haha, no one where? There are two full pages of game chatter. Like criticism of Lin here or on ClutchFans?
There were a couple of lazy passes from Lin, but I'd say 3 of the TOs were completely on others. 2 from passes Asik and Morris should have caught. 1 from a completely erroneous charge call that should have been a point/free throws.
Like eb5attorney, I also believe Lin needs to shoot more - gotta practice your jumpers some time.
Wait, to clarify, I think he needs to shoot more overall. I think he shot a really good amount today. Should keep it to 15 max if teammates are doing well.
YES, I'm not sure if I said that here, but I've noticed the EXACT same effect.
Nook used to be one of the more outspoken doubters. I recognize his name because of the level of intellegence with which he tackled the subject, as opposed to Dei, King1, or the other ignorant posters.
Yes, I noticed Nook was taking on some trolls and LOHs lately. It was getting bad over there. I usually read this first, then head over there for the fun stuff like the most recent photo captions and the odd Torocan post.
Ugh, I can't stand Dei. There is just no reasoning with that guy. torocan and others waste so much time responding to that guy, sometimes I just want to sign up just to tell them to save themselves so grief and ignore him.
I have suppressed all urges to sign up. Clutch is a fuckbag. I don't understand why "Jeremy Lin is a Joke" isn't closed yet.
On the other hand, the "James Harden is not a viable #1" also isn't closed. However, there is more merit to this statement, as it wasn't clear what #1 means - scoring? making plays? etc. I think we can agree that Harden might be the top scorer/ISO 1 on 1 man, but I think it's debatable who has the biggest impact on wins/losses.
I realized I didn't provide enough support in the above assertion that JLin has a greater impact on wins/losses than Harden.
I think Harden, without JLin making plays and handling the PG role, was still achieving extremely high stats (9 games prior to the past two wins). Harden is getting those stats now. What's the difference? Compare this to the Dec stretch, whence the team was on a hot streak, what was the difference?
These numbers aren't statistically significant enough for any conclusive arguments, but they justify questioning the overall impact of players.
@k.smith Haha, don't worry, I doubt I will ever sign up on CF. In fact I try not to visit it that often because I just see too many posts that make me angry and I already spend too much time here, no need to spend more time at another site! CF isn't as bad as others make it out to be, it's just a group of posters there that make it a mission to annoy and refute anything good said about Lin. As Kenoshi says, Lin is slowing winning over people there.
@livyrlife Good one, that makes total sense!
@JK 100% agree. Torocan posts are crazy good. That guy needs his own column/show or YT channel like Coach Nick.
When Lin was on the Knicks there was a similar "Jeremy Lin is a Joke" thread on RealGM. Unfortunately that's just the way it is for Lin. Warriors messageboards had similar threads.
Torocan's writing style resembles one of my favorite posters here. If you pay enough attention to the comments here, you would be able to identify him quite easily :)
@HY, i'm afraid I can't reveal anything as Torocan has a different screen name here(privacy, personal security, whatever reasons). But if you read today game's threads, you can see him/her posting a no of comments(short ones though).
Can you post the game result on the thread subject line with Lin's number? I only want good games of Lin's, so it saves me time to try to find out elsewhere.
As much as I can understand your rationale, I would actually recommend for you to watch the "bad" games as well. In the end, stats don't show you all the components of a game. For example, Lin's defensive prowess is almost always under-represented in the stat figures. As well, if you're there for the downs, the ups feel much, MUCH, better.
Also, if you're more vocal on forums, it helps to arm yourself with real stats from a game where public perception is that Lin did poorly, but the real dynamic/man-to-man stats show otherwise.
I know I am rare. When I am depressed (when you all saying Lin had a bad game), I went back to watch Linsanity games, haha, that pulls me out of depression. And by now I still didn't watch a the Heat vs knicks game last Feb.
This game thread including pre, 1st hlf , 2nd half and so far 6 post game comments now totals to 511 posts.i couldnt believe the enthusiasm of jeremy fans.it's good jeremy doesnt read this( maybe he does) or else he will go nuts.
Nice win for the Rockets tonight over a quality opponent. JLin had another very good game and almost got a double-double. Like last night, Harden didn't dominate the ball and was a willing passer which allowed Lin, Douglas and the rest of the team to contribute. Jeremy also hit a couple of 3s which is great to see. I think the bigs were the difference in the game though with Jeremy, Parsons, and even Harden feeding them for easy points.
But man, JLin wasn't getting very many calls. He got wacked really hard going to the basket a couple times toward the end and didn't get a call. And that charge he picked up on CJ Watson was an awful call.
Jeremy had a bad turnover night though. But these bad TO games are more the exception than the norm lately. He did have trouble guarding Williams in the 1st half. So did Douglas. It was a good move to put Delfino and Parsons on Williams later in the game.
And in other news, my Bulls lost to an awful Washington team. Just when I thought we were finally gonna win 4 in a row. Sigh. Oh well, at least the Pacers also lost tonight.
Also, what mitigates the seemingly excessive, by tally alone, number of TOs are the scenarios behind some of them.
There were: - 2 from long passes that got intercepted, which I think are genuine TOs - 2 from passes to Asik, which bounced out of his hands - one was a bounce, knee area pass, another was a chest-level pass; Asik had no problems catching these later in the game, so I'm going to blame these 50/50 on Lin and Asik (Lin for making passes to butterfingers, Asik for having butterfingers) - 1 from a long pass to Morris, which he could and should have caught if he ran fast enough; he touched it with a hand - 1 from a poor call - clearly wasn't a charge, but ruled as such; would have actually resulted in points or free throws
I saw the 2 long passes that got intercepted. Both were on Jeremy
Jeremy also tried to feed the post in the 4Q and it got blocked and stolen by whomever was guarding Jeremy at the time. That's on Jeremy.
Terrible call on the charge was definitely not on Jeremy.
I didn't see the long pass to Morris. I must have been away from my computer.
Although I didn't see them, I'm sure the passes to Asik were Asik fumbles because that's what he does. I'm guessing at least one counted as an Asik turnover.
I didn't think any of the TO's were careless ones. He is an aggressive play maker and that is what I like about him.
What I would like to see is the quick bounce pass to the roll man off the pnr. I saw a few plays JLin missing those plays. Harden is pretty good with those bounce passes off the pnr. I am sure JLin can do the same thing if he is more aware the availability of that pass.
The 1 of the 2 long passes that were intercepted was a careless turnover. He threw it into a crowd and any one of three Nets players could have intercepted that one. He had a man open on the 2nd long pass and just underthrew it.
Although there is some risk involved and you can say he was over aggressive, I wouldn't call them careless. Imo a careless pass for example is an entry pass into the post which is intercepted by the guard.
Right, pocket passes! That's the name. I have seen JLin do it before, but perhaps he's worried about guys intercepting it. Or it might be that when he does turn around off the pick to angle himself to make that pass, the opening required for that pocket pass has already closed. When I see Harden do it, he always seems to be angled to make that pass even when he is coming off the pick so that when the opening does open up for a moment, he can deliver the pass right away.
Having said that, those pocket passes may be high risk passes if not well familiarised with. I am already really happy with JLin's driving and dishing. And especially the no-look off the fast break and penetration!
I actually would like to see JLin do more pocket passes in PNR because it's deceptive. Also, baseball passes to the interior. These are all hard passes to make and catches the defense off guard. If JLin wants to increase his assists, he should up his passing repertoire. JLin already has great no look and fastbreak bounce passes.
@wilc I didn't know what they were called (let alone what they were!) until this season when Harden was doing them and the announcers were pointing it out regularly. And plus we've all seen Uncle Drew do the pocket pass, lol!
Interesting that we are talking about this because while re-watching last night's highlights I noticed that Lin himself had some pocket pass fun, too! I don't think it was pointed out by the commentators though.
Lin probably does it more than we realize. I think it could be a dangerous pass if you do it too much and the defense looks for it, or if you're trying to thread the needle and pass through 2 defenders that are really close to each other. The trick is to add the "no look element" to it like what Harden does very well.
... MTV: So was he able to have a sort of enlightened approach to it all?
Leong: He's really at an enlightened stage these days. When people say racist stuff, he laughs. It doesn't bother him to the degree of anything anymore. I'd probably get pretty mad, but it doesn't bother him anymore. There's far bigger things that he has to worry about in his life, and again, he's become that high. You're always going to have haters, and they're always going to be the ones that say stuff. ...
I said before the game that Lin was going to have a decent game and Rockets would win if Patterson and Asik control the post.
A couple of other things I liked about this game is that McHale controlled the minutes of the players. Lin stats might not be impressive but when the lead was going down he would increase it again.
Ball movement was great, a lot better than yesterday and just a couple of Harden ISOs. Fun game to watch.
Also, McHale us putting players in their original position. Specially Delfino playing only SG and I find that really good.
Hope McHale keeps it up. He is looking like an actual coach. Still not 100% sold on him. I'm probably 50/50 right now.
Would like to tap into your brain juice - how did you "predict" accurately the results/Lin performance of two games in a roll? I had a very bad feeling about the last Mil game and i watched in horror Lin's collision with Larry Sander and got his head hurt...
lol I have no idea. It just looking overall into what's going on and who they are playing against etc... Yesterday's game was just because I saw Jeremy happy in the interview and I thought that the only reason he would be happy it was probably because when they looked at the december tapes they would see how Jeremy was controlling more the offense. So I just assumed with all the rumors that McHale would use him. Tonight was just a feeling. I know Williams hates Lin, so I knew that was not going to be an easy matchup for Lin. And Brooklyn has Lopez and Humphries so I just thought that this game was going to be decided in the paint and who can get rebounds.
- Rox rotation today was much better. Except for Parsons none of the starters went over 34 minutes. They are also giving Harden and Lin time apart, just like during the winning streak. I was puzzled at Asik leaving at the 5min mark in 4Q but I guess it made sense, they didn't want Asik out of gas in the last 2 minutes, like what usually happens, good move.
