Letting Harden iso actually develops him as a real max player. I agree that you don't let him do that if he misses a lot and disrupts the offense. But he was actually abusing Kidd and his defenders with those isos and either scoring or getting to the line. You have to understand not all isolations are bad
23 fast break pts and only 14 made 3's. The rest were all mostly FTs or inside shots. That's quality offense no matter how you look at it.
After a win like tonight's, this is a dumb thread. Rox best game of the season by far. No need to nitpick.
I think LOF are too happy to complain anything at this moment. This game is a huge win for Lin, plus he played solid with 50% shooting.
The team isn't a finished product. You have three pieces to build around, one glaring hole, and a huge question mark. Let the roster get built before you start judging long term success. The three pieces to build around: SG: Harden(All Star caliber SG) SF: Parsons(nice all around SF) C: Asik(Rim protector, Shot Blocker, Rebounder) Question Mark: PG(Can Lin be the long term answer?) Position to upgrade: PF(Al Jefferson, Paul Millsap, Al Horford, Josh Smith, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love come on down) My bet is on Jefferson being a Rocket and his low post game meshes well with Asik).
Lin can absolutely be the long term answer if he plays with Rondo's mindset, facilitate first, look to score second. This is evident in a game like tonight when Parsons and Harden goes nuts, but would be even more so once we pick up one of those PF. His job should be to dish. Ideally he should be a 12 pt 10 assist guy.
Meh on Jefferson, he's too sluggish to play on a fast paced team like the Rockets. I'd rather have Milsap.
I don't disagree. His life will be a lot easier once Morey gets a low post scorer at the power forward position. Right now, they don't have that guy to get easy buckets in the paint. Lin needs to work on his assist/TO ratio, and playing strong defense. Also, it would help if he would take notes on how Jason Kidd went from being a terrible shooter to one of the best three point shooters in history.
Much as i love tonight's win, It's already a given to me that sooner or later we will drop again from heaven to earth. It's not like Harden or Parsons will score 30+ every night from now on, or Lin will always have a very good FG%. My point is let's just take as it is, a win is a win, no matter how far it is from our "ideal" win. That's basketball, there will be nights that somebody has to come out of nowhere and surprise everyone. I'd rather have the guys take confidence and jell from "imperfect wins" rather than "perfect loses".
Parsons? WTF? I think the coaching leaves A LOT to be desired. But what impresses me about this team.... We've only been blown out a couple of times this year. I mean, that's remarkable.
My concern isn't with pace. Jefferson is not so much of a sloth that he can't play in an uptempo system. In my opinion, the power forward they get has to be a low post scorer and a mid range game is a bonus(Somebody like Aldridge can do both). Somebody that can get easy points and doesn't make the team entirely jumpshot oriented.
Actually, I'm pretty even keeled when it comes to the Rox. Thats why I don't freak out after every loss and don't wet myself after every win.
Yeah you can worry about long-term success all you want but you lose all cred when you say a 30 pt thrashing is an "absolutely terrible win". That's like saying Harden played a horrible game because his assists weren't snappy enough, or Parsons was actually bad this game because although he scored 30, Melo scored 37 on his ass. As far as long term success goes, I think building Lin's confidence back goes towards that. Having a game in which 3 guys went off and with everyone generally having a good game isn't bad for long term chemistry either.
