[Houston Chronicle] Things Are Looking Up For the Lin Crowd

I read an article that said that teams were worried about the Harden/Lin combo so they would concentrate on stopping Lin. They know that if Lin doesn't start fast McHale will take him out and they only have Harden to worry about. Didn't work against SA because of Beverley but could be a good tactic most of the time.

 

nope, he used teabagging just fine, you are the one using sandbagging the wrong way. I just don't see how sandbagging instead of teabagging works below

"There are dedicated accounts dedicated to teabaggin' Lin when he's down and out (temporarily). The OP is right there..."

 

Are you for real? or trolling? I have never seen ANY team focusing on Lin any more than normal with the strategy of getting him benched by McHale. Lin is just not THAT important. You are coming across way too much as a fake LOF, if you are not then this is a completely ridiculous way to criticize McHale. What we Lin fans need is for him to step up and step up big.

 

I didn't write the article - if I find it I'll let u know.

 

Doesn't matter, if the other team is concentrating on Lin, he has 4 others to distribute, including Harden! Or Harden now has free reign to score because team is focusing on Lin instead of him... you do know this sounds ridiculous don't you?

 

I heard McHale takes Lin out because he is prone to killing people if he stays on the court too long.

I read it on an article.

 

Classy fans! If this dude were a girl he'd wake up pregnant.

 

Well, to be fair, at least George Karl did say (famously in this bbs) Jeremy is "still the motor of the team" while downplaying harden as an "all-star type" player.

Another funny thing was when Sean Elliot kept saying during crunch time u have to watch out for Jeremy Lin being dangerous, while the whole time Beverly was the one on the floor. He didn't even realise it until the last 25sec of the game or something.

That shows, yeah they fear Lin as dangerous, and some comments from opposing teams wondered why Lin's not out there, to their benefit.

 

actually there is some truth in it. I remember in Dec 16th, right before Rockets vs Toronto game, right before tip off coach McHale's interview on 790， McHale was asked about the game right before, which was the Rocket 101: 89 win over Boston. In that game Jeremy was benched the whole 4th quarter. And TD had a fantastic show in that game.

So the reporter was asking coach that TD had a super nice performance in that Boston game, what does he think about it. To my surprise, McHale did not really praise TD, but rather talked about Jeremy. Basically he said was TD was good, but Jeremy was solid too. though Jeremy did not score much, but his play was solid. It is just that he can feel that when Jeremy is on the floor, Rondo would consistently go to him. (I can't remember exact words, but just basically due to the Linsanity thing, all the PG would go nuts facing Jeremy). So my take of McHale's meaning of benching Jeremy on the whole 4th quarter is not because Lin was playing bad or TD was playing good, it is just when Jeremy is on the floor, Boston was game planned against him too much, so he think he need to take Lin out.

Interestingly, in that Boston game, Greg Smith also out performed Omar Asik, but McHale put Asik back on the floor in the later half of the 4th instead of Smith. So the reporter also asked McHale something like: talking about riding the hot hand, why in the last minutes he goes back to Omar instead of Greg. And McHale said that he is sure Boston is going to put Garnett on the floor in clutch time, will attach through him, so he has to put Omar there.

Anyway, I'm not sure whether there is any place archive 790 pre-game interviews, but I found it very interesting, more so than post game interviews.

So, yeah, I do believe that other team would game plan Lin, and when that happens, McHale's response would be change our PG. So I never believe the talk McHale hate Lin, but I do believe McHale don't trust Lin that much (or not yet), at least he doesn't think Lin could stand opponent's attack if that goes too intense. I think that's why there are occasions even Lin didn't perform bad, and even our 2nd PG didn't perform better, he would still bench Lin. I think that would have something to do with our opponent's strategy, and that's our coach's counter or adjustment. (Adjustment is over rated. :grin

 

Harden is an all-star type of player this season. But with Lin, as Nuggets coach George Karl pointed out, "I still think he's the motor of their team, and when he plays well, they have a good chance of beating people. ..."

http://www.denverpost.com/nuggets/ci_22437660/nuggets-journal-take-look-at-jeremy-lin-now

 

See below, Steal and Deal said they planned "stop" Lin. In other words take him out of his offensive game not go after him as in make him defend, which is a no brainer. I mean if you have elite guards like Rondo in the game, they will attack Lin every single chance they get after all Lin has a reputation of being a weak defender (I disagree btw). So its not a game plan, its called common sense. Heck even Lin attacks other guards too if they are a step slower than him.

 

2 years jail

 

I forgot the exact words McHale said, it is like on top of other team game planned him, their PG also got excited when they are against Lin, well, the same way when Heat met Knicks last year I guess. It feels like they took it personal, you see that with Rondo, you see that with Westbrook. They play extra hard when against him.

 

i never saw any article that guy spoke of, but for you to dismiss other teams gameplanning for jeremy shows how much in denial you are. teams gameplan SPECIFICALLY to stop JL and harden EVERY SINGLE GAME. there is not a single game where "stop lin driving into the paint" isn't on the other team's chalkboard. yes, it's a GREATER priority to control harden, but none of the other teams aren't focusing on jeremy lin. they know if they can shut down one or both of our backcourt they have a great chance of beating us.

Lin fans don't need for him to step up big. Lin fans love him no matter what. THE ROCKETS TEAM needs him to step up big. that is for sure. it doesn't matter if he is or isn't a perfect fit for mchale or harden or the rox system. he's here. he's an important piece of the puzzle, and without him stepping up big, the rox aren't going anywhere in the playoffs. without him, that's one less big weapon on the roster.

 

Geez, all he said was this

He never questioned that teams gameplan for Jeremy Lin. I mean, Lin is one of the 8-9 rotation players on the team. Of course teams will gameplan for him. But no team would say, "Well Jeremy Lin would kill us so we better find a plan to get him benched." It doesn't even make sense. If Jeremy Lin is good enough to draw the entire defense towards, wouldn't McHale see that and keep playing him?

 

Entire defense? I think Jeremy Lin would be deemed ineffective by the coach :grin: thus bench him. He loves Jeremy

 

Sorry for hijacking this moribund thread but can somebody share these articles from the Chron?
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/rockets/article/McHale-considers-juggling-Rockets-rotation-4387035.php
http://www.houstonchronicle.com/sports/rockets/article/Upcoming-slate-to-serve-as-learning-curve-for-4379704.php

 

Worthwhile reads. Even I feel reluctant about reducing the starter's minutes, it is going to take a leap of faith.

I'm getting accustomed to D-Mo being D-Mo, he's backed his talk by demonstrating he's one of the most competitive guys in the team, though that drive hasn't always served to his advantage. I would really like to see what he does with an average of 10 or more shot attempts per game, I have the feeling that he soon will blow up and have a 25+ points performance .

Didn't know that, thanks.