I wouldn't go as far as to say he's getting torched. Westbrook is just in a hot streak, and you can replace Jeremy with anyone and the same result would take place.
Jeremy is playing good, textbook defense on Westbrook, maybe needs to close in better on those step back jumpers ... but you'd rather have that than Westbrook driving around him to the hoop. The best defenders are very physical on their target, they will constantly bump and reach in to keep their man off balance and frustrate him. Think Raja Bell and Ron Artest physical.
Agreed, I'd say JLin's applying good pressure in man on man situations, and doing a good job moving his feet (as usual) and also using his body to be more physical (something new?)
Don't worry, because Jeremy Lin is just doing fine as an NBA player - and will continue to improve as time goes!
Lin is NO LONGER at the mercy of Keith Smart, who tried to develop (that never came to fruition) and give the lesser of "his people" a shot, rather than an Asian guy with a better potential.
Since Lin was at the end of the scrub line, he hardly got to practice with the bench unit even. And getting the staff's assistance for skills development and body conditioning? Forget it! Lin was their least priority.
No wonder Lin said that the lockout helped him the most. With the lockout, he finally had the chance to work on his own, instead of having to follow the Worriors everywhere in the unlikely case that the deep-end scrub in front of him gets injured! Lin helped himself. And Kenny Atkinson helped him. NOT Keith Smart - yet he was taking the credit for Lin's improvement!
Lin as I said will likely get 3-4 spg. I know that's a lot but that's Lin's specialty on defense (steals and deflections), not his man to man defense. He seems ok on man to man but once you throw in the screens, Lin can't get around them/through them quickly enough, at least not yet. Part of that is also his help defense's fault...
His man to man D is a 7.5 / 10. I'd say Nash is a 6/10, DWill is around a 7.0/10 but nobody cares it seems since he is so smooth on offense. CP3 despite being short is an 8.5/10 and Shumpert is a 9/10 for comparison's sake.
After watching the 1st quarter, I would have to say that Jeremy is much more comfortable on the court as he has had proper training and mentoring, which he didn't have last season being the 12th man to start the season. He still has things to work on though such as keeping control of himself. Sometimes I feel that he gets out of hand with his dribbling, but I'm sure he will smooth it out over time. After all, this is preseason and the players are all experimenting with their skills.
As for the Rockets team, I feel that McHale is trying to re-create the Celtics team that he played in. LOL which I know has been attempted a few times in the Celtics rebuilding years such as that time they signed Travis Knight, and ultimately ended in failure. Let's see how this works.
Whatsup with the huge wrapping around JLin's left knee?
JLin played good D in the 1st q. Westbrook was scoring with long jump shots when JLin was on him, which is fine, especially since JLin was applying good pressure and only left Westbrook open on the perimeter because JLin chose to go under the screen, which is also fine since you'd rather have Westbrook shoot long jumpers than drive. JLin had Westbrook between him and the basket at all times. Now with JLin out of the game, Westbrook at around 4.00 min in the second q with JLin out was able to get around his defender easily for an open layup.
Im just seing that JLin started in 3rd quarter. So far so good.
I agree with you. Hes playing nice d, had nice steals and assists, passing well. Couldnt stop Westbrook but Westbrook was really hot. Hes definitely slower than usual. There were two situations in 1st quarter when JLin could have finished himself. Instead he stoped at three point shooting line, waited for his teammates to show up and passed. Also - his first step when he drove was not as explosive as usual. Hes either slower or he is holding back. There were situations when he ran into traffic - he kept cool. So far - hes not playing as hard and quick as last year but I think hes playing smarter.
BTW - do you think Asik is ok? There were a few runs when all the Rockets were in position except for Asik. He was like 20-30 feet behind. One time Jeremy was at the three point line, wanted to drive and had no screen - Asik was way behind and JLin had to wait for Asik to arrive :)
Yeah, JLin isn't attacking as aggressively. Either he's not 100% conditioned (don't like to use the word 'healthy' 'cause I think he's healthy, just need to build up that muscle explosiveness, after all he did need a whole summer to work on explosiveness last year), or he's just more 'under control' now, catering to the coach's request perhaps or he just doesn't need to be the one man scoring machine anymore.
and I thought no one was watching the game lol. I'm impressed with Terrence Jones and Jeremy Lamb's first game. Tony Douglas proved he still sucks and shoots air ball 3s. D-Mo can't defend, Asik is a beast on defense, they need White to rebound and lead the 2nd team. Jeremy Lin is taking it easy but his passing skills are as sharp as ever. Only down by 1 point so I'm quite impressed with the team's effort even though they're shooting 14% from the 3.
I was just going to comment on how he didn't seem to miss a beat. He was nervous? Really?
