ROCKETS FIRE McHALE

The Houston Rockets have fired Kevin McHale. Assistant J.B. Bickerstaff will serve as interim coach.

The Rockets are 4-7 this season, including a current four-game losing streak that prompted a players-only meeting at the Toyota Center on Tuesday morning.

McHale, in his fifth season with the team, was in the first year of a three-year extension worth more than $12 million that he signed last December.

He was coming off an 56-26 season where the Rockets reached the Western Conference finals for the first time since 1997.

He was 193-130 overall with the team, including three straight trips to the playoffs. The Rockets had improved every season under his tenure going into this season.