His limp is so pronounced it induces his 6-foot-10 frame into an odd bobbing motion with every deliberate step. And it tells a powerful story.

The awkward gait for the Houston Rockets’ coach is the product of 13 punishing NBA seasons, including the 1987 postseason when he played on a broken foot.

”If you watch him walk, you know he laid it on the line,” said Larry Bird, who won three titles alongside McHale in Boston. ”So as a player you look over and say: `Oh, my coach did it and he’s telling me to do it. I’ve got to do it.”’

McHale is the ultimate player’s coach, and his style has worked well for Houston all season. It will be tested Monday night when the Rockets try to avoid a sweep in the Western Conference finals against top-seeded Golden State.

Asked about McHale’s best quality as a coach, Houston center Dwight Howard pointed to his Hall of Fame playing career.

”He played in the league and he has a couple of championships,” Howard said. ”He understands the game. He understands how tough it is to win a series, how tough it is to win four games and that no matter what the situation is you need to stay together and not have any negative energy and anything is possible.”

McHale spent his entire career in Boston after he was the third overall pick in the 1980 draft. 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.

After his playing career, he spent several years as an executive with the Timberwolves before coaching the team for parts of the 2004-05 and 2008-09 seasons after coaches were fired. But his first real shot at coaching came when he took over the Rockets in June 2011.

He has a 189-123 regular-season record in four seasons in Houston, leading the Rockets to the playoffs in each of the last three seasons. He signed a three-year extension last December.

The old-school coach works for Daryl Morey, a Northwestern and MIT-educated general manager who relies heavily on analytics.

It’s an interesting juxtaposition that raises questions of how the pair mesh.

”We get along great,” McHale said. ”I think there’s a place for analytics, you learn a lot through analytics but there’s also times where you learn a lot more by looking in a guy’s eyes and seeing what kind of determination he has, what kind of guts he’s got. Is he going to fight in tight spots? There’s no analytics for that stuff. So it’s always going to be a blend of both.”

His work in leading the Rockets to the second seed in the Western Conference has drawn raves across the NBA. When he finished sixth in Coach of the Year voting, Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said he thought people underrated what McHale did this season.

”Losing Howard for so many games and still getting the second-best record in the West is an outstanding job,” Carlisle said, ”and I am not sure why it slipped under the radar the way it did.”

McHale cares deeply about his players and has a relatable manner that works up and down the roster. Houston star James Harden said he felt comfortable with McHale from the moment he met him.

”I felt like I was talking to an actual player,” Harden said. ”Obviously he’s won championships so he knows what he’s talking about. So my ears are just locked in and focused in on what he’s saying.”

But the gruff 57-year-old McHale isn’t one to show his emotions, and he recently got a little testy when he thought questions were veering too much into a touchy-feely zone.

Before Game 3 on Saturday night, a reporter attempted to ask him about his relationship with the front office and he cut the man off before he could even finish the question.

”This is like the third relationship question,” McHale barked. ”Is this like Oprah?”

He interrupted another query on Sunday when someone dared to ask how he felt.

”You know what, this is no time for – there’s no feelings,” McHale said. ”There’s no feelings. I don’t understand feelings. You’re playing basketball. You’ve got to play with force and you’ve got to play harder.”

Bird says that is just McHale being McHale. He doesn’t have time for ancillary chatter or discussing things other than good, old-fashioned basketball.

”Kevin feels good being around the gym, I know that,” Bird told The Associated Press. ”That’s where he feels the best. He likes to be in the locker room, he likes hold court and he likes to tell stories.”

Howard agreed and poked fun at McHale’s penchant for reminiscing on the good old days with Bird and Robert Parish.

”He’s big on talking about his Boston days with old Birdie and the Chief (Parish) and all those guys,” Howard said chuckling. ”So yeah, we know all the stories.”

That’s one thing that hasn’t changed with McHale since he was roaming the court for the Celtics.

”Back in the day when I played with him we couldn’t get him to shut up,” Bird said laughing. ”He was always talking. Kevin was a good talker.”

Howard said the tales of his playing days are inspirational, even if they’ve heard them a few too many times.

”After a while you’re like: `Uh, Coach, you told that story a week ago,”’ Howard said. ”But he’s great. He puts you in that place where you feel like anything is possible because he’s went through it.”