He's playing D with his body, getting up on the PG and bumping him a few times in the 3rd q. I don't think I've seen him do that before, even before Linsanity when he had all the energy to play tough D. That's definitely a good thing to see that he's playing physical D.
With the shot he forced a charge call and turnover. Good old Jeremy. Perhaps learned a thing about taking charges from Jefferies last year.
The announcer mentioned 3/4 court speed JLin was faster than Rose and Wall during pre-draft workouts! I agree his speed is probably not at that level yet.
Hes gonna work hard on his speed and explosiveness and he is gonna be awesome. Im starting to believe that when he said he lost 10 pounds -> he lost 10 pounds of muscle :) Hes gotta go back to do this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLzrLXQIbwM
About the 3/4 court speed - I heard that and I believe it. Whats with that idiotic commentator who said "No - No - I dont believe it"? Whats wrong with him? Has he never seen JLin play against John Wall?
I give him the benefit of the doubt; he probably didn't watch JLin much before. Watching a a few more games in the future, especially regular season games playing against quick PG's, the commentator guy will confirm with his own eyes that JLin is just that quick. Hopefully after that, he won't insist that he doesn't believe how JLin's speed tested out on top among the speedy pg's in the league.
4th q and Machado is in. JLin is probably done for the game.
Pre-season games, you gonna see starters play limited minutes. Teams not worried about winning. Plus, they let non-starters to fight out for those (generally depending on the coach's rotation) 6th-8th spot on the team. And also some players not yet signed are also given a chance to play to try to make it on the team. JLin should be quite familiar with this, that is being that guy trying to make a team during pre-season!
Because hes not a 100% and because there are a lot of young guys who need to play as well :) Its just a preseason game. You dont want to run your stars into the ground.
he barely played. what are you talking about you don't want to run your stars into the ground? he's not 100percent? Like you said, preseason game. Then why did westbrook and durant play?
Expect Lin to turn it up once the regular season comes in full gear... Don't worry about pre-season, it's just to get the cobwebs off his shoes, he'll be ready, I HOPE???
Although pre-season result doesn't matter, the most impressive part to me is that Lin's the PG who could somehow get this Rockets team to hang around with a team of Durant and Westbrook in the 1st quarter. I wouldn't be surprised that Rockets rack up a bunch of wins soon in the regular season with everyone shouting "how". Lol.
Good effort by the Rockets team, they are playing hard, can't shoot that good, but are running the break. Montiejunas looks like he's not ready for the NBA, he's not strong enough to bang down low. Terrence Jones looks like a future all-star forward. Tony Douglas getting the nod over Scott Machado, looks like the coach Mchale has chosen Tony to be backup PG.
D-Mo came back stronger later in the game. I saw Lin hobbling with the ice pack on his knee so we know he's not 100% yet. Tony Douglas was wow I didn't even know he could play PG from the Knicks. Jones was definitely player of the game. The youth definitely showed their potential beating OKC which was quite impressive since most people were expecting a blowout. Lin still needs to work on his TO, he a few bad passes in the 3rd to Asik. Machado is pretty good passer however he makes the wrong decision in key game moments(shooting the ball instead of running the clock). Pretty impressed by Lin's defense and going left now, he's not turning the ball over just by dribbling left. He still needs to work on those lazy passes.
Toney actually had a pretty good stat-line tonight. He made some really nice passes, too. On top of that with the 3 years experience, I think McHale going with Douglas is the right choice (of course judging only from this one game). Seems like Machado has quite a steep uphill battle to become the 1st pg off the bench.
I didn't watch Rockets much last season, so didn't realise Patrick Patterson is quite the bruiser. With Asik and Patterson, Rockets have a pretty strong interior.
Also good to see the young reserves for the Rockets actually matching pretty well with (or even outplaying) their counterparts on the Thunder.
I wouldn't agree that Lin was turning the ball over just by dribbling left. He just favoured his right hand last season. This season, I see a definite improvement in terms quickness going to his left. I remember a Knicks commentator saying that JLin going left floats a little bit instead of going straight. Keeping that in mind when I watched his scrimmage tapes and this game, it seems he's improved on the explosiveness going left.
I do agree that he was a little less sharp later than earlier. Its pre-season so expect him to gradually get his stamina up.
Idk, sometimes Jlin just gets tunnel vision on the passes. Made it very obvious that he's going to pass to Omer Asik, sometimes when the pass isn't there. He needs to look around 360 degrees and see what other options are there.
Already a lot of so called Rockets fans said on the Rockets forum how they missed Dragic, you know. Lol.
Lin matchup against Westbrook and Harden and other players played against backups. Yet they acted like Lin's the worst player ever and everyone played better than him.