- JLin playing PG. Paid huge dividends. Delfino found his spots and was hitting 3s, Parsons cut more, Harden exploited gaps easier when Lin was drawing defenders. And team TOs went WAY down. Lin picked up 6 but overall team picked up 12, down 3-4 from their average. On the downside it was hack-a-lin tonight, I saw 2 obvious non-calls, maybe more.
- Asik came out to play, I think Patterson "inspired" him to do better. Exploited Lopez all game, and made some big plays in the paint. Although he dropped 2 from Lin, he finished I think 4 from Lin in return. I feel ashamed, Lin's trust in his teammate paid off and is what will make Rox strong
- Smith playing aggressive and held up the court well in Asik's absence. Some good post plays rounded out his efforts today.
- Big night for Parsons, some good cuts and good defense on DWill after McHale switched Lin on someone else after the disasterous 1Q.
- Everyone moved the ball including Harden. We really need to see this more often.
- McHale and coaching team making adjustments, I about died of shock.
The team just feels more upbeat and kept the lead whole game just like last night. 4Q when Harden pulled off that sick reverse you saw shoulder bumps, haven't saw that for a LONG LONG TIME.
Rox played well against two teams without strong inside D. The question now is whether they can do the same thing against teams with athletic shot blockers. And although the NOH game was an away game, Rox also has to show they can win consistently away from home.
Kenoshi and jp: I liked how Harden was out early in Q4, and they brought him in to close with about 7m left. This gave him a lot of energy to close, and that circus shot from the right AND 1 took some energy. Even better, I liked when Haden was out and just Lin, I had the confidence that the Nets would not close the gap. When JLin is not in, it always feels fragile.
Still, I wish the Rockets can close a little earlier on these runaway games to give more bench minutes for real play rather than just run the clock down.
kenoshi, i died too. Lin actually played PG tonight, even more so than the last game against the pelicans.
I missed the 1st qtr with deron going 6/7. I didn't think Parsons D was that great on Dwill the other qtrs though...i watched pretty closely. Did I miss something?
The biggest adjustment is that they're simply playing better now--showing vids of how well they played in the past by McHale and Pat being vocal and bringing the issues to the forefront really woke them up I think. Playing the way they're suppose to. Playing the way they had been playing during the winning streak. Sometimes it's just that simple.
It finally looks like the Rockets know how to play in the half court without Harden dominating the ball too much. That allowed Jeremy to run the offense more and the frontcourt to have a great game. Saw a lot of pick and roll tonight and that's a good thing for Jeremy's game. I was surprised to see Asik catch some passes and make some nice moves down low. Let's hope he keeps it up because that will help open up Jeremy's game a lot.
sadly I missed the game, but will just watch replay/highlights :(
to quote:
Long Lam Looks like we got our mojo back! #schwaaaa #RedNation
Jonathan Feigen Not surprised a kid just starting out in NBA like Deron Williams would refuse to comment post-game. Wait. What? He's in 8th season?!? Weak.
Howard Chen Nice thievery by Lin. And the finish. It's hard to stop Lin in the open court. #RedNation
They really need to do something about this home court commentary. I posted this in the previous thread, but it was lost on the poster.
Differences in comments for players:
1) Passing "Another pass to the center at his knees, we've said over and over, don't pass to a center at his knees - on JLin making a knee pass to Asik at 9:50 - Q1
No comment on JLin Passing to Asik's chest at 7:33 - Q1
"Now that's how you give it to him" Bill on Harden passing to Asik - the exact same spot that Jeremy passed it to 20 seconds earlier where 0 comment was made - 7:13
This is the diminishing, one-sided play calling I dislike, and infuriated me in the beginning.
2) Guarding: "You can't leave him open like that. You have to guard him on the pick" - on JLin going under the screen with Williams scoring at 9:00 - Q1. If you go back into the game in Leaguepass, you can see the number of times other players go under the pick, without reprimand from Bill/Clyde.
"Well Williams is the only guy to score for Jersey, so why don't we cover him this time" - comment made at 6:51 - Q1. Just another jab at JLin about not covering Williams. Later, these comments become "Williams is really good at making these shots." No chastising of play from Rox.
"That's what Toney douglas does. He comes out and he DEFENDS Point Guards (what a jabby mc.jab)." - Clyde. "Douglas is a bit more physical than Lin," Bill tries to demonstrate impartiality here "Yeah and he's a lot quicker as well, as a defender" - amazing, unbiased finish from Clyde. - on Douglas subbing in at 4:10 - Q1. These are jabs at Lin for "failing" Failing to cover Williams, despite limiting Wiliams to 9 points in all 7:40 of Q1, while Douglas/others let 11 in in 4:20 in Q1. This kind of pattern of defense effectiveness was seen in most previous games. The latest was in Denver (I believe), where JLin kept his shooter to 5 of 10, 11 points in 33 minutes, while Douglas and Beverly let the PG shoot 4 of 5 in 15.
They done it down in the 2nd and 3rd, and become a lot more objective.
Thanks for this 'data'. Helps to know the subliminal influences we are faced with while watching. It's good to have these down in black and white. I always liked Walt Frazier - his voiceover at the Garden was a signature of Linsanity for me. "Posting and Toasting" as Lin passed to Jeffries, and of course, that Garden music as JLin probed and took on DWill to close out that first 2/4 game ... uh huh, hey hey! You know the one, where he took 2 hard probes on DWill, called for Chandler to come pick, and split the defense blowing by DWill. 2:14 left 92-86. DWIll and Humphries both on the ground, then the Melo/Lin kung fu bow. Slicing Dicing, Swooping and Hooping.
JK, I feel your pain and THANK YOU for putting this together. The announcers have a huge impact on fans, especially casual fans that don't watch every rockets game. When you here their subtle jabs at Lin, the fans hear that crap and they internalize it, believe it.
Bill was a huge Dragic fan, he was sad to see him go. Clyde just prefers Harden and wants Harden to be the primary playmaker and scorer...he's gotten into an on air disagreement with calvin murphy on this.
bill/clyde don't criticize the other players nearly as much as they do Lin. They really only shit on Lin, Asik, Ppat, and Morris. They like or are indifferent to everyone else. They have confirmation bias and suck. I'd rather watch the other team's announcers than our own..
Yea, the rockets announcers are slow to praise Lin. Not one mention of his stellar play yesterday. Instead, they mention his poor 3 point shooting, poor defense, bad passes, etc.
With Clyde, I think he sees himself in Harden, so, that's why he thinks Harden should be the man.
People should email these guys and get on them for their bias.
I think commentators that appreciate good basketball can put aside their biases, while some commentators cannot. Frankly, I think Bill and Clyde are "biased" (to put it diplomatically)--they overlook the good things about Lin, harp on what they perceive as bad things, hold him to a different set of standards, and don't want him to succeed--basically an "anybody but Lin" mentality.
You are all summing up the exact same kind of slanted treatment I'm referring to. It's gotten to the point where I have a love/hate relationship with Home games. I.e. contrast yesterday's game with Friday's, and just listen to commentary. I would say Lin performed just as well in both games, but you wouldn't think so from the commentary.
JLin had 6 TOs tonight is just fine with me. He was mainly control the ball all night. You see, it's only 3 more TOs than his average. But, the team's TO was down 50% from 22 to 11. 11 - 3 = 8 is the margin for TO. Result, team won by 13 points. McHale, that's simple math calculation. Please keep that going on rest of season.
I think what bothered me was JLin's perimeter D on spot up shooters. I don't mind him helping out on D when he is on the strong side helping stop the drive. That to me is good team D. What bothers me is when the ball is on the strong side and JLin is defending the weak side corner, he still wanders too far away from the corner shooter. When the ball swings cross court, he often cannot close out in time. There is no need to help out in those situations because when he is on the weak side, he isn't really needed to stop the dribble penetration.
I'm worried about the coaching staff using the TO's as a reason. That's what happened the last time JLin had 6 TO's. The next couple of weeks JLin was playing off ball floor spacer SG. It was brutal.
More turnovers for Jeremy = Less overall turnovers for the Rockets AS A TEAM. Because 1 person is running the offense, instead of 6-7 guys taking turns running the offense and turning it over 3 times each.
Very good points guys. We'll see if coaches learn anything from the last 2 wins as well as the losing streak. I'm going to go nuts if they go back to the same 'ol same 'ol, though I wouldn't be very surprised either.
I would say there are good turnovers and bad turnovers. A couple Asik couldn't handle the ball. Two were for fast breaks. So Lin maybe had 2 bad turnovers. That's fine with me.
jp, i guess that's a good way to look at it. For me, all TOs are bad, the degree of how bad is just a matter of when it occurs and how often you make the same TOs.
One thing for sure is that the long or lob passes JLin and company attempts are clearly on the radar as one of the staple passes for the Roxs style of play. JLin has two choices from this point forward. Either the player he's passing it to has a clear two or three steps advantage, you don't pass it at all. This is not football, you can't attempt a long/lob pass and hope the player catches the ball and fall into the end zone--obviously bball players have to gather themselves after catching it and still manage to work their way to the hoop. Second, practice the long pass alley oops, but this requires good timing and a lot of practice, unless you're Lebron James or Dwayne Wade on the receiving end. Additionally, this requires the player to run wide and not in a straight line down the middle of the court.
The JLin turnovers to Asik are clearly on Asik. I would actually put some blame on JLin on this one though. I understand you need to pound the paint to open up the perimeter, but if Asik is not catching the balls, there's really not much you can do. Just don't pass it to Asik in PNR when it's in close quarters. JLin should recognize that it's not Asik-spaced properly and back out immediately from the PNR if JLin doesn't see an opportunity for himself to score. Asik clearly doesn't have the coordination, YET? Delete
The stupid turnover issue only ever became an issue was because people needed something to criticize Lin for last year.
THe way to think of turnovers, especially for point guards/primary ball handlers, is NOT how many individual turnovers he has, but, how many turnovers the team has as a whole. I'd love to see stats on team turnovers when Lin runs the team versus when Harden or TD runs the team.
