Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Rockets @ Clippers Game #55 Pre Game Thread

2-0 vs Knicks
2-0 vs Warriors

Averages over these four blowouts or shall I say, non competitve wins:

33.75 Minutes
19.25 points
8 assists
3.5 rebounds
1 Steal
2.4 TO's
52% fg
50% 3fg
88 % ft

All Star numbers. All I heard from Warriors announcers was excuses. He couldn't shoot back then. How about we totally blew it and let go a all-star talented point guard who would've been great to pair with Curry, who is more of a two guard?

Excited to see Jeremy run the show tonight vs Clips and CP3 with Harden out.

200 comments:

  1. Yes Jlinfan#1, Lin is COACH KILLAH!!!

    He just OWNS the two franchises that didn't want him. Three, actually.

    This Clippers game is winnable WITHOUT James Harden. The Rockets will actually have token defense because Harden is not playing!

    I don't see the Rockets scoring less points without Harden, and I think that Lin's numbers will be what they always are.

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  2. can't wait for this game. it is on nba tv double-header again.

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  3. Last night's game was a disappointment to me, it gave such greater disappointment than when jetemy was starting with this team in november.he has improved a lot, has proven something to this team playing PG, has a lot more to improve on and to give but treating him the way mchale treated in the beginning of the season is surely frustrating for jlin fans.i thought as his fans, we are moving on from the issues of discrimination, racism , prejudice that we know existed in this team. Slowly, some of us have been positive abt mchale's rotation and sub patterns until, one day, the truth was put right in front of our face.Mchale does not see jlin as legitimate PG, not even a good PG.if jetemy did not get the 25 M contract, he would probably not start him.Honestly, i hve been tired of compliaining abt mchale bec it is eating out your strength.i spend more energy complaining than i focus on the good side of the game.but, one cant just help but utter some disgust to this coach to the point that you are tempted to curse.I feel like it is unhealthy for me to stay active in this forum bec it drains me to share my thoughts pn every game.i give credit to all of you guys bec i feel your pain but you all keep coming back.i know if not for jlin, you would have given up..but since jetemy himself refused to give up, who are we to give up on him?all i can do is keep hoping and hoping that things will change for the better for him.... Only time can tell when that is going to happen...so to all the brave jlin fans, stay patient , take courage and believe that one day, jeremy will prove the haters wrong as he continues to prove that his fans have been right all along...godbless everyone and lets look forward to some changes and just expect some disappointments....but whatever happens, we are all in this together....

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    1. I found myself asking is Jeremy himself feeling the way we do. It might be harder for us because we see the genius at work but not everybody around him seems to be willing to acknowledge this. Undoubtedly it will continue to be a rough ride regarding our feelings because we are all pretty involved and want to see him succeed. I think he will succeed anyway because in the end he is not making a name for himself. Lets go tonight Jeremy.

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    2. I think he sees and feels the unfair treatment but he had been through a lot of the same magnitude but he probably is just grateful that he was given the chance that no matter what comes his way, he knows he will prevail.and i believe he will..

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    3. JLin is mentally tough. I think compared to being undrafted, cut twice, the uncertainty of probably having to quit the NBA, this coaching situation is an unfortunate development, but nothing he couldn't handle. I'm more concerned about his fans' mental health (the frustration and agony of seeing him being misused and being put down by the haters) lol.

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    4. Sesshie
      Lol!im mentally tough too.... I know when to give up and quit!!!!!hahah...seriously, you wont be a jlin fan if you are not tough..

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  4. Sorry for all the typo errors... I wrote this on my lunch break...

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  5. Even there was no Harden, there would still be Parsons, Delfino, Morris, Beverley to name a few, just saying lol.

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  6. Last time no Harden Jeremy drop 38. Tonight no Harden.Jeremy going for 50.

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    1. Seriously, expect to see Lin on the bench even more or his role reduced even more without Harden there tonight. Trust me, his role will NOT be greater tonight.

      Mchale's current method to keep flashes of Linsanity from happening is to keep Lin's minutes down. It's the only trick Mchale has left right now since Lin is close to 100% back mentally & athletically now.

      Mchale has drawn a line in the sand re. Lin. And for whatever reason Feigan created mild controversy in his article. His Mchale/Lin "quotes" make it clear there is a bit of a disconnect between the coach/player. The fact Lin basically said he was handcuffed in a nice way is probably enough to piss off Mchale and the staff.

      I wish I knew whether Morey was part of the anti-Lin movement. My gut says Morey is the leader of the "keep Lin down movement" but Michael Terry says that's not the case and MT seems to be well versed in what he says. Still, my gut tells me Morey is a hater, just as my gut tells me Sampson is a hater. Morey is more of a hater, I assume, because Les yelled at him re. missing on Lin so Morey has a vested interested in showing Les he wasn't wrong on Lin. Same for the coaching staff...but my gut is no better than their eye test....

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    2. I'm more inclined to believe that Morey is not anti-Lin since he's not an eye-test guy and more into his statistics. I think statistics will show that JLin is at least an above average player that certainly deserve to be a starter.

      I hope Morey is waiting until the offseason to do something about the coaching staff. If not, that means another year of McHale and torture for us fans.

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    3. Morey pops of at the mouth with gems like -- "The most efficient shots are 3 pointers and layups" -- like the other teams don't understand the value of the 3 pointers. Why did NY pay 15M for Novak? Why did the defending champs get Allen? Why didn't Morey get them?

      MT, you're a very good well reasoned poster. I read part of that one particular post but didn't finish it. To paraphase -- "Morey is just going through the permutations to understand the effect of Lin on the game", correct? Why doesn't Morey permutations with Harden and Parsons with their asses on the bench -- to generate more data?

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    4. There is no way Morey is anti-Lin. I've read lots of Morey's comments. He knows Lin's value. It will be interesting to see how Morey handle's McHale.

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    5. @xgametheory,

      It's a good point and strong evidence that the hypothesis is wrong. I just like to explore potential confounding hypotheses for why we see what we see.

      Another hypothesis is that it's been a management strategy from the very beginning, from the top, to downplay Lin so he's a little more under the radar while he gains more experience. I can imagine Morey talking to McHale about how they want to frame Lin in the press. Morey being Morey, it can't have escaped his notice that every point guard was highly motivated to show up Lin in their contests. You don't WANT every team giving extra effort. Combine this with the fact that McHale already didn't respect Lin's game all that much, and perhaps he's taking the strategy too far or misconstrued it as Morey having a lack of faith in Lin.

      McHale could even be a dupe in this strategy, Morey knowing all along that McHale won't be the coach he chooses for the championship run. You usually need a good X's and O's coach to win a championship. Morey is not that. But once the Rockets have another piece, it will be easy to attract a top flight coach[1]. Morey fired Adelman for no particularly good reason, so I don't believe Morey wouldn't fire McHale, even after a winning season. Maybe McHale already even knows this. I'm pretty hopeful about this scenario. I simply don't think McHale can coach a championship team and I'm sure Morey knows it.

      Without having inside knowledge, it's hard to know for sure, and it can even be a little of one thing and some of another. The simplest, and still most likely explanation, is just that McHale suffers from several biases, cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias--along with a complete understanding of how much more important PGs are in today's NBA than when he played--which makes it basically impossible for him to acknowledge how much better the team is when Lin is given freedom to run the offense.

