Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Rockets vs Lakers Game #35 2nd Half Game Thread

157 comments:

  1. Seems like a lot of doubter out tonight, last drive, Lin passed because again 3 people guarding the lane. Lin pass it out for Morris layout

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    1. Hence having a reliable jump shot really helps in these situations. There goes Lin's bread and butter

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  2. it the rockets lose this game, it's on Lin. He has not contributed.

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    1. And if they win. He gets credit.

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    2. Nope - pessimists (or haters) dont ever give Lin credit :)

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    3. @willy
      Exactly, they'll just focus on his 7 TOs.

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    4. Don't worry. There are games harden make 6 tos. He will tell Jeremy it's not a problem. No body wil focus on it as long as it wins.

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    6. @lydia:

      The players dont focus on it and it doesnt seem to bother Lin either (what is good) but some "fans" seem to take TO numbers as measuring stick for Lins performance (which is dumb).

      There were games when fans HERE and THERE (CF) went nuts just because Lin had 4 TOs (or so) at half time. Thats all they would talk about.

      They would ignore how Lin defends against big man, how he switches, blocks, forces people into TO. People would not talk about Lins hard work to set his teammates free.

      You can tell by that - that there are lots of people who dont understand whats going in a game. They just see multi colored jerseys running around - either scoring or not. And if theres a TO - its bad - but only if its Lins turnovers :)

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    7. Well said willydilly. After playing one month of pretty great b-ball, peopl are still talking about TO's or missed freethrows. JL TO is down to 3.14 this season... His TO is lower than Harden's....

      Lin will never be a LOW TO guard on this team because of the pace ROX play and the youth they are playing with right now. But if Lin can cut down his TO from last season already, I think it's very likely his TO's will go down even lower as he gets more experience.

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    8. @slash29:

      Wow - thanks for the info. I didnt check on his average TO per game. I dont know about Nashs numbers either. But - last season Nash had something like 3,x TOs right? If you compare their TO numbers - Lin doesnt look THAT bad :)

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    9. @willy
      Yes, well said. I cosign!

      @slash29
      To be fair, Lin's reduced TOs this season is largely in part because pre-Spurs 38-pt game he handled the ball a lot less because all his teammates became ball handlers much to our chagrin. Not to take anything away from Jeremy, he's made many improvements in the area. Now that his coaches/teammates trust him more, he's handling the ball more and his turnovers are going back up a bit. All fine by me because his scoring has gone back up as well and there is good ball movement and as a result they're winning. Getting back to the point, I don't focus on the TOs like the haters/doubters do. All the good things Lin is doing far outweigh the bad things, but all the haters notice is the bad things. Confirmation bias.

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  3. Kobe only has 8 points, you know Rockets are in trouble, he's letting Nash be in charge.

    Very good point distribution...Rockets is a mess. Lin is meh atm.

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  4. He's way too inconsistent. You don't know what your going to get out of him each game.

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    1. Not even a full season playing as a starter in the NBA of course he will be inconsistent. Growing pains. If you cant deal with that come back maybe after 2 years by that time he will definitely be more consistent and maybe an all star.

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    2. "Lin... inconsistent"

      True - but so has been his role asignment. He has been spot up shooter, fulltime D player, he has been playing 2nd PG, sometimes he was allowed to play 1st PG :)

      Considering the fact that his teammates have been competing with him at times - instead of accpeting him as floor general - he has done pretty well.

      High priority on involving teammates in first half - going nuts and scoring in second half -> Lin has always been like that.

      I was hoping that Lin would go into full ego-mode from the start (like when he scored 38 against LAL last season but...

      At the beginning of the season - coaches didnt trust him. He was benched - TD got to close games. Now that Lin is almost 100% and coaches trust Lin - he is getting better stats cause he is allowed to close games. I mean - he scored 17 of his 19 in second half right?

      Lin is gonna be fine.

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    3. And - Lins effort and his D is IMHO not inconsistent at all.

      Someone has claimed that Lin didnt contribute. Well - IMHO that is NEVER the case. When Lin isnt scoring - even when hes turning it over - he contributes. If you dont acknowledge that - you dont know Lin.

