Rockets SHOULD be 18-10, top 10 in the league, if only the prejudiced idiot Kelvin Sampson didn't inexplicably sit Jeremy Lin for zero good reason in 2+ games.
"The Houston Rockets waive PG Jeremy Lin after a dismal performance in Minnesota. "I thought bringing Lin in during the summer would help us rebuild, but the way he played this season has been the level of a high school JV player. We will be moving on and wish Jeremy the best in whatever career he decides to pursue.", says Rockets' GM Daryl Morey. Coach McHale has named Toney Douglas the starting PG and Scott Machado will back him up. Inside sources are saying they may be interested in former Lakers Guard, Sun Yue"
@Phil, you are absolutely right about JLin's mood. He proved a point that he and Harden can co-exist and Harden's efficiency is better with JLin on court - just look at the 4th quarter, while Lin's instrumental in winning the game, Harden jacked up 15pts to close the game. Bravo!
It wasn't Lin's night but he sure played an important part in winning the game down the stretch. Harden the clutch!
The Rockets bench did a great job that enabled the starters to close out. I was actually surprised that Lin played the last 6 minutes: Perhaps a reward for having played very well overall lately.
These young Rockets came back from behind, instead of losing leads at the very end during the first month.
The Rockets and Jeremy Lin were in UGLY SHOCK after wearing those horrible grey newspapers from the Bulls Christmas game.
Today the Rockets were "Yesterday's News", sort of like the cat litter that I use on my toy poodle who's litter box trained and mushes up against me when we sleep at night.
I use that brand because my poodle's previous owner taught her to use that kind of litter.
Actually, I typically use "Exquisicat" because it's less toxic and easier to handle. There's probably less negative articles written about Lin in "Exquisicat" than "Yesterday's News", or something like that.
The newspaper based litter seems to soak up smells pretty well, and they're easy to scoop and vacuum. Plus they don't leave paw prints all over the house.
It's one of my all time favorite games. You can even play it online for FREE as a flash fan version.
I own a PS1 version that is much harder than the arcade, and I own something even rarer: a HANDHELD Burgertime made by Mattel which I always wanted as a kid and finally bought as an adult off ebay. I love the handheld version!
Burgertime was just like watching this Xmas's NBA games!!!
I hope they rest up for the absolutely grueling back to back coming up against Spurs and OKC!
Aaagh so excited, yet scared for the Rox at the same time. I feel good about the Spurs game, I think we have a genuine chance of beating them. Its the OKC next day that worries me.
I liked that Lin never stopped asking for the ball and kept trying to push the ball whenever he is on the court. He also kept shooting even when he seemed to be cold. From the tweet, he also sounds like he is not letting this one game affect him, and is taking the positives rather than the negatives.
I had a bad feeling about MIN and the Rox still won. Well I have a good feeling about the Spurs game! We all know that Lin loves to step it up against the bigger teams.
Despite Kevin Love's bad play tonight, I too still would like Kevin Love to play besides Lin and Harden and think he's a prefect fit. Yes Love is probably not your alpha dog leader but I don't see it as a problem with Lin and Harden around. I doubt the Rockets have enough assets to acquire him though. But the Wolves fans and their horrible FO seem to undervalue Love and overvalue Rubio more than anybody else.
I like Love its just that why cant he get to the play-off? bad teammates? injuries? Even their commentator threw him under the bus. Its like they don't believe in him anymore, even the fans.
Well Minny seemed to be a city which favors style over substance. I remember how they used to throw KG under the bus too, saying how he wasn't a superstar, how he couldn't get out of the 1st round. Kevin Love is great, it's just that it's more difficult for him as a non ball handler to take over games like other ball handling stars. If he's surrounded by enough talent, he can definitely get to playoffs and win, like how KG couldn't win in Minny and be able to win in Boston.
Here's another thing. Carlos Delfino has zero business playing 35 minutes when Jeremy Lin plays 27 minutes. Delfino shot 4 for 13, under 30%. I looked up his career numbers, Delfino is only a 39% career shooter. That is surprisingly LOW for a guy who is supposed to be a sharpshooter. Delfino is overrated as a playmaker, passer, and ball handler. He's below average at all those in my opinion. His strength is standing in the corner and hitting a spot-up jump shot. Yet another example of how terrible Kelvin Sampson is (and whispering in McHale's ear), the Rockets have been winning in SPITE OF, not because of, the Rockets coaching.
Tonight Jeremy Lin didn't "have it" (7 TOs, a BAD game). He deserved to be benched, especially since he was probably fatigued from the back to backs.
Delfino "overrated"? He's paid $3 million this season, that's it. What swing players at $3 million can produce more than what Delfino is producing?
And as far as McHale and Sampson go, they did bring Jeremy Lin back and he helped win the game. That's pretty good coaching of a tired burnt out team, if you ask me.
Agree with KH, the coaches did a good job, giving Harden and Lin enough rest and then bringing them back for one final push. The second of a BTB game is when you need the bench to step up and they did.
As fan you should not say that JLin deserved to be benched - never ever.
Didnt people say he deserved to be benched when he was asigned the role of a spot up shooter - standing in the corners to watch Harden play? Didnt people say he deserved to be benched until his 3pt shooting got better? If it were up to those people JLin would have ended his career last year already.
I think - by his "Im gonna play my brand of basketball..." and "Im just gonna be free out there..." remarks he has already told us why and when he plays well and when not.
Yeah - JLin had a "bad" game. But he was not the only one to have a bad game. Despite the back to back playing JLin still ran like speedy Gonzales but where was team defense? If JLin was payed by mileage he would earn more than the whole team together :)
Compared Wolves screens with Rockets screens? A (I hate that word) disaster. Wifflewiffle kept pointing out that offense broke down so they had to shoot more from outside - but why did it brake down? I say JLin didnt get into his game cause the whole team didnt.
Also - you know as well as I do that a TO is not always the ballhandlers fault. I dont think Lin looked realllllly bad tonight. I think Rockets looked bad tonight. Unfortunately - that shows in the PG stats as well (TO up and AST down).
The team was bricking shots big time. Cant say they didnt get warm - they were shooting 50% more 3s compared to Bulls game. Delfino played 35 making 4/13 and 3/11. There are nights when his shooting is much better - thats when he is worth his money. Tonight - he wasnt.
McHale brought Lin back, and Lin had just enough left to win the game.
The Rockets are a young team that is susceptible to fatigue in intense back to back games. Games like this are going to happen where Lin just doesn't have it despite his best intentions.
Team offences do break down for loads of reasons. Tiredness, lack of concentration, or just good D from the opposing team. Not blaming the coaches doesn't mean we are blaming Lin...
benching Jeremy tonight is not a punishment. it's more of "realization and rest" time for him. this isn't like the Celtics game where he was benched for no apparent reason or McHale's other reasons which we cannot fathom.
So was trollin' Clutchfans...Seems the general consensus on Lin today from long time posters is:
1. Lin had a bad game, it was obvious that he was tired, took him out of his offensive rhythm 2. Bad reffing and Asik causing majority of his TOs today 3. He was clutch with Harden to close the game, the big "almost 3", drawing fouls, and that clutch steal sealed the game 4. Harden is today's MVP
This is a long ways from immediate knee jerk reaction that "LIN SUCKS!"...Wow Lin winning hardnosed Rockets fans over, imagine that...
Lin's style of play is inherently likeable and exciting. I am not surprised. You have to be a bit of a curmudgeon not to root for the lad - especially when he is on your team!
Lin's style is not as "attractive" ala shake-and-bake (Nate Robinson) but is more about timing, off-rhythm and angles. Hustle plays are always contagious
It has very little to do with style. It's about results. He's not getting ripped as badly because he has had a string of quality games lately. When you usually play well, fans give you slack even when you don't play well. That kind of leeway is earned, not given. It's why Harden is beyond reproach right now. Harden has carried the team and has performed the best out of anyone on the team by far. He has earned the right from fans to have an occasional bad game and to have some occasional miscues, because he has consistently produced big time.
Let's hope Lin gets his sh*t together for these next two games. 8 pts on 3/9 shooting, 1 assist, 7 turnovers, mother of god. that won't cut it, obviously.
yes achon he gets tired because he's human. why you never get tired when ur 24?? better tired than injured. hell felton and melo are injured right now and they are veterans on a slower team.
The only guy I ever saw who never got tired was Michael Jordan - possibly the most DOPED UP athlete of all time according to my friends that knew some of the Chicago trainers that had access not just to performance enhancing drugs but drugs that masked their effect in doping tests.
24 year old NBA stars like Lin can get tired. It's part of the game. Lin will learn how to play through that the way other superstars have.
By the way, Isiah Thomas talked about Jordan's stamina in a totally uncritical way on TV. Isiah marveled at how Jordan's energy level was unmatched. And given how a college age Jordan responded to steroids much better than other UNC athletes, that's not surprising.
Jeremy Lin appears PED free to me, judging by his seemingly completely fatigue cycle. I have no doubt that if he did PEDs like Jordan and Pippen and likely MOST of the NBA, he'd not have these downer games and would be playing at a Linsanity level for all 82 games.
lmao of course you agree with romz. the alternative is to admit that *gasp* Lin simply played like crap oh noes!! can't have that, can we? there's an excuse for everything that goes wrong, obviously. otherwise ur a h8t3r!
Ever since you came on this board flaming Lin for being "unathletic", all you've done is flame Lin and his fans.
I issued a challenge to the "haters" to come out and take us on. Believe me, you were #1 on my list. You have stepped forward as a true Lin hater, exposing yourself in the process.
Let's fight some more, achondroplasiaphobia. PROVE ME RIGHT that you hate Lin and his fans!!!!!
Hey ach, I see that you are unhappy with Lin's play in this WIN.
Based on your past posts, I know you'd be happier if Lin played poorly in a LOSS.
When Lin loses, you come out all happy to flame people here. Then you cry like a BYATCH when people retaliate and expose you for the idiot troll you are.
BRING IT ON. FIGHT ME. Show us all how much you hate Lin and especially his fans!!!
achon im comparing you to lin because ur also human. if ur a lawyer or a doctor don't u get tired if u work extended hours? The chicago game may look easy because its a blow out. But they run like hell to just win that game. And you may wanna look at the record. except for the Heat the rockets is the only team that won both game in the back to back and that's on the road. Were not playing video games here. hell even my eyes gets tired playing video games. Don't expect lin to play like an all star every game. Even the haters gave him a pass today. He already described his game as ugly. what more do you want from him? a triple double against the SPURS?
"Hey ach, I see that you are unhappy with Lin's play in this WIN.
Based on your past posts, I know you'd be happier if Lin played poorly in a LOSS. "
Actually, KHuang, this proves you aren't even a Lin fan. You're some troll trying to make Lin fans look delusional.
I wold be happy if Lin played WELL in a Rockets LOSS, JUST LIKE HE DID IN THE SPURS GAME! I was happy as hell about that game! Unlike you, I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE ROCKETS! You're the real troll, you die hard Rockets fan! LOL. KHuang the Rockets fan! Go join crotchfans with the rest of your brethren! lmao
That's the ONLY game you've been happy about Lin's play because the Rockets LOST.
You use that game as an excuse to make yourself "legit" here so that you can flame people. It's not working, troll.
Why do you waste your time hating on Lin so much here? Don't you know that this is a Lin fansite where you will get retaliated when you hate on people here? How STUPID are you, hater troll????
lol nope. I've been happy about every game that Lin has played well in, whether the Rockets win or lose. Unlike you, KHuang The Rockets fan! You just said it yourself, you're happy that the Rockets won even though Lin played poorly. Guess what that makes you? :) Yup, a Rockets fan lol. You would fit in better at crotchfans than you do here.
You've been HATING ON LIN since Day one when you first came here to flame him.
You're happy about Lin playing because it gives you a chance to flame people. You don't care one iota about Lin and actively root for him to FAIL so you can flame people here.
For months, we've been reading your open glee at Lin's failings as you've flamed people left and right here. You have exposed yourself as a hater.
KHuang the Rockets Fan was happy when the Rockets beat the Bulls in Houston, even though Lin played poorly and was benched in favor of Toney Douglas. Because for KHuang the Rockets Fan, a Rockets victory is all that matters, even if Lin plays poorly! If Lin gets traded somewhere else, KHuang the Rockets Fan will continue to be a Rockets fan lol.
Nice attempt to try to misrepresent me, KHuang the Rockets Fan. It reeks of your desperation. It also reveals that you are a liar. Not cool, KHuang the Rockets Fan.
But take comfort in the fact that tomorrow night if Lin plays poorly against the Spurs, you will be happy as long as the Rockets win lol.
I want to see Lin play like a beast regardless of whether the Rockets win or lose. If the Rockets happen to win, that's simply a bonus. That's the difference between us, Rockets Fan KHuang. I want Lin to play well. You want the Rockets to win, even if Lin plays poorly. Seems like you're on the wrong website. Crotchfans is that-a-way ------>
Hater, you've been misrepresenting not just me but all sorts of people here for MONTHS.
Your problem is that your goal is to FLAME people here. Lin's struggles and Lin's team losing plays into that.
I am a fan of the entire NBA, not just Lin or the Rockets. I've been saying that from the moment I arrived here, and that causes you to hate me because you want to flame anybody using Lin's success as an excuse.
You don't care one bit about Lin. You only care about your future chances to flame people here. Your behavior is consistent in its flame based hatred of Lin and his fans here.
@achon. You funny. This is true jlin fan site. You expect everyone to be like you to calling Lin sucks or saying any bad shit when he had a bad game? You may have ur rights to do so, but just as people disagree with you so it's an excuse? I think you and Khuang can stop fighting. Difference between you and Khuang is Khuang always positive about jlin, and you, when he plays nice you praise him, when he play bad you will talk some shit about him. There is nothing wrong for you doing that as yourself also thought so, but not everyone is like you. Some just willing to Support and look at the positive side instead of the negative side and there's nothing wrong with that too.
And Khuang I think it's neither flame or hatred he is releasing instead they just say as what they think. I am totally fine with people's negative about Lin but when rest of us disagree with you, don't say we are using excuse for him. We just more of looking at the bright side and more of 100%supportive fans that even when he had a bad one we hope to talk about some the good things he did and giving him more space and chance to improve.
I say the next stage of lesson for the ROX is to learn how to play in a half-court set, because sooner or later they are bound to run into teams like Miami that knows how to slow their opponent down. In addition, shooting 3s require a LOT of strength from the legs, and there will be stretches, especially in the playoff, where the legs are just rock heavy. One of the reasons that today's game was so ugly was that there were too many misses and thus the players were scrambling over the loose balls.
During Linsanity, Jeremy were getting all-star treatment from the refs, so he could always get to the FT line whenever he was gased. Not the case this season, yet that shouldn't stop him from taking it to the basket when the shots are cold.
One of the things I love about Jeremy's game is his 4th quarter D. That's how the Lin-led-Knicks were able to comeback from behind to grind it out and steal games from the opponents (and the same reason why Melo was there to ruin everything). Jeremy could either suffocate his man (Jennings, Barea) or take that momentum changing charge, and everything just erupt from the point on.
Still gotta give props to Harden today, despite playing just as much as Jeremy yesterday, he's still solid as a rock today. Very admirable. I am sold on his 80 mil contract now.
Adelman is a good coach and it showed. Today Minny's defensive gameplan actually worked very well. If not for their own problem at O and a spark from Houston's bench, they could have easily won the game. They loaded up their D on Lin and as you could see, when Lin's struggling to make plays, the whole team besides Harden suffered. And even Harden's very good, he couldn't do it alone every night. As Kobe proved it, even a guy scoring 40 points and not getting much else from others, and adding a weak defense simply couldn't guaranatee a win on many nights.
I am a bit worried that Minny found out this tactic to beat the Rockets to the rest of the league. This is exactly the tactic of beating the Nash-led Suns team in the playoffs. Possible solution is either the Rockets need to get better on the defensive end or the rest of the Rockets players sans Harden need to be able to make plays themselves. Otherwise Lin and the Rockets will have many rough nights like tonight against intelligent defensive teams.
Same sentiments. As I said earlier , you can outrun a team but it is hard to do it every single night especially on a back to back. Okc and spurs are big games and I am sure they have realised this gameplan to try to stop the rockets . I would be realistic about the rocket's chances at playoffs because in this league, anything can happen. Therefore, if they really want to make the playoffs, defense is key and most importantly , consistency. Lin did look tired but I hope he trains harder so that he can bring it each game. I know easier said than done but being tired should not be a reason for his poor performance. Did make up for it at the later end though... In my opinion, Harden scores many points due to free throws but you cant expect that to happen in every game. If Lin and HArden can improve their outside shooting and defense, I think it would put them in a better position to win.
Mchale needs to come up with different tactics to beat different types of teams. Play hard and play smart.
Good point. KHuang - biggest JLin fan here - said JLin deserved to be benched. Wifflewiffle complains the offense broke down so they had to shoot from outside. They all blame Lin while pointing at the TOs. But - outside shooting is no solution for such an opponents gameplan unless you have two guys shooting like Novakaine.
