re: Battle of I-45 series thread, (Rockets win series 4-1). Plays winner of SAS-LAC

My Top 5 coaching jobs this year:

T1. Kerr
T1. Bud
3. McHale
4. Stevens
5. Pop

Now as a playoff coach, McHale hasn't proven it, but this season, he was unbelievable.

The Rockets finished with the 3rd best record in the NBA. Their second best player missed half the season, they had possibly the worst PG in the NBA, they had tons of new players coming in that had to gel with the team on the fly, they had countless injury problems, and the list goes on. I should also make a point that Howard's back-up was Joey Dorsey. The Rockets had to start Dorsey for tons of games. The guy is absolutely garbage.

I honestly think this was a nightmare season for many coaches, but lots of people didn't realize because McHale and Harden held it together so well. McHale has greatly improved Josh Smith this season, developed Motiejunas (who many people had given up on) into a very promising player (now out for the season), and the list goes on.

I see so many people put Stevens ahead of McHale, and he did great, and I think he has a higher ceiling than McHale. But McHale had every excuse not to be good this year. He really did. It's incredible to me that Houston won more games than last year.