Former NBA forward Josh Smith believes Kevin McHale’s decision to bench James Harden during the Houston Rockets’ comeback against the Los Angeles Clippers in the 2015 playoffs contributed to the coach’s dismissal the following season.
Smith praised McHale for making a difficult coaching decision during Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinals, when Houston faced elimination and Harden was struggling offensively.
“Kevin McHale’s my favorite best coach of all time. The reason why I love him, people don’t understand and know, game 6 and we were coming back, James wasn’t really having a good game. And when you’re a head coach, you gotta make a big decision like, okay, my star player is not having a good game. What do I do? Do I sub him and let these sub players come in do what they supposed to do, or do I just let him have a bad game and we lose?”
Houston trailed the Clippers by 19 points in the third quarter before mounting a comeback led by Smith, Corey Brewer and other role players.
Harden remained on the bench throughout the fourth quarter as the Rockets secured a 119-107 victory.
According to Smith, Houston’s management wanted McHale to put Harden back into the game as the team began closing the deficit.
However, the coach decided to stick with the players who were leading the comeback.
“And he made a decision. He sat him, and we was playing, and when we start coming back, the owner and the GM, Daryl Morey, they like, ‘Put James back in the game,’ while we coming back. So he like, ‘I got you. Give me a second. I’m going to do it in a minute.’ Never did it, and we won.”
The Rockets went on to win Game 7 against Los Angeles, advancing to the Western Conference Finals before losing to the Golden State Warriors.
Despite that postseason success, McHale was fired just 11 games into the following season after Houston opened with a 4-7 record.
Smith believes the decision to keep Harden on the bench during Game 6 upset team executives and may have influenced their decision to dismiss McHale months later.
“I know that made them furious. We won game 7, went to the Western Conference Finals, lost to Golden State. But that’s the reason, in my mind, I feel like he got fired the next year, because how do you go from the Western Conference Finals, first 25 games of the [next] season, it’s not that bad, and then you fired the man. You holding a grudge from that moment, but it did something great for your organization.”
