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Houston Rockets fire head coach for team's poor performance in this season

Xinhua, November 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Houston Rockets on Wednesday surprisingly fired head coach Kevin McHale after the team has a poor start of 4-7 in this season.

According to local ABC13 reports, Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey said on Wednesday that the Rockets fired the 57-year-old McHale because the team was not responding to him and there was no time to wait for a turnaround in the Western Conference. The manager said that the team will continue to make changes until they win.

McHale confirmed his fire by the Rockets, saying that he thought he could have turned the Rockets around but didn't blame the team for letting him go.

"We were starting to address some of the issues that were the reason I was let go," McHale said. "We just weren't playing with any juice, with any rhythm. We haven't been able to get the problems solved.

"We probably had more meetings in last six weeks than in my previous four years here. It wasn't working," McHale said.

The 36-year-old JB Bickerstaff was named the Rockets' interim head coach with Chris Finch taking over as associate head coach. Bickerstaff, known as a defensive-minded coach,has been the team's assistant since 2011.

The Rockets are 4-7 in this season, including a current four-game losing streak. The team has failed to reach 100 points during their losing streak -- the team's longest since 2013 -- and are averaging 20 fewer points in their losses overall this season.

McHale, in his fifth season with the team, was in the first year of a three-year extension worth more than 12 million U.S. dollars that he signed last December. He was coming off an 82-56 season where the Rockets reached the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1997.

The decision of firing McHale has triggered some reactions from former Rockets players and fans. Chandler Parsons, former Rockets player and now a Dallas Mavericks small forward, reportedly said that what a shame about Coach Mac.

"He really helped me throughout my career and one of my favourites coaches and people of all time, " Parsons said.

The Rockets will host the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night. Endit