There is another thing to remember ... the other teams we've played really haven't played well either. They are not the Spurs. It was the first game of the season for both teams we played
OK people - to refocus on reality: McHale and his coaching staff have been exceptional. They properly integrated their infusion of talent. And in Hardens case they did it in three days. An example of a bad coaching staff is the Lakers. They honestly look like they were put a blender before this season. It is a stark contrast. And they had months to prepare. And the rookies? Get over it. As demonstrated by Parsons last year, McHale will play them when they are ready. Do you really want to compare your coaching acumen to McHale and their staff? I thought not. Oh and all this "play the rookies crap". It was exactly the same last year with Morris. It gets old people. Find some new ground to blaze.
Hawks were #5 seed in the East last year, finishing 40-26. They are a good team. Rockets did good to beat them on the road.
Lin and Asik's game were actually quite good. It's pretty hard to complain about a 20/10/7 and 19 rebound stat line. At MOST you can say it wasn't their absolute best game. Despite Lin's sub-par shooting, he STILL shot 40% (6/16) including 2/3 from 3 point range. His TS% was around 55%, which projected to an entire season would put him solidly around average (top 15) for a point guard last season. The difference between 40% and 50% FG% is sinking TWO baskets over 40 minutes for Lin. IF Lin had sunk 2 more baskets, it would have put his TS% at a staggering 58.9 TS% -- a number good enough to put him as the 4th highest TS% among Point guards in 2011/12. Asik put up 19 rebounds last night. He's currently averaging 14.0 rebounds per game. Dwight Howard averaged 14.5 rebounds per game in 2011/12 (#1). In fact, if Asik sustained 14.0 rebounds per night, he'd have the 2nd highest number of rebounds in the ENTIRE NBA. Seriously, think you might be judging them a little harshly? Really, folks need to STOP being so ridiculously critical. Sure, not EVERY stat was amazing for Lin/Asik, but overall their stats were really, REALLY good. Not James Harden out of your mind, future HOF type good, but seriously... cut them some slack here.
Wow.... We're excited because we're fans. It's nice to see our a team win, despite Harden showing up a couple days before the season opener. The fact that we're making tons of fixable mistakes early on, while still winning is actually encouraging. We like to cheer for our young guys like Morris, Parsons and Patterson instead of dogging them for every mistake.