Interesting, he considers DWill to be top 2-3 in the league. Talks about Linsanity movie. He and other Rox players will attend the final screening of Linsanity at Sundance, since they will be in Utah to play Jazz anyway. Perfect timing! Lucky audience members that get to watch the movie with him! How I'd love to have a ticket to that! Hope he plays well and Rox win, otherwise it will be rather awkward at that event afterwards! I'm assuming it will be after the game anyway. If anything, I hope seeing himself on the bigscreen during Linsanity will remind himself that he is the man everyone knows him to be.
Lin on DWill - he was just being diplomatic, and historically DWill has been in top 3 discussions. But in the last two years, I think he no longer is in anyone's top 3. Maybe top 3 in the East with DRose still injured. With the way Holliday and Irving are playing, maybe top 4 behind them and Rondo.
Seeing Dwill play last night, the guy I think is the most talented point guard playing today; he's big, fast, quick, can score and shoot the three, and can be an assist machine. When he played in Utah, several seasons he averaged 10 assists a game, while averaging around 20 points.
But, for whatever reason, the individual parts of his game doesn't add up to a great point guard ala Chris Paul. I think what he lacks is a natural instinct in running an offense that Lin and CP3 have. THat might explain why he said he wished the Nets offense under avery johnson was more structured like it was under Sloan in Utah.
Yeah, unfortunately the Rockets couldn't capitalize on CP3 being out injured and playing on the road. Nuggets, Jazz, Blazers, are just better more experienced teams than the Rockets ... nothing wrong with that, that's just the way it is right now.
All I know is that when HOU plays Portland again, Lin better be on Lillard like rice. I don't care how good their bigs are, do not help anybody, stay on Lillard.
Other than the colors, the two aren't that similar. The Nets' jerseys are very plain, though more stylish because of their simplicity. I'm not sure if that makes any sense!
I love those, too! DWill actually had him contained and I think he eased off a bit because Evans was coming in to help defend, but he still blows past them both!!
By the way, I thought I read in one of the game threads that Lin had a huge block (similar to the one he did to Josh Smith). I don't see it in either highlights.
I guess they both missed it. The block happened so quickly I think even the commentators missed it. Hopefully Coffeetime will do highlights and catch it.
Oh shoot you're right, Coffeetime's channel is gone! That sucks! His highlights were my favorite because they would show how the whole play developed. I guess the NBA found them too long. :(
Stefan Bondy @NYDNInterNets And, finally, yesterday, I asked Deron Williams about Jeremy Lin: "I don't want to talk about Jeremy Lin." ....15 min. till tipoff.
Stefan Bondy @NYDNInterNets Also, at the height of Linsanity last season, Deron Williams asks, What phenomenon?
I know DWill is bitter because of Lisanity, but don't know he is THAT bitter.
And our boy praised DWill to be top 2-3 PG in the league in post game interview, how classy JLin is! Make me wonder even more what the reason the haters/doubters have to hate/doubt JLin. SMH.
After he got "revenge" on Jeremy by dropping 38 (on jumpers), he still told reporters that Jeremy had a "great game" (JL had 21p/9a/7r/4s despite poor FG%).
He just has a bad attitude and turns cry-baby after losses. I don't think he has anything against Jeremy...unlike some players.
Deron's got a bad attitude because he's being criticized for getting a second coach fired. But, overall, he's kind of a surly guy. He should got back to Turkey and play, where he got all the love and can do whatever he wants on the court.
The Ultimate Rockets recap is all about how Harden saved the day. No joke.
"With Brooklyn within 10 with five minutes left, Harden happened."
LOL@Feigan. Who BUILT that 10-point lead to begin with??? It was Lin running the offense and playing great help defense who was most responsible. Harden, at best, iced the game (probably not even that from the way the team was playing).
I think these journalists in Houston are all being paid by Houston Rocket organization to promote Harden, I think all of them are pseudo journalists at best.
No, NBA gameday also focused on Harden, no mention of Lin's play.
Lin was the real MVP of the game, yet, what he does is invisible to the naked eye, even to the eyes of so called experts. Efficient running of the offense just doesn't make for great ESPN hi-lights. But, Kyrie putting up 30 and hitting the game winner, now, that people can wrap their mind around.
Did anyone see the hilight of the Kyrie Irving game winning shot against Toronto? It was EERILY similar to JLin's iconic shot last year during the height of Linsanity.
No one expected JLin's popularity to retain a good percentage of its momentum after Linsanity. The fact that he almost overtook (btw I think in reality he did, I'm saying vote is fixed) CP3 and has 2x the vote than Harden says a lot.
I don't wanna go down the conspiracy theory route, but I wouldn't be surprised if NBA is actively trying to downplay Lin. I'm sorry, other than Jordan, no one else except Lin is a household name in Asia. There are other forces at work, Lin is the polar opposite of what NBA has become, and I don't doubt if there are hardliners within NBA that doesn't like it (*ahm* CAA anyone?).
But you constantly have coaches and star players affirming Lin's skills, because they can "see through all that Maybelline" and know Lin is for real and is the engine of any team he plays on.
I think Rox will come around sooner or later, they can use "he is young" excuse only for so long, Lin is legit, they need to recognize.
Douglas regains backup role Guard Toney Douglas regained his spot as the backup point guard behind Jeremy Lin, but even when Patrick Beverley was the first guard off the bench for several games, Douglas never believed he had lost the job.
“I don’t feel I ever lost it. It was just a decision coach made,” Douglas said. “That’s how I totally, totally feel. I talked to coach. He said he just wanted to try something different. He told me I’ve been doing good, have been good for this team. It was nothing I did. It was just a decision (he) made.”
Douglas played 14 minutes in each of the previous two games prior to Saturday’s when he had six points in 12 minutes.
“It was all about being ready,” he said. “I just wanted to come out, bring energy, play defense, shoot when I’m open. I know I can help this team when I was on the floor.”
Translation: I thought beverley was better because he hit some 3s but apparently he sucks just as bad as you and lin at being hardens bitch so you get your job back
The Nets and Rockets have different styles, with the Rockets the league’s top team in pace and the Nets last. But Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo described the Rockets’ style as perfect for their personnel, and then some.
“They’re very exciting,” Carlesimo said. “I don’t like playing against them. I like watching them play. They’re a real entertaining team to watch. I think their concepts are great for their personnel.”
For sure. A read and react type offense is definitely right for the Rockets personnel. It's not complex and doesn't require implementing difficult movements. So when we hear Mchale talk about "moving bodies" that's essentially what he's talking about.
This has been reported from the NYPost by Tim Bontemps (Good Times) and the title is McHale, Rockets Loving Lin.
Here is what McHale said about Lin:
“In anybody’s career, you spend time playing on the ceiling and playing on the floor, where in reality where you’re at is somewhere in between there,” the Rockets coach said of Lin, who had 14 points, nine assists and five rebounds in last night’s 119-106 win over the Nets. “You saw somebody playing on the ceiling, and that’s not realistic. I think sometimes that follows him a little bit too much. ... I think he’s doing a good job for a young guy.
In McHale's own mind, he doesn't believe Lin can be great or play close to his ceiling. I think this is a backhanded compliment to Lin because McHale is forced to play Lin in these past two games where they won. He was forced to play his 25M PG and let him play pg because it was either that or he would lose his job. He gives Lin a backhanded compliment but praises D-Will like crazy. Notice that he said I think he's doing a good job for a young guy. When you say I think means you are uncertain. When you say He's doing a good job for a young guy it sounds more assertive and certain. I don't like McHale at all. Although, he was at least clapping and happy from Baiyan highlights every time Lin scored or gave out dimes. You guys should take a look at bench reaction and Rockets fans reaction during these highlights to sense how they really feel about a certain player or a certain play.
I don't see that as an attack on Jeremy Lin. Given that Lin is really just in his second year in the NBA, it's not fair to hold him to Linsanity expectations or say he's a bust because of occasional "bad" games. I think Lin is going to be a solid player in between those two extremes, but we won't know for sure until years down the road. But he's playing well beyond what can be expected for a young, undrafted point guard.
Now, I do have a problem with McHale not playing Lin as the point guard, which is hindering his development... Manu Ginóbili needs to send McHale and Sampson a year's supply of his "special" sausages.
It wasn't an attack, but, McHale still doesn't seem to understand what he has in Lin. Just let him play the point like the last two games, and hopefully the truth will be unveiled to him.
It's obvious as day that McHell is expendable but Jeremy is not. Calling Lin a young guy is a diplomatic way of saying he's the glue on the team and is not Jeremy.
Mchale is still trying to be right in his own mind about lin. I think Mchale was put on notice by upper management by his unfair treatment of Lin. I think @Etane is right when he said that Mchale knows he is expendable and Lin is not.I think benching Lin last time, got upper management's attention on what were Mchale's true motives of somebody they are paying 25 million dollars
I think it just shows McHale thinks Lin can continue to grow until he can be consistent at Linsanity levels.
I think he is trying to develop Lin into HIS kind of PG, which is really a combo guard. Its not necessarily a bad thing, Lin can use some improvement in his spot up shooting and like I keep saying in the past you have to practice open shots on the court, and McHale is letting him do that, but to transform Lin AND underutilizing his skills WHILE playing rest of the team out of position when 3 of 5 starters NEVER PLAYED TOGETHER BEFORE is nuts for a young team.
Let Lin push the pace and control the offensive flow, Harden can continue to be the #1 scoring option, heck even Parsons can still be #2, I don't think Lin cares. But let Lin be the floor general, and he'll make sure the team hustles, and in turn push high pace with lower TOs, and allow people like Harden/Delfino/Parsons to conserve more energy for offense by not having to play PG, while allowing them to exploit gaps created by Lin.
Also, part of the equation is that the TEAM isn't as good as Knicks was when Linsanity exploded on the scene. Lin didn't have:
1. a coach that let him drive in a system that caters to Lin's style, which I hope McHale has finally seen that 2. an all star center 3. good roleplayers in Landry/Shumpert/and others 4. good perimeter shooters in Novak and if streaky JR smith, though Delfino is starting to develop into one
Lin has years to develop into a combo guard. Lin doesn't have to become a "finished product" in regards to becoming a combo guard this year.
He should be more strategic when it comes to playing Lin out of position. I think McHell is being too impatient and unrealistic in this regard.
