Defense will be key to this game again. Last night, the Knicks held the Pacers only 34 points in the paint, and minimized points off turnovers. Although free throws was a problem (Pacers getting to the line), as long as the Knicks don't commit too many turnovers and are able to get back on defense, they should hold the Pacers under 100 points tonight. JLin needs to continue playing aggressive, and making his free throws (6-6 FT last night).
What I'm looking for: the arrival of Harvard's do-everything play-making scoring guard Jeremy Lin, except Lin will still be bringing the ball up as the nominal PG and intiating the offense.
LINNNNNNNNNNNNNN! Why TO? Does he ever learn. I Love Lin but stop the bonehead turnovers. The turnover he made passing to Landry is the same thing over and over again.
That said, his other TO wasn't even his fault. It was a pass right into Chandler's hands, but Tyson fumbled the catch (probably because of his injured wrist).
Agreed. For a smart guy, he sure makes dumb passes. He's gotta realize these NBA guys are fast. And he really needs to develop a short to medium jump shot. His defense has gotten somewhat better though, I think.
Those green/orange unis are poison :/ As garish as the colors are, the combo kinda has them camouflaged against the court. Like a hungry caterpillar against a tree.
Lin needs to stop turning has back on his man when running back on Defense. He's giving his man a easy path to the basket and not slowing him down. He needs to do a better job of slowing down the other point guard in transition.
I think maybe Lin should NOT play wholeheartedly to payback Carmelo for doing the same? That's probably how he got the coach fired.
There was a power struggle right off the bat when Carmelo came back from injury, which is why there were press conferences in which Lin mentioned that he needs to take less shots and distribute more (this is the time when the coach and melonoma tried to *compromise* - and the coach kept his side, but melo didn't).
Had melo kept his side of the agreement, instead of changing their strategy on a dime (particularly during the stretch) and kept asking for the ball (even though he kept missing the basket), it likely would have been 3-3, instead of 0-6 on that stretch. But of course that would have kept the coach on board and Linsanity would have continued, though on a milder level.
Linsanity continues folks...JLin is taking over the game! Doing it on defense, rebounding, blocking out players, and hustle! Team high 19 points now, 7 rebounds, and getting to the line. Just 2 TO's folks...it's not too bad. He's already improving his handles, and his first season just started a month and half ago.
All the people claiming "Linsanity is dead" is just another form of adversity for J.Lin... another reason for him to play with a chip on his shoulder. I almost feel like he needs to play with a chip on his shoulder to succeed. So to all the haters: keep giving him a reason to play well!
Mike Bibby SHOULD NOT be the backup PG for Coach Woodson. Missed a wide open 3-pointer. Missed a wide open layup under the basket, got knocked to the floor, and took at least 4 seconds to get back up. I'll be glad when B. Davis comes back next week. He's always been productive off the bench.
But Davis should accept his back up role which I doubt he does because he looks like someone who always goes to coach to ask for minutes for me. Not to mention he is also in a contract year.
Look, if Davis is playing well and JLin is not playing well on a particular game, I have no problem with Lin playing 20 to 25 minutes per game. Come on people, it's not like JLin is at an All-Star level already. He needs time to develop to reach his potential. Let's just watch and enjoy his growth. Personally, I just want him to get a bigger salary next year 'cause he's getting paid very low amount for his value to Knicks.
Cara: Baron Davis's injury, with his injury history and age, pretty much settles the question. Even if Davis plays better than Lin here on out, Woodson will need to limit Davis in order to protect him from further injury.
On a statistical level, Baron Davis has not played better than Lin on either end of the court.
DO NOT use the "eye test" to claim that Baron is better than Lin, because he's not. That's how all those fool NCAA and NBA scouts missed out on Lin in the first place.
Jeremy Lin does not need to "learn" anything from Baron Davis as far as being a Knick goes. Davis was once a good player, but he's not doing as well as a Knicks as Lin is. Good producers should not defer to inferior producers.
Lin is FINALLY getting the fouls called. you see how confident he played? he can be aggressive and play his game when you know you are going to the free throw line if you get fouled.
Yes, Jeremy! I know all along that you can still produce even in a reduced role!
