JLin shot was off...but still he should've been out there during the crunch. You don't pull out your best players because he's off... Another way of looking at this for LOF...if JLin was out there in the 4th...he would've been blame for the lost by LOH. An off day for JLin nothing to be concerned about. What a wasted effort for Dwight...he looked amazing out there.
If you watch the games, Bev really doesn't defend that well. He's fast but is too small and gets blown by just as much as Lin.
McHale is just trying to win the game. If Lin starts off cold (which has been true throughout his career), the coach needs to decide whether to keep him in and let him heat up or sit him because he believes that the player doesn't have it that day and will not pick it up. If you watched the Linsanity games, you will know that there were plenty of games where Lin started off cold but finished with a bang. Since McHale did not watch Linsanity (and directly said this), he probably does not know much about Lin. So he sits Lin when he starts off cold. Another issue is the perception of Lin's defense. Lin's strongest areas throughout his career have been his passing and his defense. McHale's eye test though had Lin rated as a minus defender throughout his career, so nothing is likely to change this, regardless of what the numbers say. So when Lin's shot is not falling, McHale sees little benefit in keeping Lin in since he doesn't value Lin's defense and does not expect that Lin will heat up. The fundamental problem is McHale is not a particularly good coach, so his decisions aren't that great either. He is improving as a coach, but he has a long way to go to become championship caliber, and I do not know if he will attain this level during the Rockets championship window.
When Casspi refused to give the ball to lin and an immediate TO during that fast break, you know Lin is not getting the trust from even the bench players, maybe he needs to yell at Casspi just like Harden and be more assertive....well, so much of being the "6th men" or "leading the 2nd units", or the most consistent player on the team. But granted, Mav's zone defense does give Lin a lot of trouble and his shots were not going in. The Rockets should really figure outs ways to trade him before next year. You dont want to pay a player 15mils just to spent his energy trying to get the ball from his own teammates.
It wasn't Lin's shot or defense that landed him on the bench, it was his inability to get the offense moving by breaking down defenses. People need to understand - Lin's job is to generate offense - whether it's his 3 point shooting or getting the rim, or penetrating and dishing. It seemed to me all his assists were just passing it around the perimeter to guys to shot 3's. In other words, he wasn't adding any value out there. He tried to penetrate and would get rebuffed everytime. If he is that ineffective, then you put in Bev so you at least get defense. Lin was contributing nothing.
rofl. well technically McHale is already on the bench. Won't stop him from making bad coaching plays though meow
Sorry, their were two very late dishes that I found. I think there was another one but I can't find it. It was Parsons that made the late dish. Here are the two I found: End of 3rd Quarter. Casspi dishes to Lin with 2 seconds left after he attemps a drive to the basket that was blocked. 4th Quarter Garcia dishes to Lin with 6 seconds Left. I'll look for the Parsons one.
Lin had one good offensive play where he was picking it up but got pulled immediately afterwards. He ran a pick and roll with Asik on the left side (so that he could use the screen and go right--obviously his stronger side) to the middle and fed Beverly for a perfectly timed 3-pointer that Bev nailed to get Bev going. I then saw one of the assistants talking loudly to Lin when Dallas called a timeout, and Lin was benched afterwards. From watching Lin enough over the years, I know that he was just getting into his rhythm. Another fundamental issue I see on CF is the difference of opinion over Lin's defense. Defense was always Lin's calling card, from the day he entered the NBA. Those who think that his defense is poor (based on the eye test and those articles published out there) will think that Lin offers little if he
I'm far from being an LOF, very far, in fact I'm an ROF (Rockets Only Fan), but I have to agree with you on this. Lin is having too good a season to be benched like this.
When Lin is on the court, how come less than 50% of the time he brings the ball up to half court? It's either Beverly or someone else. Isn't Lin the PG of the team? You could easily tell that the chemistry of the team doesn't really include Lin. You can tell from the way they play, Lin is treated like an outsider. When the team is in desperate help, Lin always try to step in and help. I'm thinking he feels uninspired last game leading to bad performance. Obviously, the organization is slowly marginalizing his and Asik's involvement. BOth got only 1 point last game.
Lin did run one excellent offensive play where he was picking it up but got pulled immediately afterwards. He ran a pick and roll with Asik on the left side (so that he could use the screen and go right--obviously his stronger side) to the middle and fed Beverly for a perfectly timed 3-pointer that Bev nailed to get Bev going. I then saw one of the assistants talking loudly to Lin when Dallas called a timeout, and Lin was benched afterwards. From watching Lin enough over the years, I know that he was just getting into his rhythm. Another fundamental issue I see on CF is the difference of opinion over Lin's defense. Defense was always Lin's calling card, from the day he entered the NBA. Those who think that his defense is poor (based on the eye test and those articles published out there) will think that Lin offers little if he is not scoring or dishing. Bev did have 4 steals, but at least 2 of them were direct throwaways by the Mavs directly to him. Other than that, Bev was less than stellar on defense. Not his fault, because I like Bev alot. But if Bev is not having a defensive impact and is not on fire from the 3-point line, why is Bev out there over Lin? He is surely not going to penetrate or run the offense.
Beverly was not the reason for them scoring those many points...Harden is very poor on rotation defense and Beverly had to pick up his slack. Anyways, give credit to Monta Ellis, he played one hell of a game last night. Lin was getting rape by a rookie last night and you wanted Lin to be in the game to defend Monta??? No sir! Basketball is a game of matchups and Beverly is our best PG perimeter defender. I blame the lost last night on McHale's deficiency in execution of Half court offense. When we had the lead, we tried to burned up clock, why not keep going with the 2 man play between Parsons and Howard? That was the main reason why we held the lead! But no, McHale allowed Harden to put on his best Steve Francis impersonation last night and it came back to bite us in the rear facing a veteran team like the Mavericks.
