I do agree refs blew several calls which went against Lin and that Mac screwed around with Lin's rhythm today with fast and furious substitutions today. I am taking all those into account. Anyway, I was literally wowed and salivating during the first half; therefore, understand my disappointment during 2nd half. It was like a roller-coaster ride. He went from playing like a cold-blooded killer to someone who a scared deer in front of headlight. A full display of all his strengths to a full display of all his weaknesses.
How many NBA teams really allow their PGs to play like PGs, do you think? I can think of Celtics. Who else?
Jonathan Feigen @Jonathan_Feigen No updates yet on MKG, but Bobcats clear that he took a knee in back of his head and was talking, moving throughout 6 minutes on court. 8:01 PM - 2 Feb 13
Jonathan Feigen @Jonathan_Feigen Bobcats PR: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist diagnosed with a concussion. Will remain in Houston hospital overnight. 9:41 PM - 2 Feb 13
Jonathan Feigen @Jonathan_Feigen MKG had x-rays and CT scan. Both were negative. No additional head, neck injuries found. Had movement in extremities before leaving TC. 9:42 PM - 2 Feb 1
1. Lin played GREAT in the first half. Came out hot. 8 assists, 3 steals, shot 3 for 4 by halftime. Also shut down Kemba Walker, Kemba had like 2 points on him. But, Lin was yanked/benched all first half. Yanked at 7 minute mark in 1st quarter, then early 2nd quarter, then put back in late 2nd quarter. Played like 12 minute total but had a +18 plus/minus by halftime. Rockets were up when Lin played, then lost the lead when he was benched for no reason.
2. In the 3rd quarter Lin was yanked again for no reason. They also didn't play him at PG in the 2nd half, Lin sat on the 3-pt corner again. Weird that Tony Douglas handled all PG when he and Lin were on the floor.
3. Lin was hit hard 4 times in the 3rd quarter, NO FOULS called. None of his coaches came to argue for him. He was clearly hit hard going to the rim multiple times, clothelines, also tripped on a fast break. After 4 times it completely changed his game.
4. After all the yankings/benching, Lin finally lost his momentum and got cold. He had a few turnovers playing SG and forcing plays. Complete double standard that Lin gets benched for a turnover but Parsons/Harden never get benched for tons of turnovers.
5. Lin never got the double double even though he played a great 1st half. He ended up with the same 8 assists 3 steals.
6. I hate Bubba Gump Sampson with a passion. I am positive he is a clear r.acist, he is exactly like Keith Dumb (Keith Smart) from the Golden State days.
7. Jeremy should stop sacrificing his body for this team. He dives for too many loose balls, takes charges, jumps up to tip rebounds to teammates, drives and takes big hits, but he should just lay low. DEMAND the ball as PG, don't get in harm's way, and be healthy enough to sign a big contract and get away from these loser coaches.
8. If you see ignorant postings about Kemba going off, Kemba scored most of his points against Harden's and Douglas' terrible defense. Multiple times Harden played Ole defense, the opposing PG/SG/SF must have scored over 30 points blowing past him all game. Douglas is just terrible at defense, every number proves this, his seasonal defense numbers are just terrible.
9. It's very hard to play well when you have to keep looking over your shoulder, or think you'll be pulled. The Rockets were yanking/benching Lin ALL GAME, even in his red hot 1st half. You can't blame Lin for getting cold in the 2nd half, he was getting yanked, plus fouled without calls, and also put at SG on the corner all for no reason.
He comes in stops the bleeding gets team back up, pulls a bunch of non calls, then yanked. I think he got yanked maybe because coaches thought he screwed up during those non-calls.
Within 2 minutes he is back in because TD and team got killed and lead went from what 15 to 5.
Then begins his stretch of stupid TOs. He is benched, then comes back in when Harden and team gets lead to 6 or 9. Then it was just bring up the ball to Harden and shoot spot up treys which he bricked.
Lol I like how Lin claps like Harden now when he demands the ball, and Asik handed to him after a bit of hesitation (he was looking at Harden).
Few thoughts. Lin not getting foul called was adisturbing trend even last season, after the LINsane 2 weeks. I don't care if he doesn't superstar calls but when they miss clear fouls, that just effed up. I don't know how Lin could get this to change, but really frustrating.
While I don't have as many reasons for him sucking in the second half, I do agree that McHale substitution pattern needs work. I just don't know why he has to pull Lin in the first quarter when he is playing well. No matter how Lin is playing, McHale just yanks him with 5 min to go in the 1st quarter. Just doesnt seem to smart, like today when he kept on bringing him back in after losing the lead.
Lin played well first half, not so much the second. No need to make excuses for him this time, he sort of faded away in the second despite having the ball in his hands most of the time. But it seems like he clearly has a shorter leash on him, than harden or even parsons - which goes on to prove how little of a trust McHale has on him. One thing is he did bring him back this time at the end of the game, which I thought wouldn't have happened in the beginning of the season. But when he did come back, he looked very tentative, afraid to make mistakes. That is on McHale. This is in contrast to d'antoni who gives his players the freedom to take shots. I hope Jeremy finds a way to keep his confidence up and just play his game, because he is at his best when he plays like that.
Yeah must be frustrating to play under him. He didn't play Greg smith at all. Cole looks so awkward but was left in there too long. He seems like a dick the way he treats his players.
great recap solidz75. When Lin came back in the 4th, he looked very tentative and deferred quite a bit to Harden. I too, was surprised Mcfail brought Lin back in the game but we shouldn't be surprised, Mchale should have been doing this all season. If Lin is a cornerstone piece for the next three years, then let him play through his mistakes and build chemistry with the other starters.
Lin is on a MUCH shorter leash than Harden or Parsons. I get why Harden has the green light but Parsons? Hell no. Parsons travels at least once a game and commits A LOT of TO's when he handles the ball/tries to play PG/heroball but Mchale lets Parsons play 40+ minutes/through his mistakes. It's not right.
If Mchale would let Lin and even Ppat play through their mistakes or give them a longer leash, they'd probably be more consistent. See what a long leash has done to Parsons?!?!?!
I suppose the sooner one is able to let go of [improbable] alternatives, the sooner one will be able to own the situation and commit to dealing with it.
There are only 2 alternatives here that nobody wants to acknowledge, and people would rather say I am incorrect than acknowledge it. Harden gets hurt and Lin is forced to become the league guard out of necessity like how Linsanity happened, or Lin plays out of his mind causing such an issue he is eventually traded for a decent big or actually utilized.
Otherwise what you see now is what you'll get unless Les goes insane and fires Morey & the coaching staff. The "2 high scoring guards" can work argument and Lin and Harden can play together BS I keep reading will not happen ON THIS ROCKETS TEAM where Parsons is being championed and played as a high minute/usage star. And on any team, some bigs, either the PF or Center, has to do some scoring, even if it's bumbling Asik along with PPAT. That means no points/stats/high usage for Lin. No ball in Lin's hands when it really counts in games that really matter against good elite teams.
People want to keep fighting me like I am a negative nelly or that I'm flat out wrong, but look at reality and tell me how I am incorrect about Lin's frustrating situation, and why it is so likely to change. Tell me what magical stats show Lin and Harden can both get theirs while Lin dominates the ball while allowing for Parsons and the bigs and everyone else to still get theirs.
I want Lin to shine and get the ball in his hands, but people are being unrealistic. It's not because Lin can't do it, but Houston doesn't want him to do it at Harden's expense. The would prefer for Harden to have the role that we want Lin to have. And that's what it is. Parsons is being groomed to be a complimentary star for Houston, not Lin. Lin has to force the issue and he is doing the absolute best he can right now. I give him props.
Khuang is absolutely right and I agree. Without this horrible Rockets team offering Lin the contract, Lin would not have ANY contract except for a Knicks lowball. He would have been lowballed by NKY with a journeyman contract, and now he'd be getting 15-20 minutes off the bench with Amare. You guys who disagree just are too naive. They would have started Kidd and Shumpert or Kidd and JR or hell Kidd and Prigioni over Lin. Even if Lin started the season on the NKY, at the first sign of trouble, he would have been the scapegoat and his butt would find the bench.
Lin will need 1 more big break to get his chance to really make it and establish himself. Otherwise what we see now will basically be his career. If he doesn't do much better, his next contract will have him being a 6th/7th man off the bench on a team that values his skill set more so than the Rockets. Till then we can only sit idly by and keep cool and understand Lin is doing his absolute best under a ridiculous set of circumstances.
Jeremy had several TO in a bunch in the 2nd half, but collected himself in the 4thQ. Good team win. Patterson had a monster 2nd half, Hareden triple double, Azik & Parson all had good game. A win!
If Lin got traded to any other team with a remotely good, intelligent coach, Lin would likely shine, and when that happens, Houston would again look like fools. Fine with me.
hopefully he can stay in Houston. Lin doesn't like spotlight. He is smart and he will find the way here. This is just his first full season to be a starter. It might be a good place for him to develope...
Lin needs to be a d.ick right now. It's coming up on his Feb4 anniversary of the start of Linsanity. Being nice, his natural nature, is messing up his career. There are plenty of nice guys, like Kevin Durant, who on the court have learned to become cold blooded.
Lin should DEMAND the ball every single possession that he plays. HE is the point guard, and when other pseudo-PG's are there he should make it clear HE is the floor general. Being nice about it, deferring to others, sitting on the 3-pt corner, is only messed up his production and also he plays worst having to shoot long 3's or try to be a playmaker from the SG position.
Also, I like what KHuang said previously. He HAS to learn how to punk his own coaches and teammates and also refs. Learn how to FLIP OUT on court when he doesn't get a foul call, like Harden does. Be overly dramatic about it. Also, when his teammates don't give him the ball, CLAP or raise his hands and be overly obvious about it. Finally, when his coaches (Bubba Gump Sampson the prejudiced bigot and McHale just s.tupid) keep yanking and benching him, he should make his body behavior and attitude VERY OBVIOUS that he's not happy about it. Look at others, Pau Gasol is flipping out in LA and other players do it too.
Bottom line is it works. Lin is the one with the big contract, he has the leverage to act this way and end up with the position, playing time, and situation that HE wants. But he has to be assertive to get it. Worst case (not even that bad) is he forces his way onto a team for a coach he likes in a system that puts him in a position to succeed.
I really hope (and I suspect he does) that Jeremy has that assassin killer revenge streak that Michael Jordan and Tom Brady have. I have a feeling that Lin will usually have huge games whenever he plays the Knicks or Warriors (and even the Mavericks). After he bolts Houston like Lowry, Dragic, and any other PG will want to do from this coaching staff, he'll light up Houston every time he plays them too.
First half, Lin plays point guard, dominates, and team would have even bigger lead if not for weird subbing.
Second half, Lin plays shooting guard, isn't aggressive, looks lost, and doesn't score or get an assist, and his turnovers seemed partly due to the fact that he was penetrating but not with purpose and unsure of what his teammates were doing.
What a nightmare coach McHale is - a lot of Lin's inconsistencies can be attributed to the utterly arbitrary coaching decisions made regarding Lin.
Lin's agent and management can not be happy at the way their client is being used. I am sure that Lin is probably trying to block out the ridiculous situation, awful substitutions and how he is made to be the shooting guard many times (though they do put the ball in his hands as a SG when TD plays).
But, when his contract is up they will look elsewhere.
Lin can use all sorts pf demonstrative nonverbal assaults to punk them when they're tanking games against him.
Even with the league crackdown on player demonstrations against refs, Lin needs to hold his ground. Also, a technical foul every now and then would probably be good.
I HATE NBA refs. This is one area where even amateur refs probably can do a better job than actual NBA employees.
Hunter Paine @hp_aka_bama Went to meet and greet for Jeremy Lin. Only took pictures with thre people. He obviously had to get enough sleep for Sunday School tomorrow
One positive thing I have noticed the last 5 games (when we are 4-1) is that Jeremy is getting to handle the ball more. As a result he looked more confident the last game and at least the first half of this game. McHale is McHale, but at certain point, Jeremy needs to say eff it and play like he can. He is not a selfish player, so it won't be like will be going off like Kobe. I liked how he wasn't so intent on getting the ball to harden in the first half, instead feeding parsons hot hand. This was in stark contrast to the the 4th quarter when he returned to finish the game in a tentative way, looking to feed harden no matter what. It almost seemed like he was trying to thank McHale for bringing him back in the game. I hope the confident Lin shoes up the next game because that's the only way the rockets will stay competitive with gsw.
I guess the coaches found a perfect formula to mess up Jeremy's game. And they had the referees on their side, too. Disgusting. I'm losing interest in the NBA fast. But Jeremy, don't you lose hope! We're behind you. Keep your head up!
I am bewildered and disappointed by that Harden ended up with triple double, and Lin did not get his double double, giving that Lin had an excellent start. No dis to Harden, he deserves the stat.
Lin is an emotional player, and I think two missed fast break drives to the hoop might also affected his psychology. In one of them, he pulled up for a foul line jumper and missed. The other one he got clobbered by did not get the foul call.
Driving solo to the basket during a fastbreak with defender(s) in front Lin is usually a nail biting experience for me to watch. Harden can usually finish the play with easy and authority due to his superior vertical leap, and I wish Lin could have the same gift for the situation.
The sub pattern definitely messed up Lin's rhythm no doubt. But Lin can't control those Rox coaches who like to ice their own kicker.
I have a theory. After the first half the Rockets were winning, but Harden at the time didn't have a ton of points or anything. I'm pretty sure that a conscious effort was made to get Harden that triple double, by making him and Douglas the main PG's in the 2nd half, and also to sit Asik for long stretches along with Lin. I may be over stretching here but Harden seems like a pretty sensitive guy. It's clear in multiple games he pads his stats even in blowout losses or blowout wins, and the coaches probably know he flips out if he doesn't get his numbers. It was part of his story when he was on OKC as well. There were article last year after Game1 of the finals, where OKC won the first game but Harden was pouting/flipping out in the locker room because he didn't have enough touches and shots in his mind. Make no mistake, Harden is a selfish ball hog of a player.
@via, somebody asked here asked me if I'm a bot with the way I post Jeremy infos. I think the question should be directed to you, you're "deceptively quick" in posting lol. it's like auto programmed already.
Jeremy might be calculating his FG% in his head whenever he missed the basket. I think other than being an emotional player, he's also too careful with the no of shots taken and FG% made during each game. Jeremy can be his biggest critic who disrupts his own game after the coaches successfully messed his rhythm with dubious substitution.
Actually, i see positive sign from McHale in tonight's game. The rotation for LIn is not benching, He is giving JLin about 3-4 min rests each quarter. McHale brought Lin back each quarter to close it out. Even though Lin was not that good in the second half, turned the ball over while driving to the rim trying to pass. McHale still brought Lin back in the 4th to close it out. That is a positive sign to me. In previous games, Lin would have sat on the bench for the rest of the game. Lin got 33+ min. and that is not bad as he started and finished each quarter. I think McHale might have turned the corner. Time will tell.
It is indeed possitive that McHale brought Lin back in 4th. That shows -> its ok to make mistakes -> we can correct it -> you can still come back. He even said nice things about Lin after practice.
It comes a little late however... my point is:
The coaches have been screwing with Lins mind all season. Lin used to have swag. He used to shoot like three feet behind the half-court line (watch his old videos) and he would actually make those shots. He didnt care. It seems like he has lost his swag under Sampson and McHale...
I agree, one big positive was that Mchale BROUGHT LIN BACK WITH 4 MIN TO GO, TO FINISH THE GAME. That's how you build confidence in your starter. Hopefully Mchale will be more fair moving forward bc Parsons travels at least once a game and causes a lot of TO's but he still stays in the game.
WTF, Adrian Peterson should have gotten the NFL MVP award. Stop giving MVP to quarterbacks!!!!!!!
I am just saying McHale might have turned the corner to use Lin more in spite of his mistakes. I am not saying the rotation is good for Lin. I don't know what kind of rotation would be best for Lin. I just don't think he should play 40 min a game. It seems when the player is out of gas, he tends to turn the ball over. You can see that in Harden and Parsons.
I dont know if its so simple via. Thats what I wrote on the previous site:
"He might not be that confident at times but thats whats happening if people screw with your mind (benching for no reason - coaches yelling at him - especially at the beginning of the season).
Thats why its so important to let players play through mistakes. If - in the back of your head you fear that you are being punished - it makes you loose confidence.
McHale made a number of questionable decisions during the season and during this game but at least he put Lin back in the game. Thats a signal -> you make mistakes - its OK - we can correct it and still win and you can still get back in the game. Thats how it should have been right from the beginning. If it had - Lin would be more confident now."
AND
"Just an example...
I used to be "carefree" when driving on the highway. Never had an accident or anything. No worries... Then I met a ghost driver. He was driving in the wrong direction - ON THE HIGHWAY! He crashed into the guardrails right in front of me to avoid head on colission with another car.
Since then - whenever I see lights on the highway - my pulse would go up to 180. Its a subconcious thing. I cant help it.
Its the same with Lin. I never saw Lin without confidence. If you watch some of his old games - he would shoot like 3 ft behind the half-court line. The man had swag.
I get numb! :( sorry to say...this season is like half way already...I think this is it...it is how it is for the rest of the season...how many are still optimistic that things will be different? how many times already we see what we see?
Hoping with you, @bto. [Bcos there's nothing much I can do.]
@wil ~ True. And you guys were talking about NFC...I do hope that's it and not something more sinister going on - like putting JLin in a position to fail...
I don't necessarily think McHale personally hate Lin. It's just that he sees Lin as a replacement level role player, not his core guys (Harden and Parsons). His 1st priority in any rotation is his core guys, whether other players compliment his core guys, how to keep them fresh etc. That's why his using and sub of other guys like Lin appear to be random. Patterson also faces the same problem and you can see his playing time and production seem to be so up and down. And you see even in his best night, he still played way less minutes than Parsons and Harden who are on the floor no matter what barring foul trouble.
Also, McHale appears to be too much of a "reactionary guy". He reacts to matchup and want to match up with the other team's rotation rather than let the other team match up his rotation. He will sub in and out his "replacement level players" on any given night to try for a combination who can take the lead or widen the score, depend too much due to luck and totally disregard what other teams are doing. You might say this is "riding the hot hand", but in truth he doesn't care what you do individually but see it more of an unit thing, for example he would refuse to take Douglas out even he did nothing because when he's on the floor, the team happened to take the lead because of other player's good performance or the opposing team's a few unlucky misses.
The main thing is his quick "reaction" seems only limit to the sub in and out of his "replacement level players" while he's extremely slow to tactical changes. For example, when the opposing team scored on pick and roll a few times, he would just try to sub out the defenders instead of teaching his players to try different coverage like trapping or switching.
I don't think McHale is a bad guy who has some conspiracy against Lin. He's just a "replacement level" coach lol.
I think some writer on a Rockets site probably said the truth. We (Lin fans) are so unhappy with McHale's rotation because we see Lin as a star or at least a 2nd option behind Harden, that's why we don't think his rotation maximizes Lin's performance. But try thinking from McHale's perspective, his "stars" are Harden and maybe Parsons. That's why his rotation builds around them and he tries to get as much playing time, touches, shots out of them as possible while the players around them can change from game to game.
Now whether that McHale sees Lin as "replacement level" is correct or not is up to debate. I and I am sure many Lin fans here certainly don't agree with that because we watched a lot of Lin and knew he's capable of more. I for one have said many times McHale should establish Lin as his 2nd option rather than the much less talented Parsons (I think "Rockets fans" would disagree lol) but a lot of coaches are very stubborn, especially regarding their system, player evaluation and "loyalty" to some players. It's not dissimilar to that Scott Brooks saw James Harden as his 6th man. Now if Harden was capable of more than that role? Of course he did as he's proven it in Houston but you can't say Brooks hated Harden.
People see Lin's numbers compared to other PGs and think he's a lesser player than say Kemba Walker. But what they fail to recognize is that Kemba is the 1st option for his team while Lin's role currently is the 3rd/4th (sometimes even 5th) option for his team, of course his numbers would suffer. That really didn't reflect his true ability, much as Harden's 16 ppg in OKC didn't reflect his ability.
@cara, yep, agree with you. Harden and Parsons are Mchale's core guys and everyone else is built around them. Look at their damn minutes; for a young team, it's the core guys that play the most minutes. Parsons looks more consistent bc he's gotten to play through his mistakes and has complete confidence from the coaching staff. When your coach believes in you and keeps you in the game, even when you travel/make dumb mistakes/TO's, it helps a players' confidence. He's a net negative player when he's on the court, believe it or not.
If Ppat and Lin were given Parson's leash, they too could be more consistent.
All I ask is that the coaching staff be fair. When Parsons commits 4 to's like Lin, sit him down. Remember Wednesday night's Nuggets game?! Even with his 4 TO's and hero ball fail, coach kept him on the court.
Look at TD, Worrell and Clyde say that he's clutch in the 4th with his 3pt shot. Well, when the coach let's you play at the end of games and keeps you in there, even when you make mistakes, you kinda get better. Sad thing is, besides a couple 3's he's made toward the end of games, he's been terrible all season but the announcers keep saying he's clutch. SMH.
K Smith, this is called preception and believing what you always believe, even more so than what you see in your eyes and what stats show you.
Parsons "appears" be to a good defender because he's somewhat long. Douglas "looks" to be a clutch shooter because he shoots a lot but his shooting % clearly said otherwise.
Personally I have never liked Parsons. Something about face seems like of weird or odd....maybe he is too charismatic. A lot of evil people have this trait and I am not saying he is or will be. Before anyone calls me out, all I am stating why I just can't warm up to liking him.
I find Parson's trying too hard to get close to Jeremy so that he can ride on Jeremy's popularity to boost his own, - friendship built on this kind of foundation is fragile and ungenuine. OTOH, it's a known fact that Jeremy and David Lee are buddies so it ain't coincident that Jeremy somehow fond of someone like Parson who has many similarities to DL. I like DL and Fields. Their aura simply says: we are Jeremy’s real friends.
It does seem that Parsons always tries to get close to Lin anytime he can. It does seem a little artificial in some of those instances. But since he is the first one to befriend Lin when he got back to Huston, I think we need to give it time to see if there is any motives behind this. Friendship doesn't built overnight, it takes time to jell especially thru good and bad times and let's give Parsons some benefit of the doubt. I know Fields and Lin's connection with the Knicks. Anyone knows anything about David Lee with Lin connection. I just know they were in the China tour last year. Anyone?
Yes it's true that friendship ain't built overnight. At this point, all I can tell is that Parsons is trying too hard. Well, time will tell. We just have to wait and see how things unfolded between Jeremy and Parsons moving forward. If I recall correctly, Jeremy approached Parsons when he first relocated to Houston not the other way round. David Lee took good care of Jeremy like a lil brother when they were playing for GSW together.
Rox have played 49 games and won 26 of them. Blazers and Lakers have both played 47 games till today. If Rox loses the next 2games and Lakers, Blazers win their next 2 games, Rox can be relegated to the 10th spot. Rox fans have to take into account of the no of games the team has played so far and other teams pending schedule to ascertain whether Rox is assure of a playoff spot. But i'm hopeful the team will make the playoff.
Lin is close to being back in shape. He will get consistent soon because he is playing with much more confidence and the coaching staff is trusting him little by little.
In this second half of the season you will see a consistent Lin who controls the offense most of the time (not all the time, that won't happen, but most of the time). He will be putting numbers around 14-18 pts per game shooting over 40% and anywhere from 7-9 assist per game. Add a couple of rebounds and a couple of steals per game too.
You are talking about Howard Chen? Im not a speciallist (took a few mandarin classes only) but I can understand the words quite well.
If you are talking about JLin - Im not sure cause he mumbels alot. I dont even know how good his parents speak mandarin. Taiwanese people do have their own accent besides mandarin right?
Im just noticing - JLin doesnt even speak mandarin in the video - only Howard and he does have a western accent :) he doesnt speak it as soft as native speakers usually do. Had to watch twice to notice.
Yeah Howard Chen. If I close my eyes I can picture a caucasian speaking mandarin. He probably learned it later in life, but worked hard at it. I think Jeremy speaks more natural than Howard.
Howard Chen @ho_chenCSN McHale spoke earlier today about mental lapses. Said concentration comes thru experience. Rockets obv lacking that this yr. #RedNation 7:11 PM - 2 Feb 13
Jonathan Feigen @Jonathan_Feigen Rockets have won 8-consecutive games vs. Charlotte in TC. Bobcats and Nets are the only teams to have never beaten a McHale-coached team.
Space City Scoop @SpaceCityScoop1 Lin fans hate McHale's rotation switches. Always forgetting he doesn't come back in the 4th quarter until around the four-minute mark. 7:18 PM - 2 Feb 13
K xxxxx x @kxxxxxxxxxxx @SpaceCityScoop1 Nope. Last game, 9 minutes in w/Lin rest of the way. Nets, started 4 and check out with 4 minutes remaining. 7:26 PM - 2 Feb 13 · Details
Space City Scoop @SpaceCityScoop1 @kxxxxxxxxxxx YEP. That's one game out of how many this year? 7:30 PM - 2 Feb 13 · Details
K xxxxx x @kxxxxxxxxxxx @SpaceCityScoop1 If more than one, than not always. 7:39 PM - 2 Feb 13
In that article, many viewers ranked Lin to be one of the worst defenders, 2nd to last next to Harden. I have no idea if these commentators are box score watching or actually watching the real game. Lin has done a tremendous job at the defensive end and yet nobody from the Houston fan site gives him any credit. They still say he is a defensive weak link who has no lateral quickness, doesn't have the physical attributes to keep up with other guards and gambles way too much. Really now, perhaps they should have several video clips of Lin vs some of these guards and how many points they scored on him vs his replacements. After reading the comments, I am scratching my head on this.
Agree. I see in multiple defensive situations that the opposing players trying to get by Lin with their first step and Lin always able to do his quick lateral moves to shut it down. I guess those people don't get to watch the games like we do on the League pass to do the assessment. We as Lin fans are willing to pay to get to the real stories, not just the box scores. :-)
The current Rockets team kind of reminds me of GSW when Curry and Ellis existed as a backcourt duo. I feel like Harden is holding Lin back the same way as when Ellis marginalized Curry in a way.
I have more problem with Parsons and sometimes Delfino given the green light over Lin than Harden. I actually think Parsons holding Lin back more than Harden holding Lin back! Harden is at least justified and comparable to Lin in talent level on offensive end while the likes of Parsons and Delfino are clearly inferior IMO, well except in McHale and "Rockets fans" eyes. Again, using Harden in OKC as an example, you can't really say Durant and Westbrook holding Harden back because they are just doing their job and are superior/comparable talent who are justified the priority over Harden. What held Harden back there are Scott Brooks and Sefolosha, one for not using Harden more than a 6th man, another undeservedly taking Harden's starting job.
Before anyone mentions Les, please remember all Les sees is dollar signs and he wants to win a championship. Morey will explain to him that Lin is not the piece they need and why pay him so much when they should getting other players (or paying one of their own players such as Parsons to a $8-9m per year contract) to help them reach closer to that goal. Morey's 12 or 13 year old daughter is in love with Parsons. He mentioned in one of his radio interviews that his daughter will overrule any trade involves Parsons.
Morey drafted Parsons so he wants a good track record. Personally, I think he sucks as a talent evaluator because he doesn't understand the game.
Alcsd, I also think Morey's overrated but I don't think he would never trade Parsons just because of his daughter. Letting personal feeling overrule business sense doesn't spell a MIT graduate. Morey's dumb but certainly not that dumb!
During the beginning of the season, Morey twitted that Sergio Llull would look good with Harden in the back court. Llull is a Spanish player. Rockets purchased his right 3 years ago. Morey has been wanting him to come over, but late last year he signed a 6 year extension with Real Madrid. At the time Morey twitted, I thought it was rude and stupid of him. Knowing that he is a control freak, and he lets McHale treats Lin like garbage, Lin could be shipped out of Houston next year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Llull
Lin and his people know that he has leverage, but he is not the type to make any noise during the season. I think he and his team of smart people will deal with this in the off season. I remember his high school coach said that Lin is very easy to deal with off court, but on the court he is very stubborn.
Those "Rockets fans", scouts and possibly Morey don't understand what they have and what's best for the team. I have read about more than 100 PG names on Clutchfans who are said to be "would look good next to Harden". What I have to say is... Durant or Lebron would look good next to Lin too!
With all academic credentials, Morey is pretty stupid. I thought long and hard about this and one positive thing came out of this is that Lin has been learning to draw fouls from Harden. I notice that he doesn't fall hard like he did in the past. This will help prolong is career.
Sometimes I wish there is a PM button so I can PM you. There are things I want to say here, but have to hold my tongue.
You and I talked about body language and facial reading. There are a lot about Morey that I disliked. One thing I will tell you about him is that he doesn't like to be wrong. His stubborn chin tells me that.
Morey needs to understand that great players don't make great coaches. Phil Jackson was a scrub. I am a huge football fan and all of the HOF coaches were either horrible or just decent players.
Daryl Morey's problem is that he still thinks like a basketball fan.
Morey is very sensitive to social currents. That completely befuddles his purportedly analytical approach. He might have all these fabulous stats, but what comes out of his mouth usually contradicts what his stats are telling him. When that happens, that's usually a sign of a guy who intellectually knows that a guy like Lin is DOMINATING but is too influenced by negative peer pressure to actually believe it.
What Morey needs to do is stop pretending he's a mere fan like the idiots on clutchfans or the known trolls here that post only when Lin is struggling due to referee racism. Morey needs to start acting like he's a basketball PARTICIPANT instead of a mere outsider.
A Morey who regards himself as a true basketball participant would be very different in his attitudes and public statements, particularly toward Lin who is by far the most underrated player in the entire NBA.
I agree with KHuang that Morey thinks and does things like a typical basketball fan.
I think he doesn't exactly know how to evaluate how a player impacts the game and really underrates the value of defensive players and how defense can impact a game while overvalues pure offensive players. I always think guys who put up points but don't play D well are extremely overvalued in the nba compared to guys who play D well but not neccesarily score well when almost everyone in the nba can put up a certain amount of points in they shoot enough.
Even his draft record shows that the "more offensive minded guys" he drafted in 1st round usually don't work out very well compared to the guys he drafted in 2nd. But maybe it's excused because it's harder to evaluate defense by using stats than offense. You really need your own eyes (without prejudice) to truely evaluate defensive impact which Morey might not be capable of.
I got an insight into Daryl Morey by reading that SI article written on "Shane Battier, the No Stats All Star".
Battier has always been one of my favorite players. When Houston traded Rudy Gay for Battier, I knew that Houston had STOLEN Battier for a player I consider overrated. Battier had at least as big a contribution to the Heat winning the title as any player on that team, including Lebron James.
In that SI article, I saw Morey as benefiting from Battier and not Battier benefiting from Morey. Based on Morey's public statements about players, I have no choice but to conclude that Morey doesn not understand the stats that he supposedly compiles.
As much as dumb racists in the media like to bash Jeremy Lin for being unathletic and undeserving of an NBA roster spot, they fake elevate guys like Daryl Morey based on ZERO EVIDENCE that Daryl Morey actually knows what he's doing.
This social garbage that degrades Asians like Jeremy Lin and elevates pretty boys like Morey was recently played out in the fraud conviction of Dietmar Machold, a man I had met personally and who sold a likely fraudulent cello to one of my friends for more money than my housr and everything in it. Machold lived a high roller jet set lifestyle and was celebrated by the media, but then he was EXPOSED as the "Bernie Madoff" of violin swindling.
If Machold were in the NBA, he's be rehired by the NY Knicks!
A NO COST WAY of helping the Linsanity movie is to put it your Netflix Queue. This will help the filmmakers and distributors get the best deal when it appears on Netflix. If they see that a lot of people have in their queue, it will give the filmmakers a lot of leverage in negotiations and the number of DVDs that are purchased.
Also check in out on IMDB. If they see that the movie is high in the search rankings, that helps increase the film's value.
What pisses me off is that Jeremy Lin's on court production is entirely determined by how he's REFFED.
When Lin is normally reffed (happens about every 2 out of 5 games), Lin plays like a dominant All Star that not even the good teams can stop from going off. But when he gets a bad officiating crew, Lin gets hacked and whacked into turnovers and missed trips to the free throw line while also being pummeled by illegal screens.
All season long, I have criticized the coaching staff HARD for being way too reactionary to what the refs and opponents will do. Instead of standing their ground and fighting for their player, they sub out Jeremy Lin when the refs are cheating Lin of the game.
My major criticism of Mchale and Sampson is that they need to IMPOSE THEIR WILL on the game. Stop being so "Ok whatever" when refs are trying to take Lin out of the game. Make the refs and opponent react to them and stop laying down and letting people try to knock Lin out of the game.
Jeremy Lin KNOWS this about his coaching staff. I can tell based on his production and increasing body language. Lin is making it impossible for his coaches to bench him based on bad refereeing and deliberate opponent schemes to knock him out.
Little by little, Lin is wresting control not just of his team, but of the NBA game. That's what SUPERSTARS do, albeit Lin has the hardest hill to climb.
The coaching staff especially McHale as the head coach never defend Lin on bad reff call so far this season, not even once. And I don't think they care either
What make things worst is that Lin's teammates aren't defending him either. Look at the clippers, they aren't scared with reffs and always protect each other. That is real team chemistry
via, I have been writing that Lin needs to become NBA SHOWBOAT.
Lin needs to PUNK people by embarrassing them with his body language. If Lin does it right, it'll become a natural part of his game.
Isiah Thomas, when he played, was constantly facing threats internal and external from opponents and teammates alike. Thomas would gesture wildly at teammates, open his eyes wiiide when hit by bad referee calls, and would twist his coaches into knots if their basketball philosophies were not sound.
Lin is starting to figure out that he needs to showboat people into respecting his game. He's getting better and better at it.
Thanks Via, BTW, what do you think of Marshall Zweig's article? Is Jeremy a one hit wonder? From a neutral(non LOF or LOH) point of view, it does seem like a well thought out article. To be honest, I really don't know how Lin is doing since I'm handicapped by not able to watch the games and a lack of understanding of the NBA game. Jeremy does really elicits such polarizing opinions from both the fans and haters its really hard to know the real situation. I follow Lin because I think he is an inspiration and I certainly hope he is not turning out to be a one hit wonder.
You will see that Jeremy Lin can easily do all of the fundamentals outlined in this website. He also has more than enough ability to run any play diagrammed in the website.
You will also see that the great majority of NBA players CANNOT run the bulk of these plays. Either they lack the technique to execute these plays, or they have the technique but not the athleticism. Jeremy Lin is the rare NBA star who actually has flawless fundamentals to go along with his elite athleticism.
To fully appreciate Lin's game, look at the plays on both offense and defense. While the Houston Rockets (and indeed most college and NBA teams) run far simpler offenses than what is diagrammed in these plays, you'll still come away with a sense of how players move with and without the basketball. For example, many of these plays have the ballhandler dribbling in arcs. This is something that Jeremy Lin has really improved on this season vs. last season.
Those of us who watched him play at Harvard did not get to see the vast majority of Lin's technical skills because he overwhelmed the competition so thoroughly that he did not need to exhibit them. But at the NBA level, we are seeing Lin's abilities though still not in full yet. As you can see from this website, lam, it takes FIVE GUYS to run any kind of basketball play effectively and thus Lin is HANDCUFFED by his largely incompetent teammates (who'll seem so much MORE incompetent after you study this website).
With such a flawless fundamental skillset to go with Lin's elite physicality at the NBA point guard position, Lin's a true "can't miss" athlete as an NBA star. Jeremy Lin is a rare star indeed.
Once you've read that website, lam, then watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsLjuicMt7g
This is the best video on teaching basketball I can think of. Lin's coach Kevin McHale is in this video too.
The video above was done in 1987. The NBA game has changed greatly since then, largely because of the abolition of the hated "illegal defense" rule. Here is a book that is slightly outdated in its concepts but is still very useful in today's game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsLjuicMt7g
I own this book. I've studied it thoroughly, and it's a great book for the 2000s.
However, the NBA game has changed. Many of the schemes in the "NBA Coaches Playbook" have been either simplified or tossed out. This is for two reasons:
1) Players coming into the NBA are not as fundamentally sound as they used to be, due to the early entry candidates flooding the league with elite athleticism and very raw technique. Thus you can't run many of the plays that require players to actually make moves!
2) The NBA game has shifted away from traditional "battleship" low post dinosaurs, largely because modern day big men come into the NBA completely untutored in post fundamentals and also consider low post work "unglamorous". This leads to the NBA game being pushed out further to the perimeter while NBA midrange shotblockers are valued more for their footspeed and reflexes than their ability to hold position in the paint and block shots at the rim. Yet if NBA big men started going back into the paint and playing postup like they used to, all of these midrange shotblockers would be unable to close down driving lanes against perimeter penetrators because the battleship big men would score wildly inside.
Notice how even on Houston which has truly brick handed centers in Omer Asik/Greg Smith and sweak unathletic powerless power forward with zero inside presence in Patrick Patterson/Marcus Morris, they still score wildly inside when Jeremy Lin and even James Harden look for them. If these weakass stone handed talentless SCRUBS can score double figures in today's game, imagine how utterly dominant the well schooled battle hardened brutes of yesteryear would be in today's game. A guy like Lin's coach Kevin McHale in his prime would absolutely DESTROY today's lame inside opponents.
I accidentally misposted the 1986 championship Celtics teaching video on youtube twice. TYPO.
I love that NBA coaches playbook. I'm startled by how detailed and frank the NBA coaches were in their book about their game plans and how they approach the game.
For example, Phil Jackson writes that a single ballhandler coming upcourt by himself can be ganged up on by defenses and only a two guard front of two capable ballhandlers can overcome NBA backcourt defensive pressure. So while people here were yammering about how Lin kept turning the ball over coming upcourt last season, I kept pointing out that the Knicks had no ballhandlers other than Lin and were deliberately leaving Lin stranded. Now that Lin plays on a team with very capable ballhandlers, not a peep has been heard about Lin's alleged lack of ballhandling ability from our regular "panel" of trolls and Lin fan haters.
Agree with some of you, @KHuang, @Anonymous, etc., officiating was atrocious against Lin as usual. Lin still played well against it, but officiating had a hand in precipitating the the pivotal moment in Lin's game today.
In the 3rd quarter Lin drove aggressively and was blocked or lost the ball, I don't quite remember or maybe couldn't tell which. The broadcasters mentioned that there was a lot of contact, indicating that a foul call should have been made. Did McHale fight for Lin? No, he called a timeout and BENCHED Lin.
If there is one thing McHale could learn to do, it's not bench players for physical mistakes in games, ESPECIALLY when those plays are a result of being aggressive. Daryl Morey has indicated that he doesn't mind mistakes that are the result of aggressive plays. I've heard that Sam Presti doesn't mind turnovers because if you make turnovers you're being aggressive and you're learning what works. OKC had the most turnovers in the NBA last year and you know how good they were.
Hall of Fame coaches like D'Antoni and Phil Jackson let their teams play. They don't try to micromanage plays. Benching a player for single play physical mistakes is highly demotivating and demoralizing. When you're held to a different standard from other players and you're already playing at the highest level you're capable of, you're like, what more can I do?
I'm glad I don't watch game live very often. Immediately after Lin got benched, Charlotte started coming back. McHale had no choice but to return Lin to the lineup. He didn't want to be embarrassed two games in a row. This was Lin's opportunity, I thought! He has finally arrived!
But he squandered it with poor play on several possessions. In retrospect, the most likely explanation is that McHale either chewed Lin out for his earlier aggressive TO, or Lin's benching sent the message anyway. So, when Lin came back, instead of playing his normal aggressive game, Lin played "not to make mistakes" which is of course when you play your losingest brand of basketball.
So, McHale should adjust his style. I know it's very hard for an old basketball hand to take advice from a new generation. But I wish he would.
But, Lin can't control that. He needs to understand that no one aside form McHale/Sampson is going to blame him for mistakes during aggressive play. When Lin adjusts his game to not piss off McHale, and makes several dumb looking TOs in a row, no one's going to blame McHale's coaching, they're going to blame him. Lin needs to learn which parts of McHale's advice is useful and which part to let go in one ear and out the other.
Never stop being aggressive. If you're going to get benched, get benched for being too aggressive, not for throwing soft backwards cross court passes that get picked off trivially.
If McHale benches you for getting blocked on a lay-up, the very next thing you should do when you get in the game again is drive in for a lay-up. If you get blocked again, GREAT! It's important for Lin to show himself that he's not going to be intimidated by less than perfect coaching.
Lin has possibly the fastest first step in the NBA. When he's aggressive, no one can stop him.
My problem with McHale is that he's TOO sensitive to the flow of the game.
When refs steal possessions and let opponents bash Lin, McHale doesn't realize that the refs are biased. What would McHale know, he played on that ref protected Boston team and thus has no idea how much NBA refs can hate an Asian player like Jeremy Lin.
Years ago, McHale's Celtics teammate Danny Ainge (now GM of the Celtics) was disastrously traded off the Celtics for Ed Pinckney (sort of like Patrick Patterson without a jump shot) and Joe Kleine (like Omar Asik without Jeremy Lin bricking easy passes off his stone hands).
Aing was so talented that he scored 20+ppg kn that horrible Sacramento team, but Ainge suddenly found out that the NBA refs were totally biased against him and that the same calls he got in Boston were going against him in Sacramento. I even recall one of Ainge's Celtics teammates laughing about it, and it was either Bird or McHale in my recollection!
Hi all. I became a fan of Jeremy Lin since last February (didn't follow basketball since Michael Jordan retired until the burst of "Linsanity"). I've been following the JLin news and discussions on this site since then. I'm usually a lurker but finally decided to sign up to comment.
Like others, I'm really disappointed in the Rockets' management of JLin in regards to his role (having others share his PG duties at times) and their offensive system (not a lot of PNRs and rely on mostly catch & shoots). I don't think Mchale is not a good coach at all. He might be a nice guy, but so far he hasn't shown any accountability (never admits his own faults & just calls out some players on their mistakes and not others). He's not a leader. Unfortunately, I don't think the Rockets front office will fire him this season. The best outcome for JLin is if he's somehow removed from the position in the offseason. In the meantime, I've been sending twitter messages to @dmorey whenever I think the coaches are doing a poor job (whenever there's too much iso-Harden ball or the odd player substitutions).
Fortunately, JLin is paid to play basketball this year and the next 2 years no matter what. IMO, he will take this time to gain on-court experience, use the offseasons to work on his weaknesses, and develop into an overall better player. If "Linsanity" is just the beginning, then his ceiling is beyond Linsanity. Although it's really frustrating to see him mistreated by the Rockets and critics saying that he's just an average player or a role player, I have to remind myself that I have to be patient. JLin has overcome a lot of adversity to reach this point in his career. I'm confident that he will find a way to light another blaze to make it obvious that he's legit and elite. He's the one who has control of his life and career. It's all up to him to make the best of this opportunity. Somewhere along the line, I hope he finds a team that will allow him to shine and let him play his team-based basketball.
That said, you must understand that Lin is going to face the same negative pressure from coaches and teammates wherever he goes.
Like I said above, at least Lin is not on the Lakers playing behind their corner spot up shooter Steve Nash. I now laugh at people here who openly wrote that Nash was such an elite shooter that he would score big in ways that Lin never could.
If Lin were on the Lakers, he's be sitting behind Steve Nash AND getting blamed by the LA papers and Kobe Bryant for the team's losing.
I disagree with Mike D'Antoni's move to make Steve Nash a low usage shooting guard. In that sense, Nash has quite a few things to learn from the NEW master of overcoming such situations, Jeremy Lin!
I do agree refs blew several calls which went against Lin and that Mac screwed around with Lin's rhythm today with fast and furious substitutions today. I am taking all those into account. Anyway, I was literally wowed and salivating during the first half; therefore, understand my disappointment during 2nd half. It was like a roller-coaster ride. He went from playing like a cold-blooded killer to someone who a scared deer in front of headlight. A full display of all his strengths to a full display of all his weaknesses.
ReplyDeleteHow many NBA teams really allow their PGs to play like PGs, do you think? I can think of Celtics. Who else?
Spurs
DeleteGSW
Cavs
Bulls (when DRose is healthy)
Blazers
Clippers
...
...
...
You get the point, pun intended :D
DeletePortland, suns, nets, bulls,thunders,cavs....even bobcats
many NBA teams except for the damn Rockets
DeleteHeck even post linsanity Knicks :D
DeleteNOT Mike D'Antoni's Lakers with Steve Nash being far less effective than Jeremy Lin as an off the ball spot up shooter!
DeleteJonathan Feigen @Jonathan_Feigen
ReplyDeleteNo updates yet on MKG, but Bobcats clear that he took a knee in back of his head and was talking, moving throughout 6 minutes on court.
8:01 PM - 2 Feb 13
MKG
DeleteWow - he wasnt KOed. He did brace himself after the hit. His head didnt hit the floor. He also repositioned the arm...
DeleteI hope its nothing serious.
Hope so, @wil
DeleteOh, Classy Rox announcers.
Jonathan Feigen @Jonathan_Feigen
DeleteBobcats PR: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist diagnosed with a concussion. Will remain in Houston hospital overnight.
9:41 PM - 2 Feb 13
Jonathan Feigen @Jonathan_Feigen
DeleteMKG had x-rays and CT scan. Both were negative. No additional head, neck injuries found. Had movement in extremities before leaving TC.
9:42 PM - 2 Feb 1
1. Lin played GREAT in the first half. Came out hot. 8 assists, 3 steals, shot 3 for 4 by halftime. Also shut down Kemba Walker, Kemba had like 2 points on him. But, Lin was yanked/benched all first half. Yanked at 7 minute mark in 1st quarter, then early 2nd quarter, then put back in late 2nd quarter. Played like 12 minute total but had a +18 plus/minus by halftime. Rockets were up when Lin played, then lost the lead when he was benched for no reason.
ReplyDelete2. In the 3rd quarter Lin was yanked again for no reason. They also didn't play him at PG in the 2nd half, Lin sat on the 3-pt corner again. Weird that Tony Douglas handled all PG when he and Lin were on the floor.
3. Lin was hit hard 4 times in the 3rd quarter, NO FOULS called. None of his coaches came to argue for him. He was clearly hit hard going to the rim multiple times, clothelines, also tripped on a fast break. After 4 times it completely changed his game.
4. After all the yankings/benching, Lin finally lost his momentum and got cold. He had a few turnovers playing SG and forcing plays. Complete double standard that Lin gets benched for a turnover but Parsons/Harden never get benched for tons of turnovers.
5. Lin never got the double double even though he played a great 1st half. He ended up with the same 8 assists 3 steals.
6. I hate Bubba Gump Sampson with a passion. I am positive he is a clear r.acist, he is exactly like Keith Dumb (Keith Smart) from the Golden State days.
7. Jeremy should stop sacrificing his body for this team. He dives for too many loose balls, takes charges, jumps up to tip rebounds to teammates, drives and takes big hits, but he should just lay low. DEMAND the ball as PG, don't get in harm's way, and be healthy enough to sign a big contract and get away from these loser coaches.
Forgot to add:
Delete8. If you see ignorant postings about Kemba going off, Kemba scored most of his points against Harden's and Douglas' terrible defense. Multiple times Harden played Ole defense, the opposing PG/SG/SF must have scored over 30 points blowing past him all game. Douglas is just terrible at defense, every number proves this, his seasonal defense numbers are just terrible.
9. It's very hard to play well when you have to keep looking over your shoulder, or think you'll be pulled. The Rockets were yanking/benching Lin ALL GAME, even in his red hot 1st half. You can't blame Lin for getting cold in the 2nd half, he was getting yanked, plus fouled without calls, and also put at SG on the corner all for no reason.
3rd quarter rotation was effing stupid.
DeleteHe comes in stops the bleeding gets team back up, pulls a bunch of non calls, then yanked. I think he got yanked maybe because coaches thought he screwed up during those non-calls.
Within 2 minutes he is back in because TD and team got killed and lead went from what 15 to 5.
Then begins his stretch of stupid TOs. He is benched, then comes back in when Harden and team gets lead to 6 or 9. Then it was just bring up the ball to Harden and shoot spot up treys which he bricked.
Lol I like how Lin claps like Harden now when he demands the ball, and Asik handed to him after a bit of hesitation (he was looking at Harden).
He did pretty good against Kemba, there was maybe one time where he caught Lin in a cross and posted up.
DeleteRest of the time Kemba was busy passing the ball when Lin was on him.
He was still giving him too much room at times though.
Few thoughts. Lin not getting foul called was adisturbing trend even last season, after the LINsane 2 weeks. I don't care if he doesn't superstar calls but when they miss clear fouls, that just effed up. I don't know how Lin could get this to change, but really frustrating.
DeleteWhile I don't have as many reasons for him sucking in the second half, I do agree that McHale substitution pattern needs work. I just don't know why he has to pull Lin in the first quarter when he is playing well. No matter how Lin is playing, McHale just yanks him with 5 min to go in the 1st quarter. Just doesnt seem to smart, like today when he kept on bringing him back in after losing the lead.
"Jeremy should stop sacrificing his body for this team." x 1000 I agree!!!!!
DeleteLin needs to FLOP MORE on fouls in order to punk the racist NBA refs.
DeleteLin played well first half, not so much the second. No need to make excuses for him this time, he sort of faded away in the second despite having the ball in his hands most of the time.
ReplyDeleteBut it seems like he clearly has a shorter leash on him, than harden or even parsons - which goes on to prove how little of a trust McHale has on him.
One thing is he did bring him back this time at the end of the game, which I thought wouldn't have happened in the beginning of the season. But when he did come back, he looked very tentative, afraid to make mistakes. That is on McHale. This is in contrast to d'antoni who gives his players the freedom to take shots. I hope Jeremy finds a way to keep his confidence up and just play his game, because he is at his best when he plays like that.
Positive reinforcement works. Not in McHale's book I suppose.
DeleteYeah must be frustrating to play under him. He didn't play Greg smith at all. Cole looks so awkward but was left in there too long. He seems like a dick the way he treats his players.
Deletegreat recap solidz75. When Lin came back in the 4th, he looked very tentative and deferred quite a bit to Harden. I too, was surprised Mcfail brought Lin back in the game but we shouldn't be surprised, Mchale should have been doing this all season. If Lin is a cornerstone piece for the next three years, then let him play through his mistakes and build chemistry with the other starters.
DeleteLin is on a MUCH shorter leash than Harden or Parsons. I get why Harden has the green light but Parsons? Hell no. Parsons travels at least once a game and commits A LOT of TO's when he handles the ball/tries to play PG/heroball but Mchale lets Parsons play 40+ minutes/through his mistakes. It's not right.
If Mchale would let Lin and even Ppat play through their mistakes or give them a longer leash, they'd probably be more consistent. See what a long leash has done to Parsons?!?!?!
i am feeling that Jeremy's got punked by Houston mgmt. He signed it because they have a plan for his future......what a plan!
ReplyDeleteI agree. I wish he could've signed with the Mavs.
DeleteUnfortunate that the Nyx FA ruse got to the Mavs. [Tor was interested, and 1 other.]
DeleteMavs offer: $0.00
DeleteHouston offer: $25 million
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteIndeed, the hard reality comes down to that.
DeleteI suppose the sooner one is able to let go of [improbable] alternatives, the sooner one will be able to own the situation and commit to dealing with it.
There are only 2 alternatives here that nobody wants to acknowledge, and people would rather say I am incorrect than acknowledge it. Harden gets hurt and Lin is forced to become the league guard out of necessity like how Linsanity happened, or Lin plays out of his mind causing such an issue he is eventually traded for a decent big or actually utilized.
DeleteOtherwise what you see now is what you'll get unless Les goes insane and fires Morey & the coaching staff. The "2 high scoring guards" can work argument and Lin and Harden can play together BS I keep reading will not happen ON THIS ROCKETS TEAM where Parsons is being championed and played as a high minute/usage star. And on any team, some bigs, either the PF or Center, has to do some scoring, even if it's bumbling Asik along with PPAT. That means no points/stats/high usage for Lin. No ball in Lin's hands when it really counts in games that really matter against good elite teams.
People want to keep fighting me like I am a negative nelly or that I'm flat out wrong, but look at reality and tell me how I am incorrect about Lin's frustrating situation, and why it is so likely to change. Tell me what magical stats show Lin and Harden can both get theirs while Lin dominates the ball while allowing for Parsons and the bigs and everyone else to still get theirs.
I want Lin to shine and get the ball in his hands, but people are being unrealistic. It's not because Lin can't do it, but Houston doesn't want him to do it at Harden's expense. The would prefer for Harden to have the role that we want Lin to have. And that's what it is. Parsons is being groomed to be a complimentary star for Houston, not Lin. Lin has to force the issue and he is doing the absolute best he can right now. I give him props.
Khuang is absolutely right and I agree. Without this horrible Rockets team offering Lin the contract, Lin would not have ANY contract except for a Knicks lowball. He would have been lowballed by NKY with a journeyman contract, and now he'd be getting 15-20 minutes off the bench with Amare. You guys who disagree just are too naive. They would have started Kidd and Shumpert or Kidd and JR or hell Kidd and Prigioni over Lin. Even if Lin started the season on the NKY, at the first sign of trouble, he would have been the scapegoat and his butt would find the bench.
Lin will need 1 more big break to get his chance to really make it and establish himself. Otherwise what we see now will basically be his career. If he doesn't do much better, his next contract will have him being a 6th/7th man off the bench on a team that values his skill set more so than the Rockets. Till then we can only sit idly by and keep cool and understand Lin is doing his absolute best under a ridiculous set of circumstances.
"lead guard" not "league". Each team only has and needs one and on the Rox, it's Harden....
DeleteJeremy had several TO in a bunch in the 2nd half, but collected himself in the 4thQ. Good team win. Patterson had a monster 2nd half, Hareden triple double, Azik & Parson all had good game. A win!
ReplyDeleteIf Lin got traded to any other team with a remotely good, intelligent coach, Lin would likely shine, and when that happens, Houston would again look like fools. Fine with me.
ReplyDeleteWho knows, he may be part of a multi team trade for Josh Smith...Rumor is Houston is involved with Atlanta with a few other teams.
Deletehopefully he can stay in Houston. Lin doesn't like spotlight. He is smart and he will find the way here. This is just his first full season to be a starter. It might be a good place for him to develope...
DeleteLin needs to be a d.ick right now. It's coming up on his Feb4 anniversary of the start of Linsanity. Being nice, his natural nature, is messing up his career. There are plenty of nice guys, like Kevin Durant, who on the court have learned to become cold blooded.
ReplyDeleteLin should DEMAND the ball every single possession that he plays. HE is the point guard, and when other pseudo-PG's are there he should make it clear HE is the floor general. Being nice about it, deferring to others, sitting on the 3-pt corner, is only messed up his production and also he plays worst having to shoot long 3's or try to be a playmaker from the SG position.
Also, I like what KHuang said previously. He HAS to learn how to punk his own coaches and teammates and also refs. Learn how to FLIP OUT on court when he doesn't get a foul call, like Harden does. Be overly dramatic about it. Also, when his teammates don't give him the ball, CLAP or raise his hands and be overly obvious about it. Finally, when his coaches (Bubba Gump Sampson the prejudiced bigot and McHale just s.tupid) keep yanking and benching him, he should make his body behavior and attitude VERY OBVIOUS that he's not happy about it. Look at others, Pau Gasol is flipping out in LA and other players do it too.
Bottom line is it works. Lin is the one with the big contract, he has the leverage to act this way and end up with the position, playing time, and situation that HE wants. But he has to be assertive to get it. Worst case (not even that bad) is he forces his way onto a team for a coach he likes in a system that puts him in a position to succeed.
Maybe he'll go all Linsanity against GSW.
DeleteIt would be hella funny if both him and curry showed up with a big bag of popcorn and both rolled around with them lol :D
I really hope (and I suspect he does) that Jeremy has that assassin killer revenge streak that Michael Jordan and Tom Brady have.
DeleteI have a feeling that Lin will usually have huge games whenever he plays the Knicks or Warriors (and even the Mavericks).
After he bolts Houston like Lowry, Dragic, and any other PG will want to do from this coaching staff, he'll light up Houston every time he plays them too.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Delete@Kenoshi
Delete[For reference]
~ Sounds like something they WOULD do, lol
So, let me get this straight:
ReplyDeleteFirst half, Lin plays point guard, dominates, and team would have even bigger lead if not for weird subbing.
Second half, Lin plays shooting guard, isn't aggressive, looks lost, and doesn't score or get an assist, and his turnovers seemed partly due to the fact that he was penetrating but not with purpose and unsure of what his teammates were doing.
What a nightmare coach McHale is - a lot of Lin's inconsistencies can be attributed to the utterly arbitrary coaching decisions made regarding Lin.
Agree totally. Today's substitutions appeared random.
DeleteLin's agent and management can not be happy at the way their client is being used. I am sure that Lin is probably trying to block out the ridiculous situation, awful substitutions and how he is made to be the shooting guard many times (though they do put the ball in his hands as a SG when TD plays).
ReplyDeleteBut, when his contract is up they will look elsewhere.
Lin needs to SHOWBOAT those NBA refs.
ReplyDeleteLin can use all sorts pf demonstrative nonverbal assaults to punk them when they're tanking games against him.
Even with the league crackdown on player demonstrations against refs, Lin needs to hold his ground. Also, a technical foul every now and then would probably be good.
I HATE NBA refs. This is one area where even amateur refs probably can do a better job than actual NBA employees.
Can you get a technical for flipping them off?
DeleteYou can get a technical for even laughing in the bench, as Tim Duncan did from the widely despised Joey Crawford.
DeleteStill, there are legal ways to battle refs.
poor guy. he's tired:
ReplyDeleteHunter Paine @hp_aka_bama
Went to meet and greet for Jeremy Lin. Only took pictures with thre people. He obviously had to get enough sleep for Sunday School tomorrow
Jeez, now he's making me feel guilty for skipping out on church.
DeleteI mean come on its superbowl sunday, even Jesus must watch the superbowl!
@Kenoshi - LOL!
DeleteOne positive thing I have noticed the last 5 games (when we are 4-1) is that Jeremy is getting to handle the ball more. As a result he looked more confident the last game and at least the first half of this game. McHale is McHale, but at certain point, Jeremy needs to say eff it and play like he can. He is not a selfish player, so it won't be like will be going off like Kobe. I liked how he wasn't so intent on getting the ball to harden in the first half, instead feeding parsons hot hand. This was in stark contrast to the the 4th quarter when he returned to finish the game in a tentative way, looking to feed harden no matter what. It almost seemed like he was trying to thank McHale for bringing him back in the game.
ReplyDeleteI hope the confident Lin shoes up the next game because that's the only way the rockets will stay competitive with gsw.
I guess the coaches found a perfect formula to mess up Jeremy's game. And they had the referees on their side, too. Disgusting. I'm losing interest in the NBA fast. But Jeremy, don't you lose hope! We're behind you. Keep your head up!
ReplyDeleteBehind you all the way, JLin!
Deletethe season had started for like 3 months already?? I think we see enough how jlin play under the rockets.
Deletei will always be a JLin fan
DeleteI am bewildered and disappointed by that Harden ended up with triple double, and Lin did not get his double double, giving that Lin had an excellent start. No dis to Harden, he deserves the stat.
ReplyDeleteLin is an emotional player, and I think two missed fast break drives to the hoop might also affected his psychology. In one of them, he pulled up for a foul line jumper and missed. The other one he got clobbered by did not get the foul call.
Driving solo to the basket during a fastbreak with defender(s) in front Lin is usually a nail biting experience for me to watch. Harden can usually finish the play with easy and authority due to his superior vertical leap, and I wish Lin could have the same gift for the situation.
The sub pattern definitely messed up Lin's rhythm no doubt. But Lin can't control those Rox coaches who like to ice their own kicker.
Harden's superior finishing ability has NADA to do with a better vertical leap.
DeleteThe refs actually call fouls when people hit Harden, plus opposing players don't flagrant foul Harden the way they always do against Lin.
If Lin received even rookie calls, he'd go to the line 6-10 times a game and would score in the high teens every game.
I have a theory.
ReplyDeleteAfter the first half the Rockets were winning, but Harden at the time didn't have a ton of points or anything.
I'm pretty sure that a conscious effort was made to get Harden that triple double, by making him and Douglas the main PG's in the 2nd half, and also to sit Asik for long stretches along with Lin.
I may be over stretching here but Harden seems like a pretty sensitive guy. It's clear in multiple games he pads his stats even in blowout losses or blowout wins, and the coaches probably know he flips out if he doesn't get his numbers.
It was part of his story when he was on OKC as well. There were article last year after Game1 of the finals, where OKC won the first game but Harden was pouting/flipping out in the locker room because he didn't have enough touches and shots in his mind.
Make no mistake, Harden is a selfish ball hog of a player.
JLin and Harden on Kids SI cover
ReplyDelete@via, somebody asked here asked me if I'm a bot with the way I post Jeremy infos. I think the question should be directed to you, you're "deceptively quick" in posting lol. it's like auto programmed already.
Deletelol
Deletelove your work ladies.. keep it up !
DeleteI want Lin can always Smiles like that
ReplyDeleteI LOVE his smile. :) Thanks for the link. Now I feel much better.
DeleteJeremy might be calculating his FG% in his head whenever he missed the basket. I think other than being an emotional player, he's also too careful with the no of shots taken and FG% made during each game. Jeremy can be his biggest critic who disrupts his own game after the coaches successfully messed his rhythm with dubious substitution.
ReplyDeleteSome pics fr tonight's LNY promo, meet/ greet
ReplyDeleteWhere is Lin?
Delete@via thank you soooo much!!!! Please post more if find them!
Delete[Oh you're welcome! ^^]
DeleteSome left-overs...
@wil - Here he is @ the meet-and-greet.
DeleteKxxxx @Kxxxxxxxx
DeleteSo, besides needles, what else is @JLin7 afraid of? Turbulence! (From post-game meet-and-greet)
pic.twitter.com/MsyT9H1F
9:33 PM - 2 Feb 13
With Chinese fans. [Fr Overseas, I presume.]
DeleteMy guess is they are from Houston JLin fan club, I remember someone mentioned they have over a thousand members.
Delete@HY ~ Could be...
DeleteKxxx @Kxxxxxxxx
When asked about his favorite sport besides basketball, @JLin7 said he liked football.
pic.twitter.com/lrFPvjKu
9:55 PM - 2 Feb 13
yeah, he plays flag football
DeleteMore pics from meet/greet
DeleteActually, i see positive sign from McHale in tonight's game. The rotation for LIn is not benching, He is giving JLin about 3-4 min rests each quarter. McHale brought Lin back each quarter to close it out. Even though Lin was not that good in the second half, turned the ball over while driving to the rim trying to pass. McHale still brought Lin back in the 4th to close it out. That is a positive sign to me. In previous games, Lin would have sat on the bench for the rest of the game. Lin got 33+ min. and that is not bad as he started and finished each quarter. I think McHale might have turned the corner. Time will tell.
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed possitive that McHale brought Lin back in 4th. That shows -> its ok to make mistakes -> we can correct it -> you can still come back. He even said nice things about Lin after practice.
DeleteIt comes a little late however... my point is:
The coaches have been screwing with Lins mind all season. Lin used to have swag. He used to shoot like three feet behind the half-court line (watch his old videos) and he would actually make those shots. He didnt care. It seems like he has lost his swag under Sampson and McHale...
I agree, one big positive was that Mchale BROUGHT LIN BACK WITH 4 MIN TO GO, TO FINISH THE GAME. That's how you build confidence in your starter. Hopefully Mchale will be more fair moving forward bc Parsons travels at least once a game and causes a lot of TO's but he still stays in the game.
DeleteWTF, Adrian Peterson should have gotten the NFL MVP award. Stop giving MVP to quarterbacks!!!!!!!
They got him over-thinking/ micro-managing...
DeleteI am just saying McHale might have turned the corner to use Lin more in spite of his mistakes. I am not saying the rotation is good for Lin. I don't know what kind of rotation would be best for Lin. I just don't think he should play 40 min a game. It seems when the player is out of gas, he tends to turn the ball over. You can see that in Harden and Parsons.
DeleteI dont know if its so simple via. Thats what I wrote on the previous site:
Delete"He might not be that confident at times but thats whats happening if people screw with your mind (benching for no reason - coaches yelling at him - especially at the beginning of the season).
Thats why its so important to let players play through mistakes. If - in the back of your head you fear that you are being punished - it makes you loose confidence.
McHale made a number of questionable decisions during the season and during this game but at least he put Lin back in the game. Thats a signal -> you make mistakes - its OK - we can correct it and still win and you can still get back in the game. Thats how it should have been right from the beginning. If it had - Lin would be more confident now."
AND
"Just an example...
I used to be "carefree" when driving on the highway. Never had an accident or anything. No worries... Then I met a ghost driver. He was driving in the wrong direction - ON THE HIGHWAY! He crashed into the guardrails right in front of me to avoid head on colission with another car.
Since then - whenever I see lights on the highway - my pulse would go up to 180. Its a subconcious thing. I cant help it.
Its the same with Lin. I never saw Lin without confidence. If you watch some of his old games - he would shoot like 3 ft behind the half-court line. The man had swag.
... then he met Sampson and Mchale..."
positive sign?? just as people thought they see positive sign in some previous games, mchale change the sign again in the next game!
DeleteIm afraid this could be true lydia.
DeleteI get numb! :( sorry to say...this season is like half way already...I think this is it...it is how it is for the rest of the season...how many are still optimistic that things will be different? how many times already we see what we see?
DeleteI am holding out hope that McHale might just turn the corner. Keeping my fingers crossed.
DeleteHoping with you, @bto. [Bcos there's nothing much I can do.]
Delete@wil ~ True. And you guys were talking about NFC...I do hope that's it and not something more sinister going on - like putting JLin in a position to fail...
I don't necessarily think McHale personally hate Lin. It's just that he sees Lin as a replacement level role player, not his core guys (Harden and Parsons). His 1st priority in any rotation is his core guys, whether other players compliment his core guys, how to keep them fresh etc. That's why his using and sub of other guys like Lin appear to be random. Patterson also faces the same problem and you can see his playing time and production seem to be so up and down. And you see even in his best night, he still played way less minutes than Parsons and Harden who are on the floor no matter what barring foul trouble.
DeleteAlso, McHale appears to be too much of a "reactionary guy". He reacts to matchup and want to match up with the other team's rotation rather than let the other team match up his rotation. He will sub in and out his "replacement level players" on any given night to try for a combination who can take the lead or widen the score, depend too much due to luck and totally disregard what other teams are doing. You might say this is "riding the hot hand", but in truth he doesn't care what you do individually but see it more of an unit thing, for example he would refuse to take Douglas out even he did nothing because when he's on the floor, the team happened to take the lead because of other player's good performance or the opposing team's a few unlucky misses.
The main thing is his quick "reaction" seems only limit to the sub in and out of his "replacement level players" while he's extremely slow to tactical changes. For example, when the opposing team scored on pick and roll a few times, he would just try to sub out the defenders instead of teaching his players to try different coverage like trapping or switching.
I don't think McHale is a bad guy who has some conspiracy against Lin. He's just a "replacement level" coach lol.
Good to hear your thoughts on this @Cara. :)
DeleteI think some writer on a Rockets site probably said the truth. We (Lin fans) are so unhappy with McHale's rotation because we see Lin as a star or at least a 2nd option behind Harden, that's why we don't think his rotation maximizes Lin's performance. But try thinking from McHale's perspective, his "stars" are Harden and maybe Parsons. That's why his rotation builds around them and he tries to get as much playing time, touches, shots out of them as possible while the players around them can change from game to game.
DeleteNow whether that McHale sees Lin as "replacement level" is correct or not is up to debate. I and I am sure many Lin fans here certainly don't agree with that because we watched a lot of Lin and knew he's capable of more. I for one have said many times McHale should establish Lin as his 2nd option rather than the much less talented Parsons (I think "Rockets fans" would disagree lol) but a lot of coaches are very stubborn, especially regarding their system, player evaluation and "loyalty" to some players. It's not dissimilar to that Scott Brooks saw James Harden as his 6th man. Now if Harden was capable of more than that role? Of course he did as he's proven it in Houston but you can't say Brooks hated Harden.
People see Lin's numbers compared to other PGs and think he's a lesser player than say Kemba Walker. But what they fail to recognize is that Kemba is the 1st option for his team while Lin's role currently is the 3rd/4th (sometimes even 5th) option for his team, of course his numbers would suffer. That really didn't reflect his true ability, much as Harden's 16 ppg in OKC didn't reflect his ability.
@cara, yep, agree with you. Harden and Parsons are Mchale's core guys and everyone else is built around them. Look at their damn minutes; for a young team, it's the core guys that play the most minutes. Parsons looks more consistent bc he's gotten to play through his mistakes and has complete confidence from the coaching staff. When your coach believes in you and keeps you in the game, even when you travel/make dumb mistakes/TO's, it helps a players' confidence. He's a net negative player when he's on the court, believe it or not.
DeleteIf Ppat and Lin were given Parson's leash, they too could be more consistent.
All I ask is that the coaching staff be fair. When Parsons commits 4 to's like Lin, sit him down. Remember Wednesday night's Nuggets game?! Even with his 4 TO's and hero ball fail, coach kept him on the court.
Look at TD, Worrell and Clyde say that he's clutch in the 4th with his 3pt shot. Well, when the coach let's you play at the end of games and keeps you in there, even when you make mistakes, you kinda get better. Sad thing is, besides a couple 3's he's made toward the end of games, he's been terrible all season but the announcers keep saying he's clutch. SMH.
K Smith, this is called preception and believing what you always believe, even more so than what you see in your eyes and what stats show you.
DeleteParsons "appears" be to a good defender because he's somewhat long. Douglas "looks" to be a clutch shooter because he shoots a lot but his shooting % clearly said otherwise.
If Mchale keep playing Parsons heavy minutes, it wouldn't shock me if he gets injured this year. If not, it will shorten his career.
DeletePersonally I have never liked Parsons. Something about face seems like of weird or odd....maybe he is too charismatic. A lot of evil people have this trait and I am not saying he is or will be. Before anyone calls me out, all I am stating why I just can't warm up to liking him.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteLOL
DeleteOops, reposting, heh.
DeleteI find Parson's trying too hard to get close to Jeremy so that he can ride on Jeremy's popularity to boost his own, - friendship built on this kind of foundation is fragile and ungenuine. OTOH, it's a known fact that Jeremy and David Lee are buddies so it ain't coincident that Jeremy somehow fond of someone like Parson who has many similarities to DL. I like DL and Fields. Their aura simply says: we are Jeremy’s real friends.
Deletejanelin7,
DeleteIt does seem that Parsons always tries to get close to Lin anytime he can. It does seem a little artificial in some of those instances. But since he is the first one to befriend Lin when he got back to Huston, I think we need to give it time to see if there is any motives behind this. Friendship doesn't built overnight, it takes time to jell especially thru good and bad times and let's give Parsons some benefit of the doubt. I know Fields and Lin's connection with the Knicks. Anyone knows anything about David Lee with Lin connection. I just know they were in the China tour last year. Anyone?
@bto ~ David Lee was a teammate from GSW
Delete@bto,
DeleteYes it's true that friendship ain't built overnight. At this point, all I can tell is that Parsons is trying too hard. Well, time will tell. We just have to wait and see how things unfolded between Jeremy and Parsons moving forward.
If I recall correctly, Jeremy approached Parsons when he first relocated to Houston not the other way round. David Lee took good care of Jeremy like a lil brother when they were playing for GSW together.
Im so buying this...
ReplyDeletehttp://neaato.tumblr.com/image/41131749560
Where can we get this?
DeleteNo idea. I found the picture on
Deletehttp://neaat.wordpress.com/
but I havent figured out yet who sells them.
HardLIN Tees
Delete@via, i.m.in.awe.
DeleteYOU ARE AWESOME VIA!
DeleteToo bad. They only sell XL right now. I need XXL or XXXL. I guess I will have to make it on my own :)
Delete[Awesome...in shopping, lol]
Delete@wil ~ Making one yourself -> you really, really want that shirt! ^^
I copied the image - I will edit it a little - take it to a friends shop and print it on a nice shirt. No big deal. Its the 21st century :)
DeleteJLin + Team highlights vs Bobcats
ReplyDelete[Blaiyan]
Kickstarter: The Inside Story of Jeremy Lin’s Appearance at Sundance
ReplyDeleteRox have played 49 games and won 26 of them. Blazers and Lakers have both played 47 games till today. If Rox loses the next 2games and Lakers, Blazers win their next 2 games, Rox can be relegated to the 10th spot. Rox fans have to take into account of the no of games the team has played so far and other teams pending schedule to ascertain whether Rox is assure of a playoff spot. But i'm hopeful the team will make the playoff.
ReplyDeleteback to the NBA highlight reel:
ReplyDeleteJeremy's Steal
Jeremy to Harden
I just want to say one thing.
ReplyDeleteLin is close to being back in shape. He will get consistent soon because he is playing with much more confidence and the coaching staff is trusting him little by little.
In this second half of the season you will see a consistent Lin who controls the offense most of the time (not all the time, that won't happen, but most of the time). He will be putting numbers around 14-18 pts per game shooting over 40% and anywhere from 7-9 assist per game. Add a couple of rebounds and a couple of steals per game too.
That's my prediction for the rest of the season.
I hope you're right! I'm praying you're right.
Delete40% isn't very good though, lets at least shoot for 44-45%.
Patterson the hero; Lin celebrates with fans (Chinese)
ReplyDeletehis mandarin make me laugh!!!!! but at least he is not afraid to speak it though!! very special accent!!! haha.....
DeleteSure
Deletehahaha. is he fluent?
DeleteHe sounds fluent enough but he has a pretty bad American accent.
Delete@lydia:
DeleteYou are talking about Howard Chen? Im not a speciallist (took a few mandarin classes only) but I can understand the words quite well.
If you are talking about JLin - Im not sure cause he mumbels alot. I dont even know how good his parents speak mandarin. Taiwanese people do have their own accent besides mandarin right?
Im just noticing - JLin doesnt even speak mandarin in the video - only Howard and he does have a western accent :) he doesnt speak it as soft as native speakers usually do. Had to watch twice to notice.
DeleteYeah Howard Chen. If I close my eyes I can picture a caucasian speaking mandarin. He probably learned it later in life, but worked hard at it. I think Jeremy speaks more natural than Howard.
DeleteJLin's mandarin.
DeleteJeremy's postgame interview
ReplyDeletethank you for finding this!
DeleteSteal of the night
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteOkay blame me. I started to watch the game in the 2nd half while I only read play by play in the 1st.
ReplyDeleteDon't be too hard on yourself, Cara. But, please next time, bench Jeremy in your fantasy lineup. :)
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteTime to change things up. Let me start Lin next game plz. I am no McHale! :-p
Deletelol
Delete:)
DeleteHoward Chen @ho_chenCSN
ReplyDeleteMcHale spoke earlier today about mental lapses. Said concentration comes thru experience. Rockets obv lacking that this yr. #RedNation
7:11 PM - 2 Feb 13
McHale post game vs Bobcats - 2/2/13
ReplyDeleteJonathan Feigen @Jonathan_Feigen
ReplyDeleteRockets have won 8-consecutive games vs. Charlotte in TC. Bobcats and Nets are the only teams to have never beaten a McHale-coached team.
Space City Scoop @SpaceCityScoop1
ReplyDeleteLin fans hate McHale's rotation switches. Always forgetting he doesn't come back in the 4th quarter until around the four-minute mark.
7:18 PM - 2 Feb 13
K xxxxx x @kxxxxxxxxxxx
@SpaceCityScoop1 Nope. Last game, 9 minutes in w/Lin rest of the way. Nets, started 4 and check out with 4 minutes remaining.
7:26 PM - 2 Feb 13 · Details
Space City Scoop @SpaceCityScoop1
@kxxxxxxxxxxx YEP. That's one game out of how many this year?
7:30 PM - 2 Feb 13 · Details
K xxxxx x @kxxxxxxxxxxx
@SpaceCityScoop1 If more than one, than not always.
7:39 PM - 2 Feb 13
Those smartasses remember things they way they want to. Not they way things were.
DeleteThey paint fans as being over-sensitive when in truth the fans are merely noticing/ pointing out the suspicious subbing.
Delete[Houston Rockets 109, Charlotte Bobcats 95]
ReplyDeleteRockets made to work hard for their win
In that article, many viewers ranked Lin to be one of the worst defenders, 2nd to last next to Harden. I have no idea if these commentators are box score watching or actually watching the real game. Lin has done a tremendous job at the defensive end and yet nobody from the Houston fan site gives him any credit. They still say he is a defensive weak link who has no lateral quickness, doesn't have the physical attributes to keep up with other guards and gambles way too much. Really now, perhaps they should have several video clips of Lin vs some of these guards and how many points they scored on him vs his replacements. After reading the comments, I am scratching my head on this.
DeleteAgree. I see in multiple defensive situations that the opposing players trying to get by Lin with their first step and Lin always able to do his quick lateral moves to shut it down. I guess those people don't get to watch the games like we do on the League pass to do the assessment. We as Lin fans are willing to pay to get to the real stories, not just the box scores. :-)
DeleteAnother version~
ReplyDeleteJLin highlights vs Bobcats - 2/2/13
[Geraldd Lin]
I really like jay910221's Lin highlights too. Even a little better than Geraldd's.
Deletehttp://youtu.be/sg1EGbY8vhw
Aha I'll remember to post it for you next time. :)
DeleteThe current Rockets team kind of reminds me of GSW when Curry and Ellis existed as a backcourt duo. I feel like Harden is holding Lin back the same way as when Ellis marginalized Curry in a way.
ReplyDeleteWhen your GM, coach, and franchise player don't want you to shine, you will be shipped out.
DeleteI have more problem with Parsons and sometimes Delfino given the green light over Lin than Harden. I actually think Parsons holding Lin back more than Harden holding Lin back! Harden is at least justified and comparable to Lin in talent level on offensive end while the likes of Parsons and Delfino are clearly inferior IMO, well except in McHale and "Rockets fans" eyes. Again, using Harden in OKC as an example, you can't really say Durant and Westbrook holding Harden back because they are just doing their job and are superior/comparable talent who are justified the priority over Harden. What held Harden back there are Scott Brooks and Sefolosha, one for not using Harden more than a 6th man, another undeservedly taking Harden's starting job.
DeleteBefore anyone mentions Les, please remember all Les sees is dollar signs and he wants to win a championship. Morey will explain to him that Lin is not the piece they need and why pay him so much when they should getting other players (or paying one of their own players such as Parsons to a $8-9m per year contract) to help them reach closer to that goal. Morey's 12 or 13 year old daughter is in love with Parsons. He mentioned in one of his radio interviews that his daughter will overrule any trade involves Parsons.
DeleteMorey drafted Parsons so he wants a good track record. Personally, I think he sucks as a talent evaluator because he doesn't understand the game.
Oh yeah, and I'm a first time poster on here, but a long time follower. I can't help but check this site daily haha.
DeleteVernon,
DeleteI am glad you decided to post. I followed this board a few months before finally decided to post about 3 months ago.
Welcome, @Vernon! Post more often. :)
DeleteAlcsd, I also think Morey's overrated but I don't think he would never trade Parsons just because of his daughter. Letting personal feeling overrule business sense doesn't spell a MIT graduate. Morey's dumb but certainly not that dumb!
DeleteCara,
DeleteHe will trade Parsons only for a superstar like Howard, Lebron, Durant, but for players like Smith or Milsap, I don't think he will.
During the beginning of the season, Morey twitted that Sergio Llull would look good with Harden in the back court. Llull is a Spanish player. Rockets purchased his right 3 years ago. Morey has been wanting him to come over, but late last year he signed a 6 year extension with Real Madrid. At the time Morey twitted, I thought it was rude and stupid of him. Knowing that he is a control freak, and he lets McHale treats Lin like garbage, Lin could be shipped out of Houston next year. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergio_Llull
ReplyDeleteLin and his people know that he has leverage, but he is not the type to make any noise during the season. I think he and his team of smart people will deal with this in the off season. I remember his high school coach said that Lin is very easy to deal with off court, but on the court he is very stubborn.
Those "Rockets fans", scouts and possibly Morey don't understand what they have and what's best for the team. I have read about more than 100 PG names on Clutchfans who are said to be "would look good next to Harden". What I have to say is... Durant or Lebron would look good next to Lin too!
DeleteWith all academic credentials, Morey is pretty stupid. I thought long and hard about this and one positive thing came out of this is that Lin has been learning to draw fouls from Harden. I notice that he doesn't fall hard like he did in the past. This will help prolong is career.
DeleteRemember Morey only hire "yes" men (like McHale and Finch). His assistants main job is to kiss his ass and their job will be safe.
DeleteIt's true that Morey got rid of Adelman [and hired McHale] bcos of Finch. [I wonder if Morey got what he expected in McHale...]
DeleteVia,
DeleteSometimes I wish there is a PM button so I can PM you. There are things I want to say here, but have to hold my tongue.
You and I talked about body language and facial reading. There are a lot about Morey that I disliked. One thing I will tell you about him is that he doesn't like to be wrong. His stubborn chin tells me that.
Morey needs to understand that great players don't make great coaches. Phil Jackson was a scrub. I am a huge football fan and all of the HOF coaches were either horrible or just decent players.
oh this ONE?
DeleteDaryl Morey's problem is that he still thinks like a basketball fan.
DeleteMorey is very sensitive to social currents. That completely befuddles his purportedly analytical approach. He might have all these fabulous stats, but what comes out of his mouth usually contradicts what his stats are telling him. When that happens, that's usually a sign of a guy who intellectually knows that a guy like Lin is DOMINATING but is too influenced by negative peer pressure to actually believe it.
What Morey needs to do is stop pretending he's a mere fan like the idiots on clutchfans or the known trolls here that post only when Lin is struggling due to referee racism. Morey needs to start acting like he's a basketball PARTICIPANT instead of a mere outsider.
A Morey who regards himself as a true basketball participant would be very different in his attitudes and public statements, particularly toward Lin who is by far the most underrated player in the entire NBA.
I agree with KHuang that Morey thinks and does things like a typical basketball fan.
DeleteI think he doesn't exactly know how to evaluate how a player impacts the game and really underrates the value of defensive players and how defense can impact a game while overvalues pure offensive players. I always think guys who put up points but don't play D well are extremely overvalued in the nba compared to guys who play D well but not neccesarily score well when almost everyone in the nba can put up a certain amount of points in they shoot enough.
Even his draft record shows that the "more offensive minded guys" he drafted in 1st round usually don't work out very well compared to the guys he drafted in 2nd. But maybe it's excused because it's harder to evaluate defense by using stats than offense. You really need your own eyes (without prejudice) to truely evaluate defensive impact which Morey might not be capable of.
I got an insight into Daryl Morey by reading that SI article written on "Shane Battier, the No Stats All Star".
DeleteBattier has always been one of my favorite players. When Houston traded Rudy Gay for Battier, I knew that Houston had STOLEN Battier for a player I consider overrated. Battier had at least as big a contribution to the Heat winning the title as any player on that team, including Lebron James.
In that SI article, I saw Morey as benefiting from Battier and not Battier benefiting from Morey. Based on Morey's public statements about players, I have no choice but to conclude that Morey doesn not understand the stats that he supposedly compiles.
As much as dumb racists in the media like to bash Jeremy Lin for being unathletic and undeserving of an NBA roster spot, they fake elevate guys like Daryl Morey based on ZERO EVIDENCE that Daryl Morey actually knows what he's doing.
This social garbage that degrades Asians like Jeremy Lin and elevates pretty boys like Morey was recently played out in the fraud conviction of Dietmar Machold, a man I had met personally and who sold a likely fraudulent cello to one of my friends for more money than my housr and everything in it. Machold lived a high roller jet set lifestyle and was celebrated by the media, but then he was EXPOSED as the "Bernie Madoff" of violin swindling.
If Machold were in the NBA, he's be rehired by the NY Knicks!
Lessons Learned
ReplyDeleteLinsanity Kickstarter going strong - 12 days to go.
ReplyDeleteA NO COST WAY of helping the Linsanity movie is to put it your Netflix Queue. This will help the filmmakers and distributors get the best deal when it appears on Netflix. If they see that a lot of people have in their queue, it will give the filmmakers a lot of leverage in negotiations and the number of DVDs that are purchased.
DeleteAlso check in out on IMDB. If they see that the movie is high in the search rankings, that helps increase the film's value.
@Phil ~ Thanks for the tips! :)
DeleteWhat pisses me off is that Jeremy Lin's on court production is entirely determined by how he's REFFED.
ReplyDeleteWhen Lin is normally reffed (happens about every 2 out of 5 games), Lin plays like a dominant All Star that not even the good teams can stop from going off. But when he gets a bad officiating crew, Lin gets hacked and whacked into turnovers and missed trips to the free throw line while also being pummeled by illegal screens.
All season long, I have criticized the coaching staff HARD for being way too reactionary to what the refs and opponents will do. Instead of standing their ground and fighting for their player, they sub out Jeremy Lin when the refs are cheating Lin of the game.
My major criticism of Mchale and Sampson is that they need to IMPOSE THEIR WILL on the game. Stop being so "Ok whatever" when refs are trying to take Lin out of the game. Make the refs and opponent react to them and stop laying down and letting people try to knock Lin out of the game.
Jeremy Lin KNOWS this about his coaching staff. I can tell based on his production and increasing body language. Lin is making it impossible for his coaches to bench him based on bad refereeing and deliberate opponent schemes to knock him out.
Little by little, Lin is wresting control not just of his team, but of the NBA game. That's what SUPERSTARS do, albeit Lin has the hardest hill to climb.
@KH, what more could JLin do at this time to improve his situation? [That the coaching staff would reform their MO seem unlikely...]
DeleteThe coaching staff especially McHale as the head coach never defend Lin on bad reff call so far this season, not even once. And I don't think they care either
DeleteWhat make things worst is that Lin's teammates aren't defending him either. Look at the clippers, they aren't scared with reffs and always protect each other. That is real team chemistry
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Deletevia, I have been writing that Lin needs to become NBA SHOWBOAT.
DeleteLin needs to PUNK people by embarrassing them with his body language. If Lin does it right, it'll become a natural part of his game.
Isiah Thomas, when he played, was constantly facing threats internal and external from opponents and teammates alike. Thomas would gesture wildly at teammates, open his eyes wiiide when hit by bad referee calls, and would twist his coaches into knots if their basketball philosophies were not sound.
Lin is starting to figure out that he needs to showboat people into respecting his game. He's getting better and better at it.
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DeleteSome pics from Rox vs Bobcats.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteLinsanity: The Movie Sundance 2013 Q&A-Part I
ReplyDeletegiving CREDIT where its due...
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletemaybe you can check HERE
DeleteSilly me, I should have just googled it first. Thanks anyway.
DeleteAsk away ~ on anything, @lam
Delete[I think of us as a community where we do for one another] :)
Thanks Via, BTW, what do you think of Marshall Zweig's article? Is Jeremy a one hit wonder?
DeleteFrom a neutral(non LOF or LOH) point of view, it does seem like a well thought out article. To be honest, I really don't know how Lin is doing since I'm handicapped by not able to watch the games and a lack of understanding of the NBA game. Jeremy does really elicits such polarizing opinions from both the fans and haters its really hard to know the real situation.
I follow Lin because I think he is an inspiration and I certainly hope he is not turning out to be a one hit wonder.
Do people even understand the meaning of "one hit wonder" if they really consider Lin as one? Gosh.
DeleteIam, you don't really need to "hope" that Lin is not turning out to be one hit wonder because he 100% isn't.
lam, you don't have to worry about Jeremy Lin being a "one hit wonder".
DeleteTo educate yourself about the game, study THIS thoroughly:
http://www.guidetocoachingbasketball.com/fndmntl8.htm
You will see that Jeremy Lin can easily do all of the fundamentals outlined in this website. He also has more than enough ability to run any play diagrammed in the website.
You will also see that the great majority of NBA players CANNOT run the bulk of these plays. Either they lack the technique to execute these plays, or they have the technique but not the athleticism. Jeremy Lin is the rare NBA star who actually has flawless fundamentals to go along with his elite athleticism.
To fully appreciate Lin's game, look at the plays on both offense and defense. While the Houston Rockets (and indeed most college and NBA teams) run far simpler offenses than what is diagrammed in these plays, you'll still come away with a sense of how players move with and without the basketball. For example, many of these plays have the ballhandler dribbling in arcs. This is something that Jeremy Lin has really improved on this season vs. last season.
Those of us who watched him play at Harvard did not get to see the vast majority of Lin's technical skills because he overwhelmed the competition so thoroughly that he did not need to exhibit them. But at the NBA level, we are seeing Lin's abilities though still not in full yet. As you can see from this website, lam, it takes FIVE GUYS to run any kind of basketball play effectively and thus Lin is HANDCUFFED by his largely incompetent teammates (who'll seem so much MORE incompetent after you study this website).
With such a flawless fundamental skillset to go with Lin's elite physicality at the NBA point guard position, Lin's a true "can't miss" athlete as an NBA star. Jeremy Lin is a rare star indeed.
Once you've read that website, lam, then watch this:
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsLjuicMt7g
This is the best video on teaching basketball I can think of. Lin's coach Kevin McHale is in this video too.
The video above was done in 1987. The NBA game has changed greatly since then, largely because of the abolition of the hated "illegal defense" rule. Here is a book that is slightly outdated in its concepts but is still very useful in today's game:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsLjuicMt7g
I own this book. I've studied it thoroughly, and it's a great book for the 2000s.
However, the NBA game has changed. Many of the schemes in the "NBA Coaches Playbook" have been either simplified or tossed out. This is for two reasons:
1) Players coming into the NBA are not as fundamentally sound as they used to be, due to the early entry candidates flooding the league with elite athleticism and very raw technique. Thus you can't run many of the plays that require players to actually make moves!
2) The NBA game has shifted away from traditional "battleship" low post dinosaurs, largely because modern day big men come into the NBA completely untutored in post fundamentals and also consider low post work "unglamorous". This leads to the NBA game being pushed out further to the perimeter while NBA midrange shotblockers are valued more for their footspeed and reflexes than their ability to hold position in the paint and block shots at the rim. Yet if NBA big men started going back into the paint and playing postup like they used to, all of these midrange shotblockers would be unable to close down driving lanes against perimeter penetrators because the battleship big men would score wildly inside.
Notice how even on Houston which has truly brick handed centers in Omer Asik/Greg Smith and sweak unathletic powerless power forward with zero inside presence in Patrick Patterson/Marcus Morris, they still score wildly inside when Jeremy Lin and even James Harden look for them. If these weakass stone handed talentless SCRUBS can score double figures in today's game, imagine how utterly dominant the well schooled battle hardened brutes of yesteryear would be in today's game. A guy like Lin's coach Kevin McHale in his prime would absolutely DESTROY today's lame inside opponents.
@KHuang Great info links! Thanks
DeleteYou're welcome, Brent Yen.
DeleteI accidentally misposted the 1986 championship Celtics teaching video on youtube twice. TYPO.
I love that NBA coaches playbook. I'm startled by how detailed and frank the NBA coaches were in their book about their game plans and how they approach the game.
For example, Phil Jackson writes that a single ballhandler coming upcourt by himself can be ganged up on by defenses and only a two guard front of two capable ballhandlers can overcome NBA backcourt defensive pressure. So while people here were yammering about how Lin kept turning the ball over coming upcourt last season, I kept pointing out that the Knicks had no ballhandlers other than Lin and were deliberately leaving Lin stranded. Now that Lin plays on a team with very capable ballhandlers, not a peep has been heard about Lin's alleged lack of ballhandling ability from our regular "panel" of trolls and Lin fan haters.
@lam ~ You can't get better than @KH when it comes to NBA knowledge. :)
DeleteTHIS is less exhausting than having your own coach not trusting your game..
ReplyDeleteTHIS looks kinda nice for a Lin fan, even if it doesn't look like him much.
ReplyDeleteDaryl Morey @dmorey
ReplyDeleteMy daughter made this collage after last night's performance by the starters
i'm still trying to figure out what lin was doing with those 3 TOs in a row in the 2nd half. otherwise a very good night.
ReplyDeletebut really. wtf was he doing.
Agree with some of you, @KHuang, @Anonymous, etc., officiating was atrocious against Lin as usual. Lin still played well against it, but officiating had a hand in precipitating the the pivotal moment in Lin's game today.
ReplyDeleteIn the 3rd quarter Lin drove aggressively and was blocked or lost the ball, I don't quite remember or maybe couldn't tell which. The broadcasters mentioned that there was a lot of contact, indicating that a foul call should have been made. Did McHale fight for Lin? No, he called a timeout and BENCHED Lin.
If there is one thing McHale could learn to do, it's not bench players for physical mistakes in games, ESPECIALLY when those plays are a result of being aggressive. Daryl Morey has indicated that he doesn't mind mistakes that are the result of aggressive plays. I've heard that Sam Presti doesn't mind turnovers because if you make turnovers you're being aggressive and you're learning what works. OKC had the most turnovers in the NBA last year and you know how good they were.
Hall of Fame coaches like D'Antoni and Phil Jackson let their teams play. They don't try to micromanage plays. Benching a player for single play physical mistakes is highly demotivating and demoralizing. When you're held to a different standard from other players and you're already playing at the highest level you're capable of, you're like, what more can I do?
I'm glad I don't watch game live very often. Immediately after Lin got benched, Charlotte started coming back. McHale had no choice but to return Lin to the lineup. He didn't want to be embarrassed two games in a row. This was Lin's opportunity, I thought! He has finally arrived!
But he squandered it with poor play on several possessions. In retrospect, the most likely explanation is that McHale either chewed Lin out for his earlier aggressive TO, or Lin's benching sent the message anyway. So, when Lin came back, instead of playing his normal aggressive game, Lin played "not to make mistakes" which is of course when you play your losingest brand of basketball.
So, McHale should adjust his style. I know it's very hard for an old basketball hand to take advice from a new generation. But I wish he would.
But, Lin can't control that. He needs to understand that no one aside form McHale/Sampson is going to blame him for mistakes during aggressive play. When Lin adjusts his game to not piss off McHale, and makes several dumb looking TOs in a row, no one's going to blame McHale's coaching, they're going to blame him. Lin needs to learn which parts of McHale's advice is useful and which part to let go in one ear and out the other.
Never stop being aggressive. If you're going to get benched, get benched for being too aggressive, not for throwing soft backwards cross court passes that get picked off trivially.
If McHale benches you for getting blocked on a lay-up, the very next thing you should do when you get in the game again is drive in for a lay-up. If you get blocked again, GREAT! It's important for Lin to show himself that he's not going to be intimidated by less than perfect coaching.
Lin has possibly the fastest first step in the NBA. When he's aggressive, no one can stop him.
My problem with McHale is that he's TOO sensitive to the flow of the game.
DeleteWhen refs steal possessions and let opponents bash Lin, McHale doesn't realize that the refs are biased. What would McHale know, he played on that ref protected Boston team and thus has no idea how much NBA refs can hate an Asian player like Jeremy Lin.
Years ago, McHale's Celtics teammate Danny Ainge (now GM of the Celtics) was disastrously traded off the Celtics for Ed Pinckney (sort of like Patrick Patterson without a jump shot) and Joe Kleine (like Omar Asik without Jeremy Lin bricking easy passes off his stone hands).
Aing was so talented that he scored 20+ppg kn that horrible Sacramento team, but Ainge suddenly found out that the NBA refs were totally biased against him and that the same calls he got in Boston were going against him in Sacramento. I even recall one of Ainge's Celtics teammates laughing about it, and it was either Bird or McHale in my recollection!
I HATE NBA refs.
Great advice from @Michael Terry :)
DeleteAna Parsons @anapnyc
ReplyDelete4 days til UCB Los Angeles !! Jeremy Lin, The Musical @JLin7 #linsanityinla @itsmeaidan @EdelynOkano @AsAmNews
pic.twitter.com/iKEfwBho
10:52 AM - 3 Feb 13
Hi all. I became a fan of Jeremy Lin since last February (didn't follow basketball since Michael Jordan retired until the burst of "Linsanity"). I've been following the JLin news and discussions on this site since then. I'm usually a lurker but finally decided to sign up to comment.
ReplyDeleteLike others, I'm really disappointed in the Rockets' management of JLin in regards to his role (having others share his PG duties at times) and their offensive system (not a lot of PNRs and rely on mostly catch & shoots). I don't think Mchale is not a good coach at all. He might be a nice guy, but so far he hasn't shown any accountability (never admits his own faults & just calls out some players on their mistakes and not others). He's not a leader. Unfortunately, I don't think the Rockets front office will fire him this season. The best outcome for JLin is if he's somehow removed from the position in the offseason. In the meantime, I've been sending twitter messages to @dmorey whenever I think the coaches are doing a poor job (whenever there's too much iso-Harden ball or the odd player substitutions).
Fortunately, JLin is paid to play basketball this year and the next 2 years no matter what. IMO, he will take this time to gain on-court experience, use the offseasons to work on his weaknesses, and develop into an overall better player. If "Linsanity" is just the beginning, then his ceiling is beyond Linsanity. Although it's really frustrating to see him mistreated by the Rockets and critics saying that he's just an average player or a role player, I have to remind myself that I have to be patient. JLin has overcome a lot of adversity to reach this point in his career. I'm confident that he will find a way to light another blaze to make it obvious that he's legit and elite. He's the one who has control of his life and career. It's all up to him to make the best of this opportunity. Somewhere along the line, I hope he finds a team that will allow him to shine and let him play his team-based basketball.
Welcome to the forum.
DeleteThat said, you must understand that Lin is going to face the same negative pressure from coaches and teammates wherever he goes.
Like I said above, at least Lin is not on the Lakers playing behind their corner spot up shooter Steve Nash. I now laugh at people here who openly wrote that Nash was such an elite shooter that he would score big in ways that Lin never could.
If Lin were on the Lakers, he's be sitting behind Steve Nash AND getting blamed by the LA papers and Kobe Bryant for the team's losing.
I disagree with Mike D'Antoni's move to make Steve Nash a low usage shooting guard. In that sense, Nash has quite a few things to learn from the NEW master of overcoming such situations, Jeremy Lin!