Exactly, Parsons had 4 TO's but nobody cares...but every single TO Lin gets it's the end of the world, people are just WAITING for him to make mistakes so they can hate on him.
I can't think of any other player currently that's scrutinized under a microscope like Jeremy is currently. Ever tiny mistake he makes is blown out of proportion and used as "evidence" against him.
@Dystopia: I guess some hater started it - claiming Lin was a "turnover machine" - "out of control" - making "lazy passes" and now everyone believes it - even so called JLin fans.
I dont think Lin is a turnover machine or ever out of control or lazy. He has his weaknesses like every other player but some people dont want to talk about anything else.
@Cara: Haters will always hate. Thats how people are. Just take politics. The whole world is wondering right now why half the US voters want to vote for Romney. These people clearly vote against their own interests, its so clear that the man is a big big liar and yet...
BTW: Didnt you claim that JLin got torched by Westbrook?
Not to mention if Rondo or Nash had a game like Lin's today, people would hail them as "best pure PGs" and praise their passing and unselfishness.
Yes, Lin struggled on D, but it's against Westbrook who honestly no one can stop when he's on. Somehow Nash could not defend a rookie like Lillard. Yet it's help D's fault and because the Lakers are missing Howard.
Disagree that he struggled on D. He guarded as well as expected, can't really do much if Westbrook is hitting contested jumpers. He never drove it to the hole against Jeremy or burned him at all, it's better to let Russell shoot the J than let him drive it to the hole.
"Struggle" might not be the prefect word. But Westbrook did torch Lin. Westbrook is like a Kobe pure scoring machine who can torch everyone but doesn't perform many PG duties. So I was saying Lin played worse D on Westbrook than other defenders. It's not really Lin's fault.
Disagree. He didn't play worse D on Westbrook. He played fine (esp. considering his knee recovery).Westbrook hit contested mid and long-range jumpers. That's exactly what a good defender would do.
Guys, Westbrook is an All-Star because he can score on anyone -- ANYONE -- when he's hot. He's not a good floor general, but when he's hitting jumpers, there isn't a single player in the NBA (not even Lebron or Rondo) who can slow him down.
Anyway, Jeremy looked fine for a first stint. Made 9-10 good passes in 20 minutes (6 became buckets, 3 became fouls). Had 3 steals without gambling. JL was clearly trying to get his teammates involved at all costs and sometimes made wild passes that he normally wouldn't have (leading to TOs instead of FGs/FTs).
It's only preseason. I mean, Harden looked like crap out there but no one would dare question him. Nor should they.
"Keep shooting Westbrook. You're keeping the Rockets in the game." When a guard takes that many shots, he hurts his teammates because they end up standing around and not getting into the rhythm of the game. He would have eventually gotten cold. Jlin got his big man Asik into the game and that matters more.
JLin didnt get torched - he got "Westbrooked". Thats something different. JLin kept Westbrook away from the hoop and forced Westbrook to make tough shots - textbook defense. Had Westbrook made it past JLin and layed the ball up - that would have been torching. He would have proved that he can outrun JLin... but he didnt.
The only way JLin could have stopped Westbrooks shooting was to stick a finger in Westbrooks eye :) Really - most people on Clutchfans even say JLin did well. Noone really bickers about it.
In my opinion Westbrook didnt really do his team a favor. People have good days, people have bad days - even guys like Kobe Bryant. You cant just rely on that. In a preseason game you want to make your plays and see how they work out. You want to give your newbies and bench players a chance to work things out Whats a one man show good for?
Westbrook ran up and down the court grinning at the end of 1st quater cause he had like 16 points. So what? His team only had a 1 point lead by that time. And when the game was over - his team even lost. Well done Westbrook...
Not to toot my own horn, but McHale just agreed with me:
“Russell made a couple shots, tough shots over the top of him,” McHale said. “I assume he’ll do that a few times. Jeremy had a good stint. A couple decisions he should have shot it and passed it, tried to be unselfish. Jeremy was solid overall.”
Like I said: -"Tough shots over the top of him." -"He should have shot it and passed it, tried to be unselfish"
Let's all just chill and enjoy the preseason Rocket's team. Jlin will be Jlin, meaning these games don't count, when the game is on the line, when the team needs a "W" the real Jlin will show.
We're expecting Linsanity 1.0, but this will be Linsanity 2.0. Same guy, but different game, a better game.
IMHO praying doesnt help. Arguing with his haters and showing them how dumb they are does help. Wait till JLin is 100% - winning real games with his team. Go back to where the haters bashed him and rub it in their faces. That will help :)
I remember when some typical racist moron on Real GM swore to me that Lin would never be half as good as -- and I swear this is no joke -- Greivis Vazquez or Eric Bledsoe.
Bwahahahaha!
