You're right, he wasn't guarding Westbrook most of the second half, but he was guarding Durant in the 4th. Durant only scored 5 points during that time.
Talking about bias... Let me post some of Westbrook's numbers here: NO PLAYER MIN FG FGA 3P 3PA FT FTA OR DR TOT A PF ST TO BS PTS Final: Russell Westbrook G 37:09 10 26 1 7 8 10 1 4 5 4 3 4 4 0 29 1st half: Russell Westbrook G 13:09 4 8 0 1 5 6 0 3 3 2 3 2 2 0 13 2nd half: Russell Westbrook G 24:00 6 18 1 6 3 4 1 1 2 2 0 2 2 0 16 Basically, Westbrook was 4/8 shooting for 13 points in the first half and 6/18 for 16 points in the 2nd half.
In the 4 games Lin played without Harden this season he averaged: 21.5 pts per game 7 assists 2 rebounds 3.5 turnovers 1.25 steals while shooting 45.7% 57% 85.7% respectively from the field/3-pt/ftline You can see very clearly when Lin is the lead dog he has the ability to produce big time.
Your not winning come playoff time if Lins your lead guy. He's just not good enough in creating shots for himself. There's only two pgs in the whole league that can be your best player and that's Westbrook and cp3. (Rose if healthy) the guys a good player but he needs to wrk on complimenting harden the best he can if he wants to be the og of the future for the Houston Rockets.
Dude. Using D-League stats is not the best way to make your case. And all that "hand waving" can end up in steals and blocked shots. No one can shut down Westbrook (except for Westbrook). Lin and Beverly were both getting beaten off the dribble. Westbrook does that to everyone. Beverly was clearly frustrating Westbrook like he does everyone else. And if you can get into that guys head he can become ineffective. You can argue that Lin is a decent to above average defender but flat out calling him "much better" is crazy.
I don't really care about who starts or who plays the most minutes, I'll let the coaches worry about that. But, I don't see Beverley being traded or released by the Rockets anytime soon. We have Beverley on a contract that is very similar to Chandler Parsons contract. We have Beverley locked up at under a million per year for the next couple of years. Even if Beverley doesn't start, he is a very valuable asset for what we are paying him. Because Lin makes 8 million per year, and because of the emergence of Beverley, I think there is some chance he could be traded to free up cap space for a superstar if one comes available. I'm not saying I want to trade Lin, I'm just saying that Beverley looks like a lock to be with the Rockets for the next few years, and I'm not so sure Lin will remain with the Rockets. I'm actually looking forward to seeing how both Lin and Beverley improve next year.
Pretty funny how everyone is saying the sample size for bev is too small when we paid Lin too much money for the one month he got buck. Lin is garbage. I literally cringe every time he shoots. Way to inconsistent. Can't defend. Can't rebound. He was the perfect key to our tanking until we got harden. He single handedly got us to the post season. Beverly is a badass compared to Lin. It also could be because he knows Lin sucks so he's trying to play his ass off so he can start or maybe, just maybe, he thinks we could win a game or two against the best team in the west so he showed up to play.
You do know that Westbrook was on FIRE during the second half, especially on the 4th, right? It is like saying because Bevelry's presenting on the court, the other 4 OKC players did not score.
This is just plain WRONG. This Rockets team will feature Harden for probably the next 6+ years, so what Lin "has the ability" to do without Harden is irrelevant. Harden is the Rockets and this team will be assembled based who who performs the best around him, not in place of him. What Beverly did last night was amazing. It was exactly the type of performance you would want from a complimentary piece: efficient and effective without dominating the ball.
Lin is just slumpin right now, his shot was not falling right before playoffs started. and thats effecting his playoff confidence. had some of his shots go in, it'd be a different story. way to much hate on the guy. You all know he will bounce back like his always does. The guy is tough as nails. Ask Coach Mchail, he knows a thing or two about toughness.
What is the coach supposed to say? Throw the player under the bus? Jeremy has bounced back? To what? An average at best point guard? When is the last time he dominated a game, or at the very least played up to his contract? Don't you people get tired of continuously making excuses for someone?
you are talking about long term. But there is no long term for players playing for Rox. People come and go very quickly for Rox in the past few years. Won't be surprised both of them play for another team in the next three years.
Oh gosh, I'm shocked, another irrational LOF has shown up. Stop posting your B.S. and go back to staring at your Lin poster.
Let's see what Lin can do first next year...god damn knee jerk threads. It's possible though that Bev may fit the system better than Lin, as in the style of play. However, this is only true BEFORE the last game that I saw. In game 2, I saw that Bev handled the ball a lot and Harden played off the ball quite often. Lin should be the one handling the ball, and not as a spot up shooter. Bev and Harden should be playing off the ball, though I don't mind it if Lin shares the ball with Bev. It was making sense that Harden was playing off the ball and managed to impact the game (his shooting % may say otherwise). This is the way that the rockets should have been playing before, ball movement and harden off the ball.