So even if the mostly 20-something players roll their eyes when he starts another story with ”Back when I was playing,” they still respect his words because they know just how difficult it is to win one title, much less three.

”He’s going to push these guys and try to get the most out of them and he ain’t going to have them do anything he wouldn’t have done as a player,” Bird said.

The post Rockets respond to McHale’s old-school coaching approach appeared first on IdealCapper.

And it allowed them to escape playoff elimination with a 105-103 win over the Thunder on Monday night.

Chandler Parsons scored 27 points and Patrick Beverley added 16 points with point guard Jeremy Lin out with a bruised chest muscle. Houston avoided a four-game sweep in the best-of-seven series.

The Rockets led in the fourth quarter of each of the previous two games only to end up losing.

“We felt the pain and frustration from the last two losses … and we didn’t want that to happen for the third straight time,” Parsons said.

It almost did.

Kevin Durant scored five quick points to cut the Rockets’ lead to two. James Harden missed two shots for Houston after that, and the Thunder had a last chance.

Reggie Jackson missed a jump shot, and Serge Ibaka grabbed the rebound but missed a layup at the buzzer.

A stunned Ibaka fell to the court after the miss and covered his face with his hands.

Durant scored 38 points in Oklahoma City’s second game without injured All-Star guard Russell Westbrook.

The victory kept Houston from being swept in the playoffs for the first time since 1996. Game 5 is Wednesday in Oklahoma City.

“Getting this first win gives us confidence going back to Oklahoma City, and anything can happen,” Harden said.

Rockets coach Kevin McHale was proud of his young team’s work in getting its first playoff victory.

“That was a gutsy win,” McHale said. “We’re not going to lie down. The one constant has been their willingness to scrap and fight. We kept on fighting.”

Durant hit the go-ahead 3-pointer in the Thunder’s Game 3 win. He wanted to get another one off Monday, but Francisco Garcia forced him to give up the ball.

“I was. I was going to try to win it,” Durant said. “But he played good defense.”

Durant is looking forward to the series returning to Oklahoma City.

“We’ll be all right,” he said. “We’re up 3-1 with a good opportunity to close it out at home. We couldn’t ask for a better situation, so hopefully we’ll get the job done.”

Harden scored 15 points but also had 10 turnovers. He had two chances to extend Houston’s lead with less than a minute left but missed both of them, including shooting an air ball.

Getting the win allowed Harden to take his tough night in stride.

“I did have a double-double,” he deadpanned, referring to his points and turnovers.

He picked up his fifth foul with about seven minutes remaining, sending him to the bench. A dunk by Jackson seconds later cut Houston’s lead to 98-94.

Jackson got the Thunder within 100-98 with a 3-pointer a couple of minutes later. His 3-point attempt on the next trip down the floor rattled in and out of the basket.

Houston scored four quick points to extend the lead to 104-98 before Harden returned to the game with about three minutes left.

He said he struggled to get going after sitting out in the fourth quarter.

“The foul trouble kind of set me back,” he said. “Coming in trying to make big shots, I was cold.”

Derek Fisher made a 3-pointer to cut Houston’s lead to 104-101 with less than three minutes remaining. It was reviewed a few seconds later, and the points were taken away because replays showed the shot clock had expired.

Jackson finished with 18 points in his second start in place of Westbrook, and Kevin Martin added 16.

Houston got 17 points from Omer Asik and 13 from Carlos Delfino.

Oklahoma City’s DeAndre Liggins received a technical foul with :07 left in the third quarter for arguing the call on a jump ball. Delfino made the free throw, but Durant hit a jump shot at the buzzer to get the Thunder within 91-84 entering the fourth quarter.

The Rockets led by two points in the third quarter before a 3-point play by Harden. He took Jackson off the dribble for a jump shot and drew the foul — Jackson’s fourth — to send him to the bench and the crowd into a frenzy.

Durant was shaken up a few seconds later when he crashed into the scorer’s table chasing a loose ball. He remained on his back for a couple of minutes holding his right wrist before being helped to his feet. But he didn’t leave the game and seemed to be OK.

Harden’s three-point play was the start of a 12-2 Houston run capped by another three-point play — this one by Delfino — to extend the lead to 85-75 with about three minutes left in the third quarter.

Delfino dunked after stealing the ball from Martin, and Durant fouled him on the play.