JLins outside shooting tonight was not really significant since others (say Delfino) - who are supposed to be the snipers - were given their chance and yet only made 4/13 and 3/11 (Delfino in 35 minutes). If JLin had smaller shoes his 3 point shooting would have been better than Delfinos (1/3 compared to 3/11).
Funny that JLins most loyal fans seem to blame JLin but not Delfino while clutchfans arent really upset about JLins peformance tonigth.
People say Lin was tired but what about the whole team? Lin ran like speedy Gonzales but what was wrong with the teams defense? Where was the help? How about the rotations? Why did Wolves manage to set double screens for their players and why was Rockets bad at setting screens tonight?
The bench stepped up big time but IMHO Wolves were not able to/could not put pressure on them the way they put pressure on Lin. What went better/worse? Game analysis doesnt start and end with TO numbers and boxscore is useless. McHale and the team have to analyse every move, coverage, run whatever to see what went wrong - stat.
And - shopping for new guys wont help. JLin and his mates have to develop some real depth in their game and thats something the coaches are responsible for.
Uh, saying the offence broke down is in no way blaming JLin only. I am just disagreeing with your belief that Rox came out looking to hit threes and go Hardenball only. Don't mischaracterise me, thanks! :)
@KHuang I think the problem is not just the scorer but more of lack of set plays available. During the game most of the time when Wolves's guards bring the ball have half court they immediately start to call certain set of plays and everybody know what to do while Rockets are either only trying to get into the paint or low post offense or 3 point shoot. We rarely set double high screen at the top the key or down at the low block.
If you don't have energy to keep running up and down the court every time, especially after back to back then you should use your brain instead. Move the ball and make plays. That is just common sense IMO
I know running and fast paced offense is our bread and butter but if we don't have enough good half court plays then we won't go far against true contenders
C'mon are we still arguing the benching? I wouldn't even characterise it as a benching. The reserves brought the Rox back from 14 down to 3 down. At the point the lead was more or less the same for the first half of the 4th quarter. A good coach will give his starters the rest needed, and then bring them in for the final push in a close game. There is no point in bringing them too early and have them shoot their load.
McHale learned his lesson from before and we have to give credit where it is due.
Minny seems to have Lin's number individual wise, but Lin's teams find a way to win. Last year with the Knicks, Lin had a horrible 8-24 shooting game, but the Knicks still managed a 2 point win in the last minute. Jeffries fumbled some in the paint as well. Deja vu.
Why did Lin only have 1 assist tonight? Sure some folks were not making their shots and Asik fumbled away a pair, but were people not cutting or was Lin not finding them? Were there no fastbreaks for him to pick up some dimes?
TBH, the 7 TOs didn't bother me as much as the 1 assist.
My memory might not be too accurate but the game was quite stagnant, loads of basic plays only, not much movement. Lin had a few good passes to the perimeter but it wasn't dropping.
I think torocan, who is probably one of the best posters on clutchfans, said it best: "So a poor game by Lin, but not nearly as awful as the stat line suggests."
In any case, this isn't really one of those games you have to worry too much about. Everyone has bad games now and then. I mean, Kevin Love is universally recognised as a great player and he had a stinker tonight.
For me personally, it's a combo of Lin playing subpar by being both overly indecisive and deferential to start the game. Lin doesn't want to play like a gunner or be an overbearing jackass by demanding the ball but it causes him to be too passive sometimes and gets himself out of sorts.
Secondly, Parsons was looking to score today and get stats which I've noticed kills Lin's game. The problem for me is that there is only 1 ball and 3 guys who want stats and want to also be the playmaker - Lin, Harden, Parsons. Lin sure, Harden ok, but Parsons? Well the Rox have given Parsons the green light, lord knows why, but they love him like he's a 6 foot 9 Steve Nash which he is not. I think the Rox are totally misguided giving him that type of freedom but unfortunately, it's not my team...
So Lin generally can only get his when Harden or Parsons takes a backseat. Harden never seems to take a backseat and the star shouldn't so it's between Lin and Parsons. While Lin doesn't care for glory, he seems to struggle on this team when he doesn't start hot.
I also felt Harden was a bit selfish and out of it in the first half. He had many teammates open but forced bad plays. Also he didn't call Lin's number much as Harden gets to call out plays when the ball is in his hands. A few times when they tried, Ridnour overplayed Lin and cut of the passing lanes so Lin didn't touch the ball. When Lin gets frozen out to start games, he presses because he knows the ball can get sticky and stay out of his hands for too long.
When Lin was doing good last 4 games, he got the ball in his hands and everyone played off him particularly in the 1st half. But in the Minn game, Parsons came out gunning and dominating the ball as well by trying to playmake. This causes the ball to be out of Lin's hands, and then Harden still wants his touches to shoot and playmake. So Lin gets frozen out. In the last 4 games, that happened to Parsons, and as much as these guys are all team players, they all want their stats to some degree.
So when Lin doesn't get the ball, he presses. When he presses, he doesn't play well and feels he has to force his own offense. And also Asik will get less touches, even though today Asik fumbled Lin's 1st half passes.
All in all, in Q1 they did not come out giving Lin the ball enough as the setup man and let Lin probe. Too quickly, Parsons tried to get his, and then Harden tried to get his, and then it all fell apart as Lin became frozen out. The bail out 3's that makes everyone forget the bad plays didn't drop either tonight early on.
Lin is not quite an elite player yet so he needs strong starts to build his confidence each game. One day he'll be there, but he is nowhere close to that right now.
That made me think about that fast break where Parsons was charging up the court on the left while Lin was on the right and three guys were converging on Parsons. If Parsons had bounced the ball to Lin it would have been an easy lay up. Instead, Parsons got blocked.
I mean, Parsons played well today. He locked down AK47 and had a decent offensive game. But I am not ready to trust him on transition, for some of the things you mentioned. I still really like him as a player though.
In fact, that one play where the shot clock ran all the way to zero... wasn't it mainly a play between Harden and Parsons? I don't remember Lin being involved much in that one.
I thought Lin had a quite a lot of the ball but it usually only came back to him after the transition attempt broke down.
Can't blame the Rockets too much though. They are the walking wounded right now. Parsons had a wonky knee. Lin was all covered in ice last night. Harden has been clocking insane minutes. Something's got to give.
I totally agreed that the Rockets and Parsons overrated his ability and gave him undeserved green light. In fact I have said it many times here before. They all seem to think he's the 2nd option which is to be honest quite laughable and the failure to establish Lin as the 2nd option is going to be the downfall of this coaching staff.
Finally found a way to write on here and not lose the post... Sign up to google first. Ok. Asik had 17 rebounds. I give the win to asik for this game. He's a tree in there. Gobbled up everything from rebounds to penetrations. Even though harden got some big time baskets, the defense won the game. I still say without asik this team will be a lot worse. Rox able to stay in close games because asik clogs up so much of the middle, taking away the interior game. What I like about asik is aside from rebounding, he blocks shots and keeps it in play unlike Tyson chandler, deandre Jordan, and the list goes on. His outlets are getting better. From his rebound to two passes and a score at the other end. I would send guys sprinting once you see asik has his position and a potential rebound. Run like crazy to receive a secondary pass to basket. I know playoff bball slows down, but I am confident the rox can still run with this approach considering they have 2 of the best passing pgs in the game. I think asik is perfect for this team. Lin, harden, asik share very similar characteristics and paths to get to the rockets and ascendency to be the best at their jobs. Damn, want to expound on this more, but gotta go.....
All NBA players, even the greatest superstars, will go through games like this where fatigue gets them.
Most NBA superstars will slack off defensively and shoot low percentage outside shots while waving their hands at opponents and calling for the ball. Kobe, Lebron, Larry, Michael - they all do this.
Lin does NOT do this. He's more like Tim Duncan who will spend long periods on the bench and shoot low numbers of shots while playing hard defense. Then when Lin gets a breather, he comes back and finishes in grand style.
Lin was tired, so he was pressing. His decisionmaking was not crisp and he was trying to push through the first half. Superstars like Lin are not robots that can perform great every game.
Also, the Rockets coaches made a subtle halfcourt adjustment. Somebody realized that the Wolves were trying to beat Lin to spots, so the Rockets settled down and took a little more time. That little adjustment won the game, so I doubt it was just merely a fatigue factor which the coaches also handled beautifully with Lin and Harden.
Lin finished the game in GRAND STYLE. As usual, I am totally impressed.
I really like this post/comment from the Bleacher article - Jeremy Lin and James Harden will lead Rockets to NBA Playoffs
"You are right! Lin will be needed by many teams, not just Rockets and Lakers! Lin will transform the NBA culture from superstar mode to team mode; from self-boasting and bragging to humility and self-criticism; and above all, from street violence on the court to civilized sportsmanship in the players' personalities. Lin will be the first model of integrating intelligence and education with courage and skills. NBA will be more than just winning and losing. NBA will be an educational games for our kids to watch -- PG rated rather R rated! -- Happy Holidays!" - C. P. Cheung
Good article. Lin is transforming the way other players play the game, esp. Teammates and former teammates. And pg s around the league are picking up little tricks of trade from lin like how to steal the ball. Pg s try to one up on lin during the game but at the same time they are emulating his game.."I can do the same thing but better than you".
1. To stop having to hold my breath every time Lin shoots! 2. Not letting Rocket's last nights game affect my mood and job. 3. Stop checking this blog 20 times a day (target 10). 4. No more reading Bleacher Report.
Haha..skl. I like this post you are having here. I only been to bleach report couple times when Lin was a knick but after I got a sense of what bleach report is I never go back. The only regulatory read I have is this site that's all. Maybe some of the article post right here, but I think it's enough. When you read too much info, it's not only time consuming but when you see some bad shit comments it affect you that you want to fight back with them then it's useless again to argue with truly haters again.
The Rockets played a hard game due to back to back fatigue and the 4:30 am arrival due to the Chicago weather.
In the end, a WIN IS A WIN. Doesn't matter how ugly the win was, especially since Minnesota is a .500 team this season.
Like Larry Bird said, a lot of the time he played horribly but got the win anyway. That's the nature of basketball, and Lin shouldn't be singled out for individual criticism when the natural highs and lows of the game affect him the way they affect the rest of the NBA.
I couldn't tell Jeremy was that tired as described by some of the posters here. He just never got into a rhythm.
First, Asik couldn't catch any of Lin's passes.
Second, Asik couldn't provide a pick for Lin without committing a blocking foul hence causing a the ball to be turned over.
Third, no one was passing to Lin when he's moving. His own team mates were passing to him only when he was standing still. This minimizes Lin's scoring opportunities.
Fourth, Lin got called on a few stupid foul calls. For one, when Barea threw his body onto Lin when Lin was going up for a lay up, the ref called an offensive foul on Lin instead of a foul on Barea.
Lin started to create his own shot opportunities and got a few lay ups before that stupid offensive foul call.
After that foul, Lin got yanked and didn't see any minutes for two quarters. Even after Lin returned, he received only one pass from Harden. Jeremy was wide open for a three, and Harden tosses Jeremy a soft bounce pass. By the time the ball was received by Jeremy, he's already guarded.
On all of Harden's other possessions, he always moved the ball away from Jeremy. If Jeremy was standing on the right side of the court, Harden will either go left and hero ball it or pass to Morris who then hero balls it.
So, I don't think it's a matter of Lin being tired. Maybe the team is tired of Lin.
One thing Lin was doing that wasn't working was his help defense. He leaves his man too much freedom to move without the ball. Every time his ban gets the ball, they are open to take a shot. That's how Barea got so many open jumpers.
Had I been Lin's coach, I'd been OK with letting Barea fire if it meant Kevin Love was going to have a poor shooting night - which Love did.
My honest question for you is this: Do you think this is a situation where Lin could've afforded to tighten up his D on Barea while letting Love brick away?
Another thing. I think the Rockets benefitted from all the "expert analysis" done after the Lin's 38 points over the Spurs regarding how Harden and Lin were negating each other's abilities.
The team probably put in extra effort to prove the experts wrong. The effect of this is the current winning streak.
However, it does seem like it's back to business as usual during the TWolves game yesterday.
One thing of note is that during yesterday's game that Harden's scoring is much higher when Jeremy is on the court although Jeremy didn't touch the ball all that much.
KHuang: Love was going to have a poor shooting night regardless of the defense. Love's knee was obviously bothering him. All his shots were flat. Klove was only successful with a few baby hooks. He didn't even have the legs to post up in the paint.
I think the only reason why Klove was on the court last night was because of his court presence as he provides his team with confidence and stability. Despite this, his team was sporadically streaky and played rather ugly.
Etane, agreed on everything, especially the Harden playmaking. But I don't know Harden is doing it on purpose to freeze Lin out, rather Morris is a better shooter, for example. It's like when Lin looked off Shumpert for Novak, we called Lin smart, not a jackass for not passing to Iman. And yes, Harden throwing the slow bounce may be his way of FORCING Lin to attack the paint rather than giving Lin time to shoot a standstill 3 pointer. Nash use to do that to people too in high school and college, he admitted it. He would throw off center passes to people he didn't want to shoot the ball but we open in the corner so they'd either have to drive or pass it back to him.
The thing is we don't believe Harden is a better PLAYMAKER than Lin. We know he is 100 times better at scoring the ball and getting to the line than Lin. But we believe Lin sets the table better even though nobody in the media wants to acknowledge this difference. Most reports I read say Harden is a better playmaker as well, but they are just casually assuming this because he is such a tremendous scoring machine who is efficient and has the ability to pass unlike most NBA SG's. But I don't see any such conclusive evidence that Lin is a worse playmaker than Harden.
I don't ever think the Lin/Harden combo will completely work, not the way Lin fans hope. It might work well enough for them to even win an NBA championship. But in the back of every Lin fan's mind, we will wonder if he will get the chance to truly QB a team like Nash did in Phoenix.
I have a feeling Lin wants to have the ball in his hands and lead, not in scoring or assists, but to have the control he had for a few short weeks in NY. Yes of course, having such control over the ball will automatically increase his stats as well. We'll see what happens when he becomes a FA again in 2015.
Well, I can't truly say that I am hoping in the back of my own mind that Lin gets his "own" team.
All I want is for Lin to consistently make the right basketball play to win games.
Lin has a better chance of winning on a stacked team than on a weak team where he has to be the hero. Thus I myself prefer Lin to be on a team which doesn't necessarily need him to be a superhero to win.
As far as two man combos like Lin and Harden go, I think that depends a lot more on overall team chemistry than the interplay between just those two players. The Rockets are a young team that will continue learning how to play with each other through the playoffs and into next season.
"But in the back of every Lin fan's mind, we will wonder if he will get the chance to truly QB a team like Nash did in Phoenix."
I would be one of those fans!
@Etane
I also saw, especially in the first quarter, that the ball was not coming to JLin as often as it did in the games during the previous weeks. I hope the teammates don't get into a habit of doing that (again).
Personally, and I believe this is why Lin was not resigned in NY, teams just (A) don't think Lin is that good, meaning good enough to be Asian Rondo who gets the ball in his hands; and (B) they have other stars on the team's agenda (Melo, Harden) who they want to be the de facto star on the team instead of Lin.
With Lin, if he has the ball in his hands in charge of the show, he will become the main star in Houston due to his following and media hype, even if his stats are only 12,9,3,1 as long as the team wins big and kicks butt like when NY killed Sacramento last year. But there's no way Harden, or Morey, or the Rox want some internal struggle where Lin is making 50 million less but is considered more of an integral player than Harden.
But for me, I think it just goes back to Lin not showing enough elite ability in practice, experience, games etc. The coaches are probably not wrong either. If they put the ball completely in Lin's hands, and Lin fails, the rest of the team will tune out the coaches etc. Harden will ask for a trade of play a lot worse etc...
Lin's still got many issues but I am most bothered that he had not improved his dribbling ability at this level. As a PG, that's a fundamental skill he needs. It's been 3 years. It bothers me he has not improved it significantly (yes it requires a ton of hard work but it's doable over the summer). When he dribbled off his foot in Minn trying to do I think an in and out dribble to a cross, that's just a sign of someone who has not trained his dribble hard enough but also a sign of a guy pressing too hard.
I agree that after the second half of the season that has already passed, Lin is well-positioned to find success and growth WITH Harden on the team. If Lin is forced into superhero category, I think he will be overexposed before reaching his true potential. I don't want Lin to be John Wall in a weak team. If Lin can quietly increase his PPG and dimes to 18 / 8, then he will be the type of a PG who can last 10+ years without permanently injuring himself. Lin will continue to have nights where Harden is injured or playing poorly when he can break-out of his skin like the Spurs. His legacy will be that he is a team player with position leading consistency who makes everyone else play better. Most importantly, his style of play will be known to produce Ws.
Guys dribble off their feet ALL THE TIME in the NBA.
Heck, Ricky Rubio is one of the NBA's best ballhandlers. He's been Maradona with a basketball all his life, and even Rubio dribbled the ball off his foot to seal his team's loss against Lin's Knicks.
Minnesota defended well, but so did Houston. This was a war of attrition, with two good teams pressuring each other out of their comfort zones. Lin struggles against that pressure, but opponents struggle against Lin too.
