McHale's Sticky Ball, Streaky 3s and ISOs Won't Win Championships in Houston

           It's amazing to see how many Houston fans still can't see McHale's weaknesses as a coach from the heartbreaking losses against Dallas and Lakers. More and more ClutchFans.net members are calling for his firing after blowing a 14pt lead against Dallas and rightfully questioned if he is the right coach that can help Houston to win the ring.

          McHale's deficiency as a coach is to play players based on pure energy and sparks without any brilliant strategy and adjustment which are of the utmost importance to win 7-game series in the playoff. (Houston was ranked 23rd out of 30 teams to win close games in 2012-2013 season at 42%).

Houston Rockets was ranked 23rd in NBA Team Win % - Close Games (courtesy of teamrankings.com)

Coach Rick Carlisle, 2011 NBA Champion, simply outcoached McHale by befuddling him with zone defense in Q4.

"Mavs Scramble for W", Tim McMahon, ESPNDallas.com, Nov 21, 2013

 The Dallas game exposed his main weakness as a coach in once again not being able to make an adjustment when Dallas made a run. Houston had a 14 pt-lead at the end of the 3rd quarter but they let Dallas trample all over them with 36-19 run in the 4th quarter? What adjustment did he make to prevent it? Did he know that the starters were tired as Dwight indicated in the Chron article ("Dwight Howard: Rockets need to know when to take a breather") but 'trusted' them to deliver in the 2nd of back-to-back game?

1. Short rotation in the 2nd of back-to-back games
         Starters played long minutes (Harden 43 min and others ~36min). If he panicked and simply went back to the starters who were unable to stop Ellis and Dirk, it wasn't much a strategy to slow down Dallas and be aggressive on offense. What about trying to use Ronnie Brewer, the defensive specialist, to slow down Monta Ellis who's been killing them all game long? What about trusting the small lineup (Harden, Lin, Bev) who has the biggest net rating so far? Run some set plays to break zone defense?

2. No trust in PG to facilitate playmaking, just scoring
         McHale simply couldn't recognize Lin's contribution in getting assists and hockey assists to give Casspi, Bev and Asik easy scores because he thought Lin was a liability in not being able to score. It's such as a contrast with Rick Carlisle who kept playing Calderon for 25 min in the first game who despite scoring 0 points still produced with 6 assists.

3. Sticky ball, Streaky 3s and ISOs won't win championships
         Even if he decided Lin couldn't help in this game, what did McHale do to tell his team to be aggressive like in Q1 to attack Dallas in Q4? Harden's ISOs and Dwight's layup stopped working. Consecutive 3s by Bev and Harden were fools' gold since the ball movement just died.

         McHale is simply not the right coach to win championships. McHale played "energy and sparks" basketball but Carlisle came to play chess-smart basketball. That's why Rick Carlisle has a ring as a coach and McHale doesn't. Checkmate!

Can "Food-Like" Products Destroy Your Diet?

This is a powerful documentary that makes you think how the powerful food industry create this "food-like" products that actually CAUSE cravings and keep you coming back for more. No wonder any short-term diet or weight loss program will be derailed by these addictive substances.


Know what you eat and what's eating you from the inside.



This is part 1 out of 7 available in Youtube.

Hungry For Change - Part 1

Jesus Has A Rainbow Horse? What does Jesus Really Look Like?

What do you make of a 4-year old son of a pastor who went to heaven confirmed what Jesus really looked like in a painting made by 8-year old girl who is an art prodigy raised in an atheist home?

Akiane Kramarik-the little girl pictured painted this picture when she's only 8!

I'd say you have a decision to either dismiss it as a brainwashed child of a pastor and just another prodigy with out-of-the-world talent or a possible hint that God and Jesus are actually real enough to give these innocent children a glimpse of heavenly realm for us cynical adults to ponder and reflect about what the real message of God could be.

So check their stories yourself.

1. NBC Today: Boy who 'saw heaven' Details still vivid after 8 years - books

A funny link about Jesus' rainbow horse. I'd like to pet this horse someday. Maybe there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow after all :D
Just as i was processing the implications of my son’s statement-that he had met John the Baptist-Colton spied a plastic horse among his toys and held it up for me to look at. “Hey, Dad, did you know Jesus has a horse?” “A horse?” “Yeah, a rainbow horse. I got to pet him. There’s lots of colors.” . . .

2. CNN: Akiane Kramarik - Spiritual Young Artist, CZ subs

What an other worldly painting made by a girl in such a young age. It's hard to explain how these visions came to a girl raised in an atheist home unless we're willing to consider God might have chosen a special few to make a glimpse of himself known to others.

