"On his first day as Rockets coach, Kevin McHale said that players who are not playing hard would spend time keeping him company. "You use the bench," he said.

"If they're not motivated, they can sit by me," McHale said in his introductory news conference. "I'd rather lose with guys playing hard than win with more talented guys giving me halfway effort."

On Monday, he clearly demonstrated that he meant it.

With centers Samuel Dalembert and Jordan Hill lethargic and ineffective, he benched both and went instead with Jeff Adrien, a rarely used forward out of the NBA Development League that the team waived the next day.

McHale said he was not trying to send a message, but it would have been difficult for one not to have been received."