Zigzag: I think these players, Harden, Morris, Parson, Asik and Delfino, all have stretches during the game that exhibited symptomatic freezing out of Jeremy Lin.
Case in point, Parson hero balled a fast break when four defenders were on him. Instead of alleyooping to Jeremy who was closer to the basket with no defenders on him, Parson goes for a layup but ends up getting rejected.
I didn't see McHale foaming at the mouth at Parson like any other coach would and should do.
Another observation: Jeremy often lunched with his Linsanity crew when he was still in NY. I don't think this is happening in Houston at least I haven't seen any articles stating such.
I tried to find the article about him lunching out with his teammates but couldn't find it.
Instead, I found lots of articles about Lin having lunch with the guy who wrote that racially insensitive headline on ESPN:
I for one think it's great that at this early point of his career, Lin shares playmaking with Harden in Houston rather than going solo as a playmaker ala Nash. Nash's style of play is never as athletic, as exciting, and at the same time as dangerous as Lin's.
Lin still has a lot to learn to have a long-term career in the NBA. A lot of people share the concern about how hard he crashes on the floor when drawing fouls. He can definitely learn from Harden how to draw fouls without taking tolls on your body. JKidd also correctly pointed out last season that Lin only has one gear so he needs to learn to pace himself without endangering his health. I love his commitment but I cringed when he got elbowed by Barea. That tumble could have resulted in worse injury.
Also, with Harden being the face of the franchise as he deserves, Lin is spared from all the pressure to deliver Linsanity consistently.
I only see good things for Lin to play next to Harden at this point of his career. My #1 wish for him is to play as a solid PG starter with great court-vision for the WHOLE season to deliver the 1st Houston playoff appearance after 4 years drought on (perhaps sprinkled with 2-3 30-point explosion in the playoff). It would shut up a lot of doubters that his Linsanity style is unsustainable.
Sharing credit with Harden is not a problem. If DWade/LeBron/Bosh can share credit after winning the championship, Lin/Harden needs one more star to share the credit.
I personally believe that guys freeze each other out all the time in the NBA, even on winning teams. I actually think it's normal for Lin's teammates to freeze him out a bit, especially since point guards always get their touches.
My belief is that truly unselfish players in the NBA like Lin are super rare. It takes a very special kind of talent who is so good and so self secure that he can afford to make the right basketball play without jeopardizing his career earnings.
I agree with what you said but I don't agree Rubio is an elite ball handler - he is an elite passer like Lin who does it in a much flashier and dynamic manner, whereas Lin kills you with the simple pass.
TDouglas was hounding Rubio because Rubio lacks an elite handle. He could barely get the ball up the court. Rubio was lucky he didn't get called for offensive foul the way he used his off hand to clear out TD. If Lin did that he'd get an instant offensive foul because of the double standard put on Lin. Wait he did for simply clearing out Barea who was inside Lin's shirt...
I am comparing Lin to elite ballhandlers in the NBA like CP3's, Rondo's, and other elite handlers. Alot of it is also footwork. To me, Lin is already way way better than Rubio as a ball player. I don't think Rubio has an elite handle at all and they both dribble about the same level. I think Rubio has been hyped up so long and he's got his Spanish charm, that even though I think Lin is a WAY better player, if you asked ESPN bball analysts, few would agree with me. Rubio may be a more classically exciting player, but that depends on your definition of exciting...
I am a big Lin supporter, but I can see a weak dribble and be honest about it. Lin's dribble is far better than an average joe playing rec ball, but it is not elite. From the vids I see online, Lin doesn't properly train his dribble. He doesn't dribble the ball hard enough and with enough speed in any vids I seen of him. He dribbles at a snails pace doing 2 ball drills. He needs to push himself out of his comfort zone or find a trainer who will. His drills are too slow and not challenging enough.
But Lin's at his best when he doesn't need to rely on fancy moves. And that's why I believe he never learned them or got use to doing them because he never needed them till now. He usually beats people on pure athleticism even in the NBA. When he's in his comfort zone, he just either goes hard right or gives people a head and shoulders face when he has yet to dribble and always gets past his man.
He doesn't need the 30 stepback moves or pet trick moves most NBA guys need because he's that good when in his zone. But when he's not attacking, he looks quite ordinary because he doesn't have a quick & strong dribble or any go to moves. Look at his normal in and out dribble - it's too high and loopy and slow and he usually does it in an upright position. That's why in the Minn game, he did a quick and low in and out dribble which he probably never does or trained enough and he lost the ball throwing in a cross to add to that because he has not properly trained his dribbling skills enough. It's like when people like us go play rec ball and do more than we are able to do - we lose the ball.
His teammates, coaches, other teams, ex players all know this too if I can see if so obviously. And it causes him to take his foot off the gas pedal by playing it safe.
Thanks KHuang. I think Lin would fit better with the teams that emphasize team ball instead of hero ball. So, it's not a matter of whether Lin meshes with the rest of the team but rather whether he meshes with his coach. We saw what Lin could do under Mike D'antoni. I think Lin would be as effective under other coaches and teams that emphasize defense and team play like Spurs or Twolves.
McHale seems to be living in the past, and he sees Harden as the Bird of his era.
Lol talk about bs refs favoring Wolves...Shved was basically dry humping Lin with both his arms around him and grabbing his hand for the ball and forcing Lin to the floor...I half expected Lin to yell "RAPE!"
Holding at least right? Refs called jump ball...Whatever.
Sorry, you're completely wrong up there. Elite ball handlers dribble off their feet all the time. Last year against the Clippers, Nash turned the ball over on three straight possessions on horrendous dribbling errors. One time he just dribbled straight into Chris Paul and fell over and one time he simply threw the ball out of bounds while trying to dribble. Lin's dribbling has look much improved this year and all, repeat all, ball handlers make ugly turnovers.
One of my pet peeves in the NBA is the allowance of illegal palming for select point guards.
The worst offender in recent years was Deron Williams. Every time that guy dribbles, his whole body bounces because of the illegal palming he does. That guy could not get up the court if he were forced to dribble by the rules.
The up and coming newcomer offender is Kyrie Irving. That guy doesn't do the "Deron Williams whole body hiccup", but he's dangerously close to doing what I call "waitering". That's when Irving picks up his dribble in the air and carries it with one hand, which is also illegal.
If the refs called these illegal dribbling maneuvers on so called "superstars" the way they would with Lin, the dribbling in the NBA would look a lot less flashy and a lot more like Lin's dribbling.
Michael Terry, Steve Nash is an elite player and passer, but he is not an elite ball handler either. He is somewhere between CP3 and Lin, kind of in the middle. Nash does have a much better bag of tricks with his dribbling skill set than Lin. Nash also gets flustered by ball pressure, but he is so good with his footwork shooting the ball on the move, he can go strong side weak side into the paint to score or pass and mask his dribbling deficiencies.
Khuang, I agree with on the palming BS completely. The NBA has its own rules completely. But nobody cares so it continues to get worse each decade. It's probably what I dislike most about basketball at every level.
Outside the NBA, most refs claim its about "thumb on top of the ball" these days which is ridiculous in and of itself, but through my years, I've learned it's about how smooth and slick and fast you look doing it that allows you to get away with the palming and carrying on moves. If you are a good/great player at any level, refs allow you to do whatever you want more or less. If you are an average player trying to do an unsmooth crossover, you will be called for palming.
Traveling is also bad these days. When Harden euro-stepped Rubio last night, Adelman signaled for a travel. I assumed Adelman was crying foul but I watched it in slow mo many times, and Adelman was right. Harden took a final left bounce and then stepped right left right. It looked like the bounce coincided with the right step but it came before. So that's traveling, but nobody calls it anymore at any level maybe save high school.
If Lin did it though, it'd be an automatic travel and a technical for having the balls to try it...in reality, Lin can't get away with that stuff because he doesn't execute such moves with the dribble quickly and violently enough to get away with it.
JLin's the only team player on the Rox. Everyone else has that iso-hero mode in them, especially Delfino, Parsons,and Harden. They started to go back to that iso-hero mode on the last game vs MIN. Evey time JLin gave up the ball, it never came back for a reset or a recreate. Those who received the pass either chuck up a 3 or do some crazy contested move with it. The last few minutes of the game was all iso-hero mode for Harden, which was fine because he was on fire. The Rox will not win vs Spurs nor OKC playing like that. MCHale should mix in the double pick in pnr and harden iso to make the D guess what the O is going to do. Most importantly, always have Lin control the floor. He's better at creating for himself and others better than anyone on the team. Coach should make that clear to everyone on the team. If this happen on the next two games and Rox play some decent D as well, then Rox will win both games. Or else, we'll see Nemo set a record high of posts in this forum. If you all know what I mean.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with Lin's textbook dribbling.
What's wrong is that the hand check rules that allow guys like Chris Paul to run wild are not applied to Lin.
Lin plays in a different era than all other players on the court. The referees have it so that Lin gets manhandled eevery game by uncalled fouls. Lin is in a time warp, playing against the Detroit Piston Bad Boys while guys like Chris Paul are escorted to the free throw line.
The main reason Lin plays so well on national TV is because the refs are on their best behavior and officiate Lin fairly with all those people watching. It has NOTHING to do with the caliber of opponent or even if Lin is having a bad day!!!
We can agree to disagree and I'm sure we can both bring forth real solid arguments to back up our positions. That's what makes the world interesting I guess, and that's why there are millions of people who think Lin is a garbage D league scrub to this day while we believe he has real potential.
Khuang, Lin's dribble is solid, I agree. Like MT said, he did improve it over summer quite a bit and I can see that. What Lin doesn't have are solid dribble moves to attack the basket 1 on 1 and he doesn't have the ability to string useful/fancy moves together reliably at the NBA level to get past his man. It doesn't mean I'm attacking Lin as a player. I thought I was stating the obvious while being objective, but we can all agree to disagree at times.
Lin has a great change of direction dribble from left to right but that's about it. Otherwise Lin does most of his damage getting by people with PnRs. What I'm saying is that Lin doesn't have many 1 on 1 dribble moves that he can fall back on. He could stand to develop some as time goes on.
He tried to bust a move that he doesn't have in his arsenal the other night. He didn't just dribble it off his foot, in my opinion. It's a move he doesn't have in his memory banks. He might be able to bust it out when there's no pressure or playing with his brothers, but it's another thing to bust out elite moves in an NBA game.
It sounds like Lin spent most of his time working on the jumper and working out of PnR and trap simulations over the summer. I would have done that as well. Unfortunately, his jump shot practice didn't pay off yet this year but he really should be pulling up when Ridnour is giving him 2 feet of space. And then we wouldn't be discussing how and why he is dribbling off his foot.
I may not be right or you guys may not agree...just my take
Why is it I'm starting to see a lot of "Lin this, Lin that" comments, as if he was solely responsible for almost losing the game?
Give some props to Wolves defense...Adelman had Lin in his sights, and put enough pressure to disrupt Harden as well. Hell they harassed everyone and did a great job stripping the rock. Rox had 12 TOs in 1st half, yes 5 were on Lin, but 1 was Asik and one was a BS foul call. EVEN IF all 5 were Lin's fault, that still leaves 7...SEVEN folks, on the rest of the team. In comparison, Wolves had 4...FOUR TOs in first half.
Keep in mind Harden got pulled as well...His shots were in and out and his drives were going nowhere, and he was drawing offensive fouls thanks to Rubio/Barea flopping, blocked shots on his drives, and lost the rock twice. From about the 6min mark in 2Q to the 7 min mark in Q3, almost an entire quarter, Harden scored ONE MORE POINT THAN LIN during the same time period. The Rox backcourt was self destructing on TV.
Harden's body language was all over the place, it was pretty obvious he was irritated at his own production, it was OKC all over again.
Rather than watch his backcourt self destruct McHale did the right thing and pulled them both.
TD/Smith/Delfino/Asik/Parsons did a HELL OF A JOB disrupting the Wolves offense, and catching Wolves defense off guard, 14-4 run is what saved our bacon, and with the added bonus of SAPPING energy from Wolves. Asik can't catch fast passes worth crap, but man is the guy single handedly saving Rox ass at the post or what?
Once they put HardLin back in the game was over, Wolves were out of energy facing a fresh Rox backcourt that had time to get their minds right.
Back in 3Q, IF bench they didn't chuck up shots for almost 3 minutes and made let's say 3 out of 6 shots they missed, this would have been won by 9-12 points.
THIS IS WHERE PATRICK BEVERLEY WOULD HAVE HELPED A TON, SOMEONE ON BENCH NEEDS TO TAKE CHARGE WHEN HARDLIN IS OUT! Don't get me wrong, I love TD, I think he has found his role, but he is still weak at play making and forces too many shots, he'd be a great SG, and we already know he is a hell of a tenacious defender. I think having Patrick and TD off bench would pay serious dividends for Rox when HardLin is being shutdown, not to mention someone needs to keep Delfino in check so he isn't chucking up shots all day.
Because Lin is important Lin is significant! So lin's error is different compare to others. People need to use a microscope to be able to see lin's beauty and yet, people will also use microscope to see lin's flaw 10xbigger.
I would love to see Lin play more with Greg Smith instead of with Asik. Yes, Asik got lots of rebounds. But, honestly, I can't say I saw he got any hard won rebounds. 16 of his 17 rebounds were defensive. And, those were mostly because he was the only person under the rim. To me, Asik is just a big oaf. He moves awkwardly away from the ball and is more of a deficit rather than an asset when he tries to set picks.
The announcer person seemed to be in love with Asik though praises lamenting Asik's size and big broad shoulders and such.
I think that's the beauty of Asik as a rebounder. He can get rebounds against anyone in the league because of his sheer size. Its not his fault that rebounds come relatively easy because he is so tall and takes up so much space.
Asik is actually very agile for his. I'm quite impressed with how he keeps pace with the Rockets fast break. He also has the speed to keep in front of guards after switching on the pick and roll.
I can't say I disagree with anything you said. I just think Asik lacks a few skill sets that would make him a better teammate for Jeremy. These skill sets include knowing how to set picks and how to catch a ball.
Tyson Chandler was perhaps the prototypical big man for Jeremy. Greg Smith's play reminds me of Tyson's play. So, I'd love to see the two play together. So far, I haven't seen the two on the court together.
Indeed Etane, Asik does lack those skill sets you're talking about.
After all, Asik didn't touch the ball on offense for three years as the Bulls played "me, myself, and Iverson" ball with Derrick Rose.
Now that Asik is being featured in the offense by the totally unselfish Lin, he's had to develop his skill sets overnight. And Asik is doing well!
I think any NBA big man that plays with Lin will have to develop his offensive game further. I was actually looking forward to Lin feeding Amare Stoudemire in the post before the Knicks kicked Lin off the team.
True. Asik is "young and developing" and could become more agile and better offensively. For now, I just wish McHale would pair Greg Smith up with Jeremy once in awhile to see whether there's anything there.
I have the same concerns as you about Asik's offense. But I must say he is making progress. Yes, he did fumble away a few posessions last night, but he did have a few dunks last night including a put back slam which is the first time I've seen him do that all year. If Asik can continue to attempt more dunks than layups he will improve his offensive efficiency. Also I can't really think of another available big man that I would replace him with at this time. I'm also a big Greg Smith fan and am impressed by how strong he attacks the basket without hesitation and his solid defense. He had a monster dunk last night and attempted another which he was fouled. He leads the team in +/- and was a +17 last night. I would love to see a Lin to Smith lob soon.
WTF is DWill's problem? Him and Howard deserve each other...Imagine them two both on the same team, Nets would implode, no coach would ever wanna take on that team.
Dwill is a coach killer, but he's got 3 or 4 more to go before he catches the NBA's true coach killer in Jeremy Lin.
Just to remind people, this is who Lin knocked out:
1) Harvard's longtime coach that didn't believe in Lin much and didn't utilize him. FIRED
2) Stanford coach Trent Johnson who refused to recruit Lin and targeted Lin for triple teams when Harvard played Stanford. Enraged the Stanford boosters that wanted Lin. FIRED
3) Golden State coach Keith Smart who benched Lin despite Lin's excellent rookie production. FIRED
4) Mike D'Antoni, benched Lin for 25 games and had to turn to Lin out of injury. Later had trouble integrating Lin. RESIGNED. But he got a Laker reprieve for handling Lin so well!!!
5) Mike Woodson, expressed public dissatisfaction with Lin's game and was instrumental in having Lin kicked off the Knicks. BLOWN OUT by Lin in two embarrassing defeats.
6) Kenny Atkinson. He's not a victim of Lin, as he was essentially Lin's personal coach. The Knicks got rid of him along with Lin, but then Atkinson got immediately hired by Atlanta.
1. He actually recruited LIN to Harvard, Amaker was the one skeptical at first, his departure had nothing to do with Lin
2. Come on, Trent Johnson not recruiting Lin had nothing with him getting fired, that's just pure BS
3. Keith Smart got fired not for not playing Lin, it's just for being a general moron
4. Lin saved his job, briefly, and then got him some more play with Lakers, not sure how that's killing a coach
5. Woodson is doing just fine.
Dwill is a coach killer, but he's got 3 or 4 more to go before he catches the NBA's true coach killer in Jeremy Lin.