      Lin is not "dead wood". Could Rox have won so many games had they been dragging along dead wood? Did they win despite the dead wood? Come on... Lin contributes - somestimes more - sometimes less but he always does!

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    4. Willy always the man or woman!!! Great points made!!

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    5. well said, willy!

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    6. Usually Lin has been consistently good during 4th quarter even in games when he doesn't get great stats.

      Now he's consistently good during 2nd half... Now, he just needs to focus on his 1st quarter offense!

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    7. read a report about Jeremy plays best in 2nd quarter when Harden is struggling. haven't found another report to second such claim but i really think it depends on how well the team plays overall, Jermey'd adjust accordingly.

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    8. @janelin7:

      Yes - IMHO Lin often plays the role of a "chief cook and bottle washer" - he does whatever the team needs. Stand in the corner? Ill do it. 4 quarters full time D? I can do it.

      Maybe this is why he is often considered soft - but he isnt. Hes just hard working and smart. He is the perfect definition of a team player.

      He often sacrifices his game - allows his teammates to get nice stats - which is why I dont mind if he has bad TO numbers at times. There is more to a player than just his TO numbers.

      Yes - a "Jeremy Lin" wont ever get the respect and admiration like a Melo or Kobe. Scoring 40 a game is much cooler than blocking 4 shots, stealing it 5 times and having 8 assists that goes with 10 points.

      But - without a guy like Lin on your team you will never be great. I sincerely hope that Lin will get the Steve Nash kind of love and admiration one day.

      Some have said that Dantoni ran Lin into the ground last season. IDK if thats true. But - I noticed that Lin has incredible stamina. Maybe this is why he often goes nuts in 4th quarter.

      He lets his teammates power through 3 quarters - either they make it or not. He would support them by running hard, passing a lot to open the game for them (and he would play D). By the end of the game - he would go into overdrive and score like hes nuts. Hitting the ground? OK - as long as I get a free throw :)

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    9. BTW:

      Someone wrote "Lin thinks hes a scrub - he defers to TD now" or something like that.

      Yes - he does - because hes a team player. TD sometimes seems to compete with Lin (Im not 100% sure) - but TD doesnt mind passing back to Lin as well (whenever Lin signals it or whenever he is in good position). I think theres is not just potential for HardLin combo but also for Lin/TD combo.

      I am excited to see HardLin and LinTD develop.

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  5. Wewt at least he is 3/6 now...I'm just going to ignore the TOs, lol not going to bother mentioning how bad they were.

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    1. I'm glad he's at .500, but his foot on the 3 pt line is really starting to bug me.

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  6. Heh, Kobe can't back Lin down.

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    1. It's strange why McHale never puts Lin on Kobe ... he would single handedly shut down the Black Mamba ... turn him into the Black Iguana.

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  7. Marcus Morris gets a steal, Harden and Parsons on a fast break, and Parsons travels with the ball .... Rockets keep shooting themselves in the foot with these silly turnovers. They are better than this, but they are star struck by the Lakers "superstars".

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    1. Lol if its not Lin its Parsons...

      Maybe something affected their bromance so they're both not playing well...

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  8. Hardin should stop calling for the ball when he's at the top of the key. He should cut and set picks once in awhile. He slows the offense down whenever he calls for the ball when he's at the top of the key.

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    1. True - I also hate how Harden sometimes stays BEHIND Lin when Lin attacks from the 3 pt line. It APPEARS as if he doesnt want to contribute. It appears as if he says "gimme the ball or you play 4 against 5 cause I will stand behind you until I get the ball". Of course - who knows if this is true - is it a decoy or is he waiting for a pass from the paint for 3 pt shot? I dont know - but it looks bad :)

      I know - they have to figure it out and there are times when Harden has obviously been working hard to set screens for Lin and so - but like you said...

      What I can imagine is that he is saves up energy for his great isos.

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  9. Lin has the most long 2s. If all those counted he is at 33-35% from 3

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  10. That assist's by Delfino. He's magical I tell you.

