ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Mavericks 1/16/2013

If our backcourt is capable of putting up 20/30 pts a night, why so worried???? This is like a good sign for the future... We will get there, trust me/ this team is headed to the yellow brick road...

 

Just be lucky we have both Lin/Harden on the same team...

 

They will try to keep us below 83 points and win by 85. Won't be much fun to watch.

 

Everybody relax...we got the next 5 and we also have the easiest schedule out of all the teams in the 5th-9th seeds. We'll probably end up in 6th place again.

 

You see what happens when you lose to the Mavs?!?!?!?

Not a damn thing. Everyone go about your business. Nothing to see here.

 

Totally agree. Especially with your first statement.

A big percentage of the posters here who criticized Lin on his shooting had not seen him do it with the Knicks, so they were sounding either like Lin had never shot well or he could never become better at it, rather than saying that Lin was in a shooting slump because he was coming back from a major surgery that was affecting his shooting form.

They have not seen Lin hit the clutch 3 pointer to end the game against the Raptors with such confidence, and the many shots that turned games around in his 25 games as a starter. So it is hard to picture what he has achieved in so short a time.

They didn't know scoring point wise Lin has broken the league's record for the first three NBA games as a starter, and the first four, and the first five. More total points in those number of games than Kobe, Michael Jordan, Isiah Thomas, Magic Johnson and you name it.

They didn't see how many times Lin had sacrifice his body to get to the foul line to help his team to win a game.

They didn't see that without the star scorers Camilo and Stoudemire how Lin had turned little known players like Landry Fields, Iman Shumpert, Steve Novak, Jared Jeffries into stars.

There are still highlights clips for every one of those games on YouTube, if only they would just spend some time watching them. It would be so much better than wasting all the time here arguing for something they don't really know enough about.

I don't blame them for not having watched or not knowing, I am just fed up with all these meaningless debates and arguments with so much emotions but so little rationality, especially the name calling part.

Comparison like your of Lin's past and present skill sets help readers understand better how far Lin has come and have a more reality-based assessment of how good or bad he really is.

 

the problem is Osik cant catch the ball and he cant finish

 

Dude, you obviously completely misunderstood what you read. I never said Lin could average more PPG than Harden; I said Lin would average much higher PPG than what his PPG stat is right now if he was the #1 option as he already shown. I never said Harden does not deserve to be the number #1 option - he certainly does. But, what I did say is you can't expect Lin to have a PPG anywhere close to Harden's, since Harden is the one allowed to take most of the shots on the team.

Also, Harden's TO per 48 mins is 4.7 compare to Lin's 4.3. You said Lin turns the ball over way more per 100 possession, prove it. If you can i'll take it, If you can't then don't say it as fact.

Finally, what are you talking about Harden FG% is much higher, are you serious dude. His career FG% is 0.445 compare to Lin's career FG% of 0.433.

Please stop exaggerating with some of your points.

 

Harden's TS% was 0.65 last year (what Durant is shooting right now). That's historically amazing. Right now his TS% is around 0.56 - still among the top of the league. His efficiency is down a bit since we've been relying on him too much. But obviously Harden should be our number #1 option at all times. I don't know how you can say otherwise...

 

Exactly. Right now this backcourt combo is averaging 38.6 PTS, 11.6 AST, 8.2 REB, AND 3.9 STL a night combined, which is the best of all starting backcourt duos in the league.

I can't wait to see what they can do in this postseason.

 

When legs are dead, defense, 3-pointers, and freethrows get left behind the shed.

 

Yeah. I hope the poor FT shooting is a result of the really brutal month we have been having.

 

Hard to compare career shooting percentage when Harden has played way more games and has taken a lot more shot attempts than JLin.

Hard to compare turnovers between the two when opposing defences gear up to stop Harden and double team him constantly.

And Harden doesn't take all the shots.. He averages 17 FG attempts a game. The Rockets as a team average 83 FG attempts per game. So JLin has the opportunity to attempt more shots _ he just doesn't...

 

You are right. But what can we do immediately but to continue to train him and the power forwards.

I am seeing signs that Asik has improved quite a bit compared with his preseason performance.

I have seen more tip ins and tip outs, more solid layups, even though I wish he could do some dunks and alley-oops on the offensive side. And he has missed less trying to catch the ball. Right now his TO/G is 2.2. A good indicator of his misses being reduced, but of course we should continue to watch it.

Won't you agree?

 

My fault I didn't explain it right. What I meant was Harden takes the most shots of all the players on the team, so he will always get his points. He shot badly yesterday but still got 20 because he took 23 shots, for example.

 

Nobody has great games for 82 straight games.

But, JLin needs to take more shots. It's plenty enough shots to go around that he should be at least taking 13-15 shot attempts a game. When he takes more shots it makes him a threat to score and opens up the court for everyone else.

 

QUOTES

KEVIN MCHALE

(Are you OK with the shots in the last two minutes or so?) - "They didn't go. James [Harden] had a layup, got fouled, and missed a couple free throws. Elton Brand made a heck of a block on a hard drive [by Harden]. So, I thought we got some looks that we were trying to get. We got fouled quite a bit. We were in the penalty and were trying to get to the line."