Just to remind people, this is who Lin knocked out:
1) Harvard's longtime coach that didn't believe in Lin much and didn't utilize him. FIRED
2) Stanford coach Trent Johnson who refused to recruit Lin and targeted Lin for triple teams when Harvard played Stanford. Enraged the Stanford boosters that wanted Lin. FIRED
3) Golden State coach Keith Smart who benched Lin despite Lin's excellent rookie production. FIRED
4) Mike D'Antoni, benched Lin for 25 games and had to turn to Lin out of injury. Later had trouble integrating Lin. RESIGNED. But he got a Laker reprieve for handling Lin so well!!!
5) Mike Woodson, expressed public dissatisfaction with Lin's game and was instrumental in having Lin kicked off the Knicks. BLOWN OUT by Lin in two embarrassing defeats.
6) Kenny Atkinson. He's not a victim of Lin, as he was essentially Lin's personal coach. The Knicks got rid of him along with Lin, but then Atkinson got immediately hired by Atlanta.
I realise this refers to JLin's early struggles and TOs, but I think struggles can equally be referred to the teammates' struggles to trust JLin early in the ball game. They worked out their trust issues and eventually let JLin create plays in the first half of the 3rd.
Wilc - this is just my own interpretation but I don't think his teammates distrust Jeremy's ability. On the other hand, Jeremy has to deal with his own team's uncertainty. It seems he has to figure out on a day to day and maybe even quarter to quarter basis whether he's going to be the point guard or whether he's going to be the spot up shooter.
Yeah, I think the fourth quarter showed that they trust JLin as the PG now.
Pure guessing here, but the change to focus on letting Harden make plays in the first quarter looked to me like it was agreed to before hand, as if it were part of some kind of game plan by the coach. Or else its quite odd to me why the players had a collective change of heart in keeping the ball away from JLin to start the game.
Wilc: Well, I don't think the team ever had a problem trusting Jeremy's ability to be the point guard. I think it's for other reasons that the players are keeping the ball away from Jeremy.
Perhaps there's a struggle regarding team leadership. And, frankly, Jeremy is probably not a locker room leader on the Rockets as he was on the Knicks while Melo was injured.
I recall during a game after Melo returned, Melo was waving for the ball, but Jeremy didn't pass it to him. Melo immediately acted irate. I think he wanted his team back proton.
Wilc: Yes, I think it's some kind of game plan set by the coach before hand and later on adjusted according to the actual situation - how it was executed and how the opponent team reacted.
In a young team without a reigning superstar, the coach has more authority to have the players follow the game plan and his instruction.
The simple answer is that McHale expects ALL of his players to be "great" players, so he gives them total freedom on the court.
This results in all sorts of guys wanting to handle the ball and make plays. Sometimes Lin gets left out of that scheme because he's unselfish. Thus it's on Lin to aggressively step up and DEMAND the ball the way Kelvin Sampson said Lin needs to do.
McHale is the kind of coach who doesn't truly care how the team wins as long as it wins. If that meant Asik shooting threes and Lin playing center, then that's what McHale would do!!!
If there were a leadership struggle, I think it would be a one-sided one; don't think there will be much push back from Jeremy, especially this year. Jeremy seems to wish to just take a back seat and further develop skills out of the spotlight. Problem is (for him and lucky for us fans), it is hard not to notice him because of the display of his talent, effort, and determination on the court.
@JesLee It also seemed to me that the team adjusted as the game went on and teammates were looking to JLin to start plays.
@KHuang I think I appreciate McHale for being that type of coach who wishes to give everyone a chance to show what they are made of. I appreciate even more that he judges players by merits rather than reputation, at least when it comes to JLin.
It seems like JLin through his solid play for the past couple of weeks has earned McHale's trust. After all it won't sound like a JLin story if he didn't have to prove himself!
Maybe team leadership isn't the best term. Rather, who is the face of the team? And, who is the floor general for the team? I think there's an active struggle for each of these positions. Jeremy struggles to be that floor general. He struggles by putting up stats and earning the Ws. However, you still have the $80 million guy who is supposed to be the face of the team. I am not saying that Jeremy will out perform Harden in terms of stats or show boating. But, just look at the all star voting. Jeremy's getting almost double Harden's volume. I think, to the basketball powers that be, this shouldn't be happening.
The team just looks better when JLin is the floor general. He makes everyone around him better and the team wins bigger. As a result, the team will buy in into JLin's system rather than the Harden system. There is a shift towards JLin imposing his brand of basketball as the identity of the Rockets. JLin becomes the poster boy for the identity of the team. I can see how that does not sit well with certain camps.
I was thinking what that identity would be. Perhaps hard working, gritty, hard nosed, team focused. For some reason I think Rockets fans appreciate that type leader for the team.
That's why I think Lin would fit the Spurs. That team didn't care what basketball people thought when they rested all their starters against Miami. This shows the Spurs are about winning games and not about creating super stars (or selling seats).
And, the fans certainly responded to Lin's brand of basketball by way of number of Jersey's sold last year. Dolan, Stephen A, Melo and Smith didn't appreciate it as much. They are about stock price and creating stars.
The 4Q decision let Jeremy be PG was a stark contrast to any previous close games.
HOU was trailing 5 points (71-76) when Jeremy entered the game in the 4Q with 6 min left but it took the faith from coaches, his teammates and Jeremy himself to make it work. You can tell from Jeremy's face how confident he was after draining the BIG "almost 3pt" shot to tie it at 81-81. No hesitation, just instinct! And his teammates eagerly gave him the ball even more after that big shot because they knew he would make the right play.
This win made it 1-5 road record against Western conference teams. I believe the next time they were trailing in close games in the 4th, they all would trust Jeremy to be the PG again.
Second return of NBA All Star Ballot result. Backcourt: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 977,444; Chris Paul (LAC) 542,564; Jeremy Lin (Hou) 496,133; James Harden (Hou) 283,691; Russell Westbrook (OKC) 232,074; Steve Nash (LAL) 166,262; Tony Parker (SA) 111,032; Ricky Rubio (Min) 96,466; Stephen Curry (GS) 78,380; Manu Ginobili (SA) 70,813.
Damn, Jeremy Lin is still 50K behind CP3.
Please, everyone go vote for JL. You can vote 4 time each date (FaceBook, NBA.com/ASB, NBA Gametime and Twitter)
backups are chosen by the coaches. he will not get picked. so either he makes top 2, or doesn't make it at all. must vote now. a lot of guys might be voting cp3 while voting for jlin so obviously don't do that as it will cancel your jlin vote.
I have a feeling these numbers are rigged. There's no way JLin is getting less than half a million votes. But that's just my opinion. The coaches won't pick him as a reserve. In the Allstar promo, they show James Harden, not JLin. But I'll still vote for him anyway.
I've been voting for Lin via nba site. Is it possible to vote more than once? I know you can only vote once per day via NBA site and twitter..
Even the clutchfan's owner think Lin isn't deserving to be in the NBAAllStar...WOW..SMH..way to show some bias/lack of support to a fellow rocket player..He thinks that if Lin beats Chris Paul, this could be a catalyst in change to future All Star voting system.
I don't understand why Rocket fans aren't happy that they have both their point guards in the top five. If Lin or anyone else isn't deserving to be in the all star shortlist, why include their names in the first place...Hey..don't blame the players or their fans..blame the system..
Jonathan Feigen @Jonathan_Feigen All Star voting update due today. Lin was 3rd, Harden 4th last time. Harden said being a coaches pick great way to make 1st All Star game. 8:31 AM - 27 Dec 12
It's not a shame to vote for JLin. NBA is a Entertainment Business instead a pure Sport. It's about who is the most watchable players that get the fans spend their money for. If you ask me, I would say JLin is the most player who I willing to spend money on. So, if you guys feel the same. Go vote for him.
I am not voting for Lin. It will do him more harm than good. Bad for his health, and going to create more Lin haters. All I wants is Lin help Houstom win the next 2 games. That is way better than winning a popularity contest.
I feel really bad for Lin. He thought that coming to Houston, that he would have a chance to grow his game and not deal with superstar egos. Guess what he is still dealing with ego's,but the "wake up and pay attention to me"baby egos Harden is good, that's a no brainier, but I think after Lin's 4 good games the team especially Harden/Parson's felt a little slighted. It is the coaches fault for not keeping these egos in check. Lin is a baller, yes he has weaknesses, but his are always more highlighted than the others. I just laugh, because everyone is giving Harden kudos for his game winning 30 points, but not mentioning that Lin was the one who is the one t with the clutch shot that put Houston back in the game. smh. I feel for him this season because he doesn't have Fields, Jefferies or Novak to have his back. Lin will get the All star votes and make the team, but Lin will bow out and not play. That's how he rolls.
You want to know what's funny? I live in the SF Bay Area...the last warriors game cost me 70 dollars a ticket for terrible seats. The entire night for 3 people ended up being close to 400 dollars for a mediocre experience- food, tickets, parking (20$) . I think we as fans deserve to vote for whoever the hell we want. The NBA ticket prices are ridiculously exorbitant.
If the fans want to vote Jeremy even if he averages 2 points/2assists/1 rebound a game, people should just shut up and accept it. The all-star game is a popularity contest and rightfully so in my opinion.
I think it'd be the best for JLin to stay at the #4 position because he can have the time better used than wasted in the show. At the same time, people would still notice his popularity as the #4 most voted player.
God who cares, just vote for Jeremy. If ur not going to vote for Jeremy, do us all a favor and don't vote for CP3.
Of course, plz don't vote for CP3 period, as the other guard. Vote harden. If JLin don't get in, he won't get put on reserve, Harden is all but guaranteed.
I think we already have many discussions over whether you should vote for jlin or not and why should he make to all star or not. so, I don't think we need all that again. Any way, it's ok. As for the people who want to vote for jlin, there's still time. i will try to vote for him as many as I can. To me, it's time to show some Asian power. I am so proud of all the Asian fans who vote for jlin. I bet 90% of the voters are Asians. Let people said all they want. Whatever critics they are having, whatever jealousy they are having, this is what you got when you are an Asian athlete like jlin, that is you got tremendous support from your Asian people like me.I bet if jlin make to the all star game, it's gonna be all kinds of noise out there, but hey, does that noise ever stop? I am not going to let people's judgement and critics to influence my thought. I vote for him mainly two reason, one,I want to show jlin the support. two, in return of jlin make it to the all star game i hope and I think it helps sending out a strong statement to the world and the media of the asian power. That is we have strong support to the people we admire and love.
However, i also wish he could be a back up pg instead of star pg, because then he got more time to rest! save some energy for some real games during this all-star week.
@CJW, ignore clutchfans, that site is full of f.ucking morons. I've never seen a fan base hate on a player the way they do. Some are positive but the majority DON'T want Lin to turn into an all star nor do they believe in him. Clutch is a southern, ignorant narcissistic hick. Ignore him.
You can vote multiple times a day at nba.com, just make sure you delete your cookies from that site.
@CJW, one of the poster here name "HY" told me you can clear out your browser history and vote for him as many time as you want. I try it and it did works, but not sure if these votes actually go in? only works if you using ie, not firefox, I think. I kinda feel impossible that lin is still behind chris paul cause I know definitely a lot of Asian fans in taiwan and also some in china are constantly vote for him.
We're officially past the season's first trimester. Who thought we'd be 16-12? Will there be contractions? Will the Rox deliver?
ReplyDeleteRockets schedule will ease out quite a lot in January, I'm expecting a lot of pluses in the win column.
DeleteI mean, not quite as easy as say Clippers or GSW's December schedule, but still easier compared to what they had in December.
Rockets SHOULD be 18-10, top 10 in the league, if only the prejudiced idiot Kelvin Sampson didn't inexplicably sit Jeremy Lin for zero good reason in 2+ games.
DeleteI did say before the season that the Rockets could win 50 games.
DeleteBecause of Sampson's and McHale's coaching (heh heh, Anonymous), the Rockets are playing at a 50 win pace!
BREAKING NEWS:
ReplyDelete"The Houston Rockets waive PG Jeremy Lin after a dismal performance in Minnesota. "I thought bringing Lin in during the summer would help us rebuild, but the way he played this season has been the level of a high school JV player. We will be moving on and wish Jeremy the best in whatever career he decides to pursue.", says Rockets' GM Daryl Morey. Coach McHale has named Toney Douglas the starting PG and Scott Machado will back him up. Inside sources are saying they may be interested in former Lakers Guard, Sun Yue"
Source: Houston Register
TROLL!
DeleteHo Ho,
DeleteNights in, days out. Days in, night out. Life if full of cycle and balance.
Grow up.
Happy New Year!
Welcome to the forum, NotEvenSteve.
DeleteNemo Network Media is one of Jeremy Lin's biggest admirers.
Eventually you'll see that he loves to write these reverse posts that admire Lin's game by being so flamed out that they are utterly ridiculous.
Just enjoy this forum. It's actually pretty much troll free.
I bet the Rockets feel better about this 3 point win than the previous blowouts.
ReplyDelete@Phil, you are absolutely right about JLin's mood. He proved a point that he and Harden can co-exist and Harden's efficiency is better with JLin on court - just look at the 4th quarter, while Lin's instrumental in winning the game, Harden jacked up 15pts to close the game. Bravo!
DeleteJeremy just tweeted "Definitely an ugly one and lots to learn from but glad we got the W and 5 in a row!!! #RedNation"
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't Lin's night but he sure played an important part in winning the game down the stretch. Harden the clutch!
DeleteThe Rockets bench did a great job that enabled the starters to close out. I was actually surprised that Lin played the last 6 minutes: Perhaps a reward for having played very well overall lately.
These young Rockets came back from behind, instead of losing leads at the very end during the first month.
The Rockets and Jeremy Lin were in UGLY SHOCK after wearing those horrible grey newspapers from the Bulls Christmas game.
ReplyDeleteToday the Rockets were "Yesterday's News", sort of like the cat litter that I use on my toy poodle who's litter box trained and mushes up against me when we sleep at night.
LMAO @ the newspaper uniforms :D
DeleteHahah
DeleteToday we learn that KHuang has a pet poodle lol
UGLY is a state of mind.
DeleteWhen you think you're ugly, you ARE ugly!
I'm dead serious that the Rocket players were probably HECKLED by their families and friends for wearing kitty litter on ESPN.
See, "Yesterdays News" is a kitty litter that is made from recycled newspapers. It's my favorite kitty litter even though I have a dog and not a cat.
The good thing is that "Yesterdays News" goes right into the trash - like this game did in a gritty Rockets WIN.
Kudos to the Rockets for toughing out this win despite being UGLIFIED on national TV in "Yesterday's News!"
wifflewiffle, it's not "KHuang has a pet poodle".
DeleteIt's "KHuang is his poodle's PET".
My poodle OWNS ME. She mushes up against me every night.
Dude you are a freakin' riot :) hilarious
DeleteSeriously though... why do you use that brand? Been thinking of changing from the standard clumping litter for my cats. Easier to scoop? Less smell?
I use that brand because my poodle's previous owner taught her to use that kind of litter.
DeleteActually, I typically use "Exquisicat" because it's less toxic and easier to handle. There's probably less negative articles written about Lin in "Exquisicat" than "Yesterday's News", or something like that.
The newspaper based litter seems to soak up smells pretty well, and they're easy to scoop and vacuum. Plus they don't leave paw prints all over the house.
Rockets Xmas jersey - newspapers
DeleteBulls Xmas jersey - hotdogs
Lakers Xmas jersey - eggs
Knicks Xmas jersey - carrots
this sounds like something for breakfast
Go watch that old Burgertime game, Isabelijane.
DeleteIt's one of my all time favorite games. You can even play it online for FREE as a flash fan version.
I own a PS1 version that is much harder than the arcade, and I own something even rarer: a HANDHELD Burgertime made by Mattel which I always wanted as a kid and finally bought as an adult off ebay. I love the handheld version!
Burgertime was just like watching this Xmas's NBA games!!!
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI hope they rest up for the absolutely grueling back to back coming up against Spurs and OKC!
ReplyDeleteAaagh so excited, yet scared for the Rox at the same time. I feel good about the Spurs game, I think we have a genuine chance of beating them. Its the OKC next day that worries me.
They need to win it for Harden lol...
http://i.imgur.com/RmIZb.jpg
Hilarious !!!
Deletehahaha
Deleteawww.. little Harden is just sad. little Asik is jumping for joy. so everyone, and I mean EVERYONE has to step up to win one for Harden.
DeleteI liked that Lin never stopped asking for the ball and kept trying to push the ball whenever he is on the court. He also kept shooting even when he seemed to be cold. From the tweet, he also sounds like he is not letting this one game affect him, and is taking the positives rather than the negatives.
ReplyDeleteI had a bad feeling about MIN and the Rox still won. Well I have a good feeling about the Spurs game! We all know that Lin loves to step it up against the bigger teams.
Lin got canceled out by Love.
ReplyDeleteI guess Love and Lin are incompatible!
It's hard for Lin to perform well when Love is in the way.
One day, Lin may end up finding Love. Or Love may end up finding Lin.
For now, Lin overcame Love.
LOL
DeleteOne day, Lin might have a good game despite Love.
DeleteNo Love for Lin this game.
