You just proved the point the other poster was making. In a 0-0 soccer game your team had plenty of time and opportunities to score and didn't. So by your theory the entire team should be to blame, not the boneheaded goalkeeper who made a single mistake at the end of the game. It's almost exactly the same scenario with Lin. The Rockets had lots of time before and after his mistake to secure a win, but it was HIS mistake that most likely cost the victory.
If we do have to play Lin, all I ask for is for him to not eff up when the game is on the line. Play it safe stupid! We don't need your attempts for a home run play.
The Rockets also had plenty of time AFTER the mistake to secure the win. So where were they? I'm sensing a great internal contradiction here. Premise 1: The Rockets are dynasty-worthy, except that a scrub (who should be on Wall Street instead of the NBA) like Lin is holding them back. Premise 2: The Rockets are so fragile and weak that if they're forced to go to OT, it's automatically a loss. This is such a foregone conclusion that terrible mistakes in OT (Parsons' flagrant, Howard and Bev's TOs) are given free passes because, hey, the Rockets were done for anyway against the vastly superior Trail Blazers. They can't both be true.
This is just a false choice you set up. Watch, I'll add another premise: Premise 3: The Rockets are neither dynasty worthy nor fragile, but when they are winning by 2 with 32 seconds left, they should avoid making turnovers that let the other team take the lead. See how easy that was?
You're right. Neither is true. Neither premise is accurate. I don't like to use the term "straw man" but you definitely popped one up. And you'll notice that I did note that they had time after the mistake to win in overtime. But that doesn't change the crucial play that allowed the game to even reach overtime. That's like saying, "Yea, I know Schuab threw a pick six in the last 2 minutes of the game but Case had a chance chance to win it on the last drive". Does that mean the pick six Schaub threw isn't the reason for the loss?
Except that people are acting as if it's the only, or by far the most important reason, that the Rockets lost. How far do you want to keep going back? What about the play(s) that allowed Lin's mistake to even matter? And I'm not talking about something that happened in the first quarter. I'm talking about in the 30 seconds before that play even happened. If James Harden scores -20 points in the next game, are you going to say, "Ah well, Lin single-handedly put them down in the series 1-3 so who cares?" Is there now a perpetual shield on the rest of the Rockets from being accountable for their screw-ups? That must be the case because I don't see anyone getting that mad at the Rockets for messing up Game 4 OT.
Or Rox needs lucks/breaks to win a game or two, with Lin on the court, you can't count on your breaks because Lin will squander away any breaks you might get.
You're still missing the point. The play is being scrutinized because it was the play most directly responsible for costing a likely win. If that play doesn't happen there's an extremely high probability we win. It's the closest pivotal play to the end of regulation. It's not about looking backwards to one basket in the first quarter that rimmed out, or one tip off at the beginning of game 2 that could have caused an extra possession. It's the crucial, close game, crunch time plays that impact the outcome the most. I don't know any other way to say it. Harden has been blamed time and time again this year for making a big mistake or turnover at the end of a close game. And rightfully so, regardless of how he played for the rest of the game. Get it?
Mistakes don't happen in isolation, especially in sports which follows the "No harm, no foul" rule, which is why nobody was criticizing Harden after his game 3 OT turnover because of Lin and Daniels. Nobody is denying that Lin's mistake was very visible, which makes it easy to create a Skip Bayless-like melodramatic narrative about chokers and closers. But whether his mistake turned out to be costly was also very dependent on his teammates. As I said, how mad are you at Beverley (a player I like) for ruining any chance for a Houston tie at the end? Or do you give him a pass because of Lin? If so, how long does this collective pass last?
<iframe src="http://player.theplatform.com/p/zT2_HC/iEazkwCwmKPM/embed/select/kBI6ACPLuSvn?params=zone%3Dcsnvideo&autoPlay=false" width="480" height="270" frameborder="0" seamless="seamless" allowfullscreen>Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe> “I’m doing great. It’s a new day, a new game and obviously, everyone was pretty emotionally disappointed after the last game but for me, it’s a new day and it’s another opportunity. I’ve been repeating some scriptures to myself to get myself off of last game into this game.”
Once you get over all the LOF and LOH in the GARM now, you just find it hilarious. LOL threads like these are gold, i'm slightly rooting for another Jeremy Lin error in the closing seconds, just to have more threads like these lol. The hate and love, love and hate, in these threads/posts would be scary if they werent so funny. Fight on PEEPS! Blame! Defend! Blame! Entertain the masses!
