Lin doesn't trust his left. He had opportunities for left handed layups against NY and awkwardly used his right. He missed both. Lin homers who said he had a good left were misguided in this thread. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=248822
Good thing is it seems Harden is out of his shooting slump. Tonight Harden started the game facilitating before waxing hot in the 2nd half. If anything could have come out of that SAC loss, it's that Harden got angry and rediscovered his mojo.
Brooks did not play as well as Lin. Lin's efficiency score for this game was more than twice that of Brooks. Lin=13, Brooks=5. This reflects the fact that all of Brooks number were far below Lin's. McHale kept Brooks because he engages in magical thinking. That is, if the last 5 minutes or so were relatively good then that will continue if the players on the court at that time continue on the court. Stats and experience tells us differently. This is a common thinking fallacy. The novice stock market player thinks this way. If the stock is going up it will continue to go up. If its going down then it will continue to go down. That's why we have Bubbles and crashes. No one stated that the Rockets suffered terribly becaused Lin was benched in the fourth. What people are saying is that puting Lin in seemed logical as Brooks was playing quite badly, contrary to your opinion. If Lin made a mistake when he was put in he could have been taken out again. Lin did score up to 14 points just five minutes before he was taken out. Why would Mchale think that he would not be equally efficient as he was for the first two two quarters if put back in play five minutes later? McHale's behavior is puzzling. We squeeked by this one because JR made a major mistake. Read the BB news . All writers blame JR for the Knicks Loss not Brooks' playing or Mchales coaching decisions. Fans are worried because it appears that McHale's makes poor decisions and these decisions appear to be actually reduce the efficiency of the team, our win tonight notwithstanding.
Effort was not Lin's problem and he fought over the screens. Decisions and playing in control were and in the 3rd. I think he aggravated a shoulder injury on a play and it started to physically hurt running in to Chandler Tyson. I wish someone like Tyson set picks like that for Lin.
lol now its AB vs Lin? Look the only reason Lin was benched was because he was scoring too much and McHale wanted to keep Lin and Linsanity under control, he knows Lin would've lit the Knicks up in the 4th and people would've said Lin needed to be a starter, etc, but if Lin was benched there'd be no spark and thus they would be able to more easily trade Lin to Chicago before the deadline. They realized Lin is not going to be on the roster and are just waiting for PB to get back, so in the meantime just hold onto Lin and make sure people think he's "ok, but PB could replace him". I mean I don't mind, they should keep playing AB all game and have Lin off the bench again then maybe Lin would have a "thigh contusion" and be out until he got traded as well.
It is about being fair to a player and treating him like you'd treat some other player who performs on a high level that makes bonehead plays for a stretch. I don't think you're going to see that. You've mentioned the stuff that AB did and look at Lin's plays in the 4th in recent games and that matters. Lin showed McHale he can play big in the 4th REGARDLESS of how poorly he played in other quarters or stretches of quarters and can help the team win. AB did nothing that spectacular to keep in vs. a player that has risen to the occasion to help his team win in the 4th by doing exactly what you are crediting AB for but more: getting big rebounds, steals, sinking big buckets and yes he has hit his clutch free throws in the 4th as well. The development of this player is being compromised by a coach that is treating him like a lesser player than he has performed. Lin simply, this season, has not performed on such a low level that he should to be benched in the 4th and to the contrary, has performed extremely well in the 4th.
Howard wasn't mentally in this game 100%. He didn't go after a few rebounds he likely could've gotten. Maybe because he wasn't getting the ball enough. We were launching 3's while Dwight had position in the paint.
Anyone else tired of this team shooting 3's?? I don't like that live by the 3 die by the 3 bullshiet mentality. Freaking play the game the right way, use some plays, play defense run the focking offense. STOP SHOOTING THREES!!!!
No, it's about winning games. McHale did what he thought was best to win the game. And that's exactly what McHale should be doing. A couple of weeks a ago McHale left Howard on the bench during the 4th quarter, so it's nothing against Lin or any other player. McHale is just doing what he thinks needs to be done to get a win.
+1000000000000000 And I no longer worry when he lies on the court looking like someone just chopped his foot off. This man cries wolf so often it's embarrassing.
I'm not tired of the threes. Rockets scored 30 points on 26 three point attempts, nothing wrong with that. I want to see the Rockets focus on defense, rebounding, reducing turnovers, and making free throws. The offense is not a problem on most nights.
Don't you see now? It's never Lin vs. AB, Lin vs. Bev, or Lin vs. Douglas etc., so all these don't matter.
The offense stinks right now. Points are put up on one-on-one playing, not good possessions and ball movement, and a lot of Harden playing hero ball. And the team actually plays better when they turn the ball over. I agree with you on defense, rebounding and free throws.