The funny thing is that Vazquez and Bledsoe both have potential and Jeremy is STILL a whole lot better than both of them combined. Ah, memories of Lin Hatin' racist morons...they just make me smile.
@ karen: there's no reason to feel bad about JLin. He doesn't even pay attention to haters, so while they spout their hate, Jeremy is living the dream life all the haters wish they had :) The only people who matter all have Jeremy's back: his coaches, teammates, and family. This is his world, and all is good in it :)
I wonder what Royce White's excuse was for not joining the team for this game? Based on his skill set and what he showed in Summer League, I'm willing to bet that Royce will be the X-factor on this team. His attitude and play will have an impact in tight games. It helps to have another ball handler and passer when JLin gets double teamed.
Many article headlines mostly said Lin was not 100% but did OK with 6 assists.
It's a brilliant move by Jeremy to reiterate Coach McHale's comment in the past few days that he's not 100% yet and he needed to build up to the 1st regular season game. Can you imagine what the headlines would be if he didn't say he's not 100%?
"Houston, we have a problem", "Linsanity magic is gone", "NY made the right move", etc.
Brilliant move! And it proved there is no way Lin could have made a difference in the NY-Miami Heat playoff series if he's still not 100% 6 months later.
Instead of worrying about Lin's condition, we here should be taking notice that Lin's supposedly weak Rockets just beat the NBA Western Conference Champion of 2012!
Even if OKC Thunder was missing 2 big men, Westbrook played well, Jeremy was not 100%, Houston starters competed well with them.
And Houston's 2nd team showed a lot of promise with Terrence Jones' and Jeremy Lamb's athleticism and shooting. Morris was also showing a lot of promise before getting his ankle hurt. The 3rd team with DMo was pretty bad but they still held on to win the game.
Some Houston youngsters proved they can play and all players were motivated.
I can still clearly recall the days when Jeremy was still with the warriors, and we were all here waiting and dying for Keith Smart to sub him in. Except, Mr. Smart decided to play Monta and Curry 36+ min and subbing Charlie Bell.
The equivalent time last year during the pre-season, Jeremy was a journey man, despite storming back with the 2nd (or 3th) unit with the rockets that almost forced an overtime against the spurs if it wasn't for R.Leonard's step-back buzzer beater.
Right now I'm just so thankful that Jeremy is taking the veteran's route: use the pre-season games to adjust and polish instead of proving himself like a 12-15th man. May the Lord be praised!!
@Hans haha I agree, no and he decided to put that loser Acie Law over Lin and now Law isn't even in the NBA. Yeah Jeremy Lin only has to do 1 thing and that's just Lin! Before he was fighting for a spot on the roster, now he's trying to hone his game for long term or else he'll just end up injuring and never playing in the NBA again.
anyone know how to watch the games outside of texas?
ReplyDeleteAnyone else think that this will be the most-watched preseason game in history?
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ReplyDeleteKumakun provided this link in the previous thread:
ReplyDeletewww.frombar.tv/v-4/6/8/v-460928.html
I am watching here now
Lol. Would be a lot for critics to write as Westbrook is absolutely torching Jeremy.
ReplyDeleteSerious? A minute left - 29:28 Who is torching who?
DeleteI wouldn't go as far as to say he's getting torched. Westbrook is just in a hot streak, and you can replace Jeremy with anyone and the same result would take place.
ReplyDeleteYeah, Jeremy had a lot of good closeouts but Westbrook still knocked down his shots with a hand in his face.
DeleteHe might have had a hot streak (scored 16 of 31) but it only resulted in a one point lead for his team. How is that torching someone?
DeleteJeremy is playing good, textbook defense on Westbrook, maybe needs to close in better on those step back jumpers ... but you'd rather have that than Westbrook driving around him to the hoop.
DeleteThe best defenders are very physical on their target, they will constantly bump and reach in to keep their man off balance and frustrate him. Think Raja Bell and Ron Artest physical.
Agreed, I'd say JLin's applying good pressure in man on man situations, and doing a good job moving his feet (as usual) and also using his body to be more physical (something new?)
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DeleteDon't worry, because Jeremy Lin is just doing fine as an NBA player - and will continue to improve as time goes!
DeleteLin is NO LONGER at the mercy of Keith Smart, who tried to develop (that never came to fruition) and give the lesser of "his people" a shot, rather than an Asian guy with a better potential.
Since Lin was at the end of the scrub line, he hardly got to practice with the bench unit even. And getting the staff's assistance for skills development and body conditioning? Forget it! Lin was their least priority.
No wonder Lin said that the lockout helped him the most. With the lockout, he finally had the chance to work on his own, instead of having to follow the Worriors everywhere in the unlikely case that the deep-end scrub in front of him gets injured! Lin helped himself. And Kenny Atkinson helped him. NOT Keith Smart - yet he was taking the credit for Lin's improvement!