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  11. Good set of plays by Lin and they left sausage man wide open.

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    1. Dang, Delfino playing hot tonight on both ends of court.

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  12. Hell yeah JLin. That's my boy.

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  13. Ok I have to know what McHale tells them in the locker room.

    Lin seems to be wide awake now.

    Awesome pass catches Lakers with their pants down by Harden...Lol the look on delfino's face is so good.

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  14. Rockets will need to give 100% effort and energy to beat the Lakers. I don't care if the Rox lose in New Orleans tomorrow ... BEAT THE LAKERS TONIGHT!

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  15. Rockets announcers making some terrible and corny jokes. About Nash leaving the court because he is old and needs to use the bathroom. Derrrrrr!!!!

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  16. Haha nice contest Kobe by Lin...

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    1. He was trying to get Lin to jump like Nash did.

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  17. Lin :) Another long 2... most ambitious 2s in the NBA :)

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  18. OMG

    GO LIN!

    TOO BAD ITS ANOTHER FKING TWO!

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  19. the great Linsanity!!

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  20. I must admit, I really like how Harden is not forcing any thing or iso that much, and is actually distributing the ball rather well. He is the core that keeps the Rox in the game.

    Jeremy, despite is having an off night, is working very hard to play his role. The team as a whole is rolling and marching as a team, the chemistry is working well, I like that.

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  21. his Jump shots are falling maybe its really coming back

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  22. Kobe is pissed...But wow did he blow past Lin or what...Kind of blurry on this stream did Lin reach in?

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  23. Good sub here by McHale. Lin can get some rest and come back strong in the 4th.

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  24. Lmao Lin stops the 18-2 run by Houston with the foul...Parsons playing PG for a nice cut by Harden.

    I REALLY gotta know wtf McHale says to Lin...Goes for 1/3 to 5/8 lol and no more TOs.

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  25. I like that last play where Harden cut to the basket. He should stick to doing that more often instead of asking for the ball when he's at the top of the key.

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    1. Oh, just noticed Jeremy is not on the court when that happened...

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    2. I'm not sure what happened but that doesn't happen often with Harden I think its because he's always double/triple teamed so he can't get free to cut.

      I think Patterson/Delfino created nice spacing and they had to defend them on perimeter allowing Harden to blow past one man for the cut.

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    3. agree not to mention highlight friendly reel.

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  26. Wow Lakers getting pawnd now keep it up Rox!

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  27. Jeremy is not the only one who got benched. Asik sat for the longest time too. He kept letting the new center from the Lakers score on him. I think that what McHale was pissed off about.

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    1. yup, Mchale is probably hoping asik will have a great game because Howard is out but unfortunately its not happening.

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  28. Good adjustments by ROX. Lin has to keep taking and hitting those 3's so that they don't sag off him to clog up the driving lane!

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  29. Lin +5 now, 11pts in 3rd quarter

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  30. thats right. Of course it was a 3pt. Lin should be at 36% 3's this year. I just did some calculations.

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  31. Very nice drive by Parsons with Patterson boxing out, they need to do this over and over with Parsons and Lin.

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  32. Guess they're going small (Rockets).

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    1. Man, Jeremy is so quick, drove that from almost mid-court!

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  33. Love the aggression right now. Keep that up and we'll get through this. Boy has it been ugly.

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  34. Jeremy with 2 missed FT's. Focus man, focus!

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    1. Wow, don't think I've ever seen him miss 2 FTs in a row.

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    2. really really bad misses. he must only shoot 3's in practice now.

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    3. @888:

      Dont you ever watch Asik shoot ft? He misses both fts on a regular basis. So do others :)

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    4. @willy
      I'm used to Asik and others missing FTs regularly, but not used to Lin missing 'em. As long as I've been following him, he's always been really solid FT shooter -- even with his rough start this season, the FTs never really faltered but I'm seeing him miss more often nowadays, which sticks out like a sore thumb to me. Can you remember the last time he missed 2 in a row? Like I said in another post, during Linsanity he had like a 28 consecutive free throw streak.

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    5. BTW, this is not meant to be a criticism, more of an observation that's all.

