something to think about McHale's post game interview. Lin had a good game and first thing McHale talked about was his poor decision on the last possession while i can't recalled our coaching staff talked anything about Harden's bad decision at the end of last few losses
McHale wasn't around then. You know, his daughter was dying. Sampson has made some questionable game-time decisions, but he's always been supportive and positive towards Jeremy in interviews.
he was still here when we lost 3 straight against Portland , Denver and Memphis. Harden had played ISO ball at the end of all these games. nothing mentioned at all in post game interview
Anything else you want to nitpick at? Does it annoy you when Coach McHale chooses to part his hair to the right and not to the left?
no , it made me wonder is it our coach afraid to offend our franchise player by calling out his name. not a good thing. coach>player. i like a lot of Popovich yelling at Duncan/Parker when they made mistake.
the reason Lin needs to dominate the ball more is cause when you look at Lin and Harden, Harden can still be extremely effective off the ball. Lin has struggled in that role,and it seems like a square peg round hole type of issue. Hes got talent, he can ball, you cant fluke 38 points in the NBA, but it terms of maximising strengths and mitigating weaknesses, Lin needs the ball. James Harden is talented enough to still be very effective, and im sure in time the coaching staff can work it out.
I only saw the 4th Q on a crappy stream, but there was one play Lin made where he dribbled around the paint Nash-style, drew Asik's defender, and dished to Asik for the easy little 6' bank shot. That one play should help both Lin and Asik's confidences. I hope we'll learn to run high PNR with wing shooters in our sets. I hope even more our D will improve and give us some fast-break opportunities!
I wonder whether it is simple like that...it sounds simple reasonable and logical but if that's so why our coaches dont see it?
They said something to the effect that the ball will be in Harden's hands a lot in those situations and he will continue to learn and get better at it. Not exact but basically the gist of it.
This isn't just "one good game". It's more of a confirmation that what we saw in New York last season wasn't just a fluke or a by-product of a system, but the manifestation of some inherent talent that Lin has. Whether he can consistently channel that talent is the real debate here. Unfortunately, there are a lot of haters who have tried to deny that Lin has any talent at all. You don't explode for 38 points TWICE in the NBA in your first year as a starter while playing on mediocre teams unless you've got some serious talent.
That's Omer's first "jump" shot of this season (probably his career)! Lucky bank shot for sure. Great to see Lin running circles around Duncan, but we seriously need a big guy that can go in for the dunk.
It doesn't mean anything different than before. Lin was always going to have a game like this. The only difference might be on this bbs. I'd hoped that Lin only fans would stop blasting Harden's defense when the opposing SG put up some big numbers but Harden still played a great game. It probably won't mean that. I'd also hoped that people who are eager to show Lin only fans that he isn't a franchise player would stop saying he sucks this year, because he hasn't sucked this year. He hasn't been an all star, but those were unrealistic expectations to have of him this early. But despite his mistakes he hasn't sucked. The bottom line is the more wins the Rockets have, the better Lin will look. That means Lin only fans should want Harden to as well as possible, and realize that Harden is and should be the number one option on the team. Conversely people who want Lin to do poorly to shut up the Lin only fans should also wish Lin would do well, because the Rockets team will get more wins when Lin plays like he did against SA. It is short sighted to hope for one of our two best players to have sub-par games in order to boost the standing of a particular favorite player.
You're taking these trolls and extreme LOF/LOHers way too seriously. No one rational is advocating for Harden to do badly or for Lin to do badly. Just the extremely irrational fan-boys and haters. Best way to deal with it is to ignore their existence.
Lin and the Linsanity offense can only function when the offense is running through him, carte blanche. Otherwise, he doesn't have much to do as a stand-around player, and he might as well be writing his thesis while Harden does an Iso.
Lin had a great game! Perhap he is warming up for the Dec 17 New York Knicks game? A few more games like this, the LOH will be looking at:
But it goes beyond wishing players to do poorly. It affects how they see the game and post on it. Calling Harden in that first San Antonio game was silly because early on all he was trying to do was get teammates involved, and they weren't hitting. After that the other Rockets were passing up their shots. Harden who was shooting well, did what a star should do, and stepped up to help carry the team. Yet in the eyes of a Lin only fan, Harden was just being selfish. You're right that the best thing to do is ignore them, but when you enjoy discussing the game, it's hard to have to wade through post after post of crap. In the same thread, you'll have people saying Lin has just been sucking all year long. If someone believes that it's fine, but it should be debated with actual analysis. I do live in a dream world I guess. I'll keep being optimistic.
Yea, I do agree that the amount of irrationality/venom does take away from good discussions at times. And it is patently ridiculous to say Harden is selfish. Or to defend Lin by attacking Harden. But really, unless this team stops making mistakes completely and goes on a 20 game winning streak, the crazies will come out of the woodwork and find something to blame at all times. Thus, best solution, put 'em on your ignore list and hope other members aren't goaded into responding to them.