(common theme to some of these rough stretches that keep happening?)

Turnovers. Turnovers, missed layups, missed good shots. We just go through some stretches where we have to fight back after that.

(on James Harden’s rough shooting night)

James played hard. He got to the line 12 times. He had some looks that he normally makes and missed some, but you’re going to have nights like that.

(on the decision to play Patrick Beverley)

I just thought we needed a little spark. He played very well.

JEREMY LIN

(What was missing to finish the big run to win the game at the end?) “Well, if I could hit a free throw that would be nice. They did a great job of protecting the rim, and we got in the paint and had a few that either got blocked or that we missed. I had a crucial turnover trying to get the ball to Chandler late, and so I’d say offensive execution on our part. They also got to the foul line a lot down the stretch, and they were in the bonus and did a good job of attacking us.”

(Were the turnovers a function of what Dallas was doing, or were they mental mistakes?) “I don’t want to take any credit away from Dallas. They did a good job of loading and being in their spots. We were a little too nonchalant with our passes. We tried to force it a couple of times. I had a key turnover down the stretch that was unnecessary. It was just a combination of the two, and it’s been one of our problems.”

JAMES HARDEN

(Did the back-to-back games have a negative affect on your team tonight?) “No. Like you said, we had energy in the fourth quarter. We had a very good start and in the second quarter we went on a 15 or 17-0 run or something like that. There are some things that we can control and we have to get better at and be consistent.”

(Were the turnovers a function of what Dallas was doing, or were they mental mistakes?) “You’ve just got to make the easy play. We were trying to do a little too much, one extra dribble too much.”

DALLAS MAVERICKS HEAD COACH RICK CARLISLE

On fourth quarter

“Our defense was poor, we kept putting them on the free throw line, but we made plays, Elton’s block was huge and Dirk’s rebound where he got fouled and had two free throws was big. Then we got one or two other stops. I thought Mike James in the last three minutes gave us more of a physical presence in there guarding (Jeremy) Lin. One of those plays where there was a foul called, I thought he (James) made a pretty good play on the ball. We did what we needed to do to win. It was a tough game, we have to give Shawn Marion a lot of credit.”

On Jae Crowder

“Crowder, he has been consistent the last three weeks. He comes in with energy, he’s not afraid, he’s aggressive and he plays with attitude. He is earning his minutes and we need him to continue to do what he is doing.”

On Dirk “being back”

“He’s doing better…you’ll know when he is back to being himself, but he’s not there yet. I thought he fought through some things tonight to give us everything he could give.”

On O.J. Mayo

“Going back to the Washington game and on, he is one of the guys that can help get guys shots. He knows how to do it…in the third quarter he made some terrific plays and he made some simple plays…He was making the “hockey assist”. There has to be an emphasis for him by me to him to see that he’s an all-around player and that he’s not just a scorer.”

JAE CROWDER

“At the end of the game we made shots, free throws and that led us to the win. We knew coming into this game that our focus was going to be on Harden and Lin. We knew that was going to take all five guys on the court and we were all locked in. We got stops and got off to running and on the other end we made shots.”

ELTON BRAND

“I just wanted to go out there and play hard and get the victory.”

(Talk about the team defense tonight?)

“We really stepped up tonight. They lead the league in offense with 105 a game and we tried to keep them under a 100. We got big stops, big rebounds, and big blocks when we needed it. We did well because they have a heck of an offensive team.”

(What did Mike James say to you after your block?)

“I don’t really remember. It was a big play and we did what we had to do to get the win. All five of us on the court wanted to cover shots. Like I said they hit some free throws and they also hit a big three. Whatever it took to win we tried to put ourselves in that position.”

(Was the Kings game a turning point for you guys?)

“Yes, after a tough lost to the clippers and we blew another lead and we could have won that game. We were down 17 at Sacramento and I think winning that game was a good spark for us. We won four games in a row and we want to keep this momentum going.”

 

i'm not saying harden should or shouldn't be a number one option.

but why are we talking about lin hurting the team, not being able to be aggressive enough, and not being a legit second option because of his poor shooting, when harden is a number one option and he's barely a better shooter than lin? obviously, we're talking about jump shots and not TS% which includes FT.

 

Because defenses don't respect Lin's shot so they pack the paint against him when he has the ball and leave him to double someone else when he doesn't have the ball. That's pretty detrimental to the team I would think. Watch the games closely, and Lin ends up w/ the open shot at the end of possessions a lot of the time merely because his man is off wandering. Lin still hesitates to take the shot.

WRT Harden, defenders do respect his shot and stay on him whether he has the ball or not. Harden hasn't taken an open shot in like 20 games (another reason his FG% is down on jumpers).

I don't think it's that hard to understand that not being able to hit outside shots really limits Lin's game and is detrimental to the team on offense because of floor spacing issues.

 

Oh no trust me it is very hard to understand for some it seems. Been saying that for some time. Lins shooting is a big issue. Part of the reason why he isn't able to be as aggressive as people would like. Also part of the reason why our floor spacing is so poor. If our front court was more respectable it wouldn't be as big of a deal. But combining Lins poor shooting with the front court weaknesses makes everything even worse.