      [1] Jerry Sloan, why won't you coach again? The Rockets would kill with Sloan. Lin would get 12 assists a night and the team would be required to play disciplined defense.

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    6. *--along with NOT having a complete understanding...

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    7. MT, you are probably right on Morey. Morey is probably ambivalent and can be won over with stats showing Lin has a great effect on the game. But with Harden and Parsons, he has added incentive to make those 2 shine whereas with Lin, he can accept Lin being average or marginalized as long as his guys and his picks pan out. After all Morey's job depends on that more than making Lin look good.

      I recall Morey throwing his coaches under the bus saying something like "the coaches told me he was a 3rd string PG, who with some training could be a good backup." Pretty darn sure he put the blame on the coaches after Les blamed Morey.

      So no doubt, the coaches harbor the most animosity towards Lin and have some rooting interest in seeing him fail or look exactly like the solid backup point guard they said he was, especially the top 2 bananas which seem to be Mchale and Sampson.



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    8. Weird reasoning. Some gems:

      |There is no way Morey is anti-Lin.|
      Anytime somebody says things with such certainty, they are almost certainly wrong. Morey is a GM. Why would you disparage publicly an asset you were looking to move? Unless he has a history of strong contrarian behavior in regards to his praising his players, why would he purposely lower player values?

      |You don't WANT every team giving extra effort.|
      How is this related to a cause and effect for your theory? Teams already have a scouting report. Players who are jealous already have their inner circle passing them tidbits of information. If "downplay Lin" is the strategy, why hold special conferences or Q&A sessions? Why have a billboard with his name and a banner heralding a new generation? Weird justification for your downplaying Lin.

      Now, of course, I think I can guess where this comment is sourced from. It requires assuming what Jeremy says is 100% true--that he "thinks" (again, just because Jeremy says feels/thinks people play hard against him, I wouldn't treat it as gospel) people have an extra gear for him. Eh, so why the billboards, post game extra things, etc that gets to my first point?

      However the main problem with your defense is--why wouldn't you WANT extra attention? Jlin is team basketball--he is not Jordan/Kobe who will shoot it in your face with double or triple teams. He will find that open seam where the extra defender is coming from. Again, weird justification with language couched in such certainty.

      |Morey fired Adelman for no particularly good reason|
      You're not an insider, no one knows the "good reason" besides the two principals. You are treating speculation and then justifying it for even more speculation. Again, you are phrasing things with such particularly certainty. Weird. Then you qualified your earlier tone with a more plausible acknowledgement that you are guessing.

      It's really confusing to follow your sequence of jumbled thinking.

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    9. Sigh. Reading comprehension is your friend.

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  7. I did not hear 1 good comment re. Lin from the GSW announcers. But I expected that. Jim Barnett and Fitzgerald are idiots. I don't even know who is who, but the older sounding analyst is a lot worse than the other. One is actually ambivalent which is fine, the other is a hater. He's the one who said Lin couldn't run the offense and berated Lin's ability while Lin was on the court with GSW.

    Yesterday, Lin would score and same guy would say "you got to play better defense GSW, Bogut has to cut that off" or Lin blows past Curry for a layup at the end "you can't have that" or Lin passes to a cutting Parsons "look at that Parsons kid go WOW!" Never once was it, hey nice move by Lin. I mean seriously it just makes me laugh but I can appreciate their doubled-down resolve to hate on Lin.

    Now look, I just hate the double standard. When Nash threw dimes to Marion and others back in the day, I ALWAYS felt Nash was given way too much credit and that his cutting teammates and great finishers like Marion and Amare deserved more credit for those plays. Granted, I love Nash's game but still...the media just could not stop gushing about Nash's passes.

    Now when Lin throws the same type passes, it's "wow look at that Parsons cut to the basket!" I mean talk about double standard. I don't even think Lin's passes are that special, and many decent guards can do it at many levels, but still when Nash or other "elite guards" do the same, they get praised by commentators or the media. I feel for Lin on that, but luckily he's mentally tough and he knows a small minority like us know what's going on.

    I seriously think the Houston Rockets are so stupid they will let the entire 3 years go by with Lin, treating him like the red-headed step son the entire time. And at the end of 3 years, Lin will walk to a new team and the Rockets will act like they were in shock because they thought Lin was "happy and never expressed any discontent about his role with us". Lin will again look like the bad guy or be placed in that role as the ungrateful player who isn't loyal to the one and only team who offered him a RFA contract when he had no other offers. I am almost positive that is what is going to happen, but I hope I am wrong.



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    1. Yes, the older guy was very obviously anti-Lin. I have no idea why they would want to cut down someone who just works hard, is humble and is a team-oriented player. The funny thing is even if they were racists, they shouldn't make it too obvious. I really think they don't watch Lin play at all and formed their opinion on what they read somewhere. The bottom line is I think they are jealous of an Asian-American Harvard graduate making a lot of money.

      One thing I noticed is that I thought Beverley did a slightly better job of fighting through the screens they set for Curry. Yeap, Lin gets no screens set for him, while GSW sets all kinds of screens for Curry. Not that Curry is not a good player; he's really good player whom Lin has a tough time running around. I thought Lin took his eye off Curry time to time and got burned time to time. Lin has to learn when to stick tightly to his man, anticipate screens being set and when to give some space.

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    2. If RAPM were still up, I'd bet a lot of money Beverly is a negative on defense and Lin is a positive. This line that Lin has to learn better to fight through screens is just so stupid that I can't not call it stupid any longer. He fights through screens amazingly well. The reason teams run opposing points through a ton of screens is because there's really nothing you can do about it. Another human is physically blocking you from maintaining your path to stay in front of someone. You can't teleport through. A skilled guard and a correctly set pick are IMPOSSIBLE for one person to guard. This is why Thibs trains his team to practice against dozens of variations of pick and rolls. The ONLY way to guard pick and rolls is through team and help defense.

      Spending time whining about how Lin fights through screens is incredibly misguided.

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  8. Doors open 1 hour and 15 minutes prior to game time. Does anyone know if the players are practicing during that time? In other words, is it worth it to go that early? I've never gone that early to a game so not sure if I should go that early or not.

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    1. You need to go at least 3 hours early if you want to see all that. 1 hr before? Yeah one or 2 guys *MIGHT* be shooting but they usually are all in the back getting taped, going over stuff, and they've already warmed up long before an hour before tip off.

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    2. for game starts at 7:30pm, players will be on court around 7:10pm practicing (about half hour before tip-off i remember). i don't think arena allow regular people go in earlier than 1.5hr to see the 'real' team practices.

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    3. I was at the Denver game and we couldn't even access the building until 530(game started at 7pm). When we got to our seats at 530, Lin had already gone through individual drills/shooting. The only guys I got to see shooting were Harden and Delfino.

      Shoot around for both teams start 30min before the game.

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    4. I have not been to a game early in years. Eons ago in time, back when the Rockets were led by Hakeem, I went to a Clipper game.

