I've been hard on Stotts in the past, but he has thoroughly out coached McHale so far. Houston fans must feel like they have Nate coaching them
McHale clearly looks and sounds out of his depth, sort of like his Minnesota stint. When he was miked up he sounded like a guy who had no confidence what so ever and was on the verge of losing his team
Charles Barkley said last night on the TNT halftime show that the Rockets are playing though Howard and thats not how the Rockets win games. James Harden is the Rockets best player saying James can't get going early so he can't get into his flow. The Rockets need to get into more free flowing basketball instead of just dumping the ball off to Howard in the key every time. Shaq was trying to argue thats how teams win championships by playing inside out but Kenny and Barkley said ya but Howard is just not that type of player like he should be. I expect McHale to make changes but a lot of credit goes to Terry Stotts.
It was a honey trap. Dwight was abusing a matchup we let him have, and was too greedy and shortsighted to do anything but think of himself.
Which is why Howard isn't a champion. He doesn't have what's behind the ears to understand the chess game and combat it on his own. Instead, he wants all the lime-light and praise, therefor taking all flow from the other teammates. Howard is the goat of this series, IMO. I think he's the one that is truly cause the FAIL for Houston.
I don't know if anyone caught it, but after one of LMA's jumpers near the Rocket bench, he turned and said something to McHale, who in turn threw up his arms and threw his towel to the ground and yelled something back. It was in the first half. I'd love to know what was said in the exchange...