Houston scored the first 10 points of the second half to erase a halftime deficit and take a 63-60 lead. Parsons had six points in that span.

The Rockets did a much better job of keeping the crowd involved in this one than they did in Game 3, when they trailed early by as many as 26 points. Houston rallied to take a lead in the fourth quarter of that game before losing 104-101.

Near the end of the first half, Durant sailed into the crowd Superman-style to save the ball on a bad pass from Harden. He was able to get to his feet and stood in the crowd watching as Martin swished a 3 on the other end. He couldn’t figure out how to get out of the crowd for a few seconds before finally climbing out and back onto the court. But before he got back to the game, Durant asked a woman in the first row whom he had crashed into whether she was OK.

Houston led by five at the end of the first quarter and was up by three points early in the second before Oklahoma City scored 12 straight points, fueled by seven from Durant. The Rockets took a 43-34 lead about 6 1/2 minutes before halftime.

Delfino swiped the ball from Durant and swished a 3 with 17 seconds left in the first half to cut the Thunder’s lead to 60-53 at halftime.

The Rockets led 29-24 after one quarter thanks to 5-of-9 shooting from 3-point range Monday after trailing by 20 points after one in Game 3.

Game notes

Houston’s Greg Smith returned Monday after missing Game 3 with a stomach ailment. … Durant has scored 20 or more points in 30 straight playoff games. … Former Rockets star Steve Francis watched the game from a courtside seat. … The Seattle SuperSonics were the last team to sweep Houston in the playoffs, getting a 4-0 series win in the Western Conference semifinals in 1996.

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Al Jefferson had 22 points and eight rebounds to help Utah keep its playoff hopes alive with a 96-80 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night, setting up one more must-win game in the season finale on Wednesday.

“It comes down to one game now,” Jefferson said. “It’s a big game. The only thing we can worry about is what we can control, going out there and trying to take care of the game, and trying to win, and just leave the rest up to the Lakers, I guess.”

Mo Williams had 15 points and seven assists for the Jazz, who needed a win to avoid being eliminated in the Western Conference playoff race.

To get into the playoffs, the Jazz need to win at Memphis on Wednesday and for the Los Angeles Lakers to lose at home against Houston that night. Utah owns the tiebreaker after beating the Lakers two out of three times this season.

“I guess I have to try and get in touch with Kevin McHale and tell him to handle it for me,” said Jefferson, who played for the Rockets’ coach when both were in Minnesota.

Derrick Williams had 18 points and six rebounds for the Timberwolves, who were missing center Nikola Pekovic because of a bruised left calf.

The Jazz entered the night clinging to the postseason picture, down 1½ games to the Lakers with two to play.

For a team that could have as many as nine expiring contracts this summer, the Jazz are desperately chasing one more playoff appearance. Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Mo Williams and Randy Foye all could be looking for new teams when the season ends, with a bevy of young players waiting to assume larger roles next year.

They’ve won nine of their last 11 games since a four-game losing streak in the middle of last month threatened to bury them.

“Talk about this group of guys, man, the character that they have, there was no quit in this group,” coach Tyrone Corbin said. “The guys just continued to work and put ourselves in a position to get back when we were struggling there.”

Utah didn’t play all that well early, but it was just good enough to stay on top of a Timberwolves team that is slogging to the finish of another long season. The Wolves shot just 33 percent in the first quarter, and without Pekovic patrolling the paint they didn’t grab an offensive rebound until late in the third quarter.

A 13-4 run by Minnesota cut Utah’s lead to three points late in the third quarter, but once again the Wolves had no answer for Jefferson. The former Wolf scored 40 against the Wolves in a 107-100 win on Friday night in Salt Lake City and continued to attack the team’s soft middle on Monday night. He scored six straight points after Minnesota’s run to give the Jazz some breathing room again, and they never looked back.

Foye scored 14 points for the Jazz.

“You want to finish up better than that,” coach Rick Adelman said of the home finale. “I know they had something to play for, but it was our last home game. I thought we should have had better effort, but we didn’t.”

The Timberwolves have one game left in what has been a miserable, injury-plagued season. They will enter this offseason as they have every one since 2004 — with a spot in the lottery coming in June and plenty of questions about the roster and who will be back to lead it. Owner Glen Taylor has been mum on president David Kahn’s future. Kahn has a team option on his contract for next season.

