Rockets fire coach McHale after 4-7 start

So for at least one night, the Rockets and interim head coach J.B. Bickerstaff can smile after a hard-fought win. In four-plus seasons with the Rockets, McHale compiled a regular season mark of 323-193 (.598), including a record of 4-7 this season. The idea behind firing McHale is making a title realistic once again.

Ainge did, however, offer some thoughts on the reported dynamics between McHale and some of the Rockets players. “We just weren’t playing with any juice, with any rhythm”.

The Rockets reached the Western Conference final last season, and while sacking McHale after four straight defeats seemed like panic to some in the league, general manager Daryl Morey said the fierce competition in the West forced his hand. “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”.

Rockets owner Leslie Alexander watched from the first row at midcourt as his seemingly uninspired team entered halftime in a 46-35 hole. McHale has already been offered a new job with the Boston Celtics. Depending on how things go in Charlotte, they might be targeting Steve Clifford to be his predecessor. Some players fought for McHale (there’s a rumor running around about Howard being his strongest defender) but it didn’t matter.

Harden added: “After the talk, we had a really good practice”.

Thibodeau was the head coach of the Chicago Bulls from 2010 through 2015 but was sacked after not seeing eye-to-eye with upper management on a few key issues.

The rugged conference is led by reigning National Basketball Association champions Golden State Warriors, who took their season-opening winning streak to 12 games on Tuesday. The power forward helped the Celtics win it all in 1981, ‘84 and ‘86. The two-time NBA Sixth Man of the Year was named one of the NBA’s 50 greatest players in 1996 and was inducted into the Hall in 1999.

Rockets 38-year-old point guard Jason Terry got his first start of the season, replacing struggling guard Ty Lawson, who was acquired from Denver in the offseason.

Rockets: Houston scored just 13 points in the second quarter, a season low.

During their playoff run, the Rockets raved about how McHale was a player’s coach.

“He’s an unbelievable guy and one of my favorite coaches I’ve ever played for, and definitely one that’s positive”, Parsons said.