Harden told Parsons to switch onto Lillard

[BayInferno]

Not a Rockets fan, but damn.

http://www.mobypicture.com/user/TomMart ... w/16856780

Beverly's much better at denying the ball...

[13th Man]

Wow, ouch!

[13th Man]

Thanks for the video but could've been coach's order from the bench, will have to wait to hear what they say.

[Zubby]

lol Bev was in better position... Already Lillard eyes must of lit up when he saw that.

[rocketsballin]

doesnt matter, its basketball 101. last seconds of a game, ur up by 2, you always switch to whoever can best defend the shot. parsons wasnt that guy. dame got to look at the basket and get a good shot off.

[13th Man]

Lillard said that the Rocket players didn't know if they wanted to switch coming out of the timeout right before the inbound. Are you kidding me? This was not addressed during the full time out? lol.

[MKL]

Lillard said that the Rocket players didn't know if they wanted to switch coming out of the timeout right before the inbound. Are you kidding me? This was not addressed during the full time out? lol.

If this is true then it's very pathetic.

Like papperbag over head pathetic.

[TMACFORMVP]

If this is true then it's very pathetic.

Like papperbag over head pathetic.

[Tomas_11]

We need an actual coach. Not a players' coach who lets the players do everything they want on the court. Need some real defensive players too. Morey's got his work cut out for him this offseason

[MKL]

If this is true then it's very pathetic.

Like papperbag over head pathetic.

oops, didn't mean you personally...

Happy Birthday btw...

[ChokeFasncists]

^

Thanks for the video but could've been coach's order from the bench, will have to wait to hear what they say.

Any news?

[NBAWestFan]

Once the double staggered screen showed itself. McHale should have called time out and had some over toward the ball side ready to make sure there was not clear path.

The real problem is not just that McHale is old and from another Era.
It is the Rockets are missing a player or one of the 5 positions.
With a deeper bench this team will be much better.

[13th Man]

^

Thanks for the video but could've been coach's order from the bench, will have to wait to hear what they say.

Any news?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZyKL3--MzM[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Zo_Gd2OPk#t=15[/youtube]

*Changing my stance after viewing all of the facts*

I think these 2 videos explain what happened.

Video 1 was from the timeout at about the 1:00 mark. Howard and Harden offers to be on the inbound defender but McHale said no, and to "stay with your guy". I am assuming by "stay with your guy", this means to keep defending who you were defending before, not as in "stick to your guy for the entire play". I've come to this conclusion because McHale mentioned in the post-game conference about switching everything, which was standard protocol earlier in the season when we got burned by Steve Blake and the Lakers. I am not sure if they players still intended to switch, to be fair to them, the double-screens were being formed by the Blazers but it didn't look like it got the chance to fully materialize as Lillard outwitted everyone by jumping the gun taking off like a rocket catching Chandler and everybody by surprise.

So when they come out of the timeout, Harden orchestrates the switcheroo and they all agree to it where Parsons is now on Lillard's instead of Pat Beverley, this last second decision obviously goes against McHale's instruction during the TO to stay with your man. What this shows me that it's the players that get to dictate how things play out on the court. Video 2 sort of confirms this imo, when asked about Parsons matching up with Lillard, notice how McHale answers, "Yeah, THEY matched up over there and....".

Another interesting fact is that Lillard mentioned to reporters that the Rockets were still not sure if they should switch or not coming out of the timeout and I think he took advantage of the confusion.

So when they play actually occurs, you have

1) Parsons on Lillard, which was supposed to be Beverley.

2) Now all the switching stuff doesn't matter that much anymore because what I believed happen was that Lillard took everyone by surprise especially Parsons by taking off running while the double-screen was being set up.

From what I see, the double-screen never fully materializes, Lillard just made a brilliant play amidst the confusion by Rockets players. He saw that they were still talking and trying to formulate the play last second so decided to go with a "Screw this, see you later guys!" move. That was brilliant imo and left the entire Rockets team dumbfounded. I think this was all Lillard, Chandler and the rest were waiting for the screens to be executed, and this was also the reason why he was shocked and got such a late start on Lillard.

[victorhe]

The lesson we learned from this is, never listen to Harden for any defensive advice.

[13th Man]

I've changed my stance from my initial post. I now think that Lillard just broke off the set early and caught everybody by surprise. It was a brilliant move on his part.

This likely wouldn't have happened if we came out of the timeout knowing exactly what to do and not formulating our strategy on the fly right before the inbound. There is no excuse for this, that's what timeouts are for. What this shows me that the team is ultimately run by the players, they do not respect Kevin McHale's instructions. There is no good reason for them to be strategizing AFTER the time out where the ball could be live at any moment.

So Lillard picked up on the fact that the Rockets were disorganized while the inbounder had the ball and simply said "Screw this, see you later everyone!".

[victorhe]

I've changed my stance from my initial post. I now think that Lillard just broke off the set early and caught everybody by surprise. It was a brilliant move on his part.

This likely wouldn't have happened if we came out of the timeout knowing exactly what to do and not formulating our strategy on the fly right before the inbound. There is no excuse for this, that's what timeouts are for. What this shows me that the team is ultimately run by the players, they do not respect Kevin McHale's instructions.

So Lillard picked up on the fact that the Rockets were formulating their strategy while the inbounder had the ball and simply said "Screw this, see you later everyone!".

