The Houston Rockets have fired Kevin McHale who brought them to the Western Conference finals for the first time in 18 years. The four-game losing streak was the team’s longest since 2013 and eventually resulted in a players’ meeting only held Tuesday at the Toyota Center.
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“Extremely surprised that McHale was let go”, Carlisle said. We would never know whether Harden or the players asked for his head on a silver platter, but GM Daryl Morey simply needed to do what was best for the team. “He’s going to get a chance to get some rest here, probably jump on TV and have a blast doing that, and then there will be a lot of teams wanting to hire him, because he did a fantastic job in Houston”. Last season he led the Rockets to the Western Conference Finals, and led them to the playoffs both seasons before that.
“First and foremost, I think we’re in a business where expectations certainly drive decisions at times”, Stevens said.
Tom Thibodeau could be an option at head coach for Houston.
The idea of Thibodeau coaching the Rockets makes some sense because he has a relationship with Harden from their time with the US basketball team, and he is a defensive coach and that is the area where the Rockets have really struggled this season.
Before his team’s game against the Dallas Mavericks at TD Garden, Celtics head coach Brad Stevens offered a pretty strong opinion (by his standards) of the move. The team announced that assistant coach J.B. Bickerstaff will serve as interim coach.
With the Rockets down big, they began to rely on post-ups from Harden – an action that accounted for just 4.3 percent of his possessions last season, according to Synergy.
Three of Rockets’ losses have been by 20+ points, and two others by at least 12.
“He’s an unbelievable guy and one of my favorite coaches I’ve ever played for, and definitely one that’s positive”, Parsons said.
Russell Westbrook poured in 43 points, handed out eight assists and pulled down nine rebounds for the Thunder, who were without former NBA Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant for a fourth straight game.
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Rockets owner Leslie Alexander said he is disappointed in the team’s performance so far this season. He architected the defense past year that was top 10 overall and top five when Dwight (Howard) played.
