[Video] Kevin McHale after Houston's 118-110 loss to Denver 1/30/2013

zzpot · Feb 2, 2013

is beverly on the bench tonight?

imanshar · Feb 2, 2013

Clutch said: ↑

Rockets turned it over on the first two possessions when Jeremy Lin came on the floor.

Just so you know how substitutions work -- they're not necessarily literal. Carlos Delfino does not actually fill Omer Asik's role. He was not inserted to "protect the board and the paint." Patrick Patterson was on Faried and Chandler Parsons was on Gallinari in that lineup to start out.

And it wasn't down low where Gallinari burned the Rockets -- it was from beyond the arc. Asik is not going to keep Gallinari from hitting tough threes with guys on him. It's not going to keep Jeremy Lin and Carlos Delfino from taking the same guy in transition, leaving Ty Lawson open for a three. It wasn't until Wilson Chandler went right to the basket, and Faried got the offensive board and putback in the paint that the absence of Asik was really felt.

Go back and watch the play with 4:45 left -- Lin, Harden, Parsons and Asik are all on the floor. With the Rockets within 6, Asik got the defensive board but had it picked by Faried. So we have a new play set up by Gallo at the top of the key, with Parsons on him. Lin is covering Lawson on the wing. Gallo drives left and dishes to Lawson. Lawson goes around Lin towards the basket -- Parsons switches to cover Lawson and Lin stays on Lawson also.

Gallinari is completely forgotten -- he slides over to the baseline and no one is within 10 feet of him. He gets the easy feed from Lawson, who notices that Parsons and Lin have miscommunicated, and knocks down the three.

You can't see that with a simple scan of the play-by-play log. Again, the Nuggets were 4-20 from three point-range in the first three quarters, but were 4-8 from three in the fourth. They hit 3 of those during the 13-2 run when Asik was out in the fourth. Combine that with the Rocket turnovers in the period and, despite the 3-point lead entering the quarter, a win was unlikely.

I don't think Kevin McHale is a perfect coach, and personally, I was confused by the hiring at the time. Also, I'm not convinced this is the guy who will be coaching the team when they're actually contending. Having said that, this is the same guy who coached a team with a 50-point lead in Utah the other day. This isn't a 50+ win roster as currently constructed, considering age, experience and depth, and I think you only consider letting go of a coach when he has his team completely underperforming or has totally lost the respect of his players. It's going to take some time and I don't think firing him is the cure.
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[Video] Kevin McHale after Houston's 118-110 loss to Denver 1/30/2013

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