Besides Doug Christie, none of the Kings were willing to do the dirty work and play consistent defense especially at the end of games.
Maybe those things could be blamed on Rick Adelman.
Maybe he didn't prepare them enough for those big games or end of game situations
Maybe he didn’t coach them well enough on how to deal with that pressure.
Maybe he didn't choose his rotations very well and didn't incorporate his younger players enough. As a side note, this was the criticism that held the most water. He let talented young players like Hedo Turkoglu, Gerald Wallace and Kevin Martin languish away on the bench in favor of veterans like Jim Jackson and Bonzi Wells. He also won a ton of games during that time, so it is pretty hard to argue with his immediate results.
Adelman wasn't on the court to secure a rebound in Game Four of the 2002 Western Conference finals. He wasn't missing free throws throughout Game Seven of that same series. It is hardly his fault that fate decided Chris Webber's knee should be a casualty of the 2003 playoffs. Nor did he miss the game winning shot in Game Seven against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2004 Western Conference Semifinals.
Ultimately it is the players that win or lose during the big moments of games. It is the coach’s job to put them into a position to succeed or fail, and Adelman was quite adept at doing just that.
The Kings should be dismantled by a much more talented and well coached Rockets club in this game and every other game against them for the rest of the season. They have no one to blame but themselves. Adelman should do everything in his power to continue to stick it to the Kings.
In the bigger picture, the Kings are faced with yet another coaching search this off season. This will be the third time in four years that they have to go through this process, and it is all because they were impatient with the best coach their franchise has ever seen. They may never find another candidate as great as Rick Adelman, but Kings’ fans will continue to hope that history finds a way to repeat itself.
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