I honestly that the injury to Baron Davis gives Lin more confidence because he can be more relaxed and play his natural game and does not need to look over his shoulder after every mistake and does not need to worry about losing his starting job.
Great all-around game for Jeremy. Despite a couple dumb TOs, he came up HUGE in the 4th quarter against a very good defensive team that was very familiar with him (having played him just last night). Also, he easily could have had 6 or 8 more assists if his teammates finished their layups.
Yeah, but the Pacers had a big time shot blocker in Roy Hibbert, waiting at the rim for Chandler, Melo, and Amare. A lot of those missed layups would have gone in uncontested if they were playing a against a weaker defense team with no shot blockers.
Knicks played good defense all night. Forced some turnovers for some easy transition buckets, that's how you beat a good defensive team, run them out of the building.
Lin played great D. on Darren Collison, holding him to only 6-16 shooting and 3 assists. But he allowed Collison to go coast to coast with a 2 handed slam dunk. NOT GOOD !
The TV announcers were trying to blame the Pacers bad offense on being exhausted after playing a game last night. LOL ! The Knicks played last night too, and they were full of energy.
So far, I can't see how JLin's role is going diminish. He's the best point guard on the team. Those who think Baron Davis is the answer is quite frankly not in tune with reality. Baron is 32 years old, injured many times, and just came back from a spine injury. If anyone thinks he should start and play more minutes that JLin, they must be out of their minds. A used car is never going to run like new no matter how well the engine hums for the first few minutes.
JLin won this game for the Knicks tonight in the 4th! Agree, he should have 10+ assists tonight. He had some nice passes, but the other players were fouled going up for the layups.
When Woodson took over many were calling an end to Lin including the press and bloggers here as well. Then, the knicks killed the blazers and Jeremy's role appeared to diminish. That day I posted this comment under Knicks vs Blazer thread:
damny Mar 14, 2012 05:56 PM
I like this coach Mike Woodson. You can tell he's a smart coach. Look at the defensive traps. Blazers are playing bad for a reason. Plus, I like how he brings the second unit early. I think that's Key. You have a deep excellent bench. Let them get involved early. You can see some offensive plays that have been set up for Melo using Lin. This may be ultimately better for Lin. He has got to learn to be more of a true point guard rather than Rose type of PG. Dantoni leaving may have been the best thing for the Knicks... but we shall see. I think you'll them play better. My call is they'll win vs the Pacers in both games. Lin will shoot less but will avg ~10 assists.
Some of you may have though I was dead wrong. After watching tonight's game, I rest my case. (Lin really had ~10 assists but the recipients often botched the layups) Woodson will play Jeremy because he saw first hand how good Jeremy was. Lin is the real deal. He will be a force in the league to be reconed with. But Dantoni's system was actually hurting Lin after the initial surge. Once other teams in the League were coming for Lin's head, the coach needed to make adjustments to help him w/ set plays. But there was very little of that under Dantoni. You could tell right off the bat that Woodson has high BBall IQ. He set plays that involved Melo and Lin. And plays that reduce the pressure on Lin on EVERY SINGLE possession. But Woodson's gift is clearly displayed on defensive end. Really nice traps and mixups. This is an exciting team to watch again. Glad I have League Pass :)
I'm glad that the pressure is off Lin a little. This means that he will have more time to develop his talent with time instead of just trying to learn on the fly, which is very difficult. And Coach Woodson has been really great, especially on defense and rotations. I notice that he takes guys out rather quickly when they do too poorly, and he isn't afraid to sub Lin when he is not doing great or needs rest. With time we will get to see more and more the the development of the Knicks. And no matter how it turns out in New York, Jeremy will have a bright future in the NBA.
JLin played very efficiently, going 5 for 6 in the paint, and 7 for 8 at the FT line. Again, Carmelo struggled with his jumpers, shooting 1 for 6 outside the paint, and only 3 for 7 at the line. JR is finally hitting his 3s. I believe he shot ~50% on 3s when he was in China. Having him and Novak as a deep threat should open up driving lanes for JLin or Melo.
The Knicks played great defense in the 4th, keeping the Pacers off the paint and forcing them to long range jumpers. Knicks only had 12 turnovers, resulting in only 15 pts. for the Pacers.