Lin as I said will likely get 3-4 spg. I know that's a lot but that's Lin's specialty on defense (steals and deflections), not his man to man defense. He seems ok on man to man but once you throw in the screens, Lin can't get around them/through them quickly enough, at least not yet. Part of that is also his help defense's fault...
ReplyDeleteHis man to man D is a 7.5 / 10. I'd say Nash is a 6/10, DWill is around a 7.0/10 but nobody cares it seems since he is so smooth on offense. CP3 despite being short is an 8.5/10 and Shumpert is a 9/10 for comparison's sake.
After watching the 1st quarter, I would have to say that Jeremy is much more comfortable on the court as he has had proper training and mentoring, which he didn't have last season being the 12th man to start the season. He still has things to work on though such as keeping control of himself. Sometimes I feel that he gets out of hand with his dribbling, but I'm sure he will smooth it out over time. After all, this is preseason and the players are all experimenting with their skills.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Rockets team, I feel that McHale is trying to re-create the Celtics team that he played in. LOL which I know has been attempted a few times in the Celtics rebuilding years such as that time they signed Travis Knight, and ultimately ended in failure. Let's see how this works.
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ReplyDeleteWhatsup with the huge wrapping around JLin's left knee?
ReplyDeleteJLin played good D in the 1st q. Westbrook was scoring with long jump shots when JLin was on him, which is fine, especially since JLin was applying good pressure and only left Westbrook open on the perimeter because JLin chose to go under the screen, which is also fine since you'd rather have Westbrook shoot long jumpers than drive. JLin had Westbrook between him and the basket at all times. Now with JLin out of the game, Westbrook at around 4.00 min in the second q with JLin out was able to get around his defender easily for an open layup.
Im just seing that JLin started in 3rd quarter. So far so good.
DeleteI agree with you. Hes playing nice d, had nice steals and assists, passing well. Couldnt stop Westbrook but Westbrook was really hot. Hes definitely slower than usual. There were two situations in 1st quarter when JLin could have finished himself. Instead he stoped at three point shooting line, waited for his teammates to show up and passed. Also - his first step when he drove was not as explosive as usual. Hes either slower or he is holding back. There were situations when he ran into traffic - he kept cool. So far - hes not playing as hard and quick as last year but I think hes playing smarter.
BTW - do you think Asik is ok? There were a few runs when all the Rockets were in position except for Asik. He was like 20-30 feet behind. One time Jeremy was at the three point line, wanted to drive and had no screen - Asik was way behind and JLin had to wait for Asik to arrive :)
DeletePerhaps Asik just a bit winded? I love seeing him pull down a few offensive rebounds though. Asik is huge.
DeleteYeah, JLin isn't attacking as aggressively. Either he's not 100% conditioned (don't like to use the word 'healthy' 'cause I think he's healthy, just need to build up that muscle explosiveness, after all he did need a whole summer to work on explosiveness last year), or he's just more 'under control' now, catering to the coach's request perhaps or he just doesn't need to be the one man scoring machine anymore.
DeleteWrapping? I didnt notice. Maybe just an icepack?
ReplyDeleteYeah, probably an ice pack. But I usually see that size of ice pack post game in the locker rooms. I'm sure its nothing big.
Deleteand I thought no one was watching the game lol. I'm impressed with Terrence Jones and Jeremy Lamb's first game. Tony Douglas proved he still sucks and shoots air ball 3s. D-Mo can't defend, Asik is a beast on defense, they need White to rebound and lead the 2nd team. Jeremy Lin is taking it easy but his passing skills are as sharp as ever. Only down by 1 point so I'm quite impressed with the team's effort even though they're shooting 14% from the 3.
ReplyDeleteI am listening to the Houston radio. The host praised nearly every Rockets player except Lin who he said looked a bit nervous in the 1st half. Lol.
DeleteI was just going to comment on how he didn't seem to miss a beat. He was nervous? Really?
DeleteHe's playing D with his body, getting up on the PG and bumping him a few times in the 3rd q. I don't think I've seen him do that before, even before Linsanity when he had all the energy to play tough D. That's definitely a good thing to see that he's playing physical D.
He also took a shot to his body (and went down). Hes really playing solid d. Its just his speed...
DeleteWith the shot he forced a charge call and turnover. Good old Jeremy. Perhaps learned a thing about taking charges from Jefferies last year.
DeleteThe announcer mentioned 3/4 court speed JLin was faster than Rose and Wall during pre-draft workouts! I agree his speed is probably not at that level yet.