Lin would rather have the win than Love.
Love doesn't seek out Lin.
Lin was blinded by Love.
Love would be a good addition to Lin's life.
hahaaa....
DeleteLove is Linside you.
DeleteDespite Kevin Love's bad play tonight, I too still would like Kevin Love to play besides Lin and Harden and think he's a prefect fit. Yes Love is probably not your alpha dog leader but I don't see it as a problem with Lin and Harden around. I doubt the Rockets have enough assets to acquire him though. But the Wolves fans and their horrible FO seem to undervalue Love and overvalue Rubio more than anybody else.
Delete@KHuang - that sounded some romantic rejection or even kinky hahaha
Delete@Cara
DeleteAdrian Wojnarowski: Kevin Love unsure about Timberwolves' future.
---
@KH,
Got me thinking about what you said about Taiwan weh [w/c you should write about, really.]
I like Love its just that why cant he get to the play-off? bad teammates? injuries? Even their commentator threw him under the bus. Its like they don't believe in him anymore, even the fans.
DeleteWell Minny seemed to be a city which favors style over substance. I remember how they used to throw KG under the bus too, saying how he wasn't a superstar, how he couldn't get out of the 1st round. Kevin Love is great, it's just that it's more difficult for him as a non ball handler to take over games like other ball handling stars. If he's surrounded by enough talent, he can definitely get to playoffs and win, like how KG couldn't win in Minny and be able to win in Boston.
DeleteHere's another thing. Carlos Delfino has zero business playing 35 minutes when Jeremy Lin plays 27 minutes. Delfino shot 4 for 13, under 30%. I looked up his career numbers, Delfino is only a 39% career shooter. That is surprisingly LOW for a guy who is supposed to be a sharpshooter. Delfino is overrated as a playmaker, passer, and ball handler. He's below average at all those in my opinion. His strength is standing in the corner and hitting a spot-up jump shot. Yet another example of how terrible Kelvin Sampson is (and whispering in McHale's ear), the Rockets have been winning in SPITE OF, not because of, the Rockets coaching.
ReplyDeleteTonight Jeremy Lin didn't "have it" (7 TOs, a BAD game). He deserved to be benched, especially since he was probably fatigued from the back to backs.
DeleteDelfino "overrated"? He's paid $3 million this season, that's it. What swing players at $3 million can produce more than what Delfino is producing?
And as far as McHale and Sampson go, they did bring Jeremy Lin back and he helped win the game. That's pretty good coaching of a tired burnt out team, if you ask me.
Jeremy was tired. Delfino still had some fuel left. So the coaches saved Jeremy until the end of the game, when it mattered the most.
DeleteThe result is a W for the undeserving ROX. What is there to complain about?
Agree with KH, the coaches did a good job, giving Harden and Lin enough rest and then bringing them back for one final push. The second of a BTB game is when you need the bench to step up and they did.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
Delete@KHuang:
DeleteAs fan you should not say that JLin deserved to be benched - never ever.
Didnt people say he deserved to be benched when he was asigned the role of a spot up shooter - standing in the corners to watch Harden play? Didnt people say he deserved to be benched until his 3pt shooting got better? If it were up to those people JLin would have ended his career last year already.
I think - by his "Im gonna play my brand of basketball..." and "Im just gonna be free out there..." remarks he has already told us why and when he plays well and when not.
Yeah - JLin had a "bad" game. But he was not the only one to have a bad game. Despite the back to back playing JLin still ran like speedy Gonzales but where was team defense? If JLin was payed by mileage he would earn more than the whole team together :)
Compared Wolves screens with Rockets screens? A (I hate that word) disaster. Wifflewiffle kept pointing out that offense broke down so they had to shoot more from outside - but why did it brake down? I say JLin didnt get into his game cause the whole team didnt.
Also - you know as well as I do that a TO is not always the ballhandlers fault. I dont think Lin looked realllllly bad tonight. I think Rockets looked bad tonight. Unfortunately - that shows in the PG stats as well (TO up and AST down).
The team was bricking shots big time. Cant say they didnt get warm - they were shooting 50% more 3s compared to Bulls game. Delfino played 35 making 4/13 and 3/11. There are nights when his shooting is much better - thats when he is worth his money. Tonight - he wasnt.
Being benched is not necessarily a punishment.
DeleteMcHale brought Lin back, and Lin had just enough left to win the game.
The Rockets are a young team that is susceptible to fatigue in intense back to back games. Games like this are going to happen where Lin just doesn't have it despite his best intentions.
Team offences do break down for loads of reasons. Tiredness, lack of concentration, or just good D from the opposing team. Not blaming the coaches doesn't mean we are blaming Lin...
Deletebenching Jeremy tonight is not a punishment. it's more of "realization and rest" time for him. this isn't like the Celtics game where he was benched for no apparent reason or McHale's other reasons which we cannot fathom.
DeleteSo was trollin' Clutchfans...Seems the general consensus on Lin today from long time posters is:
ReplyDelete1. Lin had a bad game, it was obvious that he was tired, took him out of his offensive rhythm
2. Bad reffing and Asik causing majority of his TOs today
3. He was clutch with Harden to close the game, the big "almost 3", drawing fouls, and that clutch steal sealed the game
4. Harden is today's MVP
This is a long ways from immediate knee jerk reaction that "LIN SUCKS!"...Wow Lin winning hardnosed Rockets fans over, imagine that...
Lin's style of play is inherently likeable and exciting. I am not surprised. You have to be a bit of a curmudgeon not to root for the lad - especially when he is on your team!
DeleteLin's style is not as "attractive" ala shake-and-bake (Nate Robinson) but is more about timing, off-rhythm and angles. Hustle plays are always contagious
DeleteI was referring more to team ball, fast PnR, not so much fanciness, but I see what you mean! :)
DeleteIt has very little to do with style. It's about results. He's not getting ripped as badly because he has had a string of quality games lately. When you usually play well, fans give you slack even when you don't play well. That kind of leeway is earned, not given. It's why Harden is beyond reproach right now. Harden has carried the team and has performed the best out of anyone on the team by far. He has earned the right from fans to have an occasional bad game and to have some occasional miscues, because he has consistently produced big time.
DeleteLet's hope Lin gets his sh*t together for these next two games. 8 pts on 3/9 shooting, 1 assist, 7 turnovers, mother of god. that won't cut it, obviously.
Don't worry, he was prolly just tired on a B2B.
DeleteLOL tired? He's 24.
Deleteyes achon he gets tired because he's human. why you never get tired when ur 24?? better tired than injured. hell felton and melo are injured right now and they are veterans on a slower team.
Delete@romz
DeleteYes, excellent point, we should compare me when I was 24 to Lin, because I was also a highly trained NBA athlete.
lolwut? Your post can't be serious.
I agree with romz.
DeleteThe only guy I ever saw who never got tired was Michael Jordan - possibly the most DOPED UP athlete of all time according to my friends that knew some of the Chicago trainers that had access not just to performance enhancing drugs but drugs that masked their effect in doping tests.
24 year old NBA stars like Lin can get tired. It's part of the game. Lin will learn how to play through that the way other superstars have.
By the way, Isiah Thomas talked about Jordan's stamina in a totally uncritical way on TV. Isiah marveled at how Jordan's energy level was unmatched. And given how a college age Jordan responded to steroids much better than other UNC athletes, that's not surprising.
Jeremy Lin appears PED free to me, judging by his seemingly completely fatigue cycle. I have no doubt that if he did PEDs like Jordan and Pippen and likely MOST of the NBA, he'd not have these downer games and would be playing at a Linsanity level for all 82 games.
nice trolling attempt KH.
Deletelmao of course you agree with romz. the alternative is to admit that *gasp* Lin simply played like crap oh noes!! can't have that, can we? there's an excuse for everything that goes wrong, obviously. otherwise ur a h8t3r!
Ach, YOU'RE THE BIGGEST TROLL HERE.
DeleteYou HATE Lin and especially Lin's fans.
Ever since you came on this board flaming Lin for being "unathletic", all you've done is flame Lin and his fans.
I issued a challenge to the "haters" to come out and take us on. Believe me, you were #1 on my list. You have stepped forward as a true Lin hater, exposing yourself in the process.
Let's fight some more, achondroplasiaphobia. PROVE ME RIGHT that you hate Lin and his fans!!!!!
Hey ach, I see that you are unhappy with Lin's play in this WIN.
DeleteBased on your past posts, I know you'd be happier if Lin played poorly in a LOSS.
When Lin loses, you come out all happy to flame people here. Then you cry like a BYATCH when people retaliate and expose you for the idiot troll you are.
BRING IT ON. FIGHT ME. Show us all how much you hate Lin and especially his fans!!!
achon im comparing you to lin because ur also human. if ur a lawyer or a doctor don't u get tired if u work extended hours? The chicago game may look easy because its a blow out. But they run like hell to just win that game. And you may wanna look at the record. except for the Heat the rockets is the only team that won both game in the back to back and that's on the road. Were not playing video games here. hell even my eyes gets tired playing video games. Don't expect lin to play like an all star every game. Even the haters gave him a pass today. He already described his game as ugly. what more do you want from him? a triple double against the SPURS?
DeleteThis ach troll NEVER gets tired, knows everything about basketball, and thinks that Lin is UNATHLETIC.
DeleteHe trolls here because he's unhappy with Lin's game and even unhappier that we support Lin even when he doesn't play great.
Then he goes around calling all of us "trolls and idiots" because we disagree with his cockamanie notions that Lin can't play.
Ach is a TROLL. Nothing more, nothing less.
"Hey ach, I see that you are unhappy with Lin's play in this WIN.
DeleteBased on your past posts, I know you'd be happier if Lin played poorly in a LOSS. "
Actually, KHuang, this proves you aren't even a Lin fan. You're some troll trying to make Lin fans look delusional.
I wold be happy if Lin played WELL in a Rockets LOSS, JUST LIKE HE DID IN THE SPURS GAME! I was happy as hell about that game! Unlike you, I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE ROCKETS! You're the real troll, you die hard Rockets fan! LOL. KHuang the Rockets fan! Go join crotchfans with the rest of your brethren! lmao
That's the ONLY game you've been happy about Lin's play because the Rockets LOST.
DeleteYou use that game as an excuse to make yourself "legit" here so that you can flame people. It's not working, troll.
Why do you waste your time hating on Lin so much here? Don't you know that this is a Lin fansite where you will get retaliated when you hate on people here? How STUPID are you, hater troll????
lol nope. I've been happy about every game that Lin has played well in, whether the Rockets win or lose. Unlike you, KHuang The Rockets fan! You just said it yourself, you're happy that the Rockets won even though Lin played poorly. Guess what that makes you? :) Yup, a Rockets fan lol. You would fit in better at crotchfans than you do here.
DeleteSo you think I'm a troll because I'm a Rockets fan, ach?
DeleteYou must think that this ENTIRE BOARD is made up of trolls then, as we nonhaters are rooting for Lin's Rockets to win.
You are in the wrong place, ach.
You lie again, ach.
DeleteYou've been HATING ON LIN since Day one when you first came here to flame him.
You're happy about Lin playing because it gives you a chance to flame people. You don't care one iota about Lin and actively root for him to FAIL so you can flame people here.
For months, we've been reading your open glee at Lin's failings as you've flamed people left and right here. You have exposed yourself as a hater.
KHuang the Rockets Fan was happy when the Rockets beat the Bulls in Houston, even though Lin played poorly and was benched in favor of Toney Douglas. Because for KHuang the Rockets Fan, a Rockets victory is all that matters, even if Lin plays poorly! If Lin gets traded somewhere else, KHuang the Rockets Fan will continue to be a Rockets fan lol.
DeleteOnce again, you expose yourself as being an anti Lin and anti Rockets HATER.
DeleteYour sole goal here is to hate on people and flame Lin. You have exposed yourself.
I cannot understand the depth of hatred coming from ach that would cause him to come on this forum and flame Lin and his members repeatedly.
Nice attempt to try to misrepresent me, KHuang the Rockets Fan. It reeks of your desperation. It also reveals that you are a liar. Not cool, KHuang the Rockets Fan.
DeleteBut take comfort in the fact that tomorrow night if Lin plays poorly against the Spurs, you will be happy as long as the Rockets win lol.
I want to see Lin play like a beast regardless of whether the Rockets win or lose. If the Rockets happen to win, that's simply a bonus. That's the difference between us, Rockets Fan KHuang. I want Lin to play well. You want the Rockets to win, even if Lin plays poorly. Seems like you're on the wrong website. Crotchfans is that-a-way ------>
Hater, you've been misrepresenting not just me but all sorts of people here for MONTHS.
DeleteYour problem is that your goal is to FLAME people here. Lin's struggles and Lin's team losing plays into that.
I am a fan of the entire NBA, not just Lin or the Rockets. I've been saying that from the moment I arrived here, and that causes you to hate me because you want to flame anybody using Lin's success as an excuse.
You don't care one bit about Lin. You only care about your future chances to flame people here. Your behavior is consistent in its flame based hatred of Lin and his fans here.
@achon. You funny. This is true jlin fan site. You expect everyone to be like you to calling Lin sucks or saying any bad shit when he had a bad game? You may have ur rights to do so, but just as people disagree with you so it's an excuse? I think you and Khuang can stop fighting. Difference between you and Khuang is Khuang always positive about jlin, and you, when he plays nice you praise him, when he play bad you will talk some shit about him. There is nothing wrong for you doing that as yourself also thought so, but not everyone is like you. Some just willing to Support and look at the positive side instead of the negative side and there's nothing wrong with that too.
DeleteAnd Khuang I think it's neither flame or hatred he is releasing instead they just say as what they think. I am totally fine with people's negative about Lin but when rest of us disagree with you, don't say we are using excuse for him. We just more of looking at the bright side and more of 100%supportive fans that even when he had a bad one we hope to talk about some the good things he did and giving him more space and chance to improve.
DeleteOk lydia, I yield.
DeleteI may not agree, but I yield.
I enjoy watching Lin's game and can see how hard he tries.
Plus, his flubs are spectacularly fun a lot of the time and that is entertaining in itself.
I say the next stage of lesson for the ROX is to learn how to play in a half-court set, because sooner or later they are bound to run into teams like Miami that knows how to slow their opponent down. In addition, shooting 3s require a LOT of strength from the legs, and there will be stretches, especially in the playoff, where the legs are just rock heavy. One of the reasons that today's game was so ugly was that there were too many misses and thus the players were scrambling over the loose balls.
ReplyDeleteDuring Linsanity, Jeremy were getting all-star treatment from the refs, so he could always get to the FT line whenever he was gased. Not the case this season, yet that shouldn't stop him from taking it to the basket when the shots are cold.
One of the things I love about Jeremy's game is his 4th quarter D. That's how the Lin-led-Knicks were able to comeback from behind to grind it out and steal games from the opponents (and the same reason why Melo was there to ruin everything). Jeremy could either suffocate his man (Jennings, Barea) or take that momentum changing charge, and everything just erupt from the point on.
Still gotta give props to Harden today, despite playing just as much as Jeremy yesterday, he's still solid as a rock today. Very admirable. I am sold on his 80 mil contract now.
Harden 17 pts - Q4
DeleteAdelman is a good coach and it showed. Today Minny's defensive gameplan actually worked very well. If not for their own problem at O and a spark from Houston's bench, they could have easily won the game. They loaded up their D on Lin and as you could see, when Lin's struggling to make plays, the whole team besides Harden suffered. And even Harden's very good, he couldn't do it alone every night. As Kobe proved it, even a guy scoring 40 points and not getting much else from others, and adding a weak defense simply couldn't guaranatee a win on many nights.
ReplyDeleteI am a bit worried that Minny found out this tactic to beat the Rockets to the rest of the league. This is exactly the tactic of beating the Nash-led Suns team in the playoffs. Possible solution is either the Rockets need to get better on the defensive end or the rest of the Rockets players sans Harden need to be able to make plays themselves. Otherwise Lin and the Rockets will have many rough nights like tonight against intelligent defensive teams.
Same sentiments. As I said earlier , you can outrun a team but it is hard to do it every single night especially on a back to back. Okc and spurs are big games and I am sure they have realised this gameplan to try to stop the rockets . I would be realistic about the rocket's chances at playoffs because in this league, anything can happen. Therefore, if they really want to make the playoffs, defense is key and most importantly , consistency. Lin did look tired but I hope he trains harder so that he can bring it each game. I know easier said than done but being tired should not be a reason for his poor performance. Did make up for it at the later end though...
DeleteIn my opinion, Harden scores many points due to free throws but you cant expect that to happen in every game. If Lin and HArden can improve their outside shooting and defense, I think it would put them in a better position to win.
Mchale needs to come up with different tactics to beat different types of teams. Play hard and play smart.
Well Cara, the scenario you described is why the Rockets are shopping for an inside halfcourt scorer.
DeleteFortunately the Rockets will outpace everyone other than the contenders.
@Cara:
DeleteGood point. KHuang - biggest JLin fan here - said JLin deserved to be benched. Wifflewiffle complains the offense broke down so they had to shoot from outside. They all blame Lin while pointing at the TOs. But - outside shooting is no solution for such an opponents gameplan unless you have two guys shooting like Novakaine.