I do agree Lin needs to be able to shoot spot up jumpers. He can't rely on his fast first step forever. Age will deteriorate his first step as well as many other stars' first step. That's why lots of stars develop jumpers LATER in their career.
Yep etane totally agree McHale is being unrealistic in that regard. MSG is pretty intimidating like you said and imo that made Rox win in december that much sweeter :)
They're prolly like (speaking of Rox) "so this is what fans look like" and "wow lin has more fans here than our entire team fans put together in Houston! "
"He's no different than any of our guys. We are the youngest team in the league. We average less than two years' experience on our team and he fits right in there with those guys. It's nothing I haven't seen for 30-plus years in the NBA. Young guys are inconsistent, young guys are finding out their game. You do something well for two or three games, they take it away from you. Then you have to go to Plan B. It's a constant work and that's why veteran guys just come out and play the game a lot easier. They took this away, I go to that. They took that way, I go to this. You have all your counters built in. Right now, they are trying to figure out some of their counters, but he's been doing great."
Lin needs to shoot his midrange jumper more often to open up more lanes for him to drive.
When he does his patented "run underneath the basket around the baseline" move, instead of stopping his dribble, I would like to see him either shoot a quick fadeaway jumper or pump-fake to make the chasing defender jump into him to draw fouls.
When driving, he needs to do what Harden does--stick out his arms and/or go in extremely fast. If timed correctly and he varies the way he holds out the ball, any contact should draw a foul. This should reduce his blocked shot attempts (or at least get him to the foul line more often) or reduce the number of times he gets in too deep and trapped near the baseline with nowhere to go--forcing a bad pass or having the ball knocked out of his hands.
@Hong Zhu go on youtube and watch his Knicks games. Mid-range jumpers all day long. The problem in Houston is the stupid coaching idea that you should only take layups and 3s.
This what on clutchfanforum.com pretty good observation by this guy and also lot of food for thought.
Originally Posted by mike_lu Seems like a very civilized thread this game, so I'll post something here I've been thinking about for a while.
Many posters (including myself) have pointed out how the team tends to play better when Lin has higher TOs and the overall team assists, TOs, pace and scoring also seem to be better. And this seemed to be the case in NY last year as well (excluding the pace part, which wasn't an old banged up team in a lock-out season's strategy).
A lot of people think it's simply a matter of Lin's aggressiveness that leads to the higher TOs, but this aggressivenessis positive.
I actually think it's more than that.
Lin is very good at surveying the opponent's 'overall' defense. And he'll use screens or his quickness to get in the paint, even dribble across the lane, trying to look for something. What is it? Unless he gets an open lane to the rim (because he's not a great finisher at the rim, he shoots 60%+ there as a result of shot selection, not actual ability to finish with tough defense), he's looking for defense that is out of position.
Preferably it'll be a pass for an open 3 or shot at rim, but he's more than happy to dump it off when someone on D is out of position enough where a shoot or extra pass for an even better shot becomes an easy decision for the guy he passes it to. Usually the latter. So you see when Lin runs the offense as the PG/facilitator, the ball movement becomes crisper because there is usually only two thing to do when his teammate catches the pass, it is to put it up (or drive it) or swing it for a better shot as the D is already out of position.
Contrast this to Harden, who is a great passing SG and as good if not better than Lin in drawing the defense to pass for a 'direct' shot. Harden holds the ball for way too long and his then straight line penetration leads to help defense, but of a defense that has to constantly defend players that are constantly moving to different spots on the floor, and Lin's constant weaving through traffic.
So Harden's pass out are usually one-and-done affairs, but because much of the clock had been used up and the defense better set, when the pass arrives. If the spacing or D isn't out of position, the offense has to create by themselves and it gets ugly for Parsons, Delfino, Douglas and our PFs trying to create by themselves without getting a step on the D (or the D being out of position).
Actually, ugly is probably too strong of a word. Just less effective and more TO prone. And for Lin also, because he needs time and space to do his work, and he is a pretty poor spot-up shooter.
So what I'm saying is Lin is taking away the difficult decisions his teammates have to make in a game by really directing the offense and giving his teammates an easier decision when they get the ball - shoot with space, drive with a defender out of position or on a close-out, or swing to another teammate for a better shot. That is why while Lin's assists may not be high each game consistently, his TOs high, but the team assists and TOs better when he plays PG.
Harden on the other hand uses up too much shot clock, the D is better set, and typically makes more direct to a shot passes than Lin.
That's why the coaches continue to emphasize moving the ball side to side, and not getting sticky with it. They just don't realize you need a real PG to do it.
In this respect, you can contrast Boston's Rondo vs Lin. Rondo will have all the assists, but Boston's team offense and assists are no where near the Rockets when we play Lin as PG.
Hehe his comments about Lin are exactly what people have been saying all along while he played for the Knicks, I like his observation about Harden and the comparative differences tho, he is putting into words what I've been thinking and annoyed about with Harden.
But props to him for pointing this out on Clutchfans, too many times the LoFs and LoHs go at each other that the obvious fact is lost in the noise.
Yeah, great analysis of Lin's value to Rockets. But the team is desperately in need of a strong PF so that Lin (and Harden) can sometimes dish off for an almost guaranteed basket to a low-poster. This is an important part of a team's offence.
Other teams have Lopez, Durant and Bryant etc who attract 2 defenders otherwise the defending team will be punished. The Rockets instead have a low poster who will either fumble a beautiful pass , get stripped or throw up a hail Mary. Without this final piece, Rockets are doubtful to make the finals and make progress once they get there.
He could also be saying that Houston's playbook under McHell's iso ball wasn't taking advantage of the team's youth and speed.
“I thought we were definitely the faster team out there,” Lin said. “I think we’re younger and play with more pace. (The Nets) are pretty far down in the pace rankings because they do a lot of isolations and post-ups.”
I wonder whether McHell and Calvin Morris had a one to one talk around the time of Calvin's interview. Surely, McHell would defer to Calvin who is also an old school HOF?
awesome win for lin and team, congrats and keep up the good work
ReplyDeleteIt is funny that no one is talking when Rox won....Liked today's game overall for JLin...
ReplyDeletehaha, no one where? There are two full pages of game chatter. Like criticism of Lin here or on ClutchFans?
DeleteThere were a couple of lazy passes from Lin, but I'd say 3 of the TOs were completely on others. 2 from passes Asik and Morris should have caught. 1 from a completely erroneous charge call that should have been a point/free throws.
Like eb5attorney, I also believe Lin needs to shoot more - gotta practice your jumpers some time.
Wait, to clarify, I think he needs to shoot more overall. I think he shot a really good amount today. Should keep it to 15 max if teammates are doing well.
DeleteSomeone mentioned before how some old school Clutchfans members who hated Lin started liking him instead (Nook), here's what he said today:
ReplyDeleteRox performance today
I agree :)
JLin is winning doubters over.
YES, I'm not sure if I said that here, but I've noticed the EXACT same effect.
DeleteNook used to be one of the more outspoken doubters. I recognize his name because of the level of intellegence with which he tackled the subject, as opposed to Dei, King1, or the other ignorant posters.
Yes, I noticed Nook was taking on some trolls and LOHs lately. It was getting bad over there. I usually read this first, then head over there for the fun stuff like the most recent photo captions and the odd Torocan post.
DeleteUgh, I can't stand Dei. There is just no reasoning with that guy. torocan and others waste so much time responding to that guy, sometimes I just want to sign up just to tell them to save themselves so grief and ignore him.
DeleteIf I were a girl BBall fan, Torocan would literally make me moist down in my nethers. His ability to discern real stats from nonsense is impeccable.
DeleteDon't sign up! Don't support clutch fans.
DeleteI have suppressed all urges to sign up. Clutch is a fuckbag. I don't understand why "Jeremy Lin is a Joke" isn't closed yet.
DeleteOn the other hand, the "James Harden is not a viable #1" also isn't closed. However, there is more merit to this statement, as it wasn't clear what #1 means - scoring? making plays? etc. I think we can agree that Harden might be the top scorer/ISO 1 on 1 man, but I think it's debatable who has the biggest impact on wins/losses.
Maybe Dei is a strong supporter of Mater Dei which got knocked out by Lin for the Cali bball title in 2006 - hatred harbored since then...
DeleteI realized I didn't provide enough support in the above assertion that JLin has a greater impact on wins/losses than Harden.
DeleteI think Harden, without JLin making plays and handling the PG role, was still achieving extremely high stats (9 games prior to the past two wins). Harden is getting those stats now. What's the difference? Compare this to the Dec stretch, whence the team was on a hot streak, what was the difference?
These numbers aren't statistically significant enough for any conclusive arguments, but they justify questioning the overall impact of players.
@k.smith
DeleteHaha, don't worry, I doubt I will ever sign up on CF. In fact I try not to visit it that often because I just see too many posts that make me angry and I already spend too much time here, no need to spend more time at another site! CF isn't as bad as others make it out to be, it's just a group of posters there that make it a mission to annoy and refute anything good said about Lin. As Kenoshi says, Lin is slowing winning over people there.
@livyrlife
Good one, that makes total sense!
@JK
100% agree. Torocan posts are crazy good. That guy needs his own column/show or YT channel like Coach Nick.
When Lin was on the Knicks there was a similar "Jeremy Lin is a Joke" thread on RealGM. Unfortunately that's just the way it is for Lin. Warriors messageboards had similar threads.
Torocan is good at statistics. It would be great if he can sign up on this board so that we can discuss some statistical issues with the NBA games.
DeleteTorocan's writing style resembles one of my favorite posters here. If you pay enough attention to the comments here, you would be able to identify him quite easily :)
DeleteI don't check on CF any more, and have never read Torocan's comments, but could you tell me who in this site this person may be?
Delete@HY, i'm afraid I can't reveal anything as Torocan has a different screen name here(privacy, personal security, whatever reasons). But if you read today game's threads, you can see him/her posting a no of comments(short ones though).
DeleteCan you post the game result on the thread subject line with Lin's number? I only want good games of Lin's, so it saves me time to try to find out elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I can understand your rationale, I would actually recommend for you to watch the "bad" games as well. In the end, stats don't show you all the components of a game. For example, Lin's defensive prowess is almost always under-represented in the stat figures. As well, if you're there for the downs, the ups feel much, MUCH, better.