Finally, contrast Todd Burpo's story with another hilarious story of  the hot air balloon 6-year old boy who was asked to lie by his dad to get into a  TV show. LOL. It's hard to keep little kids lying because the truth will eventually come out. So there is strong possibility that Todd Burpo was not lying about heaven.

3. CNN: "Balloon Boy" Falcon Henne Admits: "We Did This For The Show"

Check out the dad's face at 0:43 when the kid blurted out, "We did this for the Show!". Busted!

So these are some interesting stories about kids that made me stop and think if this is the truth. Many will certainly thumb their nose and dismiss it as elaborate hoaxes. But what if God is really trying to reach out to His people to send a special message?

If ones truly seek the truth, perhaps it's worth a little consideration that this might be one of God's many attempts to show His love but some will inevitably spurn His love.

How about you? If you truly seek the truth, what do you think about these stories?

2013-03-09 Houston Rockets vs Phoenix Suns

Here are some pictures of Jeremy Lin and Houston Rockets perspective behind the backboard, which might give different view than watching the game on TV.

Some pictures might be blurry due to my camera deficiency :) but they mostly captured the moment quite well.

Enjoy!

The court was ready with NBA Camera Crew

Jeremy was doing warmup and stretching with a trainer

It must have been a good 8-10 minutes.
He went back inside the locker room and continued stretching

Asik was joking around to grab rebounds

The 2nd team was cheering the 1st team with the jumpy "shoulder-to-shoulder dance"

Jeremy was eyeing to thread a pass inside.

Going back on defense

Jeremy passed on the screen and penetrated to the rim

Greg Smith had an easy dunk off Jeremy's assist. 15-9

Jeremy made both FTs. 20-13
under the watch of Parsons' smoldering eyes

Not sure what the Gnome was up to.

1Q rest with 22-16 lead

Harden made 1 out of 2 FTs

Chatting with Brooks

Delfino's first 3PT giving 26-20 lead

Was going to check in with 30-29 lead

But went back towards the bench

Delfino delivered his 3PT sausage in 2Q, 33-29

Waiting to check in 2Q with 7:07 left, tied at 35-35

Not a Rocket inside?

Delfino tried to bounce-pass to Asik inside

Not sure if DMo missed the rebound here.

Coach McHale was NOT happy with DMo

Still not happy with DMo!

Lin missed 3PT to his left trailing 35-45.
His jump was not straight up but a bit to his left.

Tucker might have gotten the long rebound

McHale, Lin and Harden had a small meeting on court

Trailing 39-47 with 2 min left in 2Q

Good positioning by the Suns to grab the rebound

Asik was trying to lobby the ref for 30 seconds

Jeremy missed a 3PT jumper trailing 46-50

3Q action with layup trailing 51-55 with 9 min left

Icing Dragic's gift on his chin, trailing 59-61 in 3Q with 6 min left

2 Houston fans showed their love to Houston .. or Whitney?

Jeremy did not look happy in 105-107 loss, 6 fouls

 Wed 3/13 game in Houston should be a revenge game.

Searching for Jeremy Lin's Fearsome Look

On a lighter note, I offer a new theory on why Coach McHale does not yell at Harden or Parsons but does not have the same respect for Lin.

Harden is 23, and both Parsons and Lin are 24 years old but why is Lin being singled out as a "young kid"?

Coach McHale admires Harden's and Parsons' facial hair!

He longs for Harden's "old school" fearsome beard

The Fearsome Beard

and Parsons' scruffy beard and beautiful lock of hair. 

The Beauty and the Hair

Lin looks like a school boy next to them.

"What, No Hair?"

This "hard nose KLin-Nex look" does not impress McHale. 

The KLin-nex Look

Nor does this "cute" pose endearing to Parsons only.

The Pouty Lin

So Lin needs:
1. a menacing goatee or Sam Kok beard

The Menacing Lin-Growth

2. better yet looking like a green hunk of muscle 

The Lincredible Hulk

3. or just wear this Mean Look all the time

"Fearsome" Jeremy

4. perhaps have a sticker tattoo of "Dragon Blood"?

Still not convinced? Tell him if McHale doesn't start yelling at Harden if he looks like this minus the beard!

To BE-ard or Not to BE-ard?

Finally, think of Kobe, LeBron, Wade! When did they gain respect? That's right, when they started growing great facial hair!!!

"Hairy" LeBron, Kobe, DWade

Please, calling all Lin fans! 
If you know a better menacing and fearsome look, help out our boy Jeremy Lin!

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And some likeness as proposed by Lin fans:

a classic "Beat the Punk" look (courtesy of via)

Mr. Beat the Punk

Urkel, Jaleel White or Beardless Harden? (courtesy of willydilly)

Mr. Goggle (courtesy of jlinfan4ever)