JLins outside shooting tonight was not really significant since others (say Delfino) - who are supposed to be the snipers - were given their chance and yet only made 4/13 and 3/11 (Delfino in 35 minutes). If JLin had smaller shoes his 3 point shooting would have been better than Delfinos (1/3 compared to 3/11).
Funny that JLins most loyal fans seem to blame JLin but not Delfino while clutchfans arent really upset about JLins peformance tonigth.
People say Lin was tired but what about the whole team? Lin ran like speedy Gonzales but what was wrong with the teams defense? Where was the help? How about the rotations? Why did Wolves manage to set double screens for their players and why was Rockets bad at setting screens tonight?
The bench stepped up big time but IMHO Wolves were not able to/could not put pressure on them the way they put pressure on Lin. What went better/worse? Game analysis doesnt start and end with TO numbers and boxscore is useless. McHale and the team have to analyse every move, coverage, run whatever to see what went wrong - stat.
And - shopping for new guys wont help. JLin and his mates have to develop some real depth in their game and thats something the coaches are responsible for.
DeleteUh, saying the offence broke down is in no way blaming JLin only. I am just disagreeing with your belief that Rox came out looking to hit threes and go Hardenball only. Don't mischaracterise me, thanks! :)
Delete@KHuang I think the problem is not just the scorer but more of lack of set plays available. During the game most of the time when Wolves's guards bring the ball have half court they immediately start to call certain set of plays and everybody know what to do while Rockets are either only trying to get into the paint or low post offense or 3 point shoot. We rarely set double high screen at the top the key or down at the low block.
DeleteIf you don't have energy to keep running up and down the court every time, especially after back to back then you should use your brain instead. Move the ball and make plays. That is just common sense IMO
I know running and fast paced offense is our bread and butter but if we don't have enough good half court plays then we won't go far against true contenders
C'mon are we still arguing the benching? I wouldn't even characterise it as a benching. The reserves brought the Rox back from 14 down to 3 down. At the point the lead was more or less the same for the first half of the 4th quarter. A good coach will give his starters the rest needed, and then bring them in for the final push in a close game. There is no point in bringing them too early and have them shoot their load.
DeleteMcHale learned his lesson from before and we have to give credit where it is due.
Minny seems to have Lin's number individual wise, but Lin's teams find a way to win. Last year with the Knicks, Lin had a horrible 8-24 shooting game, but the Knicks still managed a 2 point win in the last minute. Jeffries fumbled some in the paint as well. Deja vu.
ReplyDeleteWolves know that when you attack Jeremy, you can in many ways slow down the whole team.
DeleteOf course, focusing defensively on Lin like that allows other players to step in and win the game against the Wolves.
DeleteWhy did Lin only have 1 assist tonight? Sure some folks were not making their shots and Asik fumbled away a pair, but were people not cutting or was Lin not finding them? Were there no fastbreaks for him to pick up some dimes?
ReplyDeleteTBH, the 7 TOs didn't bother me as much as the 1 assist.
My memory might not be too accurate but the game was quite stagnant, loads of basic plays only, not much movement. Lin had a few good passes to the perimeter but it wasn't dropping.
DeleteI think torocan, who is probably one of the best posters on clutchfans, said it best: "So a poor game by Lin, but not nearly as awful as the stat line suggests."
In any case, this isn't really one of those games you have to worry too much about. Everyone has bad games now and then. I mean, Kevin Love is universally recognised as a great player and he had a stinker tonight.
For me personally, it's a combo of Lin playing subpar by being both overly indecisive and deferential to start the game. Lin doesn't want to play like a gunner or be an overbearing jackass by demanding the ball but it causes him to be too passive sometimes and gets himself out of sorts.
DeleteSecondly, Parsons was looking to score today and get stats which I've noticed kills Lin's game. The problem for me is that there is only 1 ball and 3 guys who want stats and want to also be the playmaker - Lin, Harden, Parsons. Lin sure, Harden ok, but Parsons? Well the Rox have given Parsons the green light, lord knows why, but they love him like he's a 6 foot 9 Steve Nash which he is not. I think the Rox are totally misguided giving him that type of freedom but unfortunately, it's not my team...
So Lin generally can only get his when Harden or Parsons takes a backseat. Harden never seems to take a backseat and the star shouldn't so it's between Lin and Parsons. While Lin doesn't care for glory, he seems to struggle on this team when he doesn't start hot.
I also felt Harden was a bit selfish and out of it in the first half. He had many teammates open but forced bad plays. Also he didn't call Lin's number much as Harden gets to call out plays when the ball is in his hands. A few times when they tried, Ridnour overplayed Lin and cut of the passing lanes so Lin didn't touch the ball. When Lin gets frozen out to start games, he presses because he knows the ball can get sticky and stay out of his hands for too long.
When Lin was doing good last 4 games, he got the ball in his hands and everyone played off him particularly in the 1st half. But in the Minn game, Parsons came out gunning and dominating the ball as well by trying to playmake. This causes the ball to be out of Lin's hands, and then Harden still wants his touches to shoot and playmake. So Lin gets frozen out. In the last 4 games, that happened to Parsons, and as much as these guys are all team players, they all want their stats to some degree.
So when Lin doesn't get the ball, he presses. When he presses, he doesn't play well and feels he has to force his own offense. And also Asik will get less touches, even though today Asik fumbled Lin's 1st half passes.
All in all, in Q1 they did not come out giving Lin the ball enough as the setup man and let Lin probe. Too quickly, Parsons tried to get his, and then Harden tried to get his, and then it all fell apart as Lin became frozen out. The bail out 3's that makes everyone forget the bad plays didn't drop either tonight early on.
Lin is not quite an elite player yet so he needs strong starts to build his confidence each game. One day he'll be there, but he is nowhere close to that right now.
That made me think about that fast break where Parsons was charging up the court on the left while Lin was on the right and three guys were converging on Parsons. If Parsons had bounced the ball to Lin it would have been an easy lay up. Instead, Parsons got blocked.
DeleteI mean, Parsons played well today. He locked down AK47 and had a decent offensive game. But I am not ready to trust him on transition, for some of the things you mentioned. I still really like him as a player though.
In fact, that one play where the shot clock ran all the way to zero... wasn't it mainly a play between Harden and Parsons? I don't remember Lin being involved much in that one.
I thought Lin had a quite a lot of the ball but it usually only came back to him after the transition attempt broke down.
Can't blame the Rockets too much though. They are the walking wounded right now. Parsons had a wonky knee. Lin was all covered in ice last night. Harden has been clocking insane minutes. Something's got to give.
I totally agreed that the Rockets and Parsons overrated his ability and gave him undeserved green light. In fact I have said it many times here before. They all seem to think he's the 2nd option which is to be honest quite laughable and the failure to establish Lin as the 2nd option is going to be the downfall of this coaching staff.
DeleteIn other news:
ReplyDeletehttp://bleacherreport.com/articles/1451350-report-card-grades-for-every-nba-coach-so-far/page/28
Good win by the rox
ReplyDeleteFinally found a way to write on here and not lose the post... Sign up to google first. Ok. Asik had 17 rebounds. I give the win to asik for this game. He's a tree in there. Gobbled up everything from rebounds to penetrations. Even though harden got some big time baskets, the defense won the game. I still say without asik this team will be a lot worse. Rox able to stay in close games because asik clogs up so much of the middle, taking away the interior game. What I like about asik is aside from rebounding, he blocks shots and keeps it in play unlike Tyson chandler, deandre Jordan, and the list goes on. His outlets are getting better. From his rebound to two passes and a score at the other end. I would send guys sprinting once you see asik has his position and a potential rebound. Run like crazy to receive a secondary pass to basket. I know playoff bball slows down, but I am confident the rox can still run with this approach considering they have 2 of the best passing pgs in the game. I think asik is perfect for this team. Lin, harden, asik share very similar characteristics and paths to get to the rockets and ascendency to be the best at their jobs. Damn, want to expound on this more, but gotta go.....
DeleteJLin highlights vs Minny - 12/26/12
ReplyDeleteThanks via!
Delete:)
DeleteAnother copy
All NBA players, even the greatest superstars, will go through games like this where fatigue gets them.
ReplyDeleteMost NBA superstars will slack off defensively and shoot low percentage outside shots while waving their hands at opponents and calling for the ball. Kobe, Lebron, Larry, Michael - they all do this.
Lin does NOT do this. He's more like Tim Duncan who will spend long periods on the bench and shoot low numbers of shots while playing hard defense. Then when Lin gets a breather, he comes back and finishes in grand style.
Lin was tired, so he was pressing. His decisionmaking was not crisp and he was trying to push through the first half. Superstars like Lin are not robots that can perform great every game.
Also, the Rockets coaches made a subtle halfcourt adjustment. Somebody realized that the Wolves were trying to beat Lin to spots, so the Rockets settled down and took a little more time. That little adjustment won the game, so I doubt it was just merely a fatigue factor which the coaches also handled beautifully with Lin and Harden.
Lin finished the game in GRAND STYLE. As usual, I am totally impressed.
I really like this post/comment from the Bleacher article - Jeremy Lin and James Harden will lead Rockets to NBA Playoffs
ReplyDelete"You are right! Lin will be needed by many teams, not just Rockets and Lakers! Lin will transform the NBA culture from superstar mode to team mode; from self-boasting and bragging to humility and self-criticism; and above all, from street violence on the court to civilized sportsmanship in the players' personalities. Lin will be the first model of integrating intelligence and education with courage and skills. NBA will be more than just winning and losing. NBA will be an educational games for our kids to watch -- PG rated rather R rated! -- Happy Holidays!" - C. P. Cheung
Good article. Lin is transforming the way other players play the game, esp. Teammates and former teammates. And pg s around the league are picking up little tricks of trade from lin like how to steal the ball. Pg s try to one up on lin during the game but at the same time they are emulating his game.."I can do the same thing but better than you".
DeleteI'm glad they manage to pull it off 4thQ. This is gonna be crucial for many coming tough games.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile for your reading leisure.
My holiday mental health wishes:
ReplyDelete1. To stop having to hold my breath every time Lin shoots!
2. Not letting Rocket's last nights game affect my mood and job.
3. Stop checking this blog 20 times a day (target 10).
4. No more reading Bleacher Report.
Go JLIN!!
Same here
DeleteNah guys, your wishes will fail.
DeleteLin's on the upswing of his career. He's too exciting NOT to follow.
You guys need to make realistic wishes. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE.
I'm not wishing to not follow JLIN!
DeleteHaha..skl. I like this post you are having here. I only been to bleach report couple times when Lin was a knick but after I got a sense of what bleach report is I never go back. The only regulatory read I have is this site that's all. Maybe some of the article post right here, but I think it's enough. When you read too much info, it's not only time consuming but when you see some bad shit comments it affect you that you want to fight back with them then it's useless again to argue with truly haters again.
DeleteThis game was very lucky! The rox didn't play much team ball like last 4 games. I think parson ! His motion is very slow .
ReplyDelete"Lucky" is the Wizards beating the Heat.
DeleteThe Rockets played a hard game due to back to back fatigue and the 4:30 am arrival due to the Chicago weather.
In the end, a WIN IS A WIN. Doesn't matter how ugly the win was, especially since Minnesota is a .500 team this season.
Like Larry Bird said, a lot of the time he played horribly but got the win anyway. That's the nature of basketball, and Lin shouldn't be singled out for individual criticism when the natural highs and lows of the game affect him the way they affect the rest of the NBA.
I couldn't tell Jeremy was that tired as described by some of the posters here. He just never got into a rhythm.
ReplyDeleteFirst, Asik couldn't catch any of Lin's passes.
Second, Asik couldn't provide a pick for Lin without committing a blocking foul hence causing a the ball to be turned over.
Third, no one was passing to Lin when he's moving. His own team mates were passing to him only when he was standing still. This minimizes Lin's scoring opportunities.
Fourth, Lin got called on a few stupid foul calls. For one, when Barea threw his body onto Lin when Lin was going up for a lay up, the ref called an offensive foul on Lin instead of a foul on Barea.
Lin started to create his own shot opportunities and got a few lay ups before that stupid offensive foul call.
After that foul, Lin got yanked and didn't see any minutes for two quarters. Even after Lin returned, he received only one pass from Harden. Jeremy was wide open for a three, and Harden tosses Jeremy a soft bounce pass. By the time the ball was received by Jeremy, he's already guarded.
On all of Harden's other possessions, he always moved the ball away from Jeremy. If Jeremy was standing on the right side of the court, Harden will either go left and hero ball it or pass to Morris who then hero balls it.
So, I don't think it's a matter of Lin being tired. Maybe the team is tired of Lin.
One thing Lin was doing that wasn't working was his help defense. He leaves his man too much freedom to move without the ball. Every time his ban gets the ball, they are open to take a shot. That's how Barea got so many open jumpers.
Excellent observations, Etane.
DeleteHad I been Lin's coach, I'd been OK with letting Barea fire if it meant Kevin Love was going to have a poor shooting night - which Love did.
My honest question for you is this: Do you think this is a situation where Lin could've afforded to tighten up his D on Barea while letting Love brick away?
Another thing. I think the Rockets benefitted from all the "expert analysis" done after the Lin's 38 points over the Spurs regarding how Harden and Lin were negating each other's abilities.
DeleteThe team probably put in extra effort to prove the experts wrong. The effect of this is the current winning streak.
However, it does seem like it's back to business as usual during the TWolves game yesterday.
One thing of note is that during yesterday's game that Harden's scoring is much higher when Jeremy is on the court although Jeremy didn't touch the ball all that much.
KHuang: Love was going to have a poor shooting night regardless of the defense. Love's knee was obviously bothering him. All his shots were flat. Klove was only successful with a few baby hooks. He didn't even have the legs to post up in the paint.
DeleteI think the only reason why Klove was on the court last night was because of his court presence as he provides his team with confidence and stability. Despite this, his team was sporadically streaky and played rather ugly.
Thanks for answering my question, Etane.
DeleteWell, let's see if the "expert analysis" actually holds or not.
I saw fatigue coming from Lin, but I won't disagree with you when you say that fatigue was not a factor. This is the NBA and EVERYBODY is fatigued.
Etane, agreed on everything, especially the Harden playmaking. But I don't know Harden is doing it on purpose to freeze Lin out, rather Morris is a better shooter, for example. It's like when Lin looked off Shumpert for Novak, we called Lin smart, not a jackass for not passing to Iman.
DeleteAnd yes, Harden throwing the slow bounce may be his way of FORCING Lin to attack the paint rather than giving Lin time to shoot a standstill 3 pointer. Nash use to do that to people too in high school and college, he admitted it. He would throw off center passes to people he didn't want to shoot the ball but we open in the corner so they'd either have to drive or pass it back to him.
The thing is we don't believe Harden is a better PLAYMAKER than Lin. We know he is 100 times better at scoring the ball and getting to the line than Lin. But we believe Lin sets the table better even though nobody in the media wants to acknowledge this difference. Most reports I read say Harden is a better playmaker as well, but they are just casually assuming this because he is such a tremendous scoring machine who is efficient and has the ability to pass unlike most NBA SG's. But I don't see any such conclusive evidence that Lin is a worse playmaker than Harden.
I don't ever think the Lin/Harden combo will completely work, not the way Lin fans hope. It might work well enough for them to even win an NBA championship. But in the back of every Lin fan's mind, we will wonder if he will get the chance to truly QB a team like Nash did in Phoenix.
I have a feeling Lin wants to have the ball in his hands and lead, not in scoring or assists, but to have the control he had for a few short weeks in NY. Yes of course, having such control over the ball will automatically increase his stats as well. We'll see what happens when he becomes a FA again in 2015.
Well, I can't truly say that I am hoping in the back of my own mind that Lin gets his "own" team.
DeleteAll I want is for Lin to consistently make the right basketball play to win games.
Lin has a better chance of winning on a stacked team than on a weak team where he has to be the hero. Thus I myself prefer Lin to be on a team which doesn't necessarily need him to be a superhero to win.
As far as two man combos like Lin and Harden go, I think that depends a lot more on overall team chemistry than the interplay between just those two players. The Rockets are a young team that will continue learning how to play with each other through the playoffs and into next season.
@swing
Delete"But in the back of every Lin fan's mind, we will wonder if he will get the chance to truly QB a team like Nash did in Phoenix."
I would be one of those fans!
@Etane
I also saw, especially in the first quarter, that the ball was not coming to JLin as often as it did in the games during the previous weeks. I hope the teammates don't get into a habit of doing that (again).
Personally, and I believe this is why Lin was not resigned in NY, teams just (A) don't think Lin is that good, meaning good enough to be Asian Rondo who gets the ball in his hands; and (B) they have other stars on the team's agenda (Melo, Harden) who they want to be the de facto star on the team instead of Lin.
DeleteWith Lin, if he has the ball in his hands in charge of the show, he will become the main star in Houston due to his following and media hype, even if his stats are only 12,9,3,1 as long as the team wins big and kicks butt like when NY killed Sacramento last year. But there's no way Harden, or Morey, or the Rox want some internal struggle where Lin is making 50 million less but is considered more of an integral player than Harden.