DeleteAlso, if you're more vocal on forums, it helps to arm yourself with real stats from a game where public perception is that Lin did poorly, but the real dynamic/man-to-man stats show otherwise.
DeleteI know I am rare. When I am depressed (when you all saying Lin had a bad game), I went back to watch Linsanity games, haha, that pulls me out of depression. And by now I still didn't watch a the Heat vs knicks game last Feb.
DeleteIf you just want the score only, just Google it yourself or bookmark the Rockets website.
DeleteLFO: Where do you watch the old games? They too all the HD ones from China off youtube. I'd love to rewatch some of those games.
DeleteI can only search youtube, noticed full game was gone, I watch highlight then. that is good enough for me.
DeleteI have a feeling Lin will end the season averaging 15 pts and 8 assists.
ReplyDeletei wish. that mean, he's gotta score like 16.5pts and and 9asst game to average 15/8.
DeleteI have a feeling Lin will end the season averaging 15 pts and 8 assists.
ReplyDeleteThis game thread including pre, 1st hlf , 2nd half and so far 6 post game comments now totals to 511 posts.i couldnt believe the enthusiasm of jeremy fans.it's good jeremy doesnt read this( maybe he does) or else he will go nuts.
ReplyDeleteNice win for the Rockets tonight over a quality opponent. JLin had another very good game and almost got a double-double. Like last night, Harden didn't dominate the ball and was a willing passer which allowed Lin, Douglas and the rest of the team to contribute. Jeremy also hit a couple of 3s which is great to see. I think the bigs were the difference in the game though with Jeremy, Parsons, and even Harden feeding them for easy points.
ReplyDeleteBut man, JLin wasn't getting very many calls. He got wacked really hard going to the basket a couple times toward the end and didn't get a call. And that charge he picked up on CJ Watson was an awful call.
Jeremy had a bad turnover night though. But these bad TO games are more the exception than the norm lately. He did have trouble guarding Williams in the 1st half. So did Douglas. It was a good move to put Delfino and Parsons on Williams later in the game.
And in other news, my Bulls lost to an awful Washington team. Just when I thought we were finally gonna win 4 in a row. Sigh. Oh well, at least the Pacers also lost tonight.
Also, what mitigates the seemingly excessive, by tally alone, number of TOs are the scenarios behind some of them.
DeleteThere were:
- 2 from long passes that got intercepted, which I think are genuine TOs
- 2 from passes to Asik, which bounced out of his hands - one was a bounce, knee area pass, another was a chest-level pass; Asik had no problems catching these later in the game, so I'm going to blame these 50/50 on Lin and Asik (Lin for making passes to butterfingers, Asik for having butterfingers)
- 1 from a long pass to Morris, which he could and should have caught if he ran fast enough; he touched it with a hand
- 1 from a poor call - clearly wasn't a charge, but ruled as such; would have actually resulted in points or free throws
I saw the 2 long passes that got intercepted. Both were on Jeremy
DeleteJeremy also tried to feed the post in the 4Q and it got blocked and stolen by whomever was guarding Jeremy at the time. That's on Jeremy.
Terrible call on the charge was definitely not on Jeremy.
I didn't see the long pass to Morris. I must have been away from my computer.
Although I didn't see them, I'm sure the passes to Asik were Asik fumbles because that's what he does. I'm guessing at least one counted as an Asik turnover.
I didn't see the 4Q feed either.
DeleteBy my count previously, I'd give him 3. Including the one in the 4th, I'd say 4 in total.
I can't count the one on Morris, at least 1 of the 2 on Asik, and the charge.
I didn't think any of the TO's were careless ones. He is an aggressive play maker and that is what I like about him.
DeleteWhat I would like to see is the quick bounce pass to the roll man off the pnr. I saw a few plays JLin missing those plays. Harden is pretty good with those bounce passes off the pnr. I am sure JLin can do the same thing if he is more aware the availability of that pass.
The 1 of the 2 long passes that were intercepted was a careless turnover. He threw it into a crowd and any one of three Nets players could have intercepted that one. He had a man open on the 2nd long pass and just underthrew it.
DeleteAlthough there is some risk involved and you can say he was over aggressive, I wouldn't call them careless. Imo a careless pass for example is an entry pass into the post which is intercepted by the guard.
Delete@wilc
DeleteLove Harden's pocket passes, those are so good. Combine with Jeremy's no-look passes make for fun games!
@888
DeleteRight, pocket passes! That's the name. I have seen JLin do it before, but perhaps he's worried about guys intercepting it. Or it might be that when he does turn around off the pick to angle himself to make that pass, the opening required for that pocket pass has already closed. When I see Harden do it, he always seems to be angled to make that pass even when he is coming off the pick so that when the opening does open up for a moment, he can deliver the pass right away.
Having said that, those pocket passes may be high risk passes if not well familiarised with. I am already really happy with JLin's driving and dishing. And especially the no-look off the fast break and penetration!
I actually would like to see JLin do more pocket passes in PNR because it's deceptive. Also, baseball passes to the interior. These are all hard passes to make and catches the defense off guard. If JLin wants to increase his assists, he should up his passing repertoire. JLin already has great no look and fastbreak bounce passes.
DeleteI meant to say if JLin wants to increase his assists even more.
Delete@wilc
DeleteI didn't know what they were called (let alone what they were!) until this season when Harden was doing them and the announcers were pointing it out regularly. And plus we've all seen Uncle Drew do the pocket pass, lol!
Interesting that we are talking about this because while re-watching last night's highlights I noticed that Lin himself had some pocket pass fun, too! I don't think it was pointed out by the commentators though.
Lin pocket pass to Asik
Lin probably does it more than we realize. I think it could be a dangerous pass if you do it too much and the defense looks for it, or if you're trying to thread the needle and pass through 2 defenders that are really close to each other. The trick is to add the "no look element" to it like what Harden does very well.
A worthwhile reading ...
ReplyDeleteJeremy Lin Schools His NBA Haters In 'Linsanity' Doc
Director Evan Jackson Leong tells MTV News he 'wanted to show the evolution' of how Lin dealt with racism.
...
DeleteMTV: So was he able to have a sort of enlightened approach to it all?
Leong: He's really at an enlightened stage these days. When people say racist stuff, he laughs. It doesn't bother him to the degree of anything anymore. I'd probably get pretty mad, but it doesn't bother him anymore. There's far bigger things that he has to worry about in his life, and again, he's become that high. You're always going to have haters, and they're always going to be the ones that say stuff.
...
Nice read.
DeleteI said before the game that Lin was going to have a decent game and Rockets would win if Patterson and Asik control the post.
ReplyDeleteA couple of other things I liked about this game is that McHale controlled the minutes of the players. Lin stats might not be impressive but when the lead was going down he would increase it again.
Ball movement was great, a lot better than yesterday and just a couple of Harden ISOs. Fun game to watch.
Also, McHale us putting players in their original position. Specially Delfino playing only SG and I find that really good.
Hope McHale keeps it up. He is looking like an actual coach. Still not 100% sold on him. I'm probably 50/50 right now.
@jp2123,
DeleteWould like to tap into your brain juice - how did you "predict" accurately the results/Lin performance of two games in a roll? I had a very bad feeling about the last Mil game and i watched in horror Lin's collision with Larry Sander and got his head hurt...
lol I have no idea. It just looking overall into what's going on and who they are playing against etc... Yesterday's game was just because I saw Jeremy happy in the interview and I thought that the only reason he would be happy it was probably because when they looked at the december tapes they would see how Jeremy was controlling more the offense. So I just assumed with all the rumors that McHale would use him. Tonight was just a feeling. I know Williams hates Lin, so I knew that was not going to be an easy matchup for Lin. And Brooklyn has Lopez and Humphries so I just thought that this game was going to be decided in the paint and who can get rebounds.
DeleteLet's see how far my predictions go lol
:>
Deleteoops, row not roll...but the Rox are rolling, yay!
DeleteWell to sum it up:
ReplyDelete- Rox rotation today was much better. Except for Parsons none of the starters went over 34 minutes. They are also giving Harden and Lin time apart, just like during the winning streak. I was puzzled at Asik leaving at the 5min mark in 4Q but I guess it made sense, they didn't want Asik out of gas in the last 2 minutes, like what usually happens, good move.
- JLin playing PG. Paid huge dividends. Delfino found his spots and was hitting 3s, Parsons cut more, Harden exploited gaps easier when Lin was drawing defenders. And team TOs went WAY down. Lin picked up 6 but overall team picked up 12, down 3-4 from their average. On the downside it was hack-a-lin tonight, I saw 2 obvious non-calls, maybe more.
- Asik came out to play, I think Patterson "inspired" him to do better. Exploited Lopez all game, and made some big plays in the paint. Although he dropped 2 from Lin, he finished I think 4 from Lin in return. I feel ashamed, Lin's trust in his teammate paid off and is what will make Rox strong
- Smith playing aggressive and held up the court well in Asik's absence. Some good post plays rounded out his efforts today.
- Big night for Parsons, some good cuts and good defense on DWill after McHale switched Lin on someone else after the disasterous 1Q.
- Everyone moved the ball including Harden. We really need to see this more often.
- McHale and coaching team making adjustments, I about died of shock.
The team just feels more upbeat and kept the lead whole game just like last night. 4Q when Harden pulled off that sick reverse you saw shoulder bumps, haven't saw that for a LONG LONG TIME.
Rox played well against two teams without strong inside D. The question now is whether they can do the same thing against teams with athletic shot blockers. And although the NOH game was an away game, Rox also has to show they can win consistently away from home.
DeleteKenoshi and jp: I liked how Harden was out early in Q4, and they brought him in to close with about 7m left. This gave him a lot of energy to close, and that circus shot from the right AND 1 took some energy. Even better, I liked when Haden was out and just Lin, I had the confidence that the Nets would not close the gap. When JLin is not in, it always feels fragile.
DeleteStill, I wish the Rockets can close a little earlier on these runaway games to give more bench minutes for real play rather than just run the clock down.
