Can someone make a gif of that one really good defensive sequence on Irving today? Even the cavs announcers were saying that the whole possession lin's D was outstanding. Even I was like, omg wow O.O
Lin's starting to become a Mr. Fix-it on the defensive end. Morey commented on Lin's free-lancing, and I was really pissed earlier in the season when he over-helped on the bigs, but it's starting to pay dividends right now. He struggled against Brandon Jennings, and as others have duly noted he struggles to fight over screens and I feel this is more to do with the fact that he's a big PG at 6'4 200 pounds so he'll never be an elite lock-down defender, but as he develops chemistry over time with the bigs on the defensive end, they may be able to compensate for that fact by trying to trap the guard and giving them different defensive looks. I wonder why McHale has never called on Parsons to try and play lock-down defense on the opposition's premiere wing players, or the off-guards, or heck switching him onto whichever scrub Harden is allowing to light us up. I'd like to see if that can improve our defense and to see what Parsons can do this year when his role on the defensive end is to try and shut-down scoring wings, it seems like an oversight that Harden is often defending elite wing players when he's pretty damn awful at defense.
Lin is a smart defender while TD is a pesky defender. Both types have its pros and cons and it is up to Mchale for the best matchups. Lin's style generally works on most guards but will lose out against aggressive players. TD's style works best on lesser experienced guards but will get caught in screens and less help defence for the team.
Feel free to check out all NBA players stats here. http://mysynergysports.com/ Felton's defensive stats are worse across the board.
Let's be real though, a few of those ticky-tack calls in the 4th quarter were pretty bad. Lin made some bad reach-ins earlier, but Irving had to work for every basket he made, and he got a few superstar calls in the 4th because Lin breathed on him.
this is very true. Lin's D works well on most guards but the very best shooters or streaky ones. even so, his quick first step, size, and hops makes it difficult to get a clean shot off. i've seen him block a few jumpers. Toney's D is so pesky that less experienced guards would would panic and end up turning it over. more experienced guards would just drive by him. but he's also pesky denying the guard the ball in the first place which also helps force a turnover at times. having both types of D is great as there are so many great scoring pg's in the league today. if you stop the pg, you pretty much stoped the opposing team's primary play on offense. you force them to use their plan B. no way TD is going to get traded. he is a crucial part of this team as a backup pg. plus we don't have any other backup pg. we have lots of pf's so, bye bye PPAT and Aldrich
Lin is more of a big guard defender because they can't really back him down or over power him, plus he has strong hands for pick pockets.
It's really fun to watch these players grow together, even Toney D. And I really wish of those twisted/narrow minded haters on this board can learn how to love without hate something first.
Toney D isn't going anywhere. He is like found money. He was an after-thought when brought to Houston. I didn't think he would last the first month, but he is playing well in the good amount of minutes he has earned. Also, the rotations are finally falling into place and everyone is getting comfortable with it. I always felt bad for him especially when D'Antoni laughed at a reporter that asked him if Toney would see more minutes during Linsanity. He came off shoulder surgery last year, and it clearly affected his shooting which is his most valuable asset and he lost his confidence. Good to see him healthy and performing well and contributing nicely to the W's the Rockets are racking up.
Who can really guard Nate though? I think BAM metrics rated him as one of the fastest in the entire NBA, far above Lin, Rose, Wall, Irving. Dude could be in the NFL if he wanted to imo.
Im very impressed by Lin's defence. He really hustles both on the offence and defence. Irving was really tough to defend but Lin did a good job. I pretty sure he embellished when took the charge late in the 4th quarter and fool some ppl and that's a sign of a smart player.
Lin and Td came together from New York. We can't break them up. First linsanity game on lins second assist its Td who he finds for the layup.
From my untrained eye test I want to say Lin is almost on par with Parker. Often times Parker gets by Lin because of the screen Duncan sets. I mean Parker & Duncan have been doing this since Lin was still in elementary school. But yes, his help defense used to drive me crazy (esp. when he left his man wide open) but I agree that it's gotten better now.