What the hell was Melo doing bringing up the ball instead of Lin near the end of the 4th quarter? Because Lin didn't pass to him enough melo decided to not give it up to lin who is your pg? What kind of selfish message is he sending? That's grade school stuff. Petty and rubbish. Despite not having a great game melo smiled alot (weird). Could it be because he is laughing inwardly that dantonni is gone? I never followed the knicks until Lin. Didn't know much about melo. But everyday i'm seeing more and more of his character and selfishness come out. It will slowly and surely poison the whole team. Melo will turn on Lin one day. Just watch!
yeah i noticed that too. melo played like trash and when he got the ball he was smiling like he finally has the ball in his hand. he's been known to bring the ball up court by himself in the past esp. in an iso system.
Let's be fair to Melo a bit (even if you aren't a fan). There are teams that play "point forward" setups. Maybe Coach Woodson wanted to try it out. After all, if Melo can bring the ball up occasionally, that will further reduce the pressure of JLin to bring the ball up every time. JLin can roam on offense and attack as a SG if need be.
Even if Coach Woodson didn't call the setup, it's fine. It was the end of the game. Plus, point guards are not the only one's that bring the ball up at times. Let's not go looking for stuff that isn't there. If this happens during mid game when it was still close, then it might be an issue.
This was the complete game that we haven't seen from Lin since the Wizards back in February... You gotta love this output by Lin and very comfortable system under Woodson... I can see the Knicks with another 7 game or more win streak...
Even though Darren Collison is a much faster point guard, Lin was able to contain him. Whenever he got beat off the dribble or on a pick n' roll, other Knicks would step up with help D. It's not like before where Lin was getting burned by Tony Parker, Brandon Jennings, D. Williams, etc. The media keeps saying that Lin was getting outclassed by these other PG's, but it was the Knicks defense that was giving them easy drives to the hoop.
I'll bet that Jeremy Lin outpaces Darren Collison in athletic testing, just like how Lin outpaces almost every PG in the league other than John Wall.
The enforcement of hand check rules have made it impossible for any single defender to stop perimeter dribble drives. Lin is playing as good defense as he needs to, particularly in context of today's Knick win.
To my eyes, Lin looks faster and stronger and more coordinated than almost every player at his position other than John Wall. Thus I EXPECT Lin to play effectively against any NBA pgs provided that his Knick teammates don't shirk their duties as they have been.
If it's true that Woodson originally planned to use Davis more than Lin, then i think God intervened again by allowing him to be not fit to play so JLin can play. Just like what happened at the start of Linsanity last Feb when D'Antoni didn't have a choice but to play Lin because of other members were injured. Jeremy have noted in his faith testimony that over and over, God's working on things that he didn't have control over. :) continue to play for God's glory, JLin! :)
There is no way Woodson starts Davis over Lin. You saw how fast Darren Collison was today, and how Jeremy Lin bothered him on defense, even got some steals and turnovers on Collison. Baron Davis would have been blown away by the faster, more athletic point guards. B. Davis might hit some more jumpers or made some better passes, but his defense is nowhere near the level of Jeremy Lin.
Davis has been a better defender than Lin, but a pulled hamstring means Davis needs to be more careful making the kind of movements necessary for defense, which means he has to be more conservative on defense.
I'd like to make two points: I respectfully disagree that Baron is a better defender than Jeremy and in general the criticism of Jeremy's defense. I fully acknowledge that there are deficiencies in his game (ie silly turnovers, inconsistent jump shot, etc.), but I just don't understand the criticism of his defense. Here's a couple of examples that I can think of that only a small sample of his effort: (1) that block on Rose in the Bull's game was incredible- I've NEVER seen Baron do anything close to that (2) He followed up with some pesky steals on Rose (3) that steal on Collison last night was a nasty strip (I think it was Collison) (4) shutting Brandon Jennings down the whole Buck's game and then that last play where he totally D up on him. Yes, he get's burned a lot, but who doesn't get burned by Tony Parker and Deron Williams? The help defense is critical at this level because of the speed of this game so that's not all his fault. Sometimes he's out of position, but that's because he's still learning.
