ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Cavaliers 1/5/2013

please stop saying LIN is a rookie, he is not a rookie. just because this is his first season starting does not make him a rookie. He has experience. either that be practicing with NBA teams or riding the bench like he did in houston. He's not "basically a rookie"

and yes lin is capable of having good court vision. but like others have mentioned before. ANY NBA player can have a good game and pull off 38 points. thats why they were chosen to play with the best of the best. Lin has only had one "Linsanity" performance this year. He's capable of it? yes but he's not a superstar and i dont think he's capable of doing that multiple games in a row.

 

First of all, I know what you're saying. In no way, has Lin played even close to an all star this year, and definitely Dragic and Lowry can be missed and it can definitely be argued that they are better than Lin. And Harden is our best player, our go to player, our superstar-to-be, whereas Lin is just a good pg with a broken shot at that.

Having said that, it's not totally honest of you to say that ANY NBA player can do what Lin did last year, or that anybody can score 38 in two different teams within a span of less than 50 starts or whatever the number is. And it's not like he's selfish. He's actually been too passive yet noone else on this team other than Harden scored 38 this year. It's not a fluke that he gets by his man when there must be so much pressure not to let Lin go by you. It's not a fluke that he's getting a bunch of games scoring 20 with a broken shot for crying out loud. And to say that he is "capable of having good court vision??" Is it that hard for you to say that he has good court vision? And how many 1st 2nd 3rd year players in the league this year scored mulitple 38 pt games as the 2nd 3rd option? You're totally not giving Lin enough credit, probably cuz of all the Lin fans who've irked you throughout the year, but still the man deserves the benefit of the doubt and your support as a Rocket.

Lin's inconsistent, he can't go left, he can't shoot, he can't dribble under pressure, and he's still able to score 38, while being a very, sometimes too unselfish player. In the Cavs game, he had a breakaway against a small pg who doesn't play defense and instead of adding to his point total, he passed it (a bad pass). He's sabotaging his own stats, but still helps his team to a victory. He's got stitches, dives on the floor, takes it in knowing he'll get pounded.. isn't that the type of player you'd root for. In his first year, if Royce White did what he did with the court vision and defense that Lin has shown, would you also limit his future? If Machado did that, I don't know if this would be the narrative of a lot of the haters. I'd like to think that it's just backlash to all the annoying Lin fans, and not a knock on the man and his potential. Do you really doubt that Lin can't put up 20 to 30 being the number one option in back to back games? Imo, he can do that easy. He probably won't though cuz he'll be busy trying to get his teammates involved and helping the Rockets win.

 

chill out , u about to blow a gasket from hate.

 

lol.. Sorry, not my intention. Just passionate. It's all good. I get the Lin hate, I do. And I apologize for my part in all this.. lol

 

Passion is good, and I don't think there's much, if any, actual Lin hate going on. IMHO, you've hit the nail on the head in that it's likely backlash, as opposed to "a knock on the man and his potential."

 

Not true. He goes left often, as often as Harden goes right. When the defenders shade him left he smiles and runs left all day. You're mistaken. Barry does not watch Rockets basketball and was speaking out of his pocket. Im afraid that just like S. A. Smith he has colored thecway many of us see things. And just how hard would it be to shade someone left? I do it all the time. He should be shut down pretty much every game then. Same goes with Harden.

 

Always enjoy your stuff, good seeing you on here!

 

chill out guys this is all old lin stuff. ZZZzzz these agurements are old. Harden can't shut down? The Thunder sure know how to. Well the the CAVS did it for most of the game until they realised that it was not working cause the rockets were still scoring. And they eased up on him and tried to go on the offence.

Basketball is like chess folks. You move pieces around. players get tired, things happen. It's not like your action toy collection.

 

Harden Iso plays

I love Harden and he is the reason for the Rockets winning ways. He is an awesome iso player but sometimes against good defenses who know how he attacks the basket he becomes very stubborn. When defenses play up on him with shot blockers that know hes gonna do the euro step on him...he still plays iso ball and does not try to create at the end of game situations. Thats why against these kinds of teams Jeremy is a better option to be a playmaker. Against bad teams let James euro step them to death the last 5 minutes

 

Yep i aree with that. We were struggling in the 1st half and both Lin , Patterson and Asik were the only ones showing any intensity.The 4th quarter Harden went beserk afer the 7th minute mark to get the win.

 

Don't want to burst your bubble bro but Lin is capable of adjusting his game..I suggest you watch his game against Timberwolves and Toronto ( way back Linsanity time ) and get back to us after...Lin had a very bad 1st half in both of them and guess what????..their team prevailed at the end...or say, watch the mavericks game also way back Linsanity...

Now,people will say not to rehash the past but we Lin fans who had been following him way back before knew what he is capable of that's why we have a lot of confidence in his game...He is not a fluke nor a a usual role player type..he has that "IT" factor in him that you can't describe...yes, he may struggle but that is because he has to adjust his game based on what his team-mates strength and weaknesses..I can list all the difference way back before and now but I might be labelled an overzealous fans so I suggest that you just watch him and enjoy his game....

 

Btw, just in case you didn't know Lin could get that 17 & 5 if he wanted to every game. Shoot, Chandler even could. But he's the pg and shouldn't be so inefficient. If Lin was 2-13 like Harden was he'd have a 5 pt game and be forced to call it a night. McHale would pull Lin for something like that and would not be allowed the opportunity to make it right. Harden is our superstar shooting guard, that's his role to put up points, Lins job is to manage the game even if it means shutting himself down on bad nights offensively.
Do you doubt that if Lin shot over 20 shots a game like Kyrie that he wouldn't get his points? Lin would not do that.

 

They didn't ease up on Harden, you need only listen to Scott's interview after the game. The whole idea of giving Harden freedom to get his shot going is ludicrous, he's our best player, and by some margin.