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  35. Lin suddenly can't shoot free throws weird. But he can jack up 3's

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  36. Previous thread, this thread I laugh a lot when I start to see quite few comments from people who seems like in a same group who all decided to come out tonight to say the same lame thing. Usually you don't get to see this. Funny.

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  37. No love for Lin. His ankle got stepped on and only parsons drew concerns

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    1. Don't know why Metta didn't go at Jeremy there... JLIN had 3 fouls already

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  38. LOL - Harden trying to copy Lins pass from 3pt line

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  39. just logged in to see how my boy J.Lin is doing... I like his stats so far, but what's up with 6 turnovers? But I can see his 3 pt shots are improving... nice :)

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    1. Couple of "risky passes"... sometimes he looks brilliant making those passes... sometimes he turns it over... Its Lin :)

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  40. i had a dream last night that this is going to be a close game. infact last few seconds its a tie and Jlin went for the basket and dunk the ball. I really dont want the Lakers to win. They need to lose to crush whatever play-off hopes they still have. One less aggressive competitor in the Play-off spot is good news.

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  41. Lol, Harden trying to replicate Lin's fake jumpshot pass.

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  42. Douglas
    Lin
    Harden
    Parsons
    Morris

    What line up is this... a 3pt shooting line up? hahaha... let's see this, mchale is one weird coach :)

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    1. a fast line- up. trying to beat d'antoni at his own game.

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    2. Putting the faster players in since there's no need for asik to be playing so much since Dwight gasol and hill is out. They have New Orleans tomorrow. Asik gets to play against Antony davis

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  43. I like how the rockets are moving the ball around off screens so defense can't lock down on ball handler.... and I like how Lin is not looking to pass first on those three's. Good 2nd half ROX adjustments!

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  44. Does Harden ever take a charge? He just let Kobe go right by him.

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    1. he's a lousy defender... you can't expect anything from him aside from scoring clutch.

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  45. Lin getting the jum ball - TD kneeing Nash :)

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  46. Heh, Harden moving away from his man finally worked ;)

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  47. Great ball fake by Jeremy but too many numbers 2 on 1.

    Excellent D by Jeremy on Nash penetration

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  48. Lin and 1 :) atmosphere in the arena -> awesome! So many people there :)

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  49. OH YEAH!!! There's that scream!!

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  50. Love that battle cry from the floor!

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  51. PG jump ball and Lin won and got the shot and 1. Nice

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  52. Lin gets breather by guarding Meeks? who tries to shoot. Jeremy getting more intelligent

    lol Harden can't ISO against 40 yr old

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  53. Haha Lin pushing the pace and tiring them out...Kobe is brick city...They might have this if they play tight D

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  54. LINSANITY!!!!! THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!! LET'S GO JLIN!!!

    (TAKE THAT STEPHEN ASS SMITH!!!)

    HAHAHA

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  55. great set play. Lin decoys (drew Meeks to weakside) to get Morris free on paint

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  56. Haha Linsanity 2.0 is coming. He needs to not get so far from Meeks tho.

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  57. Sakre bleu. Stupid Houston announcers!

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  58. Almost--back iron, Lin over Artest. Very aggressive I like even if it's a miss

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  59. If Douglas gets both this game might be over.

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  60. Steve Nash took a long piss in the bathroom. He came back with sex hair.

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  61. Wow garbage call. Lol Metta's euro step looks...Lame...

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    1. Im glad he didnt run Lin over :)

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    2. @willy
      Yeah, I was expecting some shenanigans from MWP but he's been a good boy tonight.

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  62. Jeremy hands off to iso Harden...splash

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  63. Jeremy schooled by Nash's replacement. Makes it personal but doesn't score on the other end. Oh well, nice try. Done for the night

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  64. LMAO great handles juking people until he travelled...7TOs...

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    1. Lin working on Quad Double tonight LOL

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    2. I guess not bad compare to iriving's 8 tos the other night then..though 1tos away..haha..Nash being call a great pg for reason. Looking at his stats, 19 pts/6rb/5ast/7tos. Not bad to me. Will be better and can be better.