I'm not convinced that Woodson is going to let Jeremy play his game (I hope I'm wrong!!) and be anything more than a role player to the Carmelo show. I am concerned that Baron will get a lot more minutes when he comes back, and that Woodson is still committed to appeasing Marshmello and Amare. Last night, it looks like the Pick and Roll with Carmelo was called in order to free up Carmelo to get the ball. It worked out really well last night with Jeremy being aggressive, but Woodson seems much less tolerant of mistakes. If Jeremy does this again and it doesn't work out, he'll go to the bench just like Landry did after the missed defensive assignment in the 3rd quarter. This is not a "rookie" friendly coach as we all know. I'm just as excited as anyone that this is happening, but my enthusiasm has been tempered...this is clearly a "star" focused team- those stars being Amare and Melo. Melo will revert back soon to his 20+ shorts per game at some point, and when he does, we'll see the true nature of this team.
Defense will be key to this game again. Last night, the Knicks held the Pacers only 34 points in the paint, and minimized points off turnovers. Although free throws was a problem (Pacers getting to the line), as long as the Knicks don't commit too many turnovers and are able to get back on defense, they should hold the Pacers under 100 points tonight. JLin needs to continue playing aggressive, and making his free throws (6-6 FT last night).
ReplyDeleteWhat I'm looking for: the arrival of Harvard's do-everything play-making scoring guard Jeremy Lin, except Lin will still be bringing the ball up as the nominal PG and intiating the offense.
ReplyDeleteDoes today count?
DeleteHe was solid.
DeleteSome shaky passing in the half court still, but his ball handling was better: stronger left hand and attacking the trap.
LINNNNNNNNNNNNNN! Why TO? Does he ever learn. I Love Lin but stop the bonehead turnovers. The turnover he made passing to Landry is the same thing over and over again.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that was really, really dumb.
DeleteThat said, his other TO wasn't even his fault. It was a pass right into Chandler's hands, but Tyson fumbled the catch (probably because of his injured wrist).
He also had two beautiful layups to end the half.
Agreed. For a smart guy, he sure makes dumb passes. He's gotta realize these NBA guys are fast. And he really needs to develop a short to medium jump shot. His defense has gotten somewhat better though, I think.
DeleteThose green/orange unis are poison :/ As garish as the colors are, the combo kinda has them camouflaged against the court. Like a hungry caterpillar against a tree.
ReplyDeleteBet it's interfering with their game.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLin needs to stop turning has back on his man when running back on Defense. He's giving his man a easy path to the basket and not slowing him down. He needs to do a better job of slowing down the other point guard in transition.
ReplyDeleteI think maybe Lin should NOT play wholeheartedly to payback Carmelo for doing the same? That's probably how he got the coach fired.
ReplyDeleteThere was a power struggle right off the bat when Carmelo came back from injury, which is why there were press conferences in which Lin mentioned that he needs to take less shots and distribute more (this is the time when the coach and melonoma tried to *compromise* - and the coach kept his side, but melo didn't).
Had melo kept his side of the agreement, instead of changing their strategy on a dime (particularly during the stretch) and kept asking for the ball (even though he kept missing the basket), it likely would have been 3-3, instead of 0-6 on that stretch. But of course that would have kept the coach on board and Linsanity would have continued, though on a milder level.
Not good, Landry Fields has a tendency to lose guys on Defense. Gave up 2 wide open 3 pointers.
ReplyDeleteNovak has been ice cold from 3-point range. He's a defensive liability and his carelessness led to 2 more Lin turnovers.
Those 2 miscues were charged to Novak, thank god because if they gave it to Lin I would've been pissed
DeleteJeremy is TURNING IT UP in the 4th. On both ends, too.
ReplyDeleteCome on, finish strong, Knicks.
Linsanity continues folks...JLin is taking over the game! Doing it on defense, rebounding, blocking out players, and hustle! Team high 19 points now, 7 rebounds, and getting to the line. Just 2 TO's folks...it's not too bad. He's already improving his handles, and his first season just started a month and half ago.
ReplyDeleteGo JLin!
Jeremy doesn't need a system.
ReplyDeleteHe's going to have a triple double one of these days.
ReplyDeleteAll the people claiming "Linsanity is dead" is just another form of adversity for J.Lin... another reason for him to play with a chip on his shoulder. I almost feel like he needs to play with a chip on his shoulder to succeed. So to all the haters: keep giving him a reason to play well!