 

The issue is not Lin hate, very few people here hate Lin or even dislike Lin (it's a bit different on a knicks board, lol), he's a really nice kid whose a pretty damn good basketballer, the issue is that a lot of the Lin fans are extremely annoying with absurd levels of homerism, that even Yao fans didn't reach.

He's not a fluke, no, he is a role player yes, his "IT" factor isn't as a basketball star, which is why he's paid like a role player but earns far more in endorsements than a player of his calibre. He has good days, bad days, days where he's integral to winning, so does Del3no, Asik, Parsons, Douglas and even Greg Smith.

Has nothing to do with what Barry said, it's what I've seen, it's quite noticeable really. Lin has extremely fast acceleration, but poor lateral movement, so if his shot isn't falling and they take a step off him and shadow his right, his productivity sinks, he steps, they adjust, he can't then Euro step (btw the Euro step for a left handed player is going right so i have nfi where you get the idea Harden can't go right, his finish with his right hand is laughably bad though) or the like to move past the adjustment, so you end up with those terrible plays where he just sort of chucks something somewhere that ends up in a turnover. When he's not shooting like Rondo, he's a lot harder to guard as they're too close to respond to his first step and a collapse defender doesn't have time either before he can switch back inside.

With his left hand, the issue was as I said, if the person left of him is playing off their man and can collapse on his drive, his left hand isn't good enough to create anything and he'll often lose the ball in this situation, I have noticed he's become more consciously aware of this situation and isn't trying to blaze through it any more.

 

Take it from the other sides perspective though... can't you honestly say that as a fan, you won't say something to those people who keeps on nitpicking on your fav player to the point that what they were saying is utterly ridiculous..that is what a fan is for..and I've been a silent lurker here when it was evident that JLin will be a rockets so I know how bad people are talking about him before...I do understand some of them especially the old members here so I just keep on lurking and waited for the day when JLIN can really prove himself on this team..and I believe he had done it already..What I can't understand are those people who tries to downplay him and his contributions to the team when it is evident that JLIN is one of the reason why Rockets are winning right now....

I wouldn't call JLIN a role player....a role player can't help his team achieve what their team has achieve right now..Delfino,Toney,Smith are players I called Role Players because they help the team in some ways or another...

If you haven't notice, when JLIN is playing well, one way or another the team will WIN...just check their standing way back November when Lin is lost in his game and their standing last December when Lin had already found his game..and don't tell us it's because of X-player...

You may label us LOF but it we are just firm in our belief of JLin and his game...and by the way, JLin had only 3 endorsements right now ( 2 if you won't count Nike since he had them when he was still signed under GSW)...

 

No, supporting your fan with absurdity is not what most people do, there's a running joke on this forum about some homer claiming "Rudy Gay will show the world he's on Kevin Durant's level" for example, go visit any mention of Rudy Gay and that will without fail be added.

Better in December, do you mean where everybody except Parsons played better, including Lin? Harden was named western conference player of the month, which if you don't understand is saying he was the best player in the western conference in December. I'm glad Lin started playing better, but the whole bunch were also playing better, labelling that improvement on one player is pretty dumb.

Yes, the endorsement deals, where he gets $2-4m a year and has his own shoe? the global volvo deal, and the "hundreds of endorsement deals" he's turned down? I don't blame the companies for doing it either, Volvo is trying to boost its sales in China so went after Lin, but it's not because he's just a basketballer, that's for sure.

 

Hmmm so we win again and everyone decides to talk about Lin (Flopping, Dragic/Lowry comparison, is he a role player/allstar tier blah blah blah) I bet after the Rockets beat LA they will talk all about Lin after the game too. Wash, rinse and repeat..... Can people just not complain and be happy for the winning record or would you rather talk about a pg who has been starting in his first year (same with Asik and Harden) and has started under 100 games yet here we are expecting him to drop superstar numbers. Come on let him develop and mature just enjoy the season and we'll see just how good Asik/Harden/Lin really are 2/3 years from now.

 

LOL..but fans like that are everywhere, it's practically normal..no offense meant but I don't see any wrong with the Lin fans/believers posts here..If they were disgruntled before it is because they can see what is wrong with Lin and how capable he is..they might blame the coaches because they knew that he can run any system if only he is allowed to..maybe some had let their emotions taken over due to some "fans"/trolls that keeps on provoking them but you can't just blame it to them..after all, we are die-hard fans of JLin....and as much as die-hard fans of Harden would like to prove that he is a superstar, it's basically the same with Lin fans...but sometimes we just learn when not to respond co'z there are some that are trying to create friction here in the forum...

Maybe it is dumb to believe that JLin had been the main reason why Rockets are now winning but you can't negate that fact that when he had found his game most of the other players also improved..Take in for example Morris and Greg Smith..these are the players who were not able to showcase their talent before...we firmly believe in this because JLin had able to showcase Novak's strength before..even Chandler was able to test his strength offensively when he was playing with JLin...

And claiming that Rockets are also winning because of Harden to quote what you've said, "is pretty dumb" too..since there are 5 players on court playing as well as a Coach that is in the sideline...yes, he is the Western Conference Player of the month but as I've said before, I'll totally embrace him as a Superstar if he learns to play D ( which is his main weakness ). People are dissecting every Lin's play but most of them failed to mention that Harden's D had not improved at all. They crucified Lin before because of his D but they never mentioned Harden's D..now that Lin's D had improved tremendously ( even though for us his D is already impressive before ) but they still are downplaying his contributions.. As a fan, it irritates me to see that kind of post/article because we can clearly see how JLin is working his B**t off in the defense to compensate for their teams defensive lapses and still there are people who complains about his offensive struggles...a lot unfair in our perspective by the way..