Hes gonna work hard on his speed and explosiveness and he is gonna be awesome. Im starting to believe that when he said he lost 10 pounds -> he lost 10 pounds of muscle :) Hes gotta go back to do this
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLzrLXQIbwM
About the 3/4 court speed - I heard that and I believe it. Whats with that idiotic commentator who said "No - No - I dont believe it"? Whats wrong with him? Has he never seen JLin play against John Wall?
I give him the benefit of the doubt; he probably didn't watch JLin much before. Watching a a few more games in the future, especially regular season games playing against quick PG's, the commentator guy will confirm with his own eyes that JLin is just that quick. Hopefully after that, he won't insist that he doesn't believe how JLin's speed tested out on top among the speedy pg's in the league.
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DeleteI cringe whenever jeremy takes a charge. Kobe said it's not worth the risk taking one.
Deletehttp://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/7935166/2012-nba-playoffs-los-angeles-lakers-kobe-bryant-cites-injury-risk-drawing-charges
hope he's icing the legs after the game.
Why isn't jlin playing more minutes though? Anyone know?
ReplyDelete4th q and Machado is in. JLin is probably done for the game.
DeletePre-season games, you gonna see starters play limited minutes. Teams not worried about winning. Plus, they let non-starters to fight out for those (generally depending on the coach's rotation) 6th-8th spot on the team. And also some players not yet signed are also given a chance to play to try to make it on the team. JLin should be quite familiar with this, that is being that guy trying to make a team during pre-season!
Because hes not a 100% and because there are a lot of young guys who need to play as well :) Its just a preseason game. You dont want to run your stars into the ground.
Deletehe barely played. what are you talking about you don't want to run your stars into the ground? he's not 100percent? Like you said, preseason game. Then why did westbrook and durant play?
DeleteLin played for 20 minutes. Durant playe for 20 minutes. Westbrook played for 16 minutes...
DeleteExpect Lin to turn it up once the regular season comes in full gear... Don't worry about pre-season, it's just to get the cobwebs off his shoes, he'll be ready, I HOPE???
ReplyDeleteTeams in the NBA don't show their true identity until about 10 games into the season.
DeleteThen defensive schemes catch up to the new guys while veterans step up.
Lin will show his stuff a little later in the season. Stay tuned.
I'm with you on this Khuang. Pre-Season is to showcase rookies and see which Rookies can hang.
DeleteLinsanity 2.0 will be during regular season.
Although pre-season result doesn't matter, the most impressive part to me is that Lin's the PG who could somehow get this Rockets team to hang around with a team of Durant and Westbrook in the 1st quarter. I wouldn't be surprised that Rockets rack up a bunch of wins soon in the regular season with everyone shouting "how". Lol.
DeleteGood effort by the Rockets team, they are playing hard, can't shoot that good, but are running the break. Montiejunas looks like he's not ready for the NBA, he's not strong enough to bang down low. Terrence Jones looks like a future all-star forward. Tony Douglas getting the nod over Scott Machado, looks like the coach Mchale has chosen Tony to be backup PG.
ReplyDeleteD-Mo came back stronger later in the game. I saw Lin hobbling with the ice pack on his knee so we know he's not 100% yet. Tony Douglas was wow I didn't even know he could play PG from the Knicks. Jones was definitely player of the game. The youth definitely showed their potential beating OKC which was quite impressive since most people were expecting a blowout.
DeleteLin still needs to work on his TO, he a few bad passes in the 3rd to Asik. Machado is pretty good passer however he makes the wrong decision in key game moments(shooting the ball instead of running the clock).
Pretty impressed by Lin's defense and going left now, he's not turning the ball over just by dribbling left. He still needs to work on those lazy passes.
Toney actually had a pretty good stat-line tonight. He made some really nice passes, too. On top of that with the 3 years experience, I think McHale going with Douglas is the right choice (of course judging only from this one game). Seems like Machado has quite a steep uphill battle to become the 1st pg off the bench.
DeleteI didn't watch Rockets much last season, so didn't realise Patrick Patterson is quite the bruiser. With Asik and Patterson, Rockets have a pretty strong interior.
Also good to see the young reserves for the Rockets actually matching pretty well with (or even outplaying) their counterparts on the Thunder.
I wouldn't agree that Lin was turning the ball over just by dribbling left. He just favoured his right hand last season. This season, I see a definite improvement in terms quickness going to his left. I remember a Knicks commentator saying that JLin going left floats a little bit instead of going straight. Keeping that in mind when I watched his scrimmage tapes and this game, it seems he's improved on the explosiveness going left.
DeleteI do agree that he was a little less sharp later than earlier. Its pre-season so expect him to gradually get his stamina up.
Idk, sometimes Jlin just gets tunnel vision on the passes. Made it very obvious that he's going to pass to Omer Asik, sometimes when the pass isn't there. He needs to look around 360 degrees and see what other options are there.