But for me, I think it just goes back to Lin not showing enough elite ability in practice, experience, games etc. The coaches are probably not wrong either. If they put the ball completely in Lin's hands, and Lin fails, the rest of the team will tune out the coaches etc. Harden will ask for a trade of play a lot worse etc...
Lin's still got many issues but I am most bothered that he had not improved his dribbling ability at this level. As a PG, that's a fundamental skill he needs. It's been 3 years. It bothers me he has not improved it significantly (yes it requires a ton of hard work but it's doable over the summer). When he dribbled off his foot in Minn trying to do I think an in and out dribble to a cross, that's just a sign of someone who has not trained his dribble hard enough but also a sign of a guy pressing too hard.
I agree that after the second half of the season that has already passed, Lin is well-positioned to find success and growth WITH Harden on the team. If Lin is forced into superhero category, I think he will be overexposed before reaching his true potential. I don't want Lin to be John Wall in a weak team. If Lin can quietly increase his PPG and dimes to 18 / 8, then he will be the type of a PG who can last 10+ years without permanently injuring himself. Lin will continue to have nights where Harden is injured or playing poorly when he can break-out of his skin like the Spurs. His legacy will be that he is a team player with position leading consistency who makes everyone else play better. Most importantly, his style of play will be known to produce Ws.
DeleteGuys dribble off their feet ALL THE TIME in the NBA.
DeleteHeck, Ricky Rubio is one of the NBA's best ballhandlers. He's been Maradona with a basketball all his life, and even Rubio dribbled the ball off his foot to seal his team's loss against Lin's Knicks.
Minnesota defended well, but so did Houston. This was a war of attrition, with two good teams pressuring each other out of their comfort zones. Lin struggles against that pressure, but opponents struggle against Lin too.
Zigzag: I think these players, Harden, Morris, Parson, Asik and Delfino, all have stretches during the game that exhibited symptomatic freezing out of Jeremy Lin.
DeleteCase in point, Parson hero balled a fast break when four defenders were on him. Instead of alleyooping to Jeremy who was closer to the basket with no defenders on him, Parson goes for a layup but ends up getting rejected.
I didn't see McHale foaming at the mouth at Parson like any other coach would and should do.
Haha...I like that sentence." I don't think Lin is tired. Maybe the team is tired of Lin." lol.
DeleteAnother observation: Jeremy often lunched with his Linsanity crew when he was still in NY. I don't think this is happening in Houston at least I haven't seen any articles stating such.
DeleteI tried to find the article about him lunching out with his teammates but couldn't find it.
Instead, I found lots of articles about Lin having lunch with the guy who wrote that racially insensitive headline on ESPN:
http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/jeremy-lin-lunches-with-ex-espn-headline-writer-1.3627544?qr=1
I for one think it's great that at this early point of his career, Lin shares playmaking with Harden in Houston rather than going solo as a playmaker ala Nash. Nash's style of play is never as athletic, as exciting, and at the same time as dangerous as Lin's.
DeleteLin still has a lot to learn to have a long-term career in the NBA. A lot of people share the concern about how hard he crashes on the floor when drawing fouls. He can definitely learn from Harden how to draw fouls without taking tolls on your body. JKidd also correctly pointed out last season that Lin only has one gear so he needs to learn to pace himself without endangering his health. I love his commitment but I cringed when he got elbowed by Barea. That tumble could have resulted in worse injury.
Also, with Harden being the face of the franchise as he deserves, Lin is spared from all the pressure to deliver Linsanity consistently.
I only see good things for Lin to play next to Harden at this point of his career. My #1 wish for him is to play as a solid PG starter with great court-vision for the WHOLE season to deliver the 1st Houston playoff appearance after 4 years drought on (perhaps sprinkled with 2-3 30-point explosion in the playoff). It would shut up a lot of doubters that his Linsanity style is unsustainable.
Sharing credit with Harden is not a problem. If DWade/LeBron/Bosh can share credit after winning the championship, Lin/Harden needs one more star to share the credit.
I'm loving your analysis, Etane.
DeleteI personally believe that guys freeze each other out all the time in the NBA, even on winning teams. I actually think it's normal for Lin's teammates to freeze him out a bit, especially since point guards always get their touches.
My belief is that truly unselfish players in the NBA like Lin are super rare. It takes a very special kind of talent who is so good and so self secure that he can afford to make the right basketball play without jeopardizing his career earnings.
Khuang,
DeleteI agree with what you said but I don't agree Rubio is an elite ball handler - he is an elite passer like Lin who does it in a much flashier and dynamic manner, whereas Lin kills you with the simple pass.
TDouglas was hounding Rubio because Rubio lacks an elite handle. He could barely get the ball up the court. Rubio was lucky he didn't get called for offensive foul the way he used his off hand to clear out TD. If Lin did that he'd get an instant offensive foul because of the double standard put on Lin. Wait he did for simply clearing out Barea who was inside Lin's shirt...
I am comparing Lin to elite ballhandlers in the NBA like CP3's, Rondo's, and other elite handlers. Alot of it is also footwork. To me, Lin is already way way better than Rubio as a ball player. I don't think Rubio has an elite handle at all and they both dribble about the same level. I think Rubio has been hyped up so long and he's got his Spanish charm, that even though I think Lin is a WAY better player, if you asked ESPN bball analysts, few would agree with me. Rubio may be a more classically exciting player, but that depends on your definition of exciting...
I am a big Lin supporter, but I can see a weak dribble and be honest about it. Lin's dribble is far better than an average joe playing rec ball, but it is not elite. From the vids I see online, Lin doesn't properly train his dribble. He doesn't dribble the ball hard enough and with enough speed in any vids I seen of him. He dribbles at a snails pace doing 2 ball drills. He needs to push himself out of his comfort zone or find a trainer who will. His drills are too slow and not challenging enough.
But Lin's at his best when he doesn't need to rely on fancy moves. And that's why I believe he never learned them or got use to doing them because he never needed them till now. He usually beats people on pure athleticism even in the NBA. When he's in his comfort zone, he just either goes hard right or gives people a head and shoulders face when he has yet to dribble and always gets past his man.
He doesn't need the 30 stepback moves or pet trick moves most NBA guys need because he's that good when in his zone. But when he's not attacking, he looks quite ordinary because he doesn't have a quick & strong dribble or any go to moves. Look at his normal in and out dribble - it's too high and loopy and slow and he usually does it in an upright position. That's why in the Minn game, he did a quick and low in and out dribble which he probably never does or trained enough and he lost the ball throwing in a cross to add to that because he has not properly trained his dribbling skills enough. It's like when people like us go play rec ball and do more than we are able to do - we lose the ball.
His teammates, coaches, other teams, ex players all know this too if I can see if so obviously. And it causes him to take his foot off the gas pedal by playing it safe.
Thanks KHuang. I think Lin would fit better with the teams that emphasize team ball instead of hero ball. So, it's not a matter of whether Lin meshes with the rest of the team but rather whether he meshes with his coach. We saw what Lin could do under Mike D'antoni. I think Lin would be as effective under other coaches and teams that emphasize defense and team play like Spurs or Twolves.
DeleteMcHale seems to be living in the past, and he sees Harden as the Bird of his era.
Oh, when I say "Lin would fit better", I don't mean this regarding his personal stats but rather is regarding the overall team's effectiveness.
DeleteLol talk about bs refs favoring Wolves...Shved was basically dry humping Lin with both his arms around him and grabbing his hand for the ball and forcing Lin to the floor...I half expected Lin to yell "RAPE!"
DeleteHolding at least right? Refs called jump ball...Whatever.
Sorry, you're completely wrong up there. Elite ball handlers dribble off their feet all the time. Last year against the Clippers, Nash turned the ball over on three straight possessions on horrendous dribbling errors. One time he just dribbled straight into Chris Paul and fell over and one time he simply threw the ball out of bounds while trying to dribble. Lin's dribbling has look much improved this year and all, repeat all, ball handlers make ugly turnovers.
DeleteOne of my pet peeves in the NBA is the allowance of illegal palming for select point guards.
DeleteThe worst offender in recent years was Deron Williams. Every time that guy dribbles, his whole body bounces because of the illegal palming he does. That guy could not get up the court if he were forced to dribble by the rules.
The up and coming newcomer offender is Kyrie Irving. That guy doesn't do the "Deron Williams whole body hiccup", but he's dangerously close to doing what I call "waitering". That's when Irving picks up his dribble in the air and carries it with one hand, which is also illegal.
If the refs called these illegal dribbling maneuvers on so called "superstars" the way they would with Lin, the dribbling in the NBA would look a lot less flashy and a lot more like Lin's dribbling.
Kensoshi: I remember that play. I don't think Shved even had his hand on the ball.
DeleteMichael Terry, Steve Nash is an elite player and passer, but he is not an elite ball handler either. He is somewhere between CP3 and Lin, kind of in the middle. Nash does have a much better bag of tricks with his dribbling skill set than Lin. Nash also gets flustered by ball pressure, but he is so good with his footwork shooting the ball on the move, he can go strong side weak side into the paint to score or pass and mask his dribbling deficiencies.
DeleteKhuang, I agree with on the palming BS completely. The NBA has its own rules completely. But nobody cares so it continues to get worse each decade. It's probably what I dislike most about basketball at every level.
DeleteOutside the NBA, most refs claim its about "thumb on top of the ball" these days which is ridiculous in and of itself, but through my years, I've learned it's about how smooth and slick and fast you look doing it that allows you to get away with the palming and carrying on moves. If you are a good/great player at any level, refs allow you to do whatever you want more or less. If you are an average player trying to do an unsmooth crossover, you will be called for palming.
Traveling is also bad these days. When Harden euro-stepped Rubio last night, Adelman signaled for a travel. I assumed Adelman was crying foul but I watched it in slow mo many times, and Adelman was right. Harden took a final left bounce and then stepped right left right. It looked like the bounce coincided with the right step but it came before. So that's traveling, but nobody calls it anymore at any level maybe save high school.
If Lin did it though, it'd be an automatic travel and a technical for having the balls to try it...in reality, Lin can't get away with that stuff because he doesn't execute such moves with the dribble quickly and violently enough to get away with it.
JLin's the only team player on the Rox. Everyone else has that iso-hero mode in them, especially Delfino, Parsons,and Harden. They started to go back to that iso-hero mode on the last game vs MIN. Evey time JLin gave up the ball, it never came back for a reset or a recreate. Those who received the pass either chuck up a 3 or do some crazy contested move with it. The last few minutes of the game was all iso-hero mode for Harden, which was fine because he was on fire. The Rox will not win vs Spurs nor OKC playing like that. MCHale should mix in the double pick in pnr and harden iso to make the D guess what the O is going to do. Most importantly, always have Lin control the floor. He's better at creating for himself and others better than anyone on the team. Coach should make that clear to everyone on the team. If this happen on the next two games and Rox play some decent D as well, then Rox will win both games. Or else, we'll see Nemo set a record high of posts in this forum. If you all know what I mean.
DeleteThere's absolutely nothing wrong with Lin's textbook dribbling.
DeleteWhat's wrong is that the hand check rules that allow guys like Chris Paul to run wild are not applied to Lin.
Lin plays in a different era than all other players on the court. The referees have it so that Lin gets manhandled eevery game by uncalled fouls. Lin is in a time warp, playing against the Detroit Piston Bad Boys while guys like Chris Paul are escorted to the free throw line.
The main reason Lin plays so well on national TV is because the refs are on their best behavior and officiate Lin fairly with all those people watching. It has NOTHING to do with the caliber of opponent or even if Lin is having a bad day!!!
If you don't think Nash is an elite ball handler then I'm pretty sure we can't have a productive conversation. :)
DeleteMichael,
DeleteWe can agree to disagree and I'm sure we can both bring forth real solid arguments to back up our positions. That's what makes the world interesting I guess, and that's why there are millions of people who think Lin is a garbage D league scrub to this day while we believe he has real potential.
Khuang, Lin's dribble is solid, I agree. Like MT said, he did improve it over summer quite a bit and I can see that. What Lin doesn't have are solid dribble moves to attack the basket 1 on 1 and he doesn't have the ability to string useful/fancy moves together reliably at the NBA level to get past his man. It doesn't mean I'm attacking Lin as a player. I thought I was stating the obvious while being objective, but we can all agree to disagree at times.
DeleteLin has a great change of direction dribble from left to right but that's about it. Otherwise Lin does most of his damage getting by people with PnRs. What I'm saying is that Lin doesn't have many 1 on 1 dribble moves that he can fall back on. He could stand to develop some as time goes on.
He tried to bust a move that he doesn't have in his arsenal the other night. He didn't just dribble it off his foot, in my opinion. It's a move he doesn't have in his memory banks. He might be able to bust it out when there's no pressure or playing with his brothers, but it's another thing to bust out elite moves in an NBA game.
It sounds like Lin spent most of his time working on the jumper and working out of PnR and trap simulations over the summer. I would have done that as well. Unfortunately, his jump shot practice didn't pay off yet this year but he really should be pulling up when Ridnour is giving him 2 feet of space. And then we wouldn't be discussing how and why he is dribbling off his foot.
I may not be right or you guys may not agree...just my take
Why is it I'm starting to see a lot of "Lin this, Lin that" comments, as if he was solely responsible for almost losing the game?
ReplyDeleteGive some props to Wolves defense...Adelman had Lin in his sights, and put enough pressure to disrupt Harden as well. Hell they harassed everyone and did a great job stripping the rock. Rox had 12 TOs in 1st half, yes 5 were on Lin, but 1 was Asik and one was a BS foul call. EVEN IF all 5 were Lin's fault, that still leaves 7...SEVEN folks, on the rest of the team. In comparison, Wolves had 4...FOUR TOs in first half.
Keep in mind Harden got pulled as well...His shots were in and out and his drives were going nowhere, and he was drawing offensive fouls thanks to Rubio/Barea flopping, blocked shots on his drives, and lost the rock twice. From about the 6min mark in 2Q to the 7 min mark in Q3, almost an entire quarter, Harden scored ONE MORE POINT THAN LIN during the same time period. The Rox backcourt was self destructing on TV.
Harden's body language was all over the place, it was pretty obvious he was irritated at his own production, it was OKC all over again.
Rather than watch his backcourt self destruct McHale did the right thing and pulled them both.
TD/Smith/Delfino/Asik/Parsons did a HELL OF A JOB disrupting the Wolves offense, and catching Wolves defense off guard, 14-4 run is what saved our bacon, and with the added bonus of SAPPING energy from Wolves. Asik can't catch fast passes worth crap, but man is the guy single handedly saving Rox ass at the post or what?
Once they put HardLin back in the game was over, Wolves were out of energy facing a fresh Rox backcourt that had time to get their minds right.
Back in 3Q, IF bench they didn't chuck up shots for almost 3 minutes and made let's say 3 out of 6 shots they missed, this would have been won by 9-12 points.
THIS IS WHERE PATRICK BEVERLEY WOULD HAVE HELPED A TON, SOMEONE ON BENCH NEEDS TO TAKE CHARGE WHEN HARDLIN IS OUT! Don't get me wrong, I love TD, I think he has found his role, but he is still weak at play making and forces too many shots, he'd be a great SG, and we already know he is a hell of a tenacious defender. I think having Patrick and TD off bench would pay serious dividends for Rox when HardLin is being shutdown, not to mention someone needs to keep Delfino in check so he isn't chucking up shots all day.
People like to scapegoat Lin for everything.
DeleteIt's an involuntary reflex acquired from watching too much anti Asian BS on TV.
I'm only half kidding, 3/4 kidding on a good day.
Because Lin is important Lin is significant! So lin's error is different compare to others. People need to use a microscope to be able to see lin's beauty and yet, people will also use microscope to see lin's flaw 10xbigger.
DeleteI would love to see Lin play more with Greg Smith instead of with Asik. Yes, Asik got lots of rebounds. But, honestly, I can't say I saw he got any hard won rebounds. 16 of his 17 rebounds were defensive. And, those were mostly because he was the only person under the rim. To me, Asik is just a big oaf. He moves awkwardly away from the ball and is more of a deficit rather than an asset when he tries to set picks.
DeleteThe announcer person seemed to be in love with Asik though praises lamenting Asik's size and big broad shoulders and such.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete@Etane
DeleteI think that's the beauty of Asik as a rebounder. He can get rebounds against anyone in the league because of his sheer size. Its not his fault that rebounds come relatively easy because he is so tall and takes up so much space.
Asik is actually very agile for his. I'm quite impressed with how he keeps pace with the Rockets fast break. He also has the speed to keep in front of guards after switching on the pick and roll.
Wilc:
DeleteI can't say I disagree with anything you said. I just think Asik lacks a few skill sets that would make him a better teammate for Jeremy. These skill sets include knowing how to set picks and how to catch a ball.
Tyson Chandler was perhaps the prototypical big man for Jeremy. Greg Smith's play reminds me of Tyson's play. So, I'd love to see the two play together. So far, I haven't seen the two on the court together.
Indeed Etane, Asik does lack those skill sets you're talking about.
DeleteAfter all, Asik didn't touch the ball on offense for three years as the Bulls played "me, myself, and Iverson" ball with Derrick Rose.
