This is a complete failure from top to bottom, no exception.
Howard gets a B+ from me, not just because of his pretty numbers 32-14-4, but also because he brought fire and energy from the tip off. Actually, he was the only one who looked awaken. But then he got too excited and went for post-up every single possession, and missed a ton of layups. He was effective and powerful to start, but he's no Dream. He should have involved other players at perimeters more.
TJ gets a C, with decent numbers, but ZERO impact at defense. Not saying he didn't try, he's just not good at it, and he's assigned with a red-hot LMA, without help. I don't blame him for not having that ability, but I can't reward him either, can I?
Parsons gets a C. He had some flashes when he was determined and drove, also, he did put in good effort at defense. But 33% shooting is just aweful in playoffs. Besides, the big mouth-off before game, about his ballooned ego, how he's the best SF in the series now, was plain stupid.
PB gets a B-. He worked as hard as he always does, following Lilard even to the bathroom, and he chipped in 15 points and brought energy. There were times he overcommitted, or made bad decisions. But overall, he played an OK game.
Asik gets a C from me, not because he didn't work hard, but because his impact was too limited. With spotic minutes, and mission-impossible to guard LMA from time to time, he did OK.
Lin gets a C from me as well. As I said earlier, he did lots of small things right in the first half, not necessarily shows up on the stats sheet, but helped his team. In the 4th quarter, was hoping he could inject some energy at desparate time. After he made the first basket, a tough one, I thought he would pick it up from then on. But that was the only field goal he had for the whole night. He did nothing spectacular (well, sane those 2 alley oop passes), and played relatively conservatively. But no matter how I spin it, 1 field goal and 5 points in 24 mins are just too little. It's tempting to give him a C-, but he did OK at defense, very disciplined, opposite to sometimes I criticize him of.
Harden, don't get me started, gets a D- from me. The only reason I didn't give him a F is because of his talent. His body language was really bad, and he gave up on plays and blew assignments whole game long. His heat-check and hesitating long jumpers got my blood boiling. The good thing is, he can't play any worse in game 3, or can he?
McHale gets a straight F from me, simply because he did ZERO adjustment regarding LMA. Playing TT to start, or put in DMO, or double LMA or trying to deny him the ball, something, anything, but nothing happened. Granted, even if he had tried different strategies, LMA might still have got his, because he's simply in a zone, but you need to at least try. For crying out loud, as a NBA team head coach, in the playoffs, after you said he would do something about it in game 1 post-game interview, praying LMA to miss is NOT a strategy. Moreoever, after Harden clearly showed he's scared and irresponsible with those quick shots and non-existing defense, he definitely should have put him on the bench for a little bit longer. There is NO excuse for this kind of coaching, or lacking thereof.
Rockets in Tmac-Yao era blew a 2-0 lead in Dallas, and lost 2 straight games at home. It's their turn to bring this to Portland, in that hostile Rose Garden. It's extremely tough, but one can still hope, right?
Let's go Rockets! Go Lin!