      I was there at least 2 hours before tip off back then (rules may be different now). I watched many players come in and out on the court to warm up, shoot, stretch, do drills. I did not see any team drills or team plays as those are closed to the public like snowywbl says.

      Kenny "the Jet" Smith was injured and a game time decision. The Jet came out and was testing himself to see if he could go on a bad knee or leg. I was no big fan of the Jet at the time and I watched quite impressed and with new found respect for the Jet/NBA players as he ran back and forth from one side of the court to the other doing catch and shoot 3 pointer and free throw shooting drills. He must have shot over 200 shots. He probably made 190 to 195 of them in about 20 minutes.

      Everyone can shoot like that today with the GUN machine and the new offensive emphasis we see in today's game, but back then, it was impressive.

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  9. I was at the Warriors-Rockets game last night. Some observations and a theory on why people discount Jeremy's abilities.

    1. Jeremy jump shot is still a bit off. In pre-game and half-time warm ups, he was clanking a bunch off shots off the rim, where as other players were making 3, 4, 5 in a row. Some of his misses were also off to the side of the rim, whereas guys like Delfino, Parsons were more dead on straight even when they miss.

    2. Players look off Jeremy quite a bit. There were a number of plays where Jeremy was open right there in the passing lane, either on a set play or on a break, and whoever had the ball (Patterson, Harden, Delfino) would simply look off Jeremy and passed to someone else.

    3. Jeremy has great court vision. I was sitting behind the backboard which is a different perspective from the TV angle and you can just tell that Jeremy sees the entire floor and has a special gift in that department. Some of his passes were just amazing.

    4. I was surprised at the amount of boos that Jeremy received. I guess that's a sign of respect. Harden received the loudest boos, followed by Jeremy.

    As for my theory on why coaches, players, analysts, etc discount Jeremy's ability -- Some of Jeremy's misses look really bad, for example one of his reverse layup attempt hit the backboard but missed the rim entirely. There was some contact but no foul was called so the play looked horrible. When people see shots that miss the rim entirely or is way off, they tend to discount that player's skills. For those that play pickup basketball, you know what I mean. Playing with a guy that makes a few shots but if his misses are ugly, you tend to be skeptical of their skills. Anyway, this is my theory as to the perception of Jeremy.

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    1. I completely agree with your "theory." It's why Lin has been so easy to discount time and time again. His game some characterize as "IVY LEAGUE" or "BORING". Also his game is not smooth and flashy. Lin plays blue collar ball more than showtime style. His style wins games and is effective, but it's not NBA flashy necessarily.

      I did notice his teammates looking him off a lot yesterday. But it's up to Lin to dominate the ball like he did against Portland. Nobody is ordaining him king of the court. His only way to shine is to feel so good about his abilities, that he feels he can go make a play and complete it although it's not part of the game plan. It's a dangerous game Lin must play to keep himself relevant.



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    2. Just to add to that, I feel J Kidd's game was total blue collar and not flashy either, yet he was hailed as a PG superstud. Lin? Same thing, but he's hailed as a fluke and a scrub for being virtually the same thing.

      Again more of that double standard I mentioned above re. Lin.

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    3. Lin's gotta up the SHOWBOATING.

      To see ultimate point guard showboating, go to the 1992 Barcelona Magic vs Michael intrasquad scrimmage.

      Magic Johnson just talks and talks the whole game. Actually, he talked so much that he got Michael Jordan going and MJ took over. But Magic is there leading, berating, encouraging, humiliating, the whole bit.

      Jeremy Lin is learning how to showboat. Then if teammates deliberately freeze him out, Lin can embarrass them publicly.

      In my entire life, I've been Asian punching bag in situations harder than Lin's. But I've held my own by eventually learning how to showboat!

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    4. JLin will have to continue to work on his shot and score more. His goal should be to be the top 2 scorer on the team in his 30 minutes of play. I know it's not his brand of basketball to be selfish, but sometimes have to do what is necessary to establish yourself before playing how you like to. Scoring is easy to measure, but intangibles aren't. To prove your worth, you have to score.

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    5. Lin's shot should never be off left or right. This falls on his shooting coach. With the proper mechanics, it's almost hard to miss left or right. If you look at players with great mechanics like Nash or Jimmer Fredette, their elbows point at the rim. Whether you develop the flexibility to do that squared up, or whether you have to turn your body slightly toward the hoop, your ELBOW MUST POINT TOWARD THE HOOP. Otherwise, your shot will always suffer when your confidence suffers.

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    6. Players look Lin off because McHale disrespects him. His attitude is poisonous.

      I don't agree that Lin's wild misses are the reason he is disrespected. Players respected Lin just fine last year with the Knicks. The players who didn't had very specific ego and self-interest not to do so. This year, certain of the staff have very specific ego and self-interest not to do so, and their opinions carry outsized influence, not to mention that they can make specific edicts that affect the way Lin is treated as a matter of tactics. This is all that's happening.

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    7. I watched him shoot in warm-ups and it looked spot on It's never looked better. His misses from the outside in the game were good misses. Little long, little short. 8-8 from the free throw line. He's raised his 3 pt pct up to 32 from 28 in the last couple of weeks and is shooting without hesitation. Nothing but net from here on out!

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    8. Jumpah, I believe Lin's misses yesterday was often left and right, not short or long. I do agree that the coaches' lack of respect for Lin's game and/or Lin personally permeates down to Rockets' players; and yes, Lin's mistakes often look pretty bad, the way he falls, etc. If I can add one observation: the fact that Lin is inconsistent too often might be another reason.

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    9. I think that the Rockets players believe that Lin is constantly breaking the offense, just like McHale does.

      The Rockets other than James Harden is filled with players that cannot create shots for themselves. They all lack creativity, and even James Harden has trouble scoring when opponents defend him for real. For such an uncreative team, a motion offense keeps the ball moving.

      Lin is a true creative player who tries to get others going. That doesn't mean he's appreciated, though. All the coaches and players can see is a guy who's constantly fighting defenses and making hard decisions instead of easy ones, which McHale has criticized Lin for.

      Neither the players nor McHale seem to understand that opponents are targeting Lin because he is the only guy that creates for everyone else. The only help Lin has truly received to beat those double teams is James Harden occasionally coming over to set screens and the Rockets forwards stepping out to the theee point line. Otherwise Lin is out there playing by himself against waves of defenders, and he's BEATING THEM by himself.

      Opponents readily recognize Lin's ability to beat their traps and befuddle their offenses. The NBA teams that employ Lin never find out how good he really is until he comes back to PUNK them.

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    10. There is no such thing as a consistent player. It's bizarre that people hold up a player to a standard of "consistency".

      Ok, we could technically see what range of standard deviations a player's game fell into, statistically, but I don't believe anyone who claims that that's what they're looking for. If someone is consistently bad, how is that useful? What you want is for Lin to be good. If Lin were much more "consistent", i.e., good, he'd be playing at an all-star level.

      Note that it is extremely difficult for a player to fill up a box score when partnered next to a top 5 usage shooting guard. EXTREMELY DIFFICULT.

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  10. Mchale has no choice but to leave Jeremy in the whole game tonight and Jeremy is going to punk Mchale/Morey tonight in a major way just like he did to Sampson in the Spurs game.