Actually I felt more unsure when Lin and Harden were both on court together.
Deletekenoshi, i died too. Lin actually played PG tonight, even more so than the last game against the pelicans.
DeleteI missed the 1st qtr with deron going 6/7. I didn't think Parsons D was that great on Dwill the other qtrs though...i watched pretty closely. Did I miss something?
The biggest adjustment is that they're simply playing better now--showing vids of how well they played in the past by McHale and Pat being vocal and bringing the issues to the forefront really woke them up I think. Playing the way they're suppose to. Playing the way they had been playing during the winning streak. Sometimes it's just that simple.
DeleteIt finally looks like the Rockets know how to play in the half court without Harden dominating the ball too much. That allowed Jeremy to run the offense more and the frontcourt to have a great game. Saw a lot of pick and roll tonight and that's a good thing for Jeremy's game. I was surprised to see Asik catch some passes and make some nice moves down low. Let's hope he keeps it up because that will help open up Jeremy's game a lot.
ReplyDeleteTrust goes a long way.
Deletesadly I missed the game, but will just watch replay/highlights :(
ReplyDeleteto quote:
Long Lam
Looks like we got our mojo back! #schwaaaa #RedNation
Jonathan Feigen
Not surprised a kid just starting out in NBA like Deron Williams would refuse to comment post-game. Wait. What? He's in 8th season?!? Weak.
Howard Chen
Nice thievery by Lin. And the finish. It's hard to stop Lin in the open court. #RedNation
Balanced Rockets control Nets in win
ReplyDeleteThey really need to do something about this home court commentary. I posted this in the previous thread, but it was lost on the poster.
ReplyDeleteDifferences in comments for players:
1) Passing
"Another pass to the center at his knees, we've said over and over, don't pass to a center at his knees - on JLin making a knee pass to Asik at 9:50 - Q1
No comment on JLin Passing to Asik's chest at 7:33 - Q1
"Now that's how you give it to him" Bill on Harden passing to Asik - the exact same spot that Jeremy passed it to 20 seconds earlier where 0 comment was made - 7:13
This is the diminishing, one-sided play calling I dislike, and infuriated me in the beginning.
2) Guarding:
"You can't leave him open like that. You have to guard him on the pick" - on JLin going under the screen with Williams scoring at 9:00 - Q1. If you go back into the game in Leaguepass, you can see the number of times other players go under the pick, without reprimand from Bill/Clyde.
"Well Williams is the only guy to score for Jersey, so why don't we cover him this time" - comment made at 6:51 - Q1. Just another jab at JLin about not covering Williams. Later, these comments become "Williams is really good at making these shots." No chastising of play from Rox.
"That's what Toney douglas does. He comes out and he DEFENDS Point Guards (what a jabby mc.jab)." - Clyde.
"Douglas is a bit more physical than Lin," Bill tries to demonstrate impartiality here
"Yeah and he's a lot quicker as well, as a defender" - amazing, unbiased finish from Clyde.
- on Douglas subbing in at 4:10 - Q1. These are jabs at Lin for "failing" Failing to cover Williams, despite limiting Wiliams to 9 points in all 7:40 of Q1, while Douglas/others let 11 in in 4:20 in Q1. This kind of pattern of defense effectiveness was seen in most previous games. The latest was in Denver (I believe), where JLin kept his shooter to 5 of 10, 11 points in 33 minutes, while Douglas and Beverly let the PG shoot 4 of 5 in 15.
They done it down in the 2nd and 3rd, and become a lot more objective.
Thanks for this 'data'. Helps to know the subliminal influences we are faced with while watching. It's good to have these down in black and white. I always liked Walt Frazier - his voiceover at the Garden was a signature of Linsanity for me. "Posting and Toasting" as Lin passed to Jeffries, and of course, that Garden music as JLin probed and took on DWill to close out that first 2/4 game ... uh huh, hey hey! You know the one, where he took 2 hard probes on DWill, called for Chandler to come pick, and split the defense blowing by DWill. 2:14 left 92-86. DWIll and Humphries both on the ground, then the Melo/Lin kung fu bow. Slicing Dicing, Swooping and Hooping.
DeleteJK, I feel your pain and THANK YOU for putting this together. The announcers have a huge impact on fans, especially casual fans that don't watch every rockets game. When you here their subtle jabs at Lin, the fans hear that crap and they internalize it, believe it.
DeleteBill was a huge Dragic fan, he was sad to see him go. Clyde just prefers Harden and wants Harden to be the primary playmaker and scorer...he's gotten into an on air disagreement with calvin murphy on this.
bill/clyde don't criticize the other players nearly as much as they do Lin. They really only shit on Lin, Asik, Ppat, and Morris. They like or are indifferent to everyone else. They have confirmation bias and suck. I'd rather watch the other team's announcers than our own..
Yea, the rockets announcers are slow to praise Lin. Not one mention of his stellar play yesterday. Instead, they mention his poor 3 point shooting, poor defense, bad passes, etc.
DeleteWith Clyde, I think he sees himself in Harden, so, that's why he thinks Harden should be the man.
People should email these guys and get on them for their bias.
LOL I thought McHell sees himself in Harden too. Both do not like to pass.
DeleteI think commentators that appreciate good basketball can put aside their biases, while some commentators cannot. Frankly, I think Bill and Clyde are "biased" (to put it diplomatically)--they overlook the good things about Lin, harp on what they perceive as bad things, hold him to a different set of standards, and don't want him to succeed--basically an "anybody but Lin" mentality.
DeleteYou are all summing up the exact same kind of slanted treatment I'm referring to. It's gotten to the point where I have a love/hate relationship with Home games. I.e. contrast yesterday's game with Friday's, and just listen to commentary. I would say Lin performed just as well in both games, but you wouldn't think so from the commentary.
DeleteJLin had 6 TOs tonight is just fine with me. He was mainly control the ball all night. You see, it's only 3 more TOs than his average. But, the team's TO was down 50% from 22 to 11. 11 - 3 = 8 is the margin for TO. Result, team won by 13 points. McHale, that's simple math calculation. Please keep that going on rest of season.
ReplyDeleteI think what bothered me was JLin's perimeter D on spot up shooters. I don't mind him helping out on D when he is on the strong side helping stop the drive. That to me is good team D. What bothers me is when the ball is on the strong side and JLin is defending the weak side corner, he still wanders too far away from the corner shooter. When the ball swings cross court, he often cannot close out in time. There is no need to help out in those situations because when he is on the weak side, he isn't really needed to stop the dribble penetration.
Deleteagreed wilc. time to tweet his family and get them to tell him. otherwise its giving mcfail a dumb reason to bench him again.
DeleteI'm worried about the coaching staff using the TO's as a reason. That's what happened the last time JLin had 6 TO's. The next couple of weeks JLin was playing off ball floor spacer SG. It was brutal.
DeleteMore turnovers for Jeremy = Less overall turnovers for the Rockets AS A TEAM. Because 1 person is running the offense, instead of 6-7 guys taking turns running the offense and turning it over 3 times each.
DeleteVery good points guys. We'll see if coaches learn anything from the last 2 wins as well as the losing streak. I'm going to go nuts if they go back to the same 'ol same 'ol, though I wouldn't be very surprised either.
DeleteI would say there are good turnovers and bad turnovers. A couple Asik couldn't handle the ball. Two were for fast breaks. So Lin maybe had 2 bad turnovers. That's fine with me.
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Deletejp, i guess that's a good way to look at it. For me, all TOs are bad, the degree of how bad is just a matter of when it occurs and how often you make the same TOs.
DeleteOne thing for sure is that the long or lob passes JLin and company attempts are clearly on the radar as one of the staple passes for the Roxs style of play. JLin has two choices from this point forward. Either the player he's passing it to has a clear two or three steps advantage, you don't pass it at all. This is not football, you can't attempt a long/lob pass and hope the player catches the ball and fall into the end zone--obviously bball players have to gather themselves after catching it and still manage to work their way to the hoop. Second, practice the long pass alley oops, but this requires good timing and a lot of practice, unless you're Lebron James or Dwayne Wade on the receiving end. Additionally, this requires the player to run wide and not in a straight line down the middle of the court.
The JLin turnovers to Asik are clearly on Asik. I would actually put some blame on JLin on this one though. I understand you need to pound the paint to open up the perimeter, but if Asik is not catching the balls, there's really not much you can do. Just don't pass it to Asik in PNR when it's in close quarters. JLin should recognize that it's not Asik-spaced properly and back out immediately from the PNR if JLin doesn't see an opportunity for himself to score. Asik clearly doesn't have the coordination, YET?
Delete
The stupid turnover issue only ever became an issue was because people needed something to criticize Lin for last year.
DeleteTHe way to think of turnovers, especially for point guards/primary ball handlers, is NOT how many individual turnovers he has, but, how many turnovers the team has as a whole. I'd love to see stats on team turnovers when Lin runs the team versus when Harden or TD runs the team.
Jeremy Lin has last laugh against Deron Williams as Houston Rockets stomp all over Brooklyn Nets
ReplyDeleteJeremy Lin said the Houston Rockets just needed to see what they were doing wrong in order to fix it
ReplyDeleteDeron Williams dominates matchup with Jeremy Lin but Rockets control Nets
ReplyDeleteJeremy's Post Game Interview
ReplyDeleteAnother link if you want to stream (by ClutchFans):
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cgD4ItfHVk
Interesting, he considers DWill to be top 2-3 in the league. Talks about Linsanity movie. He and other Rox players will attend the final screening of Linsanity at Sundance, since they will be in Utah to play Jazz anyway. Perfect timing! Lucky audience members that get to watch the movie with him! How I'd love to have a ticket to that! Hope he plays well and Rox win, otherwise it will be rather awkward at that event afterwards! I'm assuming it will be after the game anyway. If anything, I hope seeing himself on the bigscreen during Linsanity will remind himself that he is the man everyone knows him to be.
The screening is on Sunday, and the game is on Monday, isn't it?
DeleteHY, you're correct. I was too lazy to search before. :)
DeleteJeremy Lin to appear at Sunday screening of Sundance documentary 'Linsanity'
aww I wanna see it....