Now that Asik is being featured in the offense by the totally unselfish Lin, he's had to develop his skill sets overnight. And Asik is doing well!
I think any NBA big man that plays with Lin will have to develop his offensive game further. I was actually looking forward to Lin feeding Amare Stoudemire in the post before the Knicks kicked Lin off the team.
Khuang:
DeleteTrue. Asik is "young and developing" and could become more agile and better offensively. For now, I just wish McHale would pair Greg Smith up with Jeremy once in awhile to see whether there's anything there.
@Etane
DeleteI have the same concerns as you about Asik's offense. But I must say he is making progress. Yes, he did fumble away a few posessions last night, but he did have a few dunks last night including a put back slam which is the first time I've seen him do that all year. If Asik can continue to attempt more dunks than layups he will improve his offensive efficiency. Also I can't really think of another available big man that I would replace him with at this time. I'm also a big Greg Smith fan and am impressed by how strong he attacks the basket without hesitation and his solid defense. He had a monster dunk last night and attempted another which he was fouled. He leads the team in +/- and was a +17 last night. I would love to see a Lin to Smith lob soon.
d.will the most overrated and overpaid player in the league just got the another coach fired.
ReplyDeleteAvery Johnson Jr. @itsaveryjohnson
"I'm sorry are best players couldn't make open shots. Yeah that's my dads fault totally..."
LOL
That d.will who now plays for Brooklyn? He got 98 ml that's a lot! So he got a coach fired? Must be a big news on NBA then. I ll go check!
DeleteWow, holy crap, seriously?!?
DeleteWTF is DWill's problem? Him and Howard deserve each other...Imagine them two both on the same team, Nets would implode, no coach would ever wanna take on that team.
Dwill is a coach killer, but he's got 3 or 4 more to go before he catches the NBA's true coach killer in Jeremy Lin.
DeleteJust to remind people, this is who Lin knocked out:
1) Harvard's longtime coach that didn't believe in Lin much and didn't utilize him. FIRED
2) Stanford coach Trent Johnson who refused to recruit Lin and targeted Lin for triple teams when Harvard played Stanford. Enraged the Stanford boosters that wanted Lin. FIRED
3) Golden State coach Keith Smart who benched Lin despite Lin's excellent rookie production. FIRED
4) Mike D'Antoni, benched Lin for 25 games and had to turn to Lin out of injury. Later had trouble integrating Lin. RESIGNED. But he got a Laker reprieve for handling Lin so well!!!
5) Mike Woodson, expressed public dissatisfaction with Lin's game and was instrumental in having Lin kicked off the Knicks. BLOWN OUT by Lin in two embarrassing defeats.
6) Kenny Atkinson. He's not a victim of Lin, as he was essentially Lin's personal coach. The Knicks got rid of him along with Lin, but then Atkinson got immediately hired by Atlanta.
Wasn't he just named NBA coach of the month recently?
DeleteSMH
Deletesome players struggled and blamed coaches to get fired.
some players struggled and scored 38pt to get the coaches fired up!
It's called personal responsibility.
@ Kenoshi
DeleteI believe so. Coach of the month with 11-4 record in November.
Jason Kidd Blames Deron Williams’ Shooting Not Avery Johnson
DeleteHaha @ Kidd calling it like it is...
DeleteAhh the title is a bit misleading but hehe more fuel to the fire that's the rivalry between Nets and Knicks.
Best comment:
Delete"D-will is starting to remind me of mike bibby, every time he pulls up i go noooooooo!"
Coach of the Month in October and November. Fired in December.
DeleteDeron Williams still feels guilty about allowing Linsanity to get started.
Delete@ KHuang - what are you talking about?
Delete1. He actually recruited LIN to Harvard, Amaker was the one skeptical at first, his departure had nothing to do with Lin
2. Come on, Trent Johnson not recruiting Lin had nothing with him getting fired, that's just pure BS
3. Keith Smart got fired not for not playing Lin, it's just for being a general moron
4. Lin saved his job, briefly, and then got him some more play with Lakers, not sure how that's killing a coach
5. Woodson is doing just fine.
Dwill is a coach killer, but he's got 3 or 4 more to go before he catches the NBA's true coach killer in Jeremy Lin.
Just to remind people, this is who Lin knocked out:
1) Harvard's longtime coach that didn't believe in Lin much and didn't utilize him. FIRED
2) Stanford coach Trent Johnson who refused to recruit Lin and targeted Lin for triple teams when Harvard played Stanford. Enraged the Stanford boosters that wanted Lin. FIRED
3) Golden State coach Keith Smart who benched Lin despite Lin's excellent rookie production. FIRED
4) Mike D'Antoni, benched Lin for 25 games and had to turn to Lin out of injury. Later had trouble integrating Lin. RESIGNED. But he got a Laker reprieve for handling Lin so well!!!
5) Mike Woodson, expressed public dissatisfaction with Lin's game and was instrumental in having Lin kicked off the Knicks. BLOWN OUT by Lin in two embarrassing defeats.
6) Kenny Atkinson. He's not a victim of Lin, as he was essentially Lin's personal coach. The Knicks got rid of him along with Lin, but then Atkinson got immediately hired by Atlanta.
Howard Beck @HowardBeckNYT
DeleteAvery says today is his wife's birthday. "It's not a great birthday gift."
1:38 PM - 27 Dec 12
#1 positive thing for Lin from the Wolves game.
ReplyDeleteEven with early struggles and TOs, the coaches and his teammates trusted him as a PG to bring up the ball every SINGLE time in the 4th quarter!
Coaches once were blind but now they see. lol
DeleteHaha nice, because its so true :)
Delete"Even with early struggles and TOs,..."
DeleteI realise this refers to JLin's early struggles and TOs, but I think struggles can equally be referred to the teammates' struggles to trust JLin early in the ball game. They worked out their trust issues and eventually let JLin create plays in the first half of the 3rd.
I guess that's the difference between Sampson with McHale!
DeleteThat's an excellent observation. Despite the players trying to pad their stats, deep down, they know they need to get the W.
DeleteWilc - this is just my own interpretation but I don't think his teammates distrust Jeremy's ability. On the other hand, Jeremy has to deal with his own team's uncertainty. It seems he has to figure out on a day to day and maybe even quarter to quarter basis whether he's going to be the point guard or whether he's going to be the spot up shooter.
Delete@Etane
DeleteYeah, I think the fourth quarter showed that they trust JLin as the PG now.
Pure guessing here, but the change to focus on letting Harden make plays in the first quarter looked to me like it was agreed to before hand, as if it were part of some kind of game plan by the coach. Or else its quite odd to me why the players had a collective change of heart in keeping the ball away from JLin to start the game.
Wilc: Well, I don't think the team ever had a problem trusting Jeremy's ability to be the point guard. I think it's for other reasons that the players are keeping the ball away from Jeremy.
DeletePerhaps there's a struggle regarding team leadership. And, frankly, Jeremy is probably not a locker room leader on the Rockets as he was on the Knicks while Melo was injured.
I recall during a game after Melo returned, Melo was waving for the ball, but Jeremy didn't pass it to him. Melo immediately acted irate. I think he wanted his team back proton.
Wilc: Yes, I think it's some kind of game plan set by the coach before hand and later on adjusted according to the actual situation - how it was executed and how the opponent team reacted.
DeleteIn a young team without a reigning superstar, the coach has more authority to have the players follow the game plan and his instruction.
There is a problem and there is no problem.
DeleteThe simple answer is that McHale expects ALL of his players to be "great" players, so he gives them total freedom on the court.
This results in all sorts of guys wanting to handle the ball and make plays. Sometimes Lin gets left out of that scheme because he's unselfish. Thus it's on Lin to aggressively step up and DEMAND the ball the way Kelvin Sampson said Lin needs to do.
McHale is the kind of coach who doesn't truly care how the team wins as long as it wins. If that meant Asik shooting threes and Lin playing center, then that's what McHale would do!!!
@Etane
DeleteIf there were a leadership struggle, I think it would be a one-sided one; don't think there will be much push back from Jeremy, especially this year. Jeremy seems to wish to just take a back seat and further develop skills out of the spotlight. Problem is (for him and lucky for us fans), it is hard not to notice him because of the display of his talent, effort, and determination on the court.
@JesLee It also seemed to me that the team adjusted as the game went on and teammates were looking to JLin to start plays.
@KHuang I think I appreciate McHale for being that type of coach who wishes to give everyone a chance to show what they are made of. I appreciate even more that he judges players by merits rather than reputation, at least when it comes to JLin.
It seems like JLin through his solid play for the past couple of weeks has earned McHale's trust. After all it won't sound like a JLin story if he didn't have to prove himself!
Maybe team leadership isn't the best term. Rather, who is the face of the team? And, who is the floor general for the team? I think there's an active struggle for each of these positions. Jeremy struggles to be that floor general. He struggles by putting up stats and earning the Ws. However, you still have the $80 million guy who is supposed to be the face of the team. I am not saying that Jeremy will out perform Harden in terms of stats or show boating. But, just look at the all star voting. Jeremy's getting almost double Harden's volume. I think, to the basketball powers that be, this shouldn't be happening.
DeleteThe team just looks better when JLin is the floor general. He makes everyone around him better and the team wins bigger. As a result, the team will buy in into JLin's system rather than the Harden system. There is a shift towards JLin imposing his brand of basketball as the identity of the Rockets. JLin becomes the poster boy for the identity of the team. I can see how that does not sit well with certain camps.
DeleteI was thinking what that identity would be. Perhaps hard working, gritty, hard nosed, team focused. For some reason I think Rockets fans appreciate that type leader for the team.
DeleteThat's why I think Lin would fit the Spurs. That team didn't care what basketball people thought when they rested all their starters against Miami. This shows the Spurs are about winning games and not about creating super stars (or selling seats).
DeleteAnd, the fans certainly responded to Lin's brand of basketball by way of number of Jersey's sold last year. Dolan, Stephen A, Melo and Smith didn't appreciate it as much. They are about stock price and creating stars.
The 4Q decision let Jeremy be PG was a stark contrast to any previous close games.
DeleteHOU was trailing 5 points (71-76) when Jeremy entered the game in the 4Q with 6 min left but it took the faith from coaches, his teammates and Jeremy himself to make it work. You can tell from Jeremy's face how confident he was after draining the BIG "almost 3pt" shot to tie it at 81-81. No hesitation, just instinct!
And his teammates eagerly gave him the ball even more after that big shot because they knew he would make the right play.
This win made it 1-5 road record against Western conference teams. I believe the next time they were trailing in close games in the 4th, they all would trust Jeremy to be the PG again.
Second return of NBA All Star Ballot result.
ReplyDeleteBackcourt: Kobe Bryant (LAL) 977,444; Chris Paul (LAC) 542,564; Jeremy Lin (Hou) 496,133; James Harden (Hou) 283,691; Russell Westbrook (OKC) 232,074; Steve Nash (LAL) 166,262; Tony Parker (SA) 111,032; Ricky Rubio (Min) 96,466; Stephen Curry (GS) 78,380; Manu Ginobili (SA) 70,813.
Damn, Jeremy Lin is still 50K behind CP3.
Please, everyone go vote for JL. You can vote 4 time each date (FaceBook, NBA.com/ASB, NBA Gametime and Twitter)
So does the top 4 get in? For PG and SG? It probably better that he's a backup than starter for this year.
DeleteI guess Harden is getting a Lin bump.
backups are chosen by the coaches. he will not get picked. so either he makes top 2, or doesn't make it at all. must vote now. a lot of guys might be voting cp3 while voting for jlin so obviously don't do that as it will cancel your jlin vote.
DeleteI think only the top 2 in Backcourt get in. The backup players will be selected by coaches.
DeleteI have a feeling these numbers are rigged. There's no way JLin is getting less than half a million votes. But that's just my opinion. The coaches won't pick him as a reserve. In the Allstar promo, they show James Harden, not JLin. But I'll still vote for him anyway.
DeleteVoters select three frontcourt and two guards from each conference.
DeleteFans vote picks the starting lineup, while a group of coaches select the reserves.
JLin must beat CP3 to get in.
I've been voting for Lin via nba site. Is it possible to vote more than once? I know you can only vote once per day via NBA site and twitter..
DeleteEven the clutchfan's owner think Lin isn't deserving to be in the NBAAllStar...WOW..SMH..way to show some bias/lack of support to a fellow rocket player..He thinks that if Lin beats Chris Paul, this could be a catalyst in change to future All Star voting system.
I don't understand why Rocket fans aren't happy that they have both their point guards in the top five. If Lin or anyone else isn't deserving to be in the all star shortlist, why include their names in the first place...Hey..don't blame the players or their fans..blame the system..
or maybe blame Stern...LOL..
DeleteJonathan Feigen @Jonathan_Feigen
DeleteAll Star voting update due today. Lin was 3rd, Harden 4th last time. Harden said being a coaches pick great way to make 1st All Star game.
8:31 AM - 27 Dec 12
[Harden is a lock.]
It's not a shame to vote for JLin. NBA is a Entertainment Business instead a pure Sport. It's about who is the most watchable players that get the fans spend their money for. If you ask me, I would say JLin is the most player who I willing to spend money on. So, if you guys feel the same. Go vote for him.
DeleteI am not voting for Lin. It will do him more harm than good. Bad for his health, and going to create more Lin haters. All I wants is Lin help Houstom win the next 2 games. That is way better than winning a popularity contest.
DeleteI feel really bad for Lin. He thought that coming to Houston, that he would have a chance to grow his game and not deal with superstar egos. Guess what he is still dealing with ego's,but the "wake up and pay attention to me"baby egos Harden is good, that's a no brainier, but I think after Lin's 4 good games the team especially Harden/Parson's felt a little slighted. It is the coaches fault for not keeping these egos in check. Lin is a baller, yes he has weaknesses, but his are always more highlighted than the others. I just laugh, because everyone is giving Harden kudos for his game winning 30 points, but not mentioning that Lin was the one who is the one t with the clutch shot that put Houston back in the game. smh. I feel for him this season because he doesn't have Fields, Jefferies or Novak to have his back. Lin will get the All star votes and make the team, but Lin will bow out and not play. That's how he rolls.
DeleteYou want to know what's funny? I live in the SF Bay Area...the last warriors game cost me 70 dollars a ticket for terrible seats. The entire night for 3 people ended up being close to 400 dollars for a mediocre experience- food, tickets, parking (20$) . I think we as fans deserve to vote for whoever the hell we want. The NBA ticket prices are ridiculously exorbitant.
DeleteIf the fans want to vote Jeremy even if he averages 2 points/2assists/1 rebound a game, people should just shut up and accept it. The all-star game is a popularity contest and rightfully so in my opinion.
I think it'd be the best for JLin to stay at the #4 position because he can have the time better used than wasted in the show. At the same time, people would still notice his popularity as the #4 most voted player.
DeleteGod who cares, just vote for Jeremy. If ur not going to vote for Jeremy, do us all a favor and don't vote for CP3.
DeleteOf course, plz don't vote for CP3 period, as the other guard. Vote harden. If JLin don't get in, he won't get put on reserve, Harden is all but guaranteed.
I think we already have many discussions over whether you should vote for jlin or not and why should he make to all star or not. so, I don't think we need all that again. Any way, it's ok. As for the people who want to vote for jlin, there's still time. i will try to vote for him as many as I can. To me, it's time to show some Asian power. I am so proud of all the Asian fans who vote for jlin. I bet 90% of the voters are Asians. Let people said all they want. Whatever critics they are having, whatever jealousy they are having, this is what you got when you are an Asian athlete like jlin, that is you got tremendous support from your Asian people like me.I bet if jlin make to the all star game, it's gonna be all kinds of noise out there, but hey, does that noise ever stop? I am not going to let people's judgement and critics to influence my thought. I vote for him mainly two reason, one,I want to show jlin the support. two, in return of jlin make it to the all star game i hope and I think it helps sending out a strong statement to the world and the media of the asian power. That is we have strong support to the people we admire and love.
DeleteHowever, i also wish he could be a back up pg instead of star pg, because then he got more time to rest! save some energy for some real games during this all-star week.
DeleteI'm voting for Lin! Don't vote for CP3 if you're voting for Lin though.
DeleteYou can vote online as many times as you want...as long as you delete the cookies. You can also text LIN to 69622 and tweet Jeremy Lin #NBABALLOT.
Do all 3!
@CJW, ignore clutchfans, that site is full of f.ucking morons. I've never seen a fan base hate on a player the way they do. Some are positive but the majority DON'T want Lin to turn into an all star nor do they believe in him. Clutch is a southern, ignorant narcissistic hick. Ignore him.
DeleteYou can vote multiple times a day at nba.com, just make sure you delete your cookies from that site.
@CJW, one of the poster here name "HY" told me you can clear out your browser history and vote for him as many time as you want. I try it and it did works, but not sure if these votes actually go in? only works if you using ie, not firefox, I think. I kinda feel impossible that lin is still behind chris paul cause I know definitely a lot of Asian fans in taiwan and also some in china are constantly vote for him.
DeleteWages of wins: Which Teams Have the Best Backcourts?
ReplyDelete