ReplyDeleteYeah definitely looked more aggressive and for his own shots at the end
ReplyDeleteMike Bibby SHOULD NOT be the backup PG for Coach Woodson. Missed a wide open 3-pointer. Missed a wide open layup under the basket, got knocked to the floor, and took at least 4 seconds to get back up. I'll be glad when B. Davis comes back next week. He's always been productive off the bench.
ReplyDeleteNO! I dont like Baron Davis at all. I think Jeremy play more relaxed without someone threatening his minutes.
DeleteWithout B. Davis, JLin would tire out. You need another good PG. JLin is lucky that he has B. Davis to play and learn from his experience.
DeleteBut Davis should accept his back up role which I doubt he does because he looks like someone who always goes to coach to ask for minutes for me. Not to mention he is also in a contract year.
DeleteLook, if Davis is playing well and JLin is not playing well on a particular game, I have no problem with Lin playing 20 to 25 minutes per game. Come on people, it's not like JLin is at an All-Star level already. He needs time to develop to reach his potential. Let's just watch and enjoy his growth. Personally, I just want him to get a bigger salary next year 'cause he's getting paid very low amount for his value to Knicks.
DeleteCara: Baron Davis's injury, with his injury history and age, pretty much settles the question. Even if Davis plays better than Lin here on out, Woodson will need to limit Davis in order to protect him from further injury.
DeleteOn a statistical level, Baron Davis has not played better than Lin on either end of the court.
DeleteDO NOT use the "eye test" to claim that Baron is better than Lin, because he's not. That's how all those fool NCAA and NBA scouts missed out on Lin in the first place.
Jeremy Lin does not need to "learn" anything from Baron Davis as far as being a Knick goes. Davis was once a good player, but he's not doing as well as a Knicks as Lin is. Good producers should not defer to inferior producers.
Lin is FINALLY getting the fouls called. you see how confident he played? he can be aggressive and play his game when you know you are going to the free throw line if you get fouled.
ReplyDeleteYes, Jeremy! I know all along that you can still produce even in a reduced role!
ReplyDeleteI honestly that the injury to Baron Davis gives Lin more confidence because he can be more relaxed and play his natural game and does not need to look over his shoulder after every mistake and does not need to worry about losing his starting job.
YES.
ReplyDeleteGreat all-around game for Jeremy. Despite a couple dumb TOs, he came up HUGE in the 4th quarter against a very good defensive team that was very familiar with him (having played him just last night). Also, he easily could have had 6 or 8 more assists if his teammates finished their layups.
One of his best games so far.
Yeah, I agree. Should have had at least 2 or 3 more assists.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteYeah, but the Pacers had a big time shot blocker in Roy Hibbert, waiting at the rim for Chandler, Melo, and Amare. A lot of those missed layups would have gone in uncontested if they were playing a against a weaker defense team with no shot blockers.
DeleteKnicks played good defense all night. Forced some turnovers for some easy transition buckets, that's how you beat a good defensive team, run them out of the building.
Lin played great D. on Darren Collison, holding him to only 6-16 shooting and 3 assists. But he allowed Collison to go coast to coast with a 2 handed slam dunk. NOT GOOD !
The TV announcers were trying to blame the Pacers bad offense on being exhausted after playing a game last night. LOL ! The Knicks played last night too, and they were full of energy.
Amare is getting blocked too often by the opposing player, time and again. He definitely does not have that explosiveness anymore.
DeleteSo far, I can't see how JLin's role is going diminish. He's the best point guard on the team. Those who think Baron Davis is the answer is quite frankly not in tune with reality. Baron is 32 years old, injured many times, and just came back from a spine injury. If anyone thinks he should start and play more minutes that JLin, they must be out of their minds. A used car is never going to run like new no matter how well the engine hums for the first few minutes.
ReplyDeleteJLin won this game for the Knicks tonight in the 4th! Agree, he should have 10+ assists tonight. He had some nice passes, but the other players were fouled going up for the layups.