DeleteLin on DWill - he was just being diplomatic, and historically DWill has been in top 3 discussions. But in the last two years, I think he no longer is in anyone's top 3. Maybe top 3 in the East with DRose still injured. With the way Holliday and Irving are playing, maybe top 4 behind them and Rondo.
DeleteSeeing Dwill play last night, the guy I think is the most talented point guard playing today; he's big, fast, quick, can score and shoot the three, and can be an assist machine. When he played in Utah, several seasons he averaged 10 assists a game, while averaging around 20 points.
DeleteBut, for whatever reason, the individual parts of his game doesn't add up to a great point guard ala Chris Paul. I think what he lacks is a natural instinct in running an offense that Lin and CP3 have. THat might explain why he said he wished the Nets offense under avery johnson was more structured like it was under Sloan in Utah.
Wow Clippers vs Blazers...1pt difference down the wire...23secs left...Batum steps out...Then jump ball at 12 seconds...
ReplyDeleteCrawford bricks and LAC loses by 1.
You know CP3 is pissed, L4 for Clippers.
Now Portland only half game behind Rox :/
Yeah, unfortunately the Rockets couldn't capitalize on CP3 being out injured and playing on the road. Nuggets, Jazz, Blazers, are just better more experienced teams than the Rockets ... nothing wrong with that, that's just the way it is right now.
DeleteI had thought Clippers would win this one too with a 9pt lead with 2 minutes left but they allowed 10-0 run...That trey from Lillard was big.
DeleteYeah was a real shame with CP3 out I had thought Rox had a chance but their bench is just so deep...And Rox was self destructing...
All I know is that when HOU plays Portland again, Lin better be on Lillard like rice. I don't care how good their bigs are, do not help anybody, stay on Lillard.
DeleteApologies if this has been posted but hopefully will hold us over until Nets game highlights are posted.
ReplyDeleteRockets vs Hornets | Lin + Team Highlights (1-25-13)by Blaiyan
Rockets vs Nuggets | Lin + Team Highlights (1-23-13) by Blaiyan
Delete-beautiful steal and coast-to-coast off-balance shot off the glass and 1 by Jeremy
-Asik posterizing dunk
Rockets vs Bobcats | Lin + Team Highlights (1-21-13) by Blaiyan
being picky, I don't hate the Spurs' away jerseys,but I just hate the Nets' away jerseys.looks like Nets are copycats.
DeleteOther than the colors, the two aren't that similar. The Nets' jerseys are very plain, though more stylish because of their simplicity. I'm not sure if that makes any sense!
DeleteThis is so cool-Jeremy Lin /Kyrie Irving on Raptors
ReplyDeleteCrowds were asleep compared to Lin's, nothing dramatic whatsoever
DeleteNice! Waiting for willydilly to call Kyrie a copycat. :)
DeleteGeraldd Lin's highlights are up
ReplyDeleteThe play at 1:10 I see Lin do quite a bit. He uses the other team's big man as a screen and scores. Fun stuff!
DeleteI love those, too! DWill actually had him contained and I think he eased off a bit because Evans was coming in to help defend, but he still blows past them both!!
DeleteBlaiyan's highlights are also up now!
Rockets vs Nets | Lin + Team Highlights (1-26-13)
By the way, I thought I read in one of the game threads that Lin had a huge block (similar to the one he did to Josh Smith). I don't see it in either highlights.
I guess they both missed it. The block happened so quickly I think even the commentators missed it. Hopefully Coffeetime will do highlights and catch it.
DeleteNice, thanks.
DeleteThanks psalm234 for the note on Blaiyan. Didn't know he was ill.
Delete@Dave T
DeleteOh crap, Coffeetime's channel is gone!! What happened, NBA shut it down? Dang...
Well, thanks for confirming that the block did happen. I only saw the 2nd half of the game so I think I missed it.
Oh shoot you're right, Coffeetime's channel is gone! That sucks! His highlights were my favorite because they would show how the whole play developed. I guess the NBA found them too long. :(
DeleteStefan Bondy @NYDNInterNets
ReplyDeleteAnd, finally, yesterday, I asked Deron Williams about Jeremy Lin: "I don't want to talk about Jeremy Lin." ....15 min. till tipoff.
Stefan Bondy @NYDNInterNets
Also, at the height of Linsanity last season, Deron Williams asks, What phenomenon?
I know DWill is bitter because of Lisanity, but don't know he is THAT bitter.
And our boy praised DWill to be top 2-3 PG in the league in post game interview, how classy JLin is! Make me wonder even more what the reason the haters/doubters have to hate/doubt JLin. SMH.
D-Will was classy last year when he praised Lin.
DeleteAfter he got "revenge" on Jeremy by dropping 38 (on jumpers), he still told reporters that Jeremy had a "great game" (JL had 21p/9a/7r/4s despite poor FG%).
He just has a bad attitude and turns cry-baby after losses. I don't think he has anything against Jeremy...unlike some players.
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DeleteDeron has great skills and would benefit greatly being mentored by JLin. Less outbursts and more accountability--actually zero outburst.
DeleteIs it just me or does Deron Williams remind you of "Booger" from "Revenge of the Nerds"?
DeleteDeron's got a bad attitude because he's being criticized for getting a second coach fired. But, overall, he's kind of a surly guy. He should got back to Turkey and play, where he got all the love and can do whatever he wants on the court.
DeleteGood habits on full display against Nets
ReplyDeleteThe Ultimate Rockets recap is all about how Harden saved the day. No joke.
Delete"With Brooklyn within 10 with five minutes left, Harden happened."
LOL@Feigan. Who BUILT that 10-point lead to begin with??? It was Lin running the offense and playing great help defense who was most responsible. Harden, at best, iced the game (probably not even that from the way the team was playing).
I think these journalists in Houston are all being paid by Houston Rocket organization to promote Harden, I think all of them are pseudo journalists at best.
DeleteNo, NBA gameday also focused on Harden, no mention of Lin's play.
DeleteLin was the real MVP of the game, yet, what he does is invisible to the naked eye, even to the eyes of so called experts. Efficient running of the offense just doesn't make for great ESPN hi-lights. But, Kyrie putting up 30 and hitting the game winner, now, that people can wrap their mind around.
Did anyone see the hilight of the Kyrie Irving game winning shot against Toronto? It was EERILY similar to JLin's iconic shot last year during the height of Linsanity.
They figured Harden is their next cash cow.
DeleteNo one expected JLin's popularity to retain a good percentage of its momentum after Linsanity. The fact that he almost overtook (btw I think in reality he did, I'm saying vote is fixed) CP3 and has 2x the vote than Harden says a lot.
I don't wanna go down the conspiracy theory route, but I wouldn't be surprised if NBA is actively trying to downplay Lin. I'm sorry, other than Jordan, no one else except Lin is a household name in Asia. There are other forces at work, Lin is the polar opposite of what NBA has become, and I don't doubt if there are hardliners within NBA that doesn't like it (*ahm* CAA anyone?).
But you constantly have coaches and star players affirming Lin's skills, because they can "see through all that Maybelline" and know Lin is for real and is the engine of any team he plays on.
I think Rox will come around sooner or later, they can use "he is young" excuse only for so long, Lin is legit, they need to recognize.
fans got to shitbomb Jonathan who? tweeter!
ReplyDeleteDouglas regains backup role
ReplyDeleteGuard Toney Douglas regained his spot as the backup point guard behind Jeremy Lin, but even when Patrick Beverley was the first guard off the bench for several games, Douglas never believed he had lost the job.
“I don’t feel I ever lost it. It was just a decision coach made,” Douglas said. “That’s how I totally, totally feel. I talked to coach. He said he just wanted to try something different. He told me I’ve been doing good, have been good for this team. It was nothing I did. It was just a decision (he) made.”
Douglas played 14 minutes in each of the previous two games prior to Saturday’s when he had six points in 12 minutes.
“It was all about being ready,” he said. “I just wanted to come out, bring energy, play defense, shoot when I’m open. I know I can help this team when I was on the floor.”
Good for Douglas. I thought I heard a commentator said TD was injured as the reason he wasn't playing during the losing streak, lol.
DeleteTranslation: I thought beverley was better because he hit some 3s but apparently he sucks just as bad as you and lin at being hardens bitch so you get your job back
DeleteNets coach likes Rockets’ style
ReplyDeleteThe Nets and Rockets have different styles, with the Rockets the league’s top team in pace and the Nets last. But Nets coach P.J. Carlesimo described the Rockets’ style as perfect for their personnel, and then some.
“They’re very exciting,” Carlesimo said. “I don’t like playing against them. I like watching them play. They’re a real entertaining team to watch. I think their concepts are great for their personnel.”
For sure. A read and react type offense is definitely right for the Rockets personnel. It's not complex and doesn't require implementing difficult movements. So when we hear Mchale talk about "moving bodies" that's essentially what he's talking about.
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ReplyDeleteThis has been reported from the NYPost by Tim Bontemps (Good Times) and the title is McHale, Rockets Loving Lin.
ReplyDeleteHere is what McHale said about Lin:
“In anybody’s career, you spend time playing on the ceiling and playing on the floor, where in reality where you’re at is somewhere in between there,” the Rockets coach said of Lin, who had 14 points, nine assists and five rebounds in last night’s 119-106 win over the Nets. “You saw somebody playing on the ceiling, and that’s not realistic. I think sometimes that follows him a little bit too much. ... I think he’s doing a good job for a young guy.
“He’s been doing great.”
In McHale's own mind, he doesn't believe Lin can be great or play close to his ceiling. I think this is a backhanded compliment to Lin because McHale is forced to play Lin in these past two games where they won. He was forced to play his 25M PG and let him play pg because it was either that or he would lose his job. He gives Lin a backhanded compliment but praises D-Will like crazy. Notice that he said I think he's doing a good job for a young guy. When you say I think means you are uncertain. When you say He's doing a good job for a young guy it sounds more assertive and certain. I don't like McHale at all. Although, he was at least clapping and happy from Baiyan highlights every time Lin scored or gave out dimes. You guys should take a look at bench reaction and Rockets fans reaction during these highlights to sense how they really feel about a certain player or a certain play.