Maybe it's tough for the players to respect and listen to Mchale if Mchale is not even very familiar with x's and o's. Something Sampson used to help out with. Oh well.

[victorhe]

You know what, I think the better strategy for the coach at the last 0.9 s would be taken out Harden. Have Lin, Bev in the game.

Why didn't anyone ask McHale why he subbed Lin out in that crucial 0.9 seconds. Lin did an excellent job of defending Lillard in the second half and completely shut down Lillard in the 4th (something no one has done all series). In fact, the ONLY time Lillard scored was on that game winner when Lin was on the bench. It's fitting that Rocket's season ends with McHale's irrational benching of Lin. In McHale's bizarro world, he prefers Harden's defense to that of Lin's. http://www.jeremylintel.com/2014/05/03/ ... y-fitting/

[13th Man]

I've changed my stance from my initial post. I now think that Lillard just broke off the set early and caught everybody by surprise. It was a brilliant move on his part.

This likely wouldn't have happened if we came out of the timeout knowing exactly what to do and not formulating our strategy on the fly right before the inbound. There is no excuse for this, that's what timeouts are for. What this shows me that the team is ultimately run by the players, they do not respect Kevin McHale's instructions.

So Lillard picked up on the fact that the Rockets were formulating their strategy while the inbounder had the ball and simply said "Screw this, see you later everyone!".

Maybe it's tough for the players to respect and listen to Mchale if Mchale is not even very familiar with x's and o's. Something Sampson used to help out with. Oh well.

That's true, It's a sad situation. McHale was baffled in the post-interview, saying that Lillard just took off, no picks or anything. While this is true, the reason why Lillard did that in the first place was because the team was not prepared for the moment. It's the coach's responsibility to make sure that the team comes out of a timeout fully prepared and we weren't. We were making last second changes, trying to set up...all the while the ball could be live. Major props to Lillard though, not only did he execute the clutch shot but he outwitted our team by realizing and taking advantage of our disorganization.

[13th Man]

You know what, I think the better strategy for the coach at the last 0.9 s would be taken out Harden. Have Lin, Bev in the game.

Why didn't anyone ask McHale why he subbed Lin out in that crucial 0.9 seconds. Lin did an excellent job of defending Lillard in the second half and completely shut down Lillard in the 4th (something no one has done all series). In fact, the ONLY time Lillard scored was on that game winner when Lin was on the bench. It's fitting that Rocket's season ends with McHale's irrational benching of Lin. In McHale's bizarro world, he prefers Harden's defense to that of Lin's. http://www.jeremylintel.com/2014/05/03/ ... y-fitting/

Agreed, but it also depends if we come out of the timeout in disarray as we did. Even if Lin was in there and we start switching people on the fly, discussing whether we should switch etc. WTF..... Smart Lillard would have taken advantage of the situation anyhow.

What I'm mostly peeved about is that we did not come out of the timeout ready and there's no excuse for that. The strategy for TJones to cover the inbounder was also flawed, another indication of how the coaching staff don't have their coaching fundamentals together.

[ChokeFasncists]

^

Thanks for the video but could've been coach's order from the bench, will have to wait to hear what they say.

Any news?

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZyKL3--MzM[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2Zo_Gd2OPk#t=15[/youtube]

*Changing my stance after viewing all of the facts*

I think these 2 videos explain what happened.

Video 1 was from the timeout at about the 1:00 mark. Howard and Harden offers to be on the inbound defender but McHale said no, and to "stay with your guy". I am assuming by "stay with your guy", this means to keep defending who you were defending before, not as in "stick to your guy for the entire play". I've come to this conclusion because McHale mentioned in the post-game conference about switching everything, which was standard protocol earlier in the season when we got burned by Steve Blake and the Lakers. I am not sure if they players still intended to switch, to be fair to them, the double-screens were being formed by the Blazers but it didn't look like it got the chance to fully materialize as Lillard outwitted everyone by jumping the gun taking off like a rocket catching Chandler and everybody by surprise.

So when they come out of the timeout, Harden orchestrates the switcheroo and they all agree to it where Parsons is now on Lillard's instead of Pat Beverley, this last second decision obviously goes against McHale's instruction during the TO to stay with your man. What this shows me that it's the players that get to dictate how things play out on the court. Video 2 sort of confirms this imo, when asked about Parsons matching up with Lillard, notice how McHale answers, "Yeah, THEY matched up over there and....".

Another interesting fact is that Lillard mentioned to reporters that the Rockets were still not sure if they should switch or not coming out of the timeout and I think he took advantage of the confusion.

So when they play actually occurs, you have

1) Parsons on Lillard, which was supposed to be Beverley.

2) Now all the switching stuff doesn't matter that much anymore because what I believed happen was that Lillard took everyone by surprise especially Parsons by taking off running while the double-screen was being set up.

From what I see, the double-screen never fully materializes, Lillard just made a brilliant play amidst the confusion by Rockets players. He saw that they were still talking and trying to formulate the play last second so decided to go with a "Screw this, see you later guys!" move. That was brilliant imo and left the entire Rockets team dumbfounded. I think this was all Lillard, Chandler and the rest were waiting for the screens to be executed, and this was also the reason why he was shocked and got such a late start on Lillard.

Brilliant!