ClutchFans Game Thread: Grizzlies @ Rockets 12/22/2012

ball movement looked great, movement w/o ball was great. much less reliance on straight up pnr. harden is tearing it up because he's unguardable in transition and in motion finishing possessions and not starting them. the only bad spot was lin didnt shoot as well as the past few games and harden missed his midcourt shots. hopefully this improves as imo this is the final piece of the puzzle. great win!

 

I love how Lin plays basketball. He plays the game how it should be played! He hustles and plays with heart. Getting in there with Randolph twice, jumping for rebounds, and looking for passing-lane steals, he is the ideal team-player. He is on pace to have a Nash/Stockton type career, and once he gets his shot (which is the easiest part of a game to improve), he'll be a league-best top-ranking pg. A true PG makes his team better. That's Lin's style of play 100%.

 

This is a little like watching Hakeem blossom in front of us. (For those who where there.)

James Harden is definately wearing the Emerging Superstar clothes right now.
It's rediculous how I sit here and go, "oh 18 at the half? really? Guess he might get 30 again....."

 

Wow, who would've thunk it. Quite the blow out, is it too early to say this is a playoff team?

 

For everyone who said they wanted to trade Lin, THIS is the Lin of Linsanity and boy is he back. Its fun basketball, its team effort, its everyone buying in and working as a group. Lin makes everyone around him better, look at how TD is now shooting much better at the 3 with open looks, Greg Smith gets easy dunks, even Asik gets the ball all the time. To give you a better impression, Steve Novak is playing more minutes than during Linsanity last year, same amount of 3PT attempts but making it at a lower rate. 2.5-5.2 .472 vs 2.2-5.2 .434 this year. FG % 3.0-6.2 .478 vs 2.6-6.4 .413. Stat-wise he's not getting open looks because the pace is slow and teams can set defense for Novak, the Rockets get a TON of open looks due to the fast pace and break the perimeter D down. This is team ball and Rockets are incredibly fun to watch.

 

Let's not get ahead of ourselves.

I definitely think Lin has upside. How much, none of us really know. I personally think he can get into the top 10 over the next year or two. Beyond that, it's just hard to say.

Too many random factors.

 

So.... Any one still wanting to tank?

 

Yup, he makes you want to watch a game.
Even when he jacks up a missed shot, we groan louder than when other players jack up a missed shot. And when he gets one in, even a FT, people cheer louder. Weird.

 

Do you know TD is 4 for 13, 1 for 4 3pt? Not efficient at all. But his style is flashy, and he certainly provide the energy and some scores. But he could definitely have given Harden the ball instead of chucking up some attempts. I have noticed for many games that although TD played less mins, but he definitively made a lot FGA, almost always just a few short of Harden or Lin's. Your eyes only tell you that much of story of how a player performed. That's why the stats and synergy data is more and more important these days.

 

If we play like this (great D with efficient offense) every night, we will make it.

 

vs 1st, 8th, & 12th best defense

 

i love this youngest backcourt! hope this team keep improving their chemistry together!

 

Asik easly costs Lin 2-4 assists a game. Once Asik (or Smith) get it down, Lin will average over 10 assists every game. Easily.

 

Great win tonight!

 

Indeed!

 

This was yet another game simply a gas to watch. Damn! They just busted the number one defensive team in the league for 121 points, and in fine style. Our young, athletic, and talented Rockets are running damn good teams off the court. Yeah! The backcourt is killing the opposition.

I love this team!

 

But Lin REALLY needs to work on his outside shot. It's surprising it isn't better considering how hard he is supposed to be working to improve. Over a career, a player's shot usually improve, so once it does, he'll easily average over 15 pts a game.

 

you definitely saw lin play last year cuz that's EXACTLY what he does. his hustle is simply INