Honestly, I'd rather have Jeremy play like he did the second Phoenix game, rather than put up big individual stats (unless it is necessary and in natural flow of game, like Harden and Lin's performance down stretch of OKC game, or Lin during Linsanity Lakers game (IIRC, he was only in low 20's scoring, but Kobe started one man comeback, which Lin answered with aplomb).
I liked how neither Jeremy or James tried to dominate the ball early on, then how they mixed it up on who initiates attack later on. Didn't seem like there was any obvious pattern and Phoenix couldn't lock in defensively on one or the other.
LOL Lol lol...... I'm having a laugh-induced tummy ache. Harden said his foot injury happened in the Warriors game (3 games ago, on March 8). YET, in their last game (with the Suns, on March 13), I saw Harden play the rest of the 3rd quarter in the blow out. Lin came out of the game for good, with just under 4i minutes left in the 3rd Q, with the Rockets leading by 22 points. The game wound up 111-81. SMH.
In the suns game:
Parson: 24 minutes Lin and Asik: 26 minutes Harden: 32 minutes
A lil late but here's my thoughts about the Wednesday's Sun's game.
It was boring.
Houston played a very average game. Jeremy played like he did of old. McHell for once didn't do anything bone headed. The second team didn't melt down. The scoring was balanced. Basically, there weren't any evidence of dysfunction other than Harden's lack of D.
On the other hand, to put it bluntly, Houston played very vanilla average game against a very below average team. Hence, I am kind of confused about all the jubilation expressed in the Sun's post game thread. It's as if we just beat the Thunder for the second time.
Maybe it's cuz Houston has been under performing so much this season especially in March that we seem to have mistaken "a cheese steak sandwich for a filet mignon".
Put it a differently the game lacked drama. Drama occurs when something really good or something really bad happened. Houston displayed passable fundamentals in spacing and ball movement for the first time in 2 weeks. Otherwise, there just weren't anything interesting that happened in the game.
Yes, they are under performing to the point that we are celebrating the fact that the team can perform at an average level.
Your third paragraph is sort of.... self defining. If they play to their average ability, then average is who they are?
I guess you can say playing to an average level is an achievement in itself considering all the self inflicted adversity that Houston has endured all season long.
The ONLY obvious improvement I see in the Sun's game versus the Detroit game at the very start of the season is Asik can roll after the pick and finish now. Other than that, Houston was capable of playing on an average level until McHell lost control of his team.
Houston was already at that ephemeral average level since the beginning of the season, hence, I don't see it as a major accomplishment to simply be "average" this late in the season.
We do get a little too excited here even discovering new pick and roll plays that didn't seem to exist before. Geez. Offensively there wasn't a standout but it was balanced. It was the suffocating defense that the Rockets decided to play that got them over the top. So offensively it was an average game.
"Asik can roll after the pick and finish now." Yeah if no one is obstructing his path. He's still a dud offensively. He just need to rebound and let DMo do the scoring around the basket.
You are more optimistic about the Rockets than I am!
Personally, I think that the Rockets should have been one of the worst teams in the NBA. But due in no small part to Jeremy Lin's excellence, I feel that they've really squeezed the most out of their limited minimum wage talent.
via - saw it many years ago (3 or 4?) but the one of the two theologians were professors I think in some east-southeast university maybe North Carolina or Georgia U.?
I thought that debate was interesting because the theologians were very very sharp and difficult to debate against. They were still lying and distorting scientific facts but doing so in a very effective way.
Overall, it had a very inherent the wind feel since the theologians were southerner-like.
"Asik can roll after the pick and finish now." Yeah if no one is obstructing his path. He's still a dud offensively. He just need to rebound and let DMo do the scoring around the basket.
Hahaha yes totally agree!
I just hope he doesn't try to coast to coast again anytime soon.
IMO, the Rockets are underperforming. They (rather McHale, I should say) get pat on the back because everybody - except some Lin ans like us who correctly predicted them to be average so to speak - grossly underrated them (pegged at dead last at 30th in the league before Harden, and about 27th after Harden), rather than putting a ? mark, since so much was unknown.
A lot of people know that McHell lost at least several games for them with his inept coaching and power politics. McHale by himself doesn't have the power, but he was enabled by Morey the Sorry.
It is a human trait to find answers to questions as uncertainty is stressful. And, beings that are stressed by uncertainty are more likely to be out competed by people who are less likely to be stressed by uncertainty.
And, therefore, assigning purpose to otherwise meaningless things had been a successful evolutionary trait for eons.
I predict McHale playing Beverley for 30 minutes, and Beverley gets 47pts 15 assists, 7 steals, 3 blks 12 Rebs and 1 TO for his first career triple double.
If Harden can't play tonight, it's time for Jeremy Lin to play his style of game. Ignore McHell and play his brand of exciting "home run" game for the win. Just nod to McHell and ignore him! It's a high time for Lin to show McHell disrespect, as a tit for tat! Now, who has the real power, baby! What can they do, huh? Trade him? Great! Waive him? Even better! Hahahaha, happy laughter.
Etane, there were a lot of bright spots in that victory, even though it did come against a poor team. It was a 30 point blowout, and no matter who you play in the NBA, that is still impressive.
Also, the Rockets unveiled some pick and roll plays for Jeremy. It looks like they are finally opening things up for Jeremy and look what happened. It created balanced scoring with everyone getting involved. This will pose a big problem for opposing teams because now the Rockets have manu options, not just Harden iso ball or jacking up treys.
Third, D-Mo showed versatility and hints of dominance. Hook shots, three point shooting, passing and running the fast break. He's showing a lot of promise at the very position that the Rockets need to improve.
Unveiled? It's the same old shit. Wing screen and roll, staggered screens, and normal pick and rolls. What have you been watching. All of sudden there are new plays just for Lin??? Don't just read what other wrote and regurgitate like it's something new.
Tuan. I agree with all your observations. I guess my view is Houston has always been able to do these things and a lot more.
Back when the Rockets was still Lin's team, during the first week of the season, Lin got plenty of picks. But, after that, his teammates became reluctant to set picks for him.
So, I don't see it as an accomplishment that Lin gets a few picks now.
Dmo is a pleasant surprise and probably the only bright spot since he's playing above my expectations. OTOH, why did it take Houston so long to start utilizing him? Previously, he had to plea to go down to D league to get some playing time.
The Rockets do have different personnel, post trades.
Donatas Motiejeunas is more of an inside scoring threat than either Patrick Patterson and Marcus Morris were. This means that defenders cannot just lock in on Lin off the pick and roll like they did earlier this season.
Also, the entire team now is more familiar playing with each other.
DMO has Pau Gasol like potential, not that they play the same way. What I mean is that Dmo can be a Euro style dominant PF if he does some intense Sparta Training with Lin.
What I like about Dmo, is he plays the game the same way Jlin plays. Both are speed guys, both have good hand eye coordination. Dmo is a skilled big man with some post moves to make up for any lack of NBA athleticism. And he doesn't camp at the 3 point line all day like Gallinari, who is probably more athletic than Dmo right now, although Dmo arguably runs the court harder.
I think Dmo will surprise some folks this year in the playoffs. But I don't think he will be ready when teams adjusts to him. Plus he won't get any calls from the refs.
I wish Lin/Dmo were coached by D'Antoni, just because their stats would both be off the wall and D'Antoni would inflate their confidence and help them play lights out...poor Asik, who is darned good, would probably be glued to the bench under D'Antoni.
Blow outs are always boring, efficiency is also boring. The fact remains that Lin turned his team around with some timely words to get them to seize the moment instead of playing not to lose. The fact also remains that Lin involved the whole team in scoring. We Lin fans can't help be excited about finally seeing the subtle ways Lin can impact the success of a team. It was a boring 13pts, 6 assist, 25 min night for Lin. Watching chess could also be as exciting as watching snow melt....but only to the uninitiated.
DMo can actually catch any kind of pass dished by Lin. That to me is win. And they seem to read each other really well in PnRs and in motion, even better than Lin + Parsons.
Asik is just lost. But then again we just need Asik to stand there/box out/and jump (for rebounds), and the occasional slams. If he can stay away from those ugly layups he'd be golden.
Ah, but watching JLin play chess is amazingly fun, because you see the joy in everyone's eyes except those who do not have a team agenda. Even that part, the negative emotional space, is dramatic for a good reason - you see the villains come out.
agree 100%. the same plays have always been there.. they just executed better in the suns game because the suns were defending it differently. they defended it differently because now the guy setting the screen is actually an offensive threat. you can no longer just trap lin off the screen with d-mo or TRob rolling.
With a little breathing room because of the Jazz slide and Kobe's injury, maybe the Rockets can get a lot of playing time for the new players. It might be a good opportunity to get guys used to the system and getting to know each other. I am fine with cutting back on Harden's minutes and letting him rest a little.
I would like to see the guys who have recently come on board to play lots of minutes, especially if the game is a double digit lead for the Rockets. I think Robonson needs to play a lot. He is like a beast physically but needs to learn to be a basketball player.
@Rikki~ JUBILEE PROJECT's twitter -> In case you'd want to bookmark it to find out if there's any new development [JLin merch] on their SE Asian tour. :) [I may not be able to follow-up on it after all, need to deal with some stuff, might be away for a bit.]
Now the doubters from the NY Knicks forum are out in full force after the loss suffered by the Knicks during their West Coast stint. They are so far 0 - 3 against West Coast teams this time around and managed to lose their three main guys and could possible lose K-Mart after yesterday's demolishing at the hands of Portland. Raymond Felton was booed mercilessly yesterday and only managed like 8 points or so with 3 TO's while Lillard went off on him. Alot of the Knicks fans still believe in their team to make it to the play offs and have some hope of beating the other Eastern Conference Team once the Knicks have all their guys back. But you can also see alot of people are jumping off the Knicks band wagon about them making the right move to cut Lin and also hire Woodson as their coach. Last year and the 1st half of this year Woodson and Melo were the toast of the town, but fast forward to present day and they are the goats. It seems Woodson is clueless in his game planning, adjustments and rotations. Like many of you mentioned before, Woodson isn't a good coach because of his track record with Atlanta. He relies too much on hero ball just like McHale and that will lead to failure as evident by the Knicks collapsing right before our eyes. I am glad that some form of justice was administered by the powers to be and that the law of averages finally leveled itself out. I am happy that Lin isn't left to be in the same situation he was left with last year. He can't be the savior for the Knicks twice in a row now could he? Although, if he was on the team and not Felton then perhaps a different scenario would have unfolded, but I doubt he will be doing well with Woodson at the helm.
I wouldn't say that, Knicks did what they could without their all stars.
I actually liked Felton's 4Q performance against Trail Blazers, him and Prigioni hounded Blazer's passing lanes and got a lot of easy steals, although his FG% was bad, he did manage 11pts with 3 ast and 3 steals, if he was Lin we'd give him a pass or make up some excuse.
I saw lots of ball movement and JR Smith penetrated at will and got a lot of easy points though he made a few boneheaded drives reminiscent of some of Lin's boneheaded drives during Linsanity, he never gave up, I was actually cheering for him, 11/21 for 33 points, you couldn't complain much about his game, he really tried to carry the team on his shoulders.
They closed within 4 points but Blazers went on another 15-2 run because Knicks just couldn't execute on offense. They packed the paint but Blazers killed them at the perimeter, lots of 3Q/4Q points came from behind the arc or long jumpers, I swear Blazers couldn't miss anything, even shots that was blocked miraculously went in off the backboard.
If they had a decent playmaker they would have creamed the Blazers, who I think has talent but watching them play Knicks I now understand why they won't be making the playoffs.
This is a good chance to get the bench/second string/third string some real playing time against other starters. They can afford to lose a few games, and can only benefit from them once their stars come back. I wouldn't count the Knicks out just yet.
Khuang, for all JR Smith good there are alot of short comings like his shot selections and his attitude. When things are going right for him, he will tend to cause trouble. He is definitely a guy who needs to come off the bench. I don't think JR Smith is starter material. Felton is decent this year, but not on the level of Lin. I have watched the occasional Knicks game or two and there are occasions where Felton looked good and there are majority of occasions where he looked really bad. I don't know why people said his defense is better than Lin, but obviously it is not for other opposition PG to score easily on him. E.G. Lin, Lillard, Holiday just to name a few. Even if he gets beaten, Tyson or other bigs on the Knicks should be there to stop the drive, but obviously this is not the case. In the beginning of the season he was set out to prove the people who wanted Lin instead of him on the Knicks wrong and it's true that the Knicks were playing decent bball in the beginning because of their easy schedule, people haven't figured them out yet and they still had fresh legs. With half the season already gone it is evident that teams have already figured out their style of play and Woodson still haven't made the necessary adjustments. He is still head strong on holding everybody accountable but himself. The Knicks were ill prepared for this road trip. Their star, although hurt sent a message that he quit on them by leaving in the middle of the 3rd quarter against Denver. He should have never played if his knee was bothering him, but he wanted to play for selfish reason. Now the Knicks are in a quagmire where they will limp into the playoffs literally.
I really liked JR Smith when he played alongside Jeremy Lin. I thought Lin had a very stabilizing effect on Smith.
The problem with Smith is that people look at him and think he's a failed All Star. In truth, JR Smith is simply a very average player who doesn't have the court sense to be more than what he currently is. I like his game and would live with his occasional risktaking if I were his coach.
Everytime Lin has faced Rubio, it was a 2nd of a back-2-back game. This time Lin is rested. He should blow by Ricky long legs rather easily, those are the type of players he does well against.
Lin may be able to beat Rubio off dribble, but what I remember of Linsanity Lin vs. Rubio matchup was Rubio digging ball out from Lin, after Lin had initially beat him and he thought he had easy layup; Rubio would trail play and dig ball out before Lin could put it up.
Remember also how Lin said he used trigonometry when seeing passing angles during Linsanity 1.0.
From google search, Rubio looks to have a 6 ft 8 or 6 ft 9 wingspan.
Iman Shumpert's wingspan is 6 ft 9.5, and Lin's is 6 ft. 5.
Lin may be more athletic than Rubio, but he doesn't have that extra long wingspan to be a lock down defender.
His positive effective on team defense is probably a result of taking away possessions from the other team (steals, rebounds, deflections) or giving his team extra ones.
As Coach Musselman said, irrespective of how Lin is playing, he will always be a tremendous loose ball getter.
Agreed. Wingspan doesn't prevent Jeremy from being an elite defender (one-on-one or help). It does, however, prevent him from being a flashy dunker, which is why many fail to appreciate his athleticism.
Nothing wows the average Joe like an epic dunk. And lacking that 4-5 inches of wingspan is the difference between being able to dunk occasionally and being able to dunk easily.
From what I've seen, Jeremy is a good, but not great on ball defender.
He seems to be much better off ball (e. g. guarding someone in corner), where he can see all the action in front of him (free safety type rol), then create steals, rebounds, deflections, or dislodge ball but someone else get credit for steal, taking away possessions from the other team and giving his team extra ones.
SAS has made a career out of kissing the asses of big stars like Carmelo and Lebron, in order to get 'exclusive' interviews and info on them. Basically he's the man version of female reporters who sleep with their bosses to climb up the media ladder.
first! and Rockets Win 2nite!
ReplyDeletelets hope jeremy can have one big game to break the 13ppg mark and shoot above 50% this game to break the 44% season shooting percentage
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I'd rather have Jeremy play like he did the second Phoenix game, rather than put up big individual stats (unless it is necessary and in natural flow of game, like Harden and Lin's performance down stretch of OKC game, or Lin during Linsanity Lakers game (IIRC, he was only in low 20's scoring, but Kobe started one man comeback, which Lin answered with aplomb).
DeleteI liked how neither Jeremy or James tried to dominate the ball early on, then how they mixed it up on who initiates attack later on. Didn't seem like there was any obvious pattern and Phoenix couldn't lock in defensively on one or the other.
Harden is a game time decision. Let's Go Lin!!
ReplyDeleteLOL Lol lol...... I'm having a laugh-induced tummy ache. Harden said his foot injury happened in the Warriors game (3 games ago, on March 8). YET, in their last game (with the Suns, on March 13), I saw Harden play the rest of the 3rd quarter in the blow out. Lin came out of the game for good, with just under 4i minutes left in the 3rd Q, with the Rockets leading by 22 points. The game wound up 111-81. SMH.
DeleteIn the suns game:
Parson: 24 minutes
Lin and Asik: 26 minutes
Harden: 32 minutes
edit the typo:
Deletejust under 4 minutes: 3:47 left in the 3rd Q, to be exact.
A lil late but here's my thoughts about the Wednesday's Sun's game.
ReplyDeleteIt was boring.
Houston played a very average game. Jeremy played like he did of old. McHell for once didn't do anything bone headed. The second team didn't melt down. The scoring was balanced. Basically, there weren't any evidence of dysfunction other than Harden's lack of D.
On the other hand, to put it bluntly, Houston played very vanilla average game against a very below average team. Hence, I am kind of confused about all the jubilation expressed in the Sun's post game thread. It's as if we just beat the Thunder for the second time.
Maybe it's cuz Houston has been under performing so much this season especially in March that we seem to have mistaken "a cheese steak sandwich for a filet mignon".
Put it a differently the game lacked drama. Drama occurs when something really good or something really bad happened. Houston displayed passable fundamentals in spacing and ball movement for the first time in 2 weeks. Otherwise, there just weren't anything interesting that happened in the game.
Legit question for you:
DeleteDo you think Houston is "underperforming" this season, or is Houston is simply not as good as most of us think they are?
I personally believe that Houston's real ability is "average", that the way they played in this Suns game is who they really are.
OT
Delete@Etane~ I wonder if THIS is the debate you were looking for...
[Edge.org is nice.]
Yes, they are under performing to the point that we are celebrating the fact that the team can perform at an average level.
DeleteYour third paragraph is sort of.... self defining. If they play to their average ability, then average is who they are?
I guess you can say playing to an average level is an achievement in itself considering all the self inflicted adversity that Houston has endured all season long.
The ONLY obvious improvement I see in the Sun's game versus the Detroit game at the very start of the season is Asik can roll after the pick and finish now. Other than that, Houston was capable of playing on an average level until McHell lost control of his team.
Houston was already at that ephemeral average level since the beginning of the season, hence, I don't see it as a major accomplishment to simply be "average" this late in the season.
We do get a little too excited here even discovering new pick and roll plays that didn't seem to exist before. Geez. Offensively there wasn't a standout but it was balanced. It was the suffocating defense that the Rockets decided to play that got them over the top. So offensively it was an average game.
Delete"Asik can roll after the pick and finish now." Yeah if no one is obstructing his path. He's still a dud offensively. He just need to rebound and let DMo do the scoring around the basket.
Deletevia - that's not it. But, it looks interesting. Will view it later this afternoon. xie xie.
DeleteGer - true Asik still can't finish in traffic. He seems to be afraid of jumping when there are people around him.
DeleteYW @Etane, do you have an idea who was the other guy on Dawkins side at that debate? Topic?
DeleteThanks for the answer, Etane.
DeleteYou are more optimistic about the Rockets than I am!
Personally, I think that the Rockets should have been one of the worst teams in the NBA. But due in no small part to Jeremy Lin's excellence, I feel that they've really squeezed the most out of their limited minimum wage talent.
True. Everybody's getting their career highs bcos of JLin...
Deletevia - saw it many years ago (3 or 4?) but the one of the two theologians were professors I think in some east-southeast university maybe North Carolina or Georgia U.?
DeleteI thought that debate was interesting because the theologians were very very sharp and difficult to debate against. They were still lying and distorting scientific facts but doing so in a very effective way.
Overall, it had a very inherent the wind feel since the theologians were southerner-like.
*inherit
Deleteok
DeleteGeronimo:
Delete"Asik can roll after the pick and finish now." Yeah if no one is obstructing his path. He's still a dud offensively. He just need to rebound and let DMo do the scoring around the basket.
Hahaha yes totally agree!
I just hope he doesn't try to coast to coast again anytime soon.
OT² : @via thx for mention of edge.org, love it!
DeleteIMO, the Rockets are underperforming. They (rather McHale, I should say) get pat on the back because everybody - except some Lin ans like us who correctly predicted them to be average so to speak - grossly underrated them (pegged at dead last at 30th in the league before Harden, and about 27th after Harden), rather than putting a ? mark, since so much was unknown.
DeleteA lot of people know that McHell lost at least several games for them with his inept coaching and power politics. McHale by himself doesn't have the power, but he was enabled by Morey the Sorry.
Response to the edge.org video:
DeleteIt is a human trait to find answers to questions as uncertainty is stressful. And, beings that are stressed by uncertainty are more likely to be out competed by people who are less likely to be stressed by uncertainty.
And, therefore, assigning purpose to otherwise meaningless things had been a successful evolutionary trait for eons.
TOTAL DOMINATION TONIGHT. SHUHOW DROPS A CAREER HIGH 45PTS 12 ASTS 4 STLS 2BLKS 8 RBS.
ReplyDeleteand 7 turnovers!
DeleteMaybe all this numbers within 20 Mins PT? lol
DeleteI predict McHale playing Beverley for 30 minutes, and Beverley gets 47pts 15 assists, 7 steals, 3 blks 12 Rebs and 1 TO for his first career triple double.
DeleteIf Harden can't play tonight, it's time for Jeremy Lin to play his style of game. Ignore McHell and play his brand of exciting "home run" game for the win. Just nod to McHell and ignore him! It's a high time for Lin to show McHell disrespect, as a tit for tat! Now, who has the real power, baby! What can they do, huh? Trade him? Great! Waive him? Even better! Hahahaha, happy laughter.
DeleteAnd since McHale runs a motion offense in which anything goes, Lin can even legitimately say "But I'm not breaking any rules of your offense, Coach!"
DeleteHahahaha..... A great post, KHuang! I vote Likey.
DeleteEtane, there were a lot of bright spots in that victory, even though it did come against a poor team. It was a 30 point blowout, and no matter who you play in the NBA, that is still impressive.
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Rockets unveiled some pick and roll plays for Jeremy. It looks like they are finally opening things up for Jeremy and look what happened. It created balanced scoring with everyone getting involved. This will pose a big problem for opposing teams because now the Rockets have manu options, not just Harden iso ball or jacking up treys.
Third, D-Mo showed versatility and hints of dominance. Hook shots, three point shooting, passing and running the fast break. He's showing a lot of promise at the very position that the Rockets need to improve.
Unveiled? It's the same old shit. Wing screen and roll, staggered screens, and normal pick and rolls. What have you been watching. All of sudden there are new plays just for Lin??? Don't just read what other wrote and regurgitate like it's something new.
DeleteTuan. I agree with all your observations. I guess my view is Houston has always been able to do these things and a lot more.
DeleteBack when the Rockets was still Lin's team, during the first week of the season, Lin got plenty of picks. But, after that, his teammates became reluctant to set picks for him.
So, I don't see it as an accomplishment that Lin gets a few picks now.
Dmo is a pleasant surprise and probably the only bright spot since he's playing above my expectations. OTOH, why did it take Houston so long to start utilizing him? Previously, he had to plea to go down to D league to get some playing time.
Well, I do disagree with geronimo slightly.
DeleteThe Rockets do have different personnel, post trades.
Donatas Motiejeunas is more of an inside scoring threat than either Patrick Patterson and Marcus Morris were. This means that defenders cannot just lock in on Lin off the pick and roll like they did earlier this season.
Also, the entire team now is more familiar playing with each other.
DMO has Pau Gasol like potential, not that they play the same way. What I mean is that Dmo can be a Euro style dominant PF if he does some intense Sparta Training with Lin.
DeleteWhat I like about Dmo, is he plays the game the same way Jlin plays. Both are speed guys, both have good hand eye coordination. Dmo is a skilled big man with some post moves to make up for any lack of NBA athleticism. And he doesn't camp at the 3 point line all day like Gallinari, who is probably more athletic than Dmo right now, although Dmo arguably runs the court harder.
I think Dmo will surprise some folks this year in the playoffs. But I don't think he will be ready when teams adjusts to him. Plus he won't get any calls from the refs.
I wish Lin/Dmo were coached by D'Antoni, just because their stats would both be off the wall and D'Antoni would inflate their confidence and help them play lights out...poor Asik, who is darned good, would probably be glued to the bench under D'Antoni.
Blow outs are always boring, efficiency is also boring. The fact remains that Lin turned his team around with some timely words to get them to seize the moment instead of playing not to lose. The fact also remains that Lin involved the whole team in scoring. We Lin fans can't help be excited about finally seeing the subtle ways Lin can impact the success of a team. It was a boring 13pts, 6 assist, 25 min night for Lin. Watching chess could also be as exciting as watching snow melt....but only to the uninitiated.
DeleteDMo can actually catch any kind of pass dished by Lin. That to me is win. And they seem to read each other really well in PnRs and in motion, even better than Lin + Parsons.
DeleteAsik is just lost. But then again we just need Asik to stand there/box out/and jump (for rebounds), and the occasional slams. If he can stay away from those ugly layups he'd be golden.
Honestly I'd rather watch snow melt than watch chess...
DeleteAh, but watching JLin play chess is amazingly fun, because you see the joy in everyone's eyes except those who do not have a team agenda. Even that part, the negative emotional space, is dramatic for a good reason - you see the villains come out.
DeleteKhuang -
Deleteagree 100%. the same plays have always been there.. they just executed better in the suns game because the suns were defending it differently. they defended it differently because now the guy setting the screen is actually an offensive threat. you can no longer just trap lin off the screen with d-mo or TRob rolling.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWith a little breathing room because of the Jazz slide and Kobe's injury, maybe the Rockets can get a lot of playing time for the new players. It might be a good opportunity to get guys used to the system and getting to know each other. I am fine with cutting back on Harden's minutes and letting him rest a little.
ReplyDeleteI would like to see the guys who have recently come on board to play lots of minutes, especially if the game is a double digit lead for the Rockets. I think Robonson needs to play a lot. He is like a beast physically but needs to learn to be a basketball player.
@Rikki~ JUBILEE PROJECT's twitter -> In case you'd want to bookmark it to find out if there's any new development [JLin merch] on their SE Asian tour. :)
ReplyDelete[I may not be able to follow-up on it after all, need to deal with some stuff, might be away for a bit.]
:) @Lyd [You changed your name...]
Deletelol
Deletevia-lien
Delete[No wonder when you google Etanism you get Satanism...]
DeleteI didn't know you could Google from your UFO.
DeleteHow else would you navigate the universe? [Google maps Uni edition.] =P
Deletehello @via! Make sure to not stay away for long , ok? It's just not the same w/o you here. hehe...