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    1. Damon, you keep believing that :)

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  11. I hope you guys temper your expectations tonight. Clippers are gonna make sure they stop Lin from penetrating. I don't expect cp3 to play more than 25 min but I expect Bledsoe to be all over Lin.

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    1. +1

      I am still hopeful for JLin though...But yeah Bledsoe has been a thorn in Lin's side in the past few games.

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  12. I am going to Clipper's game tonight. Hopefully, I can find something interesting to report for you guys. But our seats (Private Suite C15) might be little too far for a good observations.

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  13. I think the Rockets are going to lose tonight because even if Jeremy played as well as that Spurs game, McHale will do something to lose the game like last time. I just hope to see JLin play more than 30 minutes and get some good stats in a close game. If it's a blowout loss, I hope he gets more rest.

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    1. I pretty much watch the games just to see what Lin is made of. I feel the whole team is pretty cool and the other players on the Rockets are for the most part pretty great too.

      At this point, my only gripe with Mchale is just to play Lin more minutes. His role is fine. I'd like to see him on the court more. Lin might be breaking many rules on the court both offensively and defensively, which is why Mchale gets pissed off with him and limits his time.

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  14. I'm excited for Lin to finally play Chris Paul.

    While Chris Paul obviously has no chance whatsoever of guarding Lin alone, Chris Paul has assembled a very good Clippers team around himself.

    Lin vs Paul. Can't wait!

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    1. It will be interesting. I feel one will shine while the other looks bad. Maybe they play each other pretty even in leading their teams. Obviously, if I were a betting man, I vote CP3 for today with his experience and role on his team. Hope Lin proves me wildly incorrect tonight.

      CP3 wants to embarrass Lin. And Lin has said flat out CP3 is the #1 PG in the NBA. Let's see what happens...

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  15. Replies
    1. This was awesome, thanks for sharing.

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    2. Good article. I guess Lin's fans have some rage stored up inside them, ready to explode. :)

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  16. MIT SLOAN SPORTS ANALYTICS CONFERENCE RESEARCH

    - Acceleration in the NBA: Towards an Algorithmic Taxonomy of Basketball Plays.

    - Live by the Three, Die by the Three? The Price of Risk in the NBA

    - The Dwight Effect: A New Ensemble of Interior Defense Analytics for the NBA

    - To Crash or Not To Crash: A quantitative look at the relationship between rebounding and transition defense in the NBA

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    1. [Don't right-click the links, pull down from the bullet points.]

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    2. I don't see a link to the full papers there, do you? Looks like only enough to whet the appetite.

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    3. Oh I assumed they all pull down to info like this, on 3s vs. 2s:
      [Didn't try all the links, my bad. The 2nd link works too, FWIW.]

      In order to optimize, a basketball team must determine the right proportion of 2 and 3 point shots to take. With many possessions remaining, a team should maximize points per possession—a 3 pointer is simply worth 1.5 2-pointers. 3-pointers have about double the per-shot variance as 2-pointers, but a team should be “risk neutral” and not consider such factors in early-game situations. As the time remaining decreases, the trailing team should place an increasingly positive value on risk because they need a large swing in points to catch up; conversely the leading team should place a negative value on risk (Skinner, 2011). We apply techniques from game theory to analyze this problem, our key proposition states that as a team becomes more risk loving, optimal shot selection implies that 3-point percentage must go down. Using five years of NBA play-by-play data, we find that indeed 3-point percentage falls relative to 2-pointers for the vast majority of teams. Teams that violate this condition are consistently among the worst in the league. We also find a strong motivating effect of currently losing—controlling for offense/defense line-ups, the trailing teams displays an overall boost in efficiency. This helps explain why teams tend to come back more than they should. We also theoretically prove that the offense shooting more 3’s when their preference for risk goes up implies that their ability to vary the attack exceeds defense’s ability to adjust. The evidence strongly supports this, which is the cleanest empirical evidence we know of that demonstrates the offense dictates play in the NBA. Organization: UC San Diego (Goldman), Microsoft Research (Rao)

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    4. No, I saw those. That leaves out all the details from the actual paper, which are critical in most cases. For example, I really want to read the one about acceleration.

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    5. @MT~ Access to full papers, prolly after the conference. [Papers from past conferences.]

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  17. Replies
    1. That article makes no mention of:

      1) The Rockets send their forwards to the 3 point line when Lin penetrates. Since Lin draws multiple defenders, 3 point shooters are left unguarded when Lin drives the ball.

      2) Lin is BREAKING McHale's motion scheme with his basket attacks. Earlier this season, Lin would catch the ball and immediately pass off if he couldn't score with a jump shot or a line drive dribble. This also resulted in big turnovers for Lin because opponents were closing off Lin's driving lanes and jamming the passing lanes. But Lin now holds the ball longer, probing the defense and sucking defenses toward himself. So Lin's solo dribble probes are creating unguarded shots for teammates.

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    2. That may be true, @KHuang, but his redoubled efforts to attack the basket came after the film review at the start of this winning streak. So, *someone* wants him to do that. From the words that come out of McHale's mouth in interviews, it may be that McHale's been overruled in this regard. It's so hard to say. On the one hand, McHale says he wants Lin to be aggressive and confident. On the other hand, he says Lin isn't good enough to be a home run hitter. He's a man of mixed messages.

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    3. Do you guys think if the players give any input in offensive or defensive strategies? I wonder if Harden, being the top guy, has said anything to the coaching staff about his preferred usage. According to the announcers at some game, they mentioned that Harden told the coaches that he wants another triple double, and I wonder if that affects the coaching at all.

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    4. MT, I think Mchale said the "aggressive and confident" stuff before Harden came over. He may have said it once or twice early in the season while Lin was shooting what felt like 10% from the field and had 4 TO's with 4 Assists per game. Mchale was probably talking about agressive and confident in terms of being a functional PG for the team.

      Mchale's comments yesterday or whenever he made them isn't mixed at all. Sadly, I think he's very clear in where he stands with Lin's ability and his confidence in Lin.

      Finch also referred to Lin with the "big game hunter" talk I think in pre-season. Finch just said that was what Lin was and he wouldn't get the same chances in Houston. Finch didn't sound negative, more like he was just stating the obvious.

      I think coach and player comments often belie what they really think or mean, but I think both Mchale and Lin were about as clear as they could be without being insulting re. Lin's role and ability in that Fiegan article.

      Delete
    5. Oh, I think I've got McHale figured out.

      McHale thinks Jeremy Lin is a me first offense breaking selfish superstar like Kobe Bryant!

      On defense, Lin freelances instead of sticking with his guy the way McHale wants him to. Yet the Rockets are much better defensively with a roaming Lin than a man to man Lin.

      On offense, McHale sees Lin as an overdribbling ballhog who is selfishly trying to pad his own stats at the expense of the team. He views Lin as a shoot first point guard who doesn't have the athleticism to get past people and is a slow and poor decisionmaker. However, the offense flows better and guys get shots when Lin is in the game.

      Basically McHale is a POOR DEFENSIVE COACH who doesn't see the traps engulfing Jeremy Lin nor recognizes the superstar impact Lin is having gainsy opposing defenses.

      He also doesn't understand that Lin is the most team oriented player on the Rockets. Lin is teying hard to do things McHale's way, but Lin's superstar ability allows him to make plays that help the team but break McHale's limited man to man and motion schemes.

      It's too bad KC Jones (McHale's Celtics coach) isn't a Rockets assistant. Jones likely would pull McHale aside and gently explain how Lin is not actually breaking McHale's team concepts.

      Delete
    6. @KH..

      nah i don't think mchale thinks lin is selfish.

      he believes that lin is innately a shooting guard that makes home run plays trying to play PG role. and his idea of a PG is someone that make simple plays (hits singles) without turning over the ball while playing good D. that's why he seems to allow harden all the turnovers because a SG in his mind is allowed to make those home runs attempts while striking out once in a while, but a PG is not.

      nothing against lin... just his idea of what PG should be is very different from lin's idea and what he is capable of.

      i'm surprised that morey doesn't seem to know this... he talks about why lin was pursued in the first place and that was his unique skill to be aggressive and take it to the rim for the home run play but yet they're trying to cut that down?

      Delete
    7. Mike Woodson said the same things about Lin that McHale is saying, fighton1999.

      Both of them use a motion offense scheme where there aren't truly positions. They just want the simplest play to be made, regardless of the player or designations. This is why there are so many guys on the Rockets doing point guard things that Lin would be doing in a conventional halfcourt offense.

      Morey wrote an article critical of Lin's ability during Linsanity. He tried to justify his reasons for cutting Lin. Morey's boss Les Alexander screamed at Morey when Lin broke out and made Morey resign Lin. What Morey is forced to say by Les Alexander about Lin and how he actually feels about Lin are likely not the same. Yet it doesn't truly matter because Morey does not make decisions.

      McHale is known to criticize Lin for taking matters into his own hands on offense. He constantly harps on Lin to get others involved, like at the end of the San Antonio game where Lin was trapped by two teammates. McHale doesn't understand that Lin HAS to go iso just to evade the traps enough so he can make those easy passes to teammates!

      Delete
  18. So excited for tonights game. Should be a really good one. Linsanity vs CP3 get ready guys!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is harden out for sure??
      I wont be excited until i see that he wears not the jersey tonight.he can make a last minute change of decision...lets see what jlin would do to prove himaelf again and again and ahain and again.... But the result is always the same....DOUBT from his haters

      Delete
    2. JFriedman: He'll [Harden] be a gametime decision tonight and if he misses game he'll be considered day to day going forward.

      Delete
    3. Can't believe Mac letting Harden play when he's injured -- just incredibly stupid move. If he values Harden so much, he should let him rest and recover.

      Delete
    4. May be harden want to play too. If he can play I guess hes ok then.

      Delete
  19. Jeremy Lin ‏@JLin7
    soo excited for my @jlinfoundation event tmrw...special NBA guests are coming...so don't miss out - http://tinyurl.com/awvb9we
    11:17 AM - 13 Feb 13

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Speculation on which NBA guests are attending the event besides Parsons and maybe Harden (who will stay in Houston for the all-star events)? I think Steve Novak will probably come because he's part of the 3 point shooting contest. DLee is a good guess as well, but I don't know if there will be any hard feelings after the Warriors lost twice to the Rockets.

      Delete
    2. Don't know about hard feelings [with DLee] bcos of twice losing, but SEEMED OK WITH STEPH CURRY.
      ---

      BOGUT CALLS OUT GSW'S TERRIBLE DEFENSE.

      Delete
    3. DLee did look kind of hurt when Lin fouled him out :D

      He's like "I know you gots Parsons now, but am I just chopped liver? Do you use me just so you'd win? What about the times we had in Taiwan, or am I taking a backseat to Curry now?"

      Delete
    4. Curry will be there as well. maybe shump. jeffries. fields.

      Delete
  20. RealGM ‏@RealGM
    NBA Tues. Assists: Jeremy Lin (10), Kyle Lowry (10), Kobe Bryant (9), LeBron James (9), C. Parsons (9) -- Boxes: http://bit.ly/12LOF9B
    8:14 AM - 13 Feb 13

    ReplyDelete
  21. After playing the Clippers tonight, Rox will have played all the playoff contenders twice. Who would be the best matchup for Houston should they make the playoffs?

    3 LAC
    4 Mem
    5 Denver --
    6 GS 1.5
    7 Utah 4.0
    8 Houston 4.5

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's pretty just descending order. SAS and OKC would be worst, approximately tied, I don't see Houston being able to beat the Clippers, and I can see Houston beating every team after that in a 7 game series.

      Unfortunately, they're not going to catch Denver. That 7 game losing streak killed any hope of that.

      Delete
    2. If the best they can do is the 5 seed then I guess they should hope that Mem gets hot and overtakes LAC for the 3 seed.

      I'm kinda hoping for a matchup with the Clips. It would be a higher profile series especially if Lin does well tonight. (I'm pessimistic that Rox can bet Mem in a series.)

      Delete
    3. Unless other teams break down, I don't see Rockets go above 7th. Right now, I see Rockets make 8th or miss the playoffs.

      Delete
    4. Please review the standings:

      http://espn.go.com/nba/standings

      Note how many games back from 6th Houston is. Note the point differential. Note that Houston has the easier part of its schedule ahead of them. Note that Houston is walloping Utah and Golden State.

      Anything is possible in sports, but as of now, any unbiased observer would predict Houston in the 6th spot. This won't require any teams "breaking down" except in the most trivially true sense, in that two teams are marginally ahead. If each team plays exactly the same quality they have up until now for the rest of the season, Houston gets 6th.

      Delete
  22. Jeremy Lin ‏@JLin7
    s/o to Kimbo Slice (@JHarden13) for making a guest appearance at our teams film session this morning!! #rednation
    http://pic.twitter.com/Iyo5hFDx
    12:35 PM - 13 Feb 13

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Harden resembles that remark.

      http://media.ufc.tv/fighter_images/Kimbo_Slice/Kimbo_Slice_500x325.png

      Delete
  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  24. @JLinFan#1

    Totally agree it would have been great to have Lin at the 1 and Curry at the 2...Esp with their friendship GSW had themselves a very solid backcourt.

    But it is what it is :/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. SF wants his native son back.

      Delete
    2. My friend follows GSW, and he gave me the party line that with how well Curry is doing, there's no role for Lin at GSW anyway. When I mentioned Curry at 2 and Lin at 1, he got a look in his eye ... hmmm. So, this forum and LOFs on CF are working positive ground, and people not spending this kind of time learning can learn what we know from each other. Lin said he's just starting, so we'll see. Mobile web has changed, and we don't have to be limited to one city anymore.

      Delete
    3. If Lin got a choice between GSW, Knicks or Rockets in 2 years with the same money, I'm sure he'll choose GSW with families, friends and being his favorite team growing up.

      Delete
    4. Jlin needs a bigger market on the coasts when he hits his prime @ 27.

      Would love it if he comes home to CALI, doesn't matter what team--GSW would be a bonus!

      Delete
  25. Hi Everybody, taking a work break:

    - Etane ... didn't someone say to be nice to you because you broke up with your gf and then you said something in prev thread about being married to a Christian? nm. How I get bridged to fundamental Christians (being protestant, but respectful of everyone's right to religion of their choice, brainwash = hope) ... change God or god to "that stronger force outside of ourselves". Then I'm cool when people talk about stuff and it triggers visions of speaking in tongues and trying to drive parked cars. JLin is not in Park/Pray mode, that is for sure, so he gets a big pass from me as a fan when he talks about God. I only cringe when I see it too much, as I think he loses audiences for his overall positive message. If he said I believe in God, but you it's a force outside of us as humans ... his fan base and messaging platform will increase by a lot in my view. It's not PC weak (lukewarm Christianity), and yet, it has the ability to convey his message without pushing people away.

    - thanks everyone else for positive feedback on my post of GSW game. I like to make sense of the big picture and I love the details and even the different opinions. I hate the first move to be ... let's agree to disagree ... because we can all get to higher ground if we try.

    - on the blog swearing, Rikki, I didn't even note who wrote stuff. I'm cool with everybody, and not trying to change things but to transform thinking so one is self-motivated to higher ground. I was just starting to think in swear words, so anyway, that's the power of language. I can only get so far with the 7 words you can't say on TV George Carlin vocabulary, if you've been around that long.

    - Kenoshi ... working today, but sure I'll see what I got on qipaos :-) Prob have to find it on the web because they only allowed a 3" lens in the arena.

    - Go Rox on Clippers! Without Har-en, let's see what the game plan is as they won't come without a plan. Hope JLin has a shift in minutes and role, but one never knows.

    - maybe for one game, everybody can accentuate the positives so y'all can have as much fun as Stu and I think alan xie (xie :-) at the game.

    - technically, with MT, KHuang, jp, and a few others who spend time researching and then writing their opinions, y'all make up for Torocan. Kind of like a mike_lu. So, less need for that tempting CF signup (k.smith, I think hates that idea). Via and IsabelliJane and everyone too keep the info coming in, and it's a delight to pick up so much so quickly.

    - emotionally, I see this site as traveling along and getting stronger with JLin. Imagine 13 mos ago, and where we are/he is.

    Anyway, work break over so have a good day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PS Curry was smooth last night. That guy is good.

      Delete
    2. heh...sorry...Etane, make some fun of you! not true, Joe.

      Delete
    3. Yes I am married to a Christian but I have my blasphemer winches on the side. Lydia Lien is one of them. And, I know enough Cantonese to order food at a Cantonese restaurant. I often patron Khuang's restaurant where he offers his guests the pastiest fortune cookie in red neck country *cough* I mean Jan Brewer country *cough* I mean Arizona.

      Delete
    4. wait, did you mean you often visit or actually live here in the beautiful no-traffic Arizona where KHuang and I hang around, Etane? It's a small world :D

      Delete
    5. No traffic, Psalm234???

      What about the I-10 during rush hour at the friggin' Deck Park Tunnel???

      Delete
    6. Haha sorry I was just joking around again. I live in OC CA. I grew up in Bay Area though so am life long GSW fan which is how I discovered Lin.

      Delete
    7. haha, I don't go there KHuang :D

      Besides traffic is relative. I complain when it takes 30min to go anywhere in the Valley due to traffic but my sister in the Bay Area violently disagrees with my definition of traffic.

      Delete
    8. What is blasphemer winch mean? I don't understand. My English so poor. I ll say you broke up with ur mistress next time then since you married. Hoh..

      Delete
    9. this is getting really interesting here.

      Like an Asian drama unraveling beautifully in front of our eyes with Etane as the main actor and lydia as the supporting actress :D

      BTW, those who haven't watched "nigahiga's hilarious Asian drama parody" should watch it. Always give me a good laugh LOL

      Delete
    10. @Etane LMAO KHuang's restaurant, so wrong lol :D



      Delete
    11. Lol. I guess it's my honor to entertain you psalm. I ll watch what you suggest here, I love comedy, my favorite.

      Delete
    12. More like a satire with Etane walking into every single Chinese restaurant and berating owner and waitstaff for having the gall to kindly serve him a fortune cookie (Etane says that fortune cookies are RACIST).

      Satire documentaries of Etane's real life? That would be accurate, right Etane?

      Delete
    13. I said fortune cookies perpetuates the Asian stereotype!

      Asian drama is not complete with Khuang in the cast. He's a born entertainer when he's not misspeaking his lines.

      And, blasphemer winch is the opposite of a Christian bride.

      Delete
    14. @JoeTeam haha boy I'm starting to sound perverted, but honest I just appreciate beauty in all forms, so more than one pic plz kthx :D

      Delete
    15. Lying again, Etane.

      You and I have an ongoing race war. Let's keep fighting it, since you can't stop flaming people.

      You're the one who walked into a Chinese restaurant and BLASTED the owner for serving you a fortune cookie. How RUDE, how UNCOUTH, and how RACIST for you to do that.

      You cannot stop flaming Asians, Etane. Your type, I know very well.

      Delete
    16. oops I meant Asian drama is not complete WITHOUT Khuang in the cast.

      Delete
    17. The race war between us rages on, Etane.

      Your sole goal as a nonAsian LYING about your race is to degrade Asians. That's why you cannot stop trying to flame me and try to minimalize me.

      You've posted the most HATEFUL anti Asian slurs here anybody could imagine. You hate Lin and everyone here.

      As long as you keep trying to degrade Asians, i'll keep exposing yor racism. Let's fight some more, racist.

      Delete
    18. How did you know I was rude? Were you there? I kindly explained to the proprietor that Chinese people do not generally eat or think favorably of fortune cookies as we do not perceive it as authetically Chinese since they are made in Fresno.

      The proprietor kindly replied that he understood what I said and agrees but only continue to serve fortune cookie because this short boyish face Asian kid who doesn't speak a lick of Chinese always berate him when he's not served a fortune cookie after every meal.

      The proprietor also said that this Asian kid had a weird fascination with Kevin McHale constantly talks about motion defense and how much McHale influenced his life.

      Delete
    19. If some one want to discriminate you and say some racist thing to you then no matter it's fortune cookies or Chocolate cookies, it doesn't matter.They will find whatever reason. I find it silly that people often use food to make racist fun of Chinese like egg rolls...what does that mean?

      Delete
    20. Asians on this board, don't be fooled by this Etane guy's humor.

      He tries to degrade ALL Asians every time he cracks his lame jokes, just like he is doing on this thread. He is a PSYCHOPATH who like to attack people and then cry "who me?"

      The other thing Etane likes to do is try to stir Adians up against each other. He's constantly race baiting and flaming, just like when he tried to entrap via into debating Lin's Taiwanese vs Chinese designation.

      Etane is a psychopath racist troll. Tread carefully when you're dealing with him, because 11 times out of 10 he's FLAMING YOU.

      Delete
    21. Ask that question of Etane, lydia lien.

      He's posted some UGLY anti Asian slurs against Chinese food and Chinese people in general.

      Just understand that he's gonna flame you in his answer.

      Delete
    22. I'm still at the ladies defending Etane for just breaking up with his gf and now finding out he's married to a Christian Asian lady. Did I read this board wrong?

      As for this Etane visiting KHuang's restaurant, epic scriptwriting chances for everyone here. Let's start it off:

      "Um, may I have a sweet and sour pork over rice?"

      "We don't serve that kind of Chinese food here, man!"

      Later,

      "How about a fortune cookie with my bill?"

      "Only if you don't call me racist!"

      "Let's get it ON!" by Etane

      Delete
    23. See, look at Etane's racist garbage again.

      There he goes, trying to flame me with racial slurs in Chinese restaurants again. This is the same Etane who claimed that I'm not a real Asian. NonAsian racists like him have no idea how Adians think.

      Etane is here to be this board's racist PUNCHING BAG.

      Delete
    24. Sorry Khuang, I must have hurt you and your Asian America male sensitivities somewhere along the line. I know I am not always the most sensitive soul. We're all a bit ethnocentric at times some more than others. That can sometimes be perceived as racist or worse.

      Help me understand you better. I am holding out an olive twig of peace.

      Once you said that I don't understand Asian American male mentality. Why don't you share what you mean by Asiam American male mentality. Maybe we can find some common ground.

      Once again, I don't mean to flame you or what you say. I think we can work it out. What do you say we give it a try? I'd even go out and buy a Celtic hat, write McHale's jersey # on there and wear it as a sign of truce.

      I've disrespected Christianity already today. I don't want to disrespect another religion as well.

      Delete
    25. Fortune cookies is not that bad though, you ll find some fortune inside. Some people are happy and interesting about it when they get it, most of them I see are westerns, they seems to like it. As for me, I like to crack up the cookies and curious to read the little note.

      Delete
    26. Joe: This Chinese Spare Ribs is for you.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSL5P0tnv80

      Delete
    27. No olive branch, Etane.

      Even in your so called peace offering, you took every opportunity to flame not just me but Asian Americans.

      We just have to keep fighting. Drop the pretenses and LET'S GO.

      Delete
    28. Etane ... good one, from the era when the Star Trek guy in red always dies.

      This is better: "Boards don't hit back ..."

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJGndrjP0i8

      Delete
    29. NO, troll.

      You come here, call this board delusional, taunt Asians with slurs about illegal drugs, hurl racist insults at people, and you want a peace pipe?

      No Etane, you've fired too much racial hate here. You're just mad I exposed you, and now you want to cow me into submission so you can fire at me again.

      Your anti Asian racism is absolutely pertinent to this board. Thank you for serving up your own racial hatred of Asians as EXHIBIT A for how racism works - and how guys like me deal with racists like YOU.

      Delete
    30. LOL what is Bruce Lee's favorite drink?

      Delete
    31. Go on, Etane.

      Keep exposing yourself, racist.

      Delete
    32. What are empty bottles doing there anyways?

      Delete
    33. Khuang! The window is like the east, and Khuang is my sun!

      This song is for you!

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiKd0Tw0Fk0

      You just happen to remind me of one of my ex gfs.

      Delete
    34. KHuang, man, you got that angry young asian thing down. Are you a fan of Frank Chin? Are you Frank Chin?

      I think Etane is cool. A hobbit, not a troll.

      Delete
    35. oops, the angry young asian MALE thing down.

      Delete
    36. And don't you go around calling lydia lien a "blasphemer witch", Etane.

      Lydia is one of our most respected members here. Your effort to flame her is NOT FUNNY, but DOWNRIGHT RUDE AND DISRESPECTFUL.

      Delete
    37. Roberlin, I'm much MEANER than any stupid dumbass stereotype you want me to be.

      Stay out of this race war and don't mess with me. Do not defend racists, nor the slurs they hurl at Asians.

      If you side with Etane in flaming me and other Asian Americans, RoberLin, I'll hunt you too.

      Delete
    38. thanks Khuang. I am all cool with him since you said Etane is psychopath. You should be cool with him too. We need to show some sympathy.

      Delete
  26. Reposting via's link on Lin's Post Game Q&A session with fans. Some people might miss it among >300 comments.

    GSW Fan: "Go Warriors!"
    JLin: "Go Rockets!"
    Fans: "Boo....."

    I thought it's worth watching again to see his upbeat body language.

    I'm sure being home and close to families helped but combined with his tweet on Harden's Kimbo Slice impersonification, I think Lin is doing a great job to grow and develop next to Harden.

    No hard feelings toward Harden, willing to learn and doing his best with the current situation and opportunities. We as Lin fans can learn much from him.

    With that being said, Lin will do 25pts/15asts tonight!



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah. You can't under estimate the kid. He has such a big heart to take it all in and make the most out of his situation. #Respect.

      Delete
  27. I hope ur prediction turn out right. I am not that high hope though. Maybe 20 pts and 9-10 assists.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know it's pretty high ceiling there but things are aligned just right, Lin and team can break the glass ceiling.

      Give people a great deal of controversy to talk about before the ASG!

      I guess Kenoshi, I and some other people better get busy praying :D

      Come on people, send your positively vibrating vibes for Ron Jeremy..ehm, Jeremy!

      Delete
    2. I am here to interject some negativity. It seems Lin can get to 10 points really quickly but not much after that unless he's playing one of his former teams.

      Delete
    3. Just not so into the coaching stuff to have a high hope...but...you never know...maybe tonight is another episode of linsanity! Let's see!

      Delete
    4. You'd half expect Beverley to start at the 1 with Lin at the 2. With McHale you just never know.

      Delete
    5. it's true that Lin often lacks his killer instinct when facing mediocre teams. But HOU lost the last time although his line (12pts/10asts) was pretty good.

      So I expect he has some extra motivation to beat the Clippies tonight! Besides, Harden is out so he would feel it's the right thing to shoulder some of the offensive load.

      It really boils down to his 3PT shooting and the whole multi-PG/single-PG system if he can have a case of Linsanity or not.

      Delete
    6. Kenoshi: wasn't Bev some hot 3ptr to start this NBA gig? How about him at 2.

      As for your new rep here, don't worry. This is a PC board with decent thread patrols. We need a little classy eye candy, since the ladies have CP and JL.

      Delete
    7. I don't buy the former team theory. He didn't play all that spectacularly yesterday.

      And San Antonio was not his former team, and he went all linsane on them. What was key of course in that game was Harden was out.

      But, I'm so beat down by McHellishness' beat down of Lin that I think lin will hit a few singles tonight, lots of ground-outs and pop-ups, but no homeruns; he'll also have a few strikeouts, a stolen base, 4 or 5 putouts, a couple of walks, and four errors. He'll have an OPS of .600-700 this game, which is about right for a light-hiting singles hitter.

      See? McHellmut has twisted my brain that I'm spewing his nonsense like it makes sense.

      Oh, and Lin won't get a save because the team won't have the lead in the late innings, and so no save opportunities available.

      Delete
  28. An important event in the NBA happened today.

    Hedo Turkoglu was tested positive for steroids and was banned 20 games.

    Everybody knows that NBA players do performance enhancing drugs.

    When I was young, players were so much skinnier (not shorter) than they are today. Steroids were used widely, but not with the sophistication that was ushered in with the Jordan era.

    Nothing against Jeremy Lin, but I hold ALL NBA players suspect in doping. I don't think he's been doping, but it wouldn't shock me if he was.