Coach Rick Adelman has two years left on his deal, but has considered stepping down to help his wife, Mary Kay, who is being treated for seizures. Her condition caused him to miss 11 games earlier this season. She is due to meet with doctors again shortly after the season ends and Adelman is hoping her condition will continue to stabilize. Before the game, Adelman said he was going forward with the idea that he would be back next season and hoped to have a definitive answer in the next couple of weeks.

“I think what happens with Mary Kay or any of that, that certainly would turn things in a different direction,” Adelman said. “Right now I don’t see that (happening), but I’m going to wait and see until we talk to the doctors and see what direction they’ve decided we need to go at this point. Then we’ll move from there.”

Game notes

Wolves PG Ricky Rubio had a quiet night with six points on 2-for-9 shooting and four assists. … The Wolves finish the season with a game at San Antonio on Wednesday. … It was just the 13th win on the road for the Jazz this season. They’ve won three straight away from home.

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Jeremy Lin sank five 3-pointers, a career high, and Chandler Parsons and James Harden hit four apiece as the Rockets reached a season-high point total. They also tied an NBA record with 14 3-pointers in the first half and dished out a season-high 35 assists on 46 field goals overall.

Lin scored 28 points, Harden added 18 and Parsons scored 16 for Houston. The Rockets put on the shooting display without their best 3-point shooter — Carlos Delfino sat out with a right elbow injury.

Jarrett Jack scored 20 points and David Lee had 18 for the Warriors. Houston tied the single-game record for 3s set by Orlando in a 139-107 win over Sacramento on Jan. 13, 2009.

The Rockets were 18 of 27 from 3-point range through three quarters, and they also bottled up Golden State’s leading scorer, limiting Stephen Curry to seven points on 3-for-12 shooting.

Houston finally hit a dry spell early in the fourth, missing its first three 3-point attempts. Marcus Morris then hit one from the wing, and Parsons flashed him a smile as the two trotted back down the court.

With the outcome decided, Rockets coach Kevin McHale pulled his starters with about six minutes left, leaving the pursuit of the NBA record to the reserves. Newcomer Patrick Beverley sank one from the corner for No. 22 and seldom-used Donatas Motiejunas swished another to tie Orlando’s mark.

The fans figured out quickly they were on the verge of witnessing history, beginning to chant “One more 3!” with less than two minutes left. Beverley drove for a one-handed dunk with 1:04 remaining, prompting a mix of cheers and groans.

Beverley took a hard foul from Draymond Green on a 3-point try with 34 seconds left. Beverley and Green snapped at one another, prompting a heated argument between several players. Green and Morris were ejected.

The Rockets had one more possession to grab the record outright, but Golden State wasn’t going to allow it, intentionally fouling the Rockets at the end.

Morris sank three 3-pointers for Houston, which had never made more than 17 in a game.

The Rockets went 7 for 10 from 3-point range in the first quarter, but only 13 for 25 from the field overall. Lin and James Anderson sank 3s early in the second quarter to keep Houston in front. The Warriors made 20 of their first 32 shots and still couldn’t keep pace.

Houston tied an NBA record with 14 3s on only 18 attempts in the first half. Milwaukee had 14 3s in a half against Phoenix in March 2006 and New York matched that total twice last season — against Portland on March 14 and against Boston on April 17.

Curry, though, had the most spectacular shot before the break, just beating the buzzer with a half-court shot to cut Houston’s lead to 77-62.

But Golden State’s perimeter defense was no better in the third quarter, and 3-pointers by Parsons and Lin stretched the gap past 20. Harrison Barnes ran out to guard Lin on his next 3-point attempt, and Lin blew by him for a layup and an 87-64 Houston lead.

Toney Douglas swished a 3 from the corner with 1:38 left in the third quarter for No. 18, and Houston cruised over 100 points. The Warriors shot 54 percent (36 of 67) through three quarters and still couldn’t mount a rally.

Game notes

The Warriors have lost 15 of their last 17 games against the Rockets, and nine in a row in Houston. … Golden State dropped to 8-1 this season when scoring at least 30 points in the first quarter. … Houston sank at least 10 3-pointers for the 27th game. … The Rockets set season highs for first-quarter and first-half points.

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