When Woodson took over many were calling an end to Lin including the press and bloggers here as well. Then, the knicks killed the blazers and Jeremy's role appeared to diminish. That day I posted this comment under Knicks vs Blazer thread:
ReplyDeletedamny Mar 14, 2012 05:56 PM
I like this coach Mike Woodson. You can tell he's a smart coach. Look at the defensive traps. Blazers are playing bad for a reason. Plus, I like how he brings the second unit early. I think that's Key. You have a deep excellent bench. Let them get involved early. You can see some offensive plays that have been set up for Melo using Lin. This may be ultimately better for Lin. He has got to learn to be more of a true point guard rather than Rose type of PG. Dantoni leaving may have been the best thing for the Knicks... but we shall see. I think you'll them play better. My call is they'll win vs the Pacers in both games.
Lin will shoot less but will avg ~10 assists.
Some of you may have though I was dead wrong. After watching tonight's game, I rest my case. (Lin really had ~10 assists but the recipients often botched the layups) Woodson will play Jeremy because he saw first hand how good Jeremy was. Lin is the real deal. He will be a force in the league to be reconed with. But Dantoni's system was actually hurting Lin after the initial surge. Once other teams in the League were coming for Lin's head, the coach needed to make adjustments to help him w/ set plays. But there was very little of that under Dantoni. You could tell right off the bat that Woodson has high BBall IQ. He set plays that involved Melo and Lin. And plays that reduce the pressure on Lin on EVERY SINGLE possession. But Woodson's gift is clearly displayed on defensive end. Really nice traps and mixups. This is an exciting team to watch again. Glad I have League Pass :)
I'm glad that the pressure is off Lin a little. This means that he will have more time to develop his talent with time instead of just trying to learn on the fly, which is very difficult. And Coach Woodson has been really great, especially on defense and rotations. I notice that he takes guys out rather quickly when they do too poorly, and he isn't afraid to sub Lin when he is not doing great or needs rest. With time we will get to see more and more the the development of the Knicks. And no matter how it turns out in New York, Jeremy will have a bright future in the NBA.
DeleteJLin played very efficiently, going 5 for 6 in the paint, and 7 for 8 at the FT line. Again, Carmelo struggled with his jumpers, shooting 1 for 6 outside the paint, and only 3 for 7 at the line. JR is finally hitting his 3s. I believe he shot ~50% on 3s when he was in China. Having him and Novak as a deep threat should open up driving lanes for JLin or Melo.
ReplyDeleteThe Knicks played great defense in the 4th, keeping the Pacers off the paint and forcing them to long range jumpers. Knicks only had 12 turnovers, resulting in only 15 pts. for the Pacers.
I guess JLin's shirt sale will go up after this week. A solid game today.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Lindiana lol great sign, go Jeremy!
ReplyDeleteGreat game for him tonight, 4q was something else...Our boy is improving every game, all star material in the making!
This looks like the most typical Lin game. Played hard at both ends, filled up the stat sheet in all areas and came through in the clutch.
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell was Melo doing bringing up the ball instead of Lin near the end of the 4th quarter? Because Lin didn't pass to him enough melo decided to not give it up to lin who is your pg? What kind of selfish message is he sending? That's grade school stuff. Petty and rubbish. Despite not having a great game melo smiled alot (weird). Could it be because he is laughing inwardly that dantonni is gone? I never followed the knicks until Lin. Didn't know much about melo. But everyday i'm seeing more and more of his character and selfishness come out. It will slowly and surely poison the whole team. Melo will turn on Lin one day. Just watch!
ReplyDeleteyeah i noticed that too. melo played like trash and when he got the ball he was smiling like he finally has the ball in his hand. he's been known to bring the ball up court by himself in the past esp. in an iso system.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteLet's be fair to Melo a bit (even if you aren't a fan). There are teams that play "point forward" setups. Maybe Coach Woodson wanted to try it out. After all, if Melo can bring the ball up occasionally, that will further reduce the pressure of JLin to bring the ball up every time. JLin can roam on offense and attack as a SG if need be.
DeleteEven if Coach Woodson didn't call the setup, it's fine. It was the end of the game. Plus, point guards are not the only one's that bring the ball up at times. Let's not go looking for stuff that isn't there. If this happens during mid game when it was still close, then it might be an issue.
If Lin keeps this up, he'll save Woodson's job too.
ReplyDeleteMike Woodson HAS to be cringing a bit at the thought of that.