DeleteTake care!
@via is a secret agent in real life.
Deletebecause of work and unable to find a +1, I missed the deadline
Delete...dang
Now the doubters from the NY Knicks forum are out in full force after the loss suffered by the Knicks during their West Coast stint. They are so far 0 - 3 against West Coast teams this time around and managed to lose their three main guys and could possible lose K-Mart after yesterday's demolishing at the hands of Portland. Raymond Felton was booed mercilessly yesterday and only managed like 8 points or so with 3 TO's while Lillard went off on him. Alot of the Knicks fans still believe in their team to make it to the play offs and have some hope of beating the other Eastern Conference Team once the Knicks have all their guys back. But you can also see alot of people are jumping off the Knicks band wagon about them making the right move to cut Lin and also hire Woodson as their coach. Last year and the 1st half of this year Woodson and Melo were the toast of the town, but fast forward to present day and they are the goats. It seems Woodson is clueless in his game planning, adjustments and rotations. Like many of you mentioned before, Woodson isn't a good coach because of his track record with Atlanta. He relies too much on hero ball just like McHale and that will lead to failure as evident by the Knicks collapsing right before our eyes. I am glad that some form of justice was administered by the powers to be and that the law of averages finally leveled itself out. I am happy that Lin isn't left to be in the same situation he was left with last year. He can't be the savior for the Knicks twice in a row now could he? Although, if he was on the team and not Felton then perhaps a different scenario would have unfolded, but I doubt he will be doing well with Woodson at the helm.
ReplyDeleteWoodson=low IQ
DeleteMcHale=low IQ=Woodson's twin brother
Excellent posts, guys.
DeleteBoth Woodson and McHale run that Bobby Knight motion offense that gives superstars free rein to hog the ball.
The Knicks have a great record against Leastern Conference teams. However, they are no match for the majority of Best Western Conference teams.
Jeremy Lin would have singlehandedly solved most of the Knicks' problems.
I wouldn't say that, Knicks did what they could without their all stars.
DeleteI actually liked Felton's 4Q performance against Trail Blazers, him and Prigioni hounded Blazer's passing lanes and got a lot of easy steals, although his FG% was bad, he did manage 11pts with 3 ast and 3 steals, if he was Lin we'd give him a pass or make up some excuse.
I saw lots of ball movement and JR Smith penetrated at will and got a lot of easy points though he made a few boneheaded drives reminiscent of some of Lin's boneheaded drives during Linsanity, he never gave up, I was actually cheering for him, 11/21 for 33 points, you couldn't complain much about his game, he really tried to carry the team on his shoulders.
They closed within 4 points but Blazers went on another 15-2 run because Knicks just couldn't execute on offense. They packed the paint but Blazers killed them at the perimeter, lots of 3Q/4Q points came from behind the arc or long jumpers, I swear Blazers couldn't miss anything, even shots that was blocked miraculously went in off the backboard.
If they had a decent playmaker they would have creamed the Blazers, who I think has talent but watching them play Knicks I now understand why they won't be making the playoffs.
This is a good chance to get the bench/second string/third string some real playing time against other starters. They can afford to lose a few games, and can only benefit from them once their stars come back. I wouldn't count the Knicks out just yet.
Khuang, for all JR Smith good there are alot of short comings like his shot selections and his attitude. When things are going right for him, he will tend to cause trouble. He is definitely a guy who needs to come off the bench. I don't think JR Smith is starter material. Felton is decent this year, but not on the level of Lin. I have watched the occasional Knicks game or two and there are occasions where Felton looked good and there are majority of occasions where he looked really bad. I don't know why people said his defense is better than Lin, but obviously it is not for other opposition PG to score easily on him. E.G. Lin, Lillard, Holiday just to name a few. Even if he gets beaten, Tyson or other bigs on the Knicks should be there to stop the drive, but obviously this is not the case. In the beginning of the season he was set out to prove the people who wanted Lin instead of him on the Knicks wrong and it's true that the Knicks were playing decent bball in the beginning because of their easy schedule, people haven't figured them out yet and they still had fresh legs. With half the season already gone it is evident that teams have already figured out their style of play and Woodson still haven't made the necessary adjustments. He is still head strong on holding everybody accountable but himself. The Knicks were ill prepared for this road trip. Their star, although hurt sent a message that he quit on them by leaving in the middle of the 3rd quarter against Denver. He should have never played if his knee was bothering him, but he wanted to play for selfish reason. Now the Knicks are in a quagmire where they will limp into the playoffs literally.
