Everyone gets banged up OMR. Harden was banged up earlier in the year and most of the 2nd half of his first year here and fans around here call Harden "Lazy" and complain about his defense etc. Lin is going to have to string together some good games. One good game when he was mostly good when the game was over... Meh.
He did not do this move during Linsanity. I watched almost every Knicks game after he was waived and did not see him do this until he started playing with Harden. Prove me wrong and find a video, and I'll eat my words, but I bet you won't! Beverley is learning the same move now, too. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." -James Harden [/quote] Look, if this is something you really believe, that's fine. Or if it's something you have to tell yourself to make his lack of confidence more palatable, that's fine too. But when you post in a basketball forum and suggest he can pull these moves off anytime he wants, except the coaches won't let him, it's insulting to everyone's intelligence. And you're just adding to the whole "Lin fans are delusional" montra, and placing the blame where it doesn't belong- on a coach who is still defending Lin's slump and trying to encourage and make him play more aggressively. No one is holding him back, just like no gave Hill permission to fall for that step back, just like no one tells him to drive and pick up his dribble at the free throw line.
Although I was hoping he got traded before deadline BUT I would be the first to say we are going to need HIM to play as he did last night for us to win a championship We need to support him
Teams often keep injuries low key, especially non obvious injuries like tweaks and soreness. Lin said he had a bad back for the past several weeks. McHale said in the post-game conference that Lin's back was bothering him for the last few weeks and that he now has his first step back (a HUGE part of his game). I'll take that at face value. As for how much that impacted his play, folks can debate that all they want but in the end we'll never know for sure. All I know is that physically Lin was moving completely differently last night than he has for weeks in terms of speed and explosive quickness. Lin's not a perfect player by any means, but when he's moving and playing well his game is something that can only benefit the Rockets. The first half of the season should have made that apparent already.
Whether it was his back or his head, or both doesnt matter, it is just good to see him playing well. DD
Look, if this is something you really believe, that's fine. Or if it's something you have to tell yourself to make his lack of confidence more palatable, that's fine too. But when you post in a basketball forum and suggest he can pull these moves off anytime he wants, except the coaches won't let him, it's insulting to everyone's intelligence. And you're just adding to the whole "Lin fans are delusional" montra, and placing the blame where it doesn't belong- on a coach who is still defending Lin's slump and trying to encourage and make him play more aggressively. No one is holding him back, just like no gave Hill permission to fall for that step back, just like no one tells him to drive and pick up his dribble at the free throw line.[/QUOTE] <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/EayD7e1J2eE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> You were saying?
I was talking about the guy's comment that the injury was obvious. Nobody ever said he was injured until bike exercise and then the announcements. So it wasn't obvious. I've said this before and I'll repeat it, I can't fathom what type of injury could induce such bad ball decisions from him the past few weeks.
It's been reported by folks who went to recent home games, that Lin's had an ice pack on his back and was nonstop riding the stationary bike when he was not playing (possibly to keep his body warm so his back didn't stiffen) A few days ago someone tweeted Jason Friedtman, saying, Lin's been injured for a couple of weeks, why is the Rockets organization keeping it quiet ? Friedman responded (in a tweet) that NBA teams often keep injuries quiet to avoid letting opponents know. That same day, Feigen asked McHale if Lin had been injured or was in pain (I can't remember exact words) during Lin's recent slide. According to a Feigen tweet, McHalr said yes Lin's been in a "little bit of pain". McHale did not deny the injury or suggest it was usual NBA wear and tear. Yesterday morning Lin told Jenny Dial Creech that his back felt the best it's felt in a few weeks. Someone also posted that Lin had told a Chinese paper that his back had been bothering him since shortly before the ASB. Then, as torocan notes above, McHale confirmed in his post game interview that Lin's back has been bothering him for a few weeks, and also noted that Lin's first step had been missing Who knows how much Lin's recent bad play has been due to this , but he has clearly been dealing with a back injury.
^He's been playing bad for almost a month now. Nobody said anything about injury until a week ago at the earliest. It wasn't obvious. Period.
Lin may have been dealing with a back injury, but the difference between his play in Miami/Orlando vs. Indiana is NIGHT AND DAY. Face it guys, the vast majority of this slump was mental as opposed to physical
I don't know if you've ever played organized team sports at a competitive level before, but I'll try to explain how I see it. There are two types of injuries that you play through. The first is general pain. You can often play through it or use pain killers to manage the pain. The second is injuries that actually inhibit your ability to play your game. For example, when you have weakness in a muscle and can't fully extend or explode well. When you have the second type of injury, it affects your play in multiple ways. A limiting injury makes you less effective at certain things. Whether that's cutting, jumping, shooting, etc. If those things are integral parts of your game, then you tend to respond in one of two ways. 1) Keep trying to do what you normally do, but much less effectively. So if you're a jump shooter, you keep shooting. However, you end up missing more shots because you can't control your body properly. You end up looking like crap and hurting the team. 2) Stop doing what you normally do and try doing other things to compensate for the limitation. This can sometimes work well, however depending on what's limited you can still end up looking like crap and hurting the team. In both of those situations as the injury persists it gets into your head. You become hesitant to do what you normally do (since you know you're crap), and you find yourself second guessing what you should do (doing things that don't necessarily play to your strengths). So, let's take an example. Let's say you hang your hat on defense but an injury limits your ability to move laterally. So now, guys that you normally defend well are blowing past you because you're a step slow. And every time you push yourself you experience pain which not only distracts you in game, but makes you worry that you'll injure yourself further and make you even less of an asset to the team. So what do you do then? Do you keep playing the way you normally do knowing that you'll end up looking like crap? Do you risk additional injury attempting to push your body in the ways that you normally do? Maybe you take a step back to give yourself more time to get in position, except now you've opened space and people are shooting jumpers over you because you can't close fast enough to contest well. Maybe you try to make it up on the offensive end, except you weren't a great offensive player to start with and your ill advised shots are going to hurt the team. To make it worse, NBA teams have elite scouting crews. They watch the other teams closely and review film. Like sharks in the water, they can smell blood. If you're not defending well for a stretch, they'll home in on you and design offensive plays to exploit it. If you're not shooting well, they'll adjust their defense and make life harder on the rest of the team. Playing through injury is often a no win situation. You not only play worse, but you tend to screw up your game in general. You can't play your game, and you also end up second guessing yourself as you attempt to find other ways to contribute. You end up making decisions late, or making incorrect decisions in an attempt to "force" the game to fit your injury, or going to moves and plays that aren't your strengths in an attempt to contribute in any way that you can. Think of athletes as race cars. If you're driving a family sedan, the timing can be off and your spark plugs can be dirty and you'll still get home from work. However, if you're a Formula 1 race car, it doesn't take much to take you from the pole position to 16th. And when the track is filled with elite machines, you can very quickly look like you don't belong on the same track.
Lin is a confidence player which is bad for him since he is so self aware. He needs to learn to forget his missed shots.
No, I haven't. Have you, though, or do you have any other qualification to provide the lengthy seemingly first-hand insight you provided?
I played competitive team sports at the high school and college level, and have played through a variety of injuries. That included a period of time playing Rugby (tackling with no padding). So while I'm no expert and I've never played at a very high level, I do know a little about playing injured and sick... bruises, charlie horses, sprains, and even hyper extensions.