I don't think Woodson gives a s--t about that. He is in a no loss situation. JLin is also in a no loss situation.
DeleteFor all Lin fans on this site, you can watch knicks games for free. check out p2p4u.net .
ReplyDeleteThis was the complete game that we haven't seen from Lin since the Wizards back in February... You gotta love this output by Lin and very comfortable system under Woodson... I can see the Knicks with another 7 game or more win streak...
ReplyDeleteEven though Darren Collison is a much faster point guard, Lin was able to contain him. Whenever he got beat off the dribble or on a pick n' roll, other Knicks would step up with help D.
DeleteIt's not like before where Lin was getting burned by Tony Parker, Brandon Jennings, D. Williams, etc. The media keeps saying that Lin was getting outclassed by these other PG's, but it was the Knicks defense that was giving them easy drives to the hoop.
I'll bet that Jeremy Lin outpaces Darren Collison in athletic testing, just like how Lin outpaces almost every PG in the league other than John Wall.
DeleteThe enforcement of hand check rules have made it impossible for any single defender to stop perimeter dribble drives. Lin is playing as good defense as he needs to, particularly in context of today's Knick win.
To my eyes, Lin looks faster and stronger and more coordinated than almost every player at his position other than John Wall. Thus I EXPECT Lin to play effectively against any NBA pgs provided that his Knick teammates don't shirk their duties as they have been.
JLin highlights of tonight's game:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=833zl9amhmw
Looks like JLin took advantage of the pick-n-roll plays tonight.
If it's true that Woodson originally planned to use Davis more than Lin, then i think God intervened again by allowing him to be not fit to play so JLin can play. Just like what happened at the start of Linsanity last Feb when D'Antoni didn't have a choice but to play Lin because of other members were injured. Jeremy have noted in his faith testimony that over and over, God's working on things that he didn't have control over. :) continue to play for God's glory, JLin! :)
ReplyDeleteThere is no way Woodson starts Davis over Lin. You saw how fast Darren Collison was today, and how Jeremy Lin bothered him on defense, even got some steals and turnovers on Collison.
ReplyDeleteBaron Davis would have been blown away by the faster, more athletic point guards. B. Davis might hit some more jumpers or made some better passes, but his defense is nowhere near the level of Jeremy Lin.
Davis has been a better defender than Lin, but a pulled hamstring means Davis needs to be more careful making the kind of movements necessary for defense, which means he has to be more conservative on defense.
DeleteI'd like to make two points:
ReplyDeleteI respectfully disagree that Baron is a better defender than Jeremy and in general the criticism of Jeremy's defense. I fully acknowledge that there are deficiencies in his game (ie silly turnovers, inconsistent jump shot, etc.), but I just don't understand the criticism of his defense. Here's a couple of examples that I can think of that only a small sample of his effort: (1) that block on Rose in the Bull's game was incredible- I've NEVER seen Baron do anything close to that (2) He followed up with some pesky steals on Rose (3) that steal on Collison last night was a nasty strip (I think it was Collison) (4) shutting Brandon Jennings down the whole Buck's game and then that last play where he totally D up on him. Yes, he get's burned a lot, but who doesn't get burned by Tony Parker and Deron Williams? The help defense is critical at this level because of the speed of this game so that's not all his fault. Sometimes he's out of position, but that's because he's still learning.
I'm not convinced that Woodson is going to let Jeremy play his game (I hope I'm wrong!!) and be anything more than a role player to the Carmelo show. I am concerned that Baron will get a lot more minutes when he comes back, and that Woodson is still committed to appeasing Marshmello and Amare. Last night, it looks like the Pick and Roll with Carmelo was called in order to free up Carmelo to get the ball. It worked out really well last night with Jeremy being aggressive, but Woodson seems much less tolerant of mistakes. If Jeremy does this again and it doesn't work out, he'll go to the bench just like Landry did after the missed defensive assignment in the 3rd quarter. This is not a "rookie" friendly coach as we all know. I'm just as excited as anyone that this is happening, but my enthusiasm has been tempered...this is clearly a "star" focused team- those stars being Amare and Melo. Melo will revert back soon to his 20+ shorts per game at some point, and when he does, we'll see the true nature of this team.
You have to be blind to think Baron is a better defender than Jeremy. LOL...
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