DeleteI meant Kenoshi and not Khuang. My bad.
DeleteNot defending Knicks John, just saying they played well vs Blazers esp 4Q considering the circumstances :)
DeleteI do believe the starter minutes will do some of them some good...Playing vs bench is just not the same.
Melo leaves game with injury 3/14/13
DeleteNo problem John Ly, you can address me too.
DeleteI really liked JR Smith when he played alongside Jeremy Lin. I thought Lin had a very stabilizing effect on Smith.
The problem with Smith is that people look at him and think he's a failed All Star. In truth, JR Smith is simply a very average player who doesn't have the court sense to be more than what he currently is. I like his game and would live with his occasional risktaking if I were his coach.
Lin doesn't have an easy time with Rubio's defense, based on what I saw last year.
ReplyDeleteEverytime Lin has faced Rubio, it was a 2nd of a back-2-back game. This time Lin is rested. He should blow by Ricky long legs rather easily, those are the type of players he does well against.
DeleteI didn't know/remember that. Thanks for info.
DeleteRubio has really long arms and is a very savvy defender (he has anticipation / field sense / court vision, just like Jeremy: court vision / field sense (combination of anticipation, timing, and acute awareness of spatial relationships)
DeleteLin may be able to beat Rubio off dribble, but what I remember of Linsanity Lin vs. Rubio matchup was Rubio digging ball out from Lin, after Lin had initially beat him and he thought he had easy layup; Rubio would trail play and dig ball out before Lin could put it up.
Remember also how Lin said he used trigonometry when seeing passing angles during Linsanity 1.0.
From google search, Rubio looks to have a 6 ft 8 or 6 ft 9 wingspan.
DeleteIman Shumpert's wingspan is 6 ft 9.5, and Lin's is 6 ft. 5.
Lin may be more athletic than Rubio, but he doesn't have that extra long wingspan to be a lock down defender.
His positive effective on team defense is probably a result of taking away possessions from the other team (steals, rebounds, deflections) or giving his team extra ones.
As Coach Musselman said, irrespective of how Lin is playing, he will always be a tremendous loose ball getter.
Lin is not a lockdown defender?
DeleteHe gets stop after stop, often on guys much bigger than Rubio.
Besides, Rubio isn't a threat to score even with nobody guarding him.
Lin is the best defensive guard in the NBA, regardless of that much overrated wingspan stat.
Agreed. Wingspan doesn't prevent Jeremy from being an elite defender (one-on-one or help). It does, however, prevent him from being a flashy dunker, which is why many fail to appreciate his athleticism.
DeleteNothing wows the average Joe like an epic dunk. And lacking that 4-5 inches of wingspan is the difference between being able to dunk occasionally and being able to dunk easily.
Minnesota GM David Kahn tried to put together the All-
DeleteWingspan team a few years ago.
It was mercifully dismantled after that All-Wingspan team plummeted to 20 win seasons.
This is pertinent to this game because David Kahn drafted Rubio.
It appears that Rubio is the only impact player David Kahn drafted. Ty Lawson does not count because he was traded out to Denver.
From what I've seen, Jeremy is a good, but not great on ball defender.
DeleteHe seems to be much better off ball (e. g. guarding someone in corner), where he can see all the action in front of him (free safety type rol), then create steals, rebounds, deflections, or dislodge ball but someone else get credit for steal, taking away possessions from the other team and giving his team extra ones.
Now that this game has been actually played, you need to call Lin a "great" defender.
DeleteWow Stephen A Smith still believes that Lin is just a scorer but not a real PG and Felton runs a team better than Lin. Does he even watch games?!
ReplyDeleteU really care about what SAS says?
DeleteTo me, he lost his credibility after he bashed Lin. I do not know how was he b4 that anyway.
DeleteTo me , SAS will make the second coming of Lin explosion just a lot sweeeeeter... That is the sole purpose of his existence :)
DeleteSAS has made a career out of kissing the asses of big stars like Carmelo and Lebron, in order to get 'exclusive' interviews and info on them. Basically he's the man version of female reporters who sleep with their bosses to climb up the media ladder.
DeleteI have never been able to get mad at SAS for some reason.
DeleteI always feels like he's actually a BIG FAN of Jeremy Lin.
LOHs are all big fans of Jeremy. They talk about him more than anyone.
DeleteRockets are 14.5 point favorites.
ReplyDeleteLooks like Lin vs. Rubio won't be much of one tonight.
As long as the game is officiated fairly, the Rockets should cruise.
DeleteIf Ricky Flopio is able to get Jeremy in foul trouble...then I'll be worried.