DeleteWOW what an a-hole, yet another attack in public for Lin
DeleteCould you post the link?
I don't see that as an attack on Jeremy Lin. Given that Lin is really just in his second year in the NBA, it's not fair to hold him to Linsanity expectations or say he's a bust because of occasional "bad" games. I think Lin is going to be a solid player in between those two extremes, but we won't know for sure until years down the road. But he's playing well beyond what can be expected for a young, undrafted point guard.
DeleteNow, I do have a problem with McHale not playing Lin as the point guard, which is hindering his development... Manu Ginóbili needs to send McHale and Sampson a year's supply of his "special" sausages.
It wasn't an attack, but, McHale still doesn't seem to understand what he has in Lin. Just let him play the point like the last two games, and hopefully the truth will be unveiled to him.
DeleteIt's not an attack but an attempt to pass the buck.
DeleteHe's still in preservation mode.
DeleteIt's obvious as day that McHell is expendable but Jeremy is not. Calling Lin a young guy is a diplomatic way of saying he's the glue on the team and is not Jeremy.
DeleteMchale is still trying to be right in his own mind about lin. I think Mchale was put on notice by upper management by his unfair treatment of Lin. I think @Etane is right when he said that Mchale knows he is expendable and Lin is not.I think benching Lin last time, got upper management's attention on what were Mchale's true motives of somebody they are paying 25 million dollars
DeleteI think it just shows McHale thinks Lin can continue to grow until he can be consistent at Linsanity levels.
DeleteI think he is trying to develop Lin into HIS kind of PG, which is really a combo guard. Its not necessarily a bad thing, Lin can use some improvement in his spot up shooting and like I keep saying in the past you have to practice open shots on the court, and McHale is letting him do that, but to transform Lin AND underutilizing his skills WHILE playing rest of the team out of position when 3 of 5 starters NEVER PLAYED TOGETHER BEFORE is nuts for a young team.
Let Lin push the pace and control the offensive flow, Harden can continue to be the #1 scoring option, heck even Parsons can still be #2, I don't think Lin cares. But let Lin be the floor general, and he'll make sure the team hustles, and in turn push high pace with lower TOs, and allow people like Harden/Delfino/Parsons to conserve more energy for offense by not having to play PG, while allowing them to exploit gaps created by Lin.
Also, part of the equation is that the TEAM isn't as good as Knicks was when Linsanity exploded on the scene. Lin didn't have:
Delete1. a coach that let him drive in a system that caters to Lin's style, which I hope McHale has finally seen that
2. an all star center
3. good roleplayers in Landry/Shumpert/and others
4. good perimeter shooters in Novak and if streaky JR smith, though Delfino is starting to develop into one
Lin has years to develop into a combo guard. Lin doesn't have to become a "finished product" in regards to becoming a combo guard this year.
DeleteHe should be more strategic when it comes to playing Lin out of position. I think McHell is being too impatient and unrealistic in this regard.
I do agree Lin needs to be able to shoot spot up jumpers. He can't rely on his fast first step forever. Age will deteriorate his first step as well as many other stars' first step. That's why lots of stars develop jumpers LATER in their career.
Kenoshi:
DeleteNot to mention teams coming to MSG were probably more intimidated by the media and the crowd.
Yep etane totally agree McHale is being unrealistic in that regard. MSG is pretty intimidating like you said and imo that made Rox win in december that much sweeter :)
DeleteThey're prolly like (speaking of Rox) "so this is what fans look like" and "wow lin has more fans here than our entire team fans put together in Houston! "
Yah even the Rox were probably intimidated by the media scrutiny, that's why they didn't play iso ball as much when in MSG.
DeleteHere is a continuation of McHale's quote:
Delete"He's no different than any of our guys. We are the youngest team in the league. We average less than two years' experience on our team and he fits right in there with those guys. It's nothing I haven't seen for 30-plus years in the NBA. Young guys are inconsistent, young guys are finding out their game. You do something well for two or three games, they take it away from you. Then you have to go to Plan B. It's a constant work and that's why veteran guys just come out and play the game a lot easier. They took this away, I go to that. They took that way, I go to this. You have all your counters built in. Right now, they are trying to figure out some of their counters, but he's been doing great."
Lin needs to shoot his midrange jumper more often to open up more lanes for him to drive.
ReplyDeleteWhen he does his patented "run underneath the basket around the baseline" move, instead of stopping his dribble, I would like to see him either shoot a quick fadeaway jumper or pump-fake to make the chasing defender jump into him to draw fouls.
When driving, he needs to do what Harden does--stick out his arms and/or go in extremely fast. If timed correctly and he varies the way he holds out the ball, any contact should draw a foul. This should reduce his blocked shot attempts (or at least get him to the foul line more often) or reduce the number of times he gets in too deep and trapped near the baseline with nowhere to go--forcing a bad pass or having the ball knocked out of his hands.
Does Jeremy know what a midrange jump shot is? Someone tweet that to his ass
ReplyDeleteI thought it was commonly known that Morey ball determined midrange jumpers as low quality buckets so are frowned upon.
Delete@Hong Zhu go on youtube and watch his Knicks games. Mid-range jumpers all day long. The problem in Houston is the stupid coaching idea that you should only take layups and 3s.
DeleteThis what on clutchfanforum.com pretty good observation by this guy and also lot of food for thought.
ReplyDeleteOriginally Posted by mike_lu
Seems like a very civilized thread this game, so I'll post something here I've been thinking about for a while.
Many posters (including myself) have pointed out how the team tends to play better when Lin has higher TOs and the overall team assists, TOs, pace and scoring also seem to be better. And this seemed to be the case in NY last year as well (excluding the pace part, which wasn't an old banged up team in a lock-out season's strategy).
A lot of people think it's simply a matter of Lin's aggressiveness that leads to the higher TOs, but this aggressivenessis positive.
I actually think it's more than that.
Lin is very good at surveying the opponent's 'overall' defense. And he'll use screens or his quickness to get in the paint, even dribble across the lane, trying to look for something. What is it? Unless he gets an open lane to the rim (because he's not a great finisher at the rim, he shoots 60%+ there as a result of shot selection, not actual ability to finish with tough defense), he's looking for defense that is out of position.
Preferably it'll be a pass for an open 3 or shot at rim, but he's more than happy to dump it off when someone on D is out of position enough where a shoot or extra pass for an even better shot becomes an easy decision for the guy he passes it to. Usually the latter. So you see when Lin runs the offense as the PG/facilitator, the ball movement becomes crisper because there is usually only two thing to do when his teammate catches the pass, it is to put it up (or drive it) or swing it for a better shot as the D is already out of position.
Contrast this to Harden, who is a great passing SG and as good if not better than Lin in drawing the defense to pass for a 'direct' shot. Harden holds the ball for way too long and his then straight line penetration leads to help defense, but of a defense that has to constantly defend players that are constantly moving to different spots on the floor, and Lin's constant weaving through traffic.
So Harden's pass out are usually one-and-done affairs, but because much of the clock had been used up and the defense better set, when the pass arrives. If the spacing or D isn't out of position, the offense has to create by themselves and it gets ugly for Parsons, Delfino, Douglas and our PFs trying to create by themselves without getting a step on the D (or the D being out of position).
Actually, ugly is probably too strong of a word. Just less effective and more TO prone. And for Lin also, because he needs time and space to do his work, and he is a pretty poor spot-up shooter.
So what I'm saying is Lin is taking away the difficult decisions his teammates have to make in a game by really directing the offense and giving his teammates an easier decision when they get the ball - shoot with space, drive with a defender out of position or on a close-out, or swing to another teammate for a better shot. That is why while Lin's assists may not be high each game consistently, his TOs high, but the team assists and TOs better when he plays PG.
Harden on the other hand uses up too much shot clock, the D is better set, and typically makes more direct to a shot passes than Lin.
That's why the coaches continue to emphasize moving the ball side to side, and not getting sticky with it. They just don't realize you need a real PG to do it.
In this respect, you can contrast Boston's Rondo vs Lin. Rondo will have all the assists, but Boston's team offense and assists are no where near the Rockets when we play Lin as PG.
Hehe his comments about Lin are exactly what people have been saying all along while he played for the Knicks, I like his observation about Harden and the comparative differences tho, he is putting into words what I've been thinking and annoyed about with Harden.
DeleteBut props to him for pointing this out on Clutchfans, too many times the LoFs and LoHs go at each other that the obvious fact is lost in the noise.
Yeah, great analysis of Lin's value to Rockets. But the team is desperately in need of a strong PF so that Lin (and Harden) can sometimes dish off for an almost guaranteed basket to a low-poster. This is an important part of a team's offence.
DeleteOther teams have Lopez, Durant and Bryant etc who attract 2 defenders otherwise the defending team will be punished. The Rockets instead have a low poster who will either fumble a beautiful pass , get stripped or throw up a hail Mary. Without this final piece, Rockets are doubtful to make the finals and make progress once they get there.
Mike_Lu is also one of the more fair posters there. Meanwhile, start on min 17 of this video from Clutch and Jason Friedman from NBA's site:
DeleteJan 24 Clutch Friedman Hangout
Apologies if someone posted this already ... I think I ran across this link on CF.
Oh boy NY still loves Lin or what, another article about Lin:
ReplyDeleteDWill is going to gun for Lin for as long as he's in the NBA!
LMAO Lin basically said "Nets are slow and old and can't keep up with us hahahahahahaha" in the nicest way possible.
DeleteHahahaha!!!
He could also be saying that Houston's playbook under McHell's iso ball wasn't taking advantage of the team's youth and speed.
Delete“I thought we were definitely the faster team out there,” Lin said. “I think we’re younger and play with more pace. (The Nets) are pretty far down in the pace rankings because they do a lot of isolations and post-ups.”
Haha makes sense now I look at it. Nice!
DeleteI wonder whether McHell and Calvin Morris had a one to one talk around the time of Calvin's interview. Surely, McHell would defer to Calvin who is also an old school HOF?
ReplyDelete