ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Raptors 12/16/2012

Start reading my posts from #1083 for more Raptors illegal blocking of Roxx defense.

Calderon's first two shots over PNR were done through J. Valancianus pushing his guards Harden and Lin away with his hands.

On the first shot of Calderon, JV pushed Harden back for 3 feet to give Calderon the space to shoot. That was outrageous. Can you call that a legit screen?

More report coming as I continue to re-watch the game.

 

Private message

 

Thanks for your post. That was insightful, esp your discussion of Toronto rotations.

 

im saying lin has a limited range of abilities and shooting 3s isnt one of them. he needs to get to the rim to score, pass off to a big, or draw defenses and pass out to the open man. i believe in his court vision and bb iq. what i dont believe in is his shot. in the future he may work on his shot enough to be good, but assuming he cant, he still has the ability to attack the rim and find the open man. standing in the corner is the polar opposite of his current skillset and to assume he can improve is too generous. use him at what he is good at and let the shooting improve. forcing him to improve by making him a spot shooter is a failed experiment thus far

 

We are going down hill, Mchale is now reducing Asik's minutes for greg smith . Problem is I don't think Asik has his brother's Devil May Care i just want to win attitude.
Greg Smith maybe a starter quality player, but an average one.

 

Yes, I agree putting him in the current position is no good. I'm not quite sure what you mean by limited range of abilities. Do you mean in the current situation his abilities are limited? Or do you mean his abilities are limited period? I would agree to the first, but not the latter. Every guard has a set of abilities, but it really depends on if the player is in a situation to maximize those abilities. Currently he is not.

I think you and I are generally in agreement in terms of Lin and the situation he is currently in. I would love to see him get to be more of himself. But Like I said earlier, with Harden as the 80mm foundational player, I'm not sure if Lin will get that opportunity again here.

Watching the replay on NBAtv, and Lin just nailed a long 3 right in Dirk's face.

 

Yeah, I'm worried about Asik too. He works really hard to improve his offense and his free throws but looks like McHale is not going to be patient with him.

And Asik doesn't have a huge fan base who will nag Morey to do something about it

 

To be more specific

Calderon: Had a lot of great screens that allowed him to shoot, Calderon is a good shooter when open. Made nice passes to open man a lot.

Lin: Dropped the ball off to harden and other players a lot during the game, so essentially he wasn't really handling the ball very much. His potential assists ended up in bricks, a few turn overs. Overall fairly passive game for him, but part of the reason is him not being utilized properly.

 

Million thumbs up for a rant from non-12er, how can I rep you?

 

he is limited period. he really isnt that athletic. he's quick, but not athletic. he doesnt jump very high. he's not ox strong. he's got length for a pg but not length like KD. his shot is fundamentally "wrong" and so changing years of ingrained muscle memory will be very hard. however what he does have is great bb iq and vision. he finds the open man. he's unselfish. he hustles like he still lives on a couch. and those intangibles i say are more important than pure athleticism. you cant teach vision. he just has it. so why not make use of it?

 

I could not watch this game in 2:00 am in Taiwan. And I will not watch this game replay.
People said they failure. I know why because they do the bonehead tactics again.
I always hate the coaches camp him in the corner.

 

I don't even judge him based on athleticism. The guards I consider atheletic are Rose & Westbrook, they are rare and at another level. In terms of intangibles, he's used alot of it this year, and it shows in his other stat categories too. Compared to last year, his assists are up, his rebounds are up, his steals are up, and his TOs are down. But most people critique him based on his scoring this year. What I'm saying is, if you watch his games last year, even this year against the Spurs, if you want him to be optimal, especially on the scoring end, he can't be just relegated to the situation he is in now, because the shots he's taking just aren't ones he would make if he were the focal point and floor leader.

 

sorry... aren't ones he would take** if he were

 

Read my posts starting #1083 for report on Raptors illegal blocking of Roxx defense.

I have come to the end of the second quarter re-watching the game today.

The Raptors have been running PNRs all the time even with Calderon on the bench with great results. They don't do it only in fast breaks, which happened more in this quarter.

Stay tuned. For more report on how the Raptors have been using screens not quite right but escaped foul calls.

 

yes, besides scoring i think he's played well overall. but scoring is the giant elephant in the room. right now i feel he is hesitant because him being selfish and looking for his own shot is not good basketball. the offense is catered to harden and so if he goes rouge, he'll just mess everything up. he is way too hard on himself and perhaps insecure/cares too much about the critics. despite what he says in interviews its as if he plays scared so as not to be the one who messed up.

what needs to happen is an offense catering to his style. this gives him confidence and uses him properly. harden is a talent. he will be fine no matter what role is asked of him. that's why harden changing for lin makes more sense. harden will be fine. lin changing for harden? its not going very well thus far...

 

Good News: We already beat the Craptors on our home floor with Lin and Harden having good games overall...

Bad News: We play the Knicks tomorrow

 

Yes.

Just like any corporation, business, or any setting in a team, you have to maximize your members of the team to be the most productive. It just doesn't make sense from an efficiency point of view and maximizing everyone's strengths and talents.

 

I don't know how to do it on this forum. but please read my following posts to find out more. I am starting to watch the third quarter now.

There was one in the first minute in the first quarter that I think definitely should be called on J. Valanciunas pushing Harden three feet back after he cut in between him and Calderon to create the space for Calderon to bring the lead to 4-0.

Then he did it to Lin for Calderon to score the next two points.

How could any one guard Calderon when he got help like this? Just push the defender away so Calderon could shoot?

Watch these first two minutes if you can and tell me if fouls should be called.

I am sure more will happen in the third and fourth quarters when the Raptors were anxious to get ahead.

 

Here's to hoping that version shows up.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oqX2X0_W_5c" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Best parts are at 5:29 and 8:08 mark. Not so much the play, but the reaction of the Mavs players.

 

It was hard to watch that.