ClutchFans Game Thread: Blazers @ Rockets 11/3/2012

lol... thanks for the morning laugh after a tough loss!

 

I'm speaking specifically to the last play.

Lin is sometimes over-aggressive on help Defense, but alot of that is inexperience. Defense is the longest to develop for younger players, so expect defensive lapses from time to time. We have to remember last night was Lin's 28th start. He didn't even play half a season last year, or have a training camp last year.

Lin's defense has improved considerably since last year. It's not perfect, but it is definitely improved.

In terms of Lillard, it's still the correct play. It would be like complaining about Lin leaving Fields to double... you expect Fields to throw a brick, so leaving him on the 3 point line is a good decision.

Considering Lillard had been contained to 7 points prior to the last 5 minutes, I find it hard to be overcritical of Lin's defense last night.

 

Rockets are heavily invested in Harden. It's Harden's team now. Plus Harden has more winning experience.

It's a blessing for Lin though, it takes away some spotlights that he doesn't want and gives him time to develop.

 

Did you watch him with the Bulls? If you did you would know that he does this quite a lot. I am more than happy with what Asik has been doing over these past three games. I agree he really shouldn't be missing easy gimmie baskets like that but these things take time. He never had as big of an offensive role as he does now. Will take time for him to adapt. I'm not worried.

 

I blame to loss to the coach. The game was loss by the last play in the regulation. Harden was dead tired and his shooting touch had loss a bit due to tired. The coach should call a time out, put Morris and Delfino in to replace PP and Asik to spread the floor and let Lin handle the ball and drive to the basket that will force Portland to react and hope that Lin can make the right decision to continue to drive to draw a foul or kick out to the shooter.

Comment?

 

Fair enough.

Actually, Lin actually plays good defense most of the times, including last night. But I disagree that was the correct play and you can't say that it's not one of the reasons that contributes to the loss.

I'm also not sure if I'd compare Lillard to Fields. I'm not that high on Lillard yet but players can't afford to write him off as a bad 3-point shooter based on 2-3 games. I think it's ridiculous to say that he's a future top 10 PG based on a 3-game sample, but the same goes for his 3-point shooting.

 

I'm more worried about Lin's jumper. Did he change his shooting form during summer? Or it's just about getting used to the knee after surgery?
But it seems that he started to attack the basket a little bit more. Last night he got 2 and 1. Hopefully it's a sign that he's going to 100% soon.

 

Can he not elevate enough to dunk when he's under the rim? That's the frustrating thing. Not saying he needs to score 10 a night or anything, but jeeze he trys to lay those putbacks off the glass with people all over him. Just put it in the hoop big man. That's teachable though. Keep rebounding and maybe someone can teach him to flush.

 

Lillard has range. You Lin apologists do realize Lillard has actually played basketball prior to his few NBA games, don't you?

 

I remember watching Yao doing that back in the days. He missed a bunch of easy ones where you thought WTF THROW IT DOWN BIG MAN!

 

Saying it's correct because he sinks the bucket is hindsight coaching.

IF Lillard had bricked it, would we even be having this discussion?

And what else do they have to go off besides his actual NBA play? The NCAA line is CLOSER than the NBA line... a LOT of NCAA players don't make the transition well.

Lillard pulled some shots out. Good for him. We still have no idea where Lillard's actual shooting percentages will level out. Letting him take jumpers is a long honored tradition in the NBA.

Just like the Lakers went under the screen against Lin in the first half of that game to "see if he can shoot", I expect that was not far off what Lin was asked to do.

I still think given the choice between doubling LMA (who had clearly shown he was the biggest scoring threat and was a confirmed legitimate scorer) and staying on Lillard in case he makes a 3 pointer, the choice is LMA.

 

We're counting NBA games sir.... Don't worry about what other fans say.. Do you watch Rockets game and only think about LOF, seriously???? Are you insecure, maybe???

 

How about Harden's defensive effort? For the past two games, it hasn't been great.

At times in the Hawks game his transition D was poor, sometimes jogging back casually (superstar trot), sometimes swiping with his hands instead of moving his feet.

In both games he's gotten stuck on screens too easily, and makes little effort to recover.

Do we just give him a pass because he's our offensive stud? Or since he's a max cat do we expect him to bring it on both sides of the floor?

Even T-Slack played D under JVG.

 

That's funny, because I hear the Lin crowd talk about Lin's high school, college, and D-League exploits make projections project his play.

Yet for other players, the same considerations don't apply, got it.

 

When you're an efficient 25-30 point scorer at the age of 23, we just have to take the good with the bad while he continues to develop.

Playing defense takes a TON of energy. Playing good offense takes a TON of energy as well. I wouldn't be surprised if he's trying to conserve his energy to some degree. He DID just come off a 45 point scoring night...

There are very, very few players that can do both, especially for a sustained period or coming off a back to back. And usually it takes several years before their defense starts to catch up with their offense.

So, while we can nitpick about Harden's defense, I'm going with the jury is out. Let's see how he develops.

 

stats only count if people like the player

 

I get that it is frustrating. But Omer will eventually figure it out. He works way to hard to not figure it out.

 

Considering he just joined the team few days before the regulation starts and playing heavy minutes and had to rely on him offensively, I'll would give it a pass. He had to reserve some energy for the offensive end.

 

Uh, that's a pretty bad argument.

If you're projecting Lin's high school/college/d-league, you're talking about his overall talent level and character. People don't point to Lin's college stats very much and say, "Look, he's great a X!"

Individual stats often don't project very well at all due to differences between the NCAA and NBA game, otherwise every first round draft pick would result in NBA studs.

It really isn't an all or nothing proposition...

 

Of course if Lillard bricked it, we wouldn't be discussing it. But the cold hard fact is that he made it, and that was a dagger.

Look, all I'm saying is that yes, there were lots of bad decisions and bad plays during the final minute of regulation and OT. Harden holding on to the balll for too long and his costly turnover in OT. The other players couldn't make shots. For Lin, it was that silly alley-oop pass and his over-zealous help defense during OT. Even if doubling LMA was the correct play, the decision to do so contributes to the loss and that was my point.

I get that it's frustrating to see your favorite player become the whipping boy after a loss, especially if you feel that he doesn't deserve it but he's not perfect and being over-defensive of his mistakes won't help.