that to Pops or Phil Jackson?
At a risk of double posting ... look pre MDA James took us to the 2 seed and 56 wins during mchales tenure . This year we won 53 ? If you want to argue that James' improvement is due to mike .... I can't totally disagree , but I think MDA is only responsible for a portion of that improvement . For example , despite the #'s boost .... I feel that James best improvement the last 2 years has been on the defensive side . I wouldn't attribute much of that to MDA . If you wanna say that "offense is easier and he can now spend more energy on D " .... I would say the answer there is more CP3
I don't think Kevin mchale was a great coach But he had BALLS Mike is happy just shooting the same shots Letting the refs screw us around And if you believe James is a primadonna (I do not) then he's letting James walk all over him . Think about the officiating this series vs GS . We had that game 1 debacle .... who was it that came out and said something about the refs. The front office , the media , the players .... what did MDA say "oh well , they told me they missed some .... shucks I sure hope they see them in the future." HE Could have taken charge right from the end of the first half . Instead of James and Chris flopping for calls . I dunno the veteran coach could have devised a strategy . Instead he lets our guys flop around and beg for calls missed in the FIRST HALF . The game was still there , but forget out players .... the coach couldn't clear his mind to get us ready to play . I don't want to play dirty , but I damn sure want it as an option . It's not a credible threat with MDA at the helm . **** , my my main problem with mike is a lack of credible threats . You don't have to worry about guarding the midrange . You don't have to worry about more than 1-2 passes before we shoot a contested 3 . You don't have to worry about protecting the rim during transition because we want those 3's what do you have to worry about when you play GS , everything ! And it's not just because of the talent . In game 6 looney , green , and Iggy beat us just as much as their stars did .... and you know why , because they were put in a position to do so and executed . Maybe our players just can't execute to save their lives , but when Harrell , Covington , Beverley , Williams , and many former rockets go on to have success elsewhere , it can't be the talent . MDA isn't teaching these guys **** . He's putting them in the corners , letting James/CP3 work his magic to get them shots and then letting bzdelik deal with the defense .