It's pretty we're a better team when Toney Douglas is the primary ball handler.

Really? Because Harden is very effective at getting to the line.

Lin used to be -- last season. Not sure why he's not right now.

 

Yes Really. Without Lin in the game you are playing with no point guard. Why should someone who is shooting 3-19 play nearly 40 minutes?

 

I think this is over thinking all of this....Osik was out too...so was Parsons. He just went with what was working. Lin would have come off the bench cold and Im guessing it wasnt worth the risk...The Rockets was on a run.

I think that this team can score a lot of points and Lin along with all the other guys facilitate that.....its a good young team...Lin is a good player and Im confident he would hve played well IF he wasnt in foul trouble and to be honest I dont think those O fouls were on Lin.... I think they were a charge....my opinion...I think Lin got screwed last night BUT the rockets won and Lin was the first off the bench to congrat the team

 

Lin fans. Never change

 

How about Sergio You'll? I'd bet he's better than Douglas.

 

I dont really get the argument here... We won. And Harden played a big part in that at the end of the game (by driving, sucking in the defense and opening things up for the other guys). Yeah he had an off game, but he is the kind of player that can help you at the end, and he did.

I am not saying that Lin couldn't have helped - but Harden right now seems to be the better bet. And Id even say Lin agrees with me here.

So what's the problem? We won, end of story.

 

I can see where you're going. Technically, Lin didn't have as bad a game as Harden up to the 4th quarter. Lin was out because of foul trouble, however Harden played in the end as the facilitator and not Lin, your starting PG. And that's where you question Sampson's inconsistency in using Lin verse other starters who struggle.

However, Harden is right now the surer bet and a better player than Lin, so it's those players that will get to play.

 

That's a dumb point.

TD and Delfino were hot, so they got to play over Lin and Parsons who were not. Harden is the best player maker and is capable of drawing fouls, and the end of the game showed exactly that.

Plus, we were playing with 'PG", Tony Douglas was our PG.

 

Sampson made the right move guys...lol. Harden may have been playing bad but he draws fouls more than Lin, as well as attention from the defense. The foul calls on Lin were questionable in my opinion, but either way this is a good thing. Ive been saying in other threads if TD can keep up just 3/4 of what he did in the lakers game for the rest of the season, and with the bench playing like they did this team is just getting better and better. If only they would work on defense....lol

 

What is dumb is you think Harden is our best playmaker. What is even dumber is to think Toney is a PG at all.

 

I'm more concerned about Patterson playing over Asik (or Parsons) at the end of the game. I think Sampson lucked out on that one. Of course Smith is playing well so you keep him in. Patterson was not playing well on O or D. He made one nice dish to Smith, that's all, but that's a 12 footer in the paint that he could've taken as well if he had the confidence.

On top of that Patterson ended up with 2 rebounds. TWO. With all of those Rockets missed shots.

The Rockets won so I am happy, but Sampson should not have kept Patterson in if he meant to play the hot guys. Bring Asik in. Asik is just fine "cold" since his game does not depend much on being in rhythm.

 

np at all. a normal LOFs vs LOHs after a game, especially when Lin did not post any good stats.

 

No heriocs at the end of the game would have been necessary if Harden didn't play poorly the whole game. I'm just saying he could've sat some and had Lin and TD play together that's all.

 

Hahaha, the feuding begins anew!

Seriously though, both sides have valid points. Lin is a better facilitator than TD, but TD had the aggression needed so the coach went with him.
But really, just because Lin fans like Lin very much and want him to play more doesn't mean the rest of you guys need to put Lin down and call him a scrub, while elevating TD.

What are you trying to accomplish through doing that except provoke Lin fans to post more in his defense? (Which in turns annoys you even more).
But whatever...people hate for their own personal reasons, and nothing I say here will change anything. So I'll just go back to watching 'How I met your mother'. LOL.

 

Well, the same could be said about Parsons, Lin, Patterson, Morris... this was a bad game by most of the Rockets. At the end you go with what you think is your best shot. Hardens shot wasn`t falling and he was trying to hard. But in the end, you need someone that can penetrate and that the defense collapses on. And that is Harden - how often have we seen a game like this in the past, with noone who really can make something happen when we desperately need to?

Harden did that yesterday. I know Lin can do that as well - but yesterday he wasn`t playing lights out as well... so you go with the guy you trust the most. And that happens to be the guy you just gave an 80 million dollar contract. Because he`s shown in the past, that he can make plays at the end - and you trust him, although he had a bad game, to be there when it really counts.

Again, nothing against Lin - he is clutch, he can penetrate and create something. Yesterday was not his night and coach Sampson put his trust in Douglas and Harde - and was rewarded with the victory. Everyone is happy, even Lin...

 

So we won a game at home by 2 points against a struggling Lakers team that just lost to Orlando? So that means no constructive criticism or discussion is needed because we won? Point is Harden is a potentially great player who played excellent against Utah where he didn't force things but played like crap against the Lakers. The coach should bench his ass and let him sit awhile and he'll probably be better when he gets back in. I'm sick of this coddling of the highest paid player in the NBA because the coach can lose his job if he goes against the star. Sampson should have benched Harden for a while and played Lin and Douglas together. End of story.

 

I didn't mean Harden was the highest paid player in the NBA - just the highest paid player on his team. Point is coaches are afraid of losing their job if their "star" is displeased with them. Look at Carmelo and Di'antoni. There was no reason to play someone who was having a terrible game close to 40 minutes. I'm not talking about crunch time in the 4th quarter when he obviously should be in the game.

 

If Lebron was on this team, you are the type of person to complain he gets the ball in his hands instead of "the PG". Then you would complain about hero ball, how every else is holding Lin down, how if gave Lin 1 billion dollar contract he would solve global warming and starvation in Africa.

 

Harden is nowhere near LeBron. Actually there is to much ISO going on in the NBA which is boring to watch. Do you like watching ISO?

 

Did you just compare Harden to Lebron?