Let me get this straight: the Rockets were up 98-93 with 2 minutes left

[KiDBaZkiT]

Nocoin, I taught u back in the day about the good ol -5.5

[t-wizzle]

The "Hack a Dwight" strategy broke down Houston's lead very quickly.

Bingo.

[Pauulzcappin]

Howard doesn't dominate games enough like Shaq did to be consider a superstar player with such a big flaw on his game.

I do think Houston probably covers next game though. Portland got the win they needed.

[BigDofBA]

Howard doesn't dominate games enough like Shaq did to be consider a superstar player with such a big flaw on his game.

I do think Houston probably covers next game though. Portland got the win they needed.

Exactly.

Howard isn't a guy you can ride to a championship like Shaq was.

[No coincidences]

What would your suggestion have been? Portland was running iso's to Aldridge every possession. You either double team or hope to stop him. You double team and he's kicking it out to Batum, Lillard, Matthews for a three.

I'm not a McHale guy but the Hack-a-Howard is a serious flaw in the game right now and you can directly attribute this Portland win to that.

So you just let Aldridge tear you apart all game long and go for 46 and 18 with Jones on an island against him? Seems like a really sound strategy -- especially when you make zero adjustments when it obviously isn't working, and it wasn't tonight. You have to double when Aldridge is doing what he was doing and take your chances with Portland's shooters. Period.

What were Houston's last two offensive possessions all about? I'm assuming McHale attempted to draw up a play -- why even take the timeout if those are the looks you were going to get? Just watched his press conference. It was incoherent. The guy is a buffoon.

[No coincidences]

Bottom line: you can't lose a Game 1 on your home court when you're up double digits in the fourth quarter and two guys score 77 of the other team's points. You just can't. Of course a lot of the blame falls on Howard because I think he's a loser, but it's not like he was 4 of 17 at the line. He was 9 of 17. This loss is on McHale's failure to make the right adjustments at crunch time. Aldridge and Lillard pissed on him. It was fun to watch.

[No coincidences]

Just saw the highlights from last night. LOL. This franchise is an absolute trainwreck.

McHale.



Howard.



You are Portland's bitch.