    The NBA game would look so much more groundbound, less muscle buffed, slower, and more technical without performance enhancing drugs. College basketball too is totally corrupted by the PED curse too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nice call ... I've been thinking about the abnormally developed deltoids on some. Biceps and quads are easy to get big, but deltoids are hard. Lin got pretty solid last 2 yrs, but for a young guy with lots of workouts, he isn't out of band in 'eye test' for steroids. Prob lots of testosterone :-)

      Delete
    2. If the NBA was a drug free league and the refs cleaned up their act, the whole NBA game would look dramatically different and the NBA's power structure would be much more malleable from season to season.

      Delete
    3. I've been wondering the same thing, with bulked up players like like Lebron and Kenneth "Manimal" Faried who can pack all that muscle without sacrificing speed or jumping ability, or guys like Kobe, Nash, Garnett who can consistently outplay guys half their age. Who's doping ? ... I think the list would be very long and surprising.

      Delete
    4. The US government wrote a report blasting the widespread use of steroids by America pro athletes.

      On its cover were Tim Duncan and Larry Bird!

      Delete
    5. Not to mention heal from serious injury in virtually no time.

      Delete
    6. steroid use does not just show up in the body size/healing but in the mind and actions of the players

      Roid Rage anyone??? fights in stands, flagrant fouls, waiting outside lockers rooms to continue jawing...




      Delete
    7. How about more likeliness to get cancer and muscle tear etc.

      Delete
    8. Also unnatural leaping ability.

      Michael Jordan jumped higher in his 30s than he did in that 63 point outburst against Boston as a skinny 2nd year player.

      There often are times when the designer drugs and cheating NBA refs get to me. Jeremy Lin, for me, is an antidote to those NBA ills. It's nice to see a player like him succeeding despite the on court drug usage, though I will constantly reiterate that I would not be surprised if he suddenly tested positive for drugs.

      Delete
    9. @KHuang - it would disappoint me if JLin did test positive, because his platform is not about lying and cheating. I know Lance Armstrong had an argument that cycling was that way, but for JLin, he's not expressed it's about that. Quite the opposite, he's put himself out there with values that are against lying and cheating to get success.

      Delete
    10. Wow, interesting, I'd never thought of PED problems in the NBA, but, of course, it can really help a basketball enhance his performance.

      Nah, I'm not worried about Lin using PEDS, but, in speculating wildly with no basis in fact, I think players who may have or continue to use PEDS are, based mostly on players i think have displayed roid rage on a consistent basis:

      Kobe Bryant (would explain why he's such an asshole)
      Metta World Peace
      LeBron James (recently, after joining Miami)
      D-Wade (for recovery from injuries purposes)
      Deron Williams
      Tyson Chandler (would explain all his technicals)
      Omer Asik
      Russell Westbrook

      Delete
    11. Im just kidding about Asik. I'm pretty sure no PED use for him, lol.

      Delete
    12. wu kong, if the waiting outside was a reference to Carmelo Anthony, I doubt it, because he's played basically the same way his entire career (selfish ballstopping isoball), and his physique is, well, to put it mildly, not very toned.

      Delete
    13. If Derek Rose tested positive for steroids, nobody would care, and many would defend him, saying he needs it to be competitive and entertain people.

      If Jeremy Lin tested positive for steroids ... the media would crucify him, endorsers will pull him out of advertisements, Linsanity fans would abandon him overnight, and he would be punished more severely because he is Asian.

      Delete
    14. I don't think Jeremy will ever use steroids.he'll prefer to get a more muscular (and sexier) built through workouts. btw, are NBA players allowed to take powdered muscular supplements like THESE "GUYS" are taking? or will they count it as performance enhancers?

      Delete
  29. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Replies
    1. the top one, I'll take the middle one. the bottom one, I ll take the second one from the right.

      Delete
    2. Maybe they should dance with a fan instead of pompoms and have their hair tied up with chopsticks ....

      Delete
    3. I don't know any Chinese women who tie their hair up with chopsticks ... maybe in a Dora the Explorer episode made for profit.

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    4. @Lydia - style sense, I see.

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    5. @JoeTeam you are awesome, srsly, didn't know qipaos come that short...........

      @Lydia what do you mean you'll take the middle one, also the 2nd from the right? Oh wait you meant for their style? Nevermind...

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    6. LOL @lydia was talking about tops and bottoms for a while there...

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    7. wow I like the blue cheongsams.. cute!

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    8. The best thing about this dress is that ladies can rock this outfit from 18 to 60, and longer with elegance and power.

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    9. I am looking at "if I were a boy" perspective. If I were a boy I think, I will like to date the middle one from the top picture, and the second one from the right the bottom pic. . which one will you Joe and Kenoshi take? hehheh...

      and I think it's not qipao...lol. It's top shirt dress as short short qipao.

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    10. not the short version, of course.

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    11. @lydia ... I'm shocked! This is a bball forum :-) Seriously, I can only admire cheerleaders with my wife's permission. Asking now ...

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    12. hah..joe..I hope it won't cause you any problem to ask your wife that...

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  31. Watching too much Rockets basketball made me too superstitious. Saw a number besides the word Houston earlier 86. If this is the score they'll going to pull, i hope its the winning one.

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  32. Jason Friedman ‏@JasonCFriedman
    McHale says "we'll see" on Harden's availability tonight vs clippers. True game-time decision.
    6:21 PM - 13 Feb 13

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    1. Jonathan Feigen ‏@Jonathan_Feigen
      Harden heading to court to warm up, test the ankle. No decision yet. He's obviously trying.
      6:25 PM - 13 Feb 13

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    2. Jonathan Feigen ‏@Jonathan_Feigen
      This 'game-time decision' really is, but Harden going through normal warm up with no trainer, staff personnel watching. Looks OK.

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    3. HARDEN WILL PLAY [AND START] TONIGHT.

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    4. Jonathan Feigen ‏@Jonathan_Feigen
      Of the value of star playing hurt, McHale said, "Absolutely. I'm not going to say what I wanted to say. This town knows something about it."

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    5. If Harden starts I have no hope for this game. They're just going to greyhound him all night.

      I swear he has inherited the work ethic of Chinese people, you know, those that insists on working when they're sick because they don't wanna be viewed as lazy...And get everyone else sick. I actually got called lazy by my aunt one time for taking 3 days off work, when I couldn't even get out of bed cause of a bad flu.

      Rox production is going to suffer...Its going to be turnover city.

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    6. UPDATE: Harden will NOT play. After warming up, he felt soreness in his right ankle.
      6:57 PM

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    7. Via you playin' with my emotions :/

      Now maybe Rox will stand a chance :)

      *pray pray pray pray pray pray*

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  33. Replies
    1. if yao ming can still play and still with the rockets, it will be crazy fun to watch him play with lin!

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    2. My fantasy for the Rockets, if there is such a think as a 10 day contract for Yao.

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  34. Harden is not on the floor right now. Saw him earlier shooting a but not out here now.

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    Replies
    1. post updates if you can! Lucky you, being there for a chance to see a SAS (not of ESPN fame) chance ... Let the game highs wash over us tonight!

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