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    3. Harden's TO for the season is still much higher than Lin's... 3.53 to 3.14 but no one fixate on his TO's because he scores and makes plays for his teammate so consistently.

      To a lesser degree when compared to Harden, when Lin has high TO's now, just like Harden, his other stats, such as assist, steals, rebound, and most recently points are all going up. I don't even really pay that much attention to Lin's TO anymore unless it leads to 5 point turnarounds....

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  65. It's over... We won... Good Job Rockets! Good Job J.Lin! :)

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  66. This is why we put up with 3 quarters of ugly ball. Welcome back Linsanity. You think you can hang around a little longer this time?

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    1. only 2 quarters. 3rd quarter he blew up

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  67. wow 7 TO oh well. Good game still..

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  68. Did I hear that right, sellout crowd tonight at Toyota? 1st one this season?

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  69. When Lin has a ton of turnovers team usually wins.

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    1. Not a good indicator this season, and definitely not because he's doing well tho, there are plenty games where he turnover 4+ and they lost...Usually he'd do poorly with single digit points and low assists with high TOs, the only exception being this game and Spurs game where he scored 38pts and lost where he had 7TOs and done well.

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  70. Best quote of the night:

    GF walks over to me during 3rd quarter when the game was still close and says

    LAKERS HAVE BEEN FALLING APART IN THE 4TH QUARTER... EVERYONE KNOWS THAT.

    Gotta love it!

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  71. First half Lin was lost, completly lost, you could see it in his face. Second half after the first two shots he made, he became Linsane! Awesome second half for both Lin and Harden. But I would say that Lin had a terrific second half. If only his teammates could finish he would have like 8 assists. And they didn't count the block on Nash...

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  72. Would love to see a back to back 20 pt game from lin, hasn't happened yet this season...always 2 or 3 pts short. Drives me crazy!!

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  73. That was a lot harder than it should have been. Still, Lakers were on fire first quarter so it's nice know you can weather situations like that.

    Lin ended up with 35 minutes... we've discussed this before, I'm not sure there was ever a formal consensus but is it generally agreed 36 minutes is pretty good for him? The way he plays and hits the floor, I'm not sure he can take much more than that.

    McHale goes with whomever's going. Nobody (referring to the denizens here) could have been happy with how things were going first quarter. Nobody could have been happy with Lin being pulled at what, the 7 minute mark? But kudos to McHale for saying whatever he was saying to get Lin going and giving him the minutes.

    Anyone have any insight why Smith only played 7 minutes? I don't really see an advantage to Asik over him tonight.

    Pure fantasy, but watching Nash work in the first half really makes me wish he could mentor Lin (on the *Rockets*, no talk trading Lin to the Lakers!).

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    1. Its not just how Lin falls - its how much he runs. I agree with the 35 minutes thing. That good pt for Lin.

      And yes - I also wish Nash could mentor Lin - not on D though :)

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  74. well itd be 21pts for him if he didnt step on line 2x

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    1. Or made 2 of his FTs. Weird to seem him missing so often this season. I remember last year he had like 28 straight FTs streak or something.

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    2. Jeremy was gased...you could tell from the heavy panting he was having. To his fault, I don't think he took the effort to clear his mind and focus in those 2 consecutive missed FTs.

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    3. Hans - Not so sure about that, I think Jeremy usually has better 2nd half than 1st half performances going back to last season in NY.. IMO is due in part to because he can sustain his speed longer even when he's playing tired.... except for those 4 games in 5 nights when everyone is slow.

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  75. Daryl Morey ‏@dmorey
    Coach McHale for coach of the year! RT @htown747 He gets the most from his team." -Greg Anthony on Kevin McHale
    7:39 PM - 8 Jan 13

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    1. Yea..right...not sure about that yet.

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    2. @via

      Funny he should say that. I was about to say the same thing (COTY) earlier, but didn't want to open up that bag. Of course, now that you have... :)

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    3. I nominate Kelvin Sampson for interim COTY.

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    4. I nominate Kelvin Sampson for interim COTY.

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