DeleteDragic is 1-4 2 points with 2 TOs 4 assists 4 fouls 0 steals. Yet he won't get HALF the hate and nitpicking that Lin gets.
ReplyDeleteAlready a lot of so called Rockets fans said on the Rockets forum how they missed Dragic, you know. Lol.
DeleteLin matchup against Westbrook and Harden and other players played against backups. Yet they acted like Lin's the worst player ever and everyone played better than him.
Exactly, Parsons had 4 TO's but nobody cares...but every single TO Lin gets it's the end of the world, people are just WAITING for him to make mistakes so they can hate on him.
DeleteI can't think of any other player currently that's scrutinized under a microscope like Jeremy is currently. Ever tiny mistake he makes is blown out of proportion and used as "evidence" against him.
@Dystopia:
DeleteI guess some hater started it - claiming Lin was a "turnover machine" - "out of control" - making "lazy passes" and now everyone believes it - even so called JLin fans.
I dont think Lin is a turnover machine or ever out of control or lazy. He has his weaknesses like every other player but some people dont want to talk about anything else.
@Cara:
Haters will always hate. Thats how people are. Just take politics. The whole world is wondering right now why half the US voters want to vote for Romney. These people clearly vote against their own interests, its so clear that the man is a big big liar and yet...
BTW: Didnt you claim that JLin got torched by Westbrook?
Not to mention if Rondo or Nash had a game like Lin's today, people would hail them as "best pure PGs" and praise their passing and unselfishness.
DeleteYes, Lin struggled on D, but it's against Westbrook who honestly no one can stop when he's on. Somehow Nash could not defend a rookie like Lillard. Yet it's help D's fault and because the Lakers are missing Howard.
Disagree that he struggled on D. He guarded as well as expected, can't really do much if Westbrook is hitting contested jumpers. He never drove it to the hole against Jeremy or burned him at all, it's better to let Russell shoot the J than let him drive it to the hole.
Delete"Struggle" might not be the prefect word. But Westbrook did torch Lin. Westbrook is like a Kobe pure scoring machine who can torch everyone but doesn't perform many PG duties. So I was saying Lin played worse D on Westbrook than other defenders. It's not really Lin's fault.
DeleteDisagree. He didn't play worse D on Westbrook. He played fine (esp. considering his knee recovery).Westbrook hit contested mid and long-range jumpers. That's exactly what a good defender would do.
DeleteGuys, Westbrook is an All-Star because he can score on anyone -- ANYONE -- when he's hot. He's not a good floor general, but when he's hitting jumpers, there isn't a single player in the NBA (not even Lebron or Rondo) who can slow him down.
Anyway, Jeremy looked fine for a first stint. Made 9-10 good passes in 20 minutes (6 became buckets, 3 became fouls). Had 3 steals without gambling. JL was clearly trying to get his teammates involved at all costs and sometimes made wild passes that he normally wouldn't have (leading to TOs instead of FGs/FTs).
It's only preseason. I mean, Harden looked like crap out there but no one would dare question him. Nor should they.
"Keep shooting Westbrook. You're keeping the Rockets in the game." When a guard takes that many shots, he hurts his teammates because they end up standing around and not getting into the rhythm of the game. He would have eventually gotten cold. Jlin got his big man Asik into the game and that matters more.
DeleteMeant to say Lin DIDN'T play worse D on Westbrook than any other defenders. Haha.
Delete@Cara:
DeleteJLin didnt get torched - he got "Westbrooked". Thats something different. JLin kept Westbrook away from the hoop and forced Westbrook to make tough shots - textbook defense. Had Westbrook made it past JLin and layed the ball up - that would have been torching. He would have proved that he can outrun JLin... but he didnt.
The only way JLin could have stopped Westbrooks shooting was to stick a finger in Westbrooks eye :) Really - most people on Clutchfans even say JLin did well. Noone really bickers about it.
In my opinion Westbrook didnt really do his team a favor. People have good days, people have bad days - even guys like Kobe Bryant. You cant just rely on that. In a preseason game you want to make your plays and see how they work out. You want to give your newbies and bench players a chance to work things out Whats a one man show good for?
Westbrook ran up and down the court grinning at the end of 1st quater cause he had like 16 points. So what? His team only had a 1 point lead by that time. And when the game was over - his team even lost. Well done Westbrook...
Not to toot my own horn, but McHale just agreed with me:
Delete“Russell made a couple shots, tough shots over the top of him,” McHale said. “I assume he’ll do that a few times. Jeremy had a good stint. A couple decisions he should have shot it and passed it, tried to be unselfish. Jeremy was solid overall.”
Like I said:
-"Tough shots over the top of him."
-"He should have shot it and passed it, tried to be unselfish"
I'm so right, I feel like K-Huang right now, heh.
Dragic was no better in today's preseason game..... Plus, everyone is just warming up.
DeleteDragic 15 min 4of 8 shoot 9 Pts 4 Ast 1 Stl 1 Reb 3 TO 4 PF -2 +/-
Lin... 20 min 1of 3 shoot 3 Pts 6 Ast 3 Stl 1 Reb 3 TO 2 PF -3 +/
Let's all just chill and enjoy the preseason Rocket's team. Jlin will be Jlin, meaning these games don't count, when the game is on the line, when the team needs a "W" the real Jlin will show.
ReplyDeleteWe're expecting Linsanity 1.0, but this will be Linsanity 2.0. Same guy, but different game, a better game.
too many people are envious and jealous of jlin...i feel bad for him. well, i'll just include him in my prayers like i always do.
ReplyDeleteIMHO praying doesnt help. Arguing with his haters and showing them how dumb they are does help. Wait till JLin is 100% - winning real games with his team. Go back to where the haters bashed him and rub it in their faces. That will help :)
DeleteI remember when some typical racist moron on Real GM swore to me that Lin would never be half as good as -- and I swear this is no joke -- Greivis Vazquez or Eric Bledsoe.
DeleteBwahahahaha!
The funny thing is that Vazquez and Bledsoe both have potential and Jeremy is STILL a whole lot better than both of them combined. Ah, memories of Lin Hatin' racist morons...they just make me smile.
@ karen: there's no reason to feel bad about JLin. He doesn't even pay attention to haters, so while they spout their hate, Jeremy is living the dream life all the haters wish they had :) The only people who matter all have Jeremy's back: his coaches, teammates, and family. This is his world, and all is good in it :)
Delete@Rocketeer: + the support from all of us, Lin's fans :-)
Delete@willydilly...for u it doesnt help but for me it does...jlin believes so too... i don't stoop down to haters level... thanks for the suggestion anyway
DeleteAny one got video of the game ?
ReplyDeleteI wonder what Royce White's excuse was for not joining the team for this game? Based on his skill set and what he showed in Summer League, I'm willing to bet that Royce will be the X-factor on this team. His attitude and play will have an impact in tight games. It helps to have another ball handler and passer when JLin gets double teamed.
ReplyDeleteit was mchale's call. royce white stayed in houston for conditioning.
ReplyDeleteMany article headlines mostly said Lin was not 100% but did OK with 6 assists.
ReplyDeleteIt's a brilliant move by Jeremy to reiterate Coach McHale's comment in the past few days that he's not 100% yet and he needed to build up to the 1st regular season game. Can you imagine what the headlines would be if he didn't say he's not 100%?
"Houston, we have a problem", "Linsanity magic is gone", "NY made the right move", etc.
Brilliant move! And it proved there is no way Lin could have made a difference in the NY-Miami Heat playoff series if he's still not 100% 6 months later.
Instead of worrying about Lin's condition, we here should be taking notice that Lin's supposedly weak Rockets just beat the NBA Western Conference Champion of 2012!
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely :D There's a lot of positives here.
DeleteEven if OKC Thunder was missing 2 big men, Westbrook played well, Jeremy was not 100%, Houston starters competed well with them.
And Houston's 2nd team showed a lot of promise with Terrence Jones' and Jeremy Lamb's athleticism and shooting. Morris was also showing a lot of promise before getting his ankle hurt. The 3rd team with DMo was pretty bad but they still held on to win the game.
Some Houston youngsters proved they can play and all players were motivated.
I can still clearly recall the days when Jeremy was still with the warriors, and we were all here waiting and dying for Keith Smart to sub him in. Except, Mr. Smart decided to play Monta and Curry 36+ min and subbing Charlie Bell.
DeleteThe equivalent time last year during the pre-season, Jeremy was a journey man, despite storming back with the 2nd (or 3th) unit with the rockets that almost forced an overtime against the spurs if it wasn't for R.Leonard's step-back buzzer beater.
Right now I'm just so thankful that Jeremy is taking the veteran's route: use the pre-season games to adjust and polish instead of proving himself like a 12-15th man. May the Lord be praised!!
@Hans haha I agree, no and he decided to put that loser Acie Law over Lin and now Law isn't even in the NBA. Yeah Jeremy Lin only has to do 1 thing and that's just Lin! Before he was fighting for a spot on the roster, now he's trying to hone his game for long term or else he'll just end up injuring and never playing in the NBA again.
DeleteIts a preseason game. I wouldn't get so excited
Deletefull game link
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDeHzcKzw2Q&feature=youtu.be
Thanks for posting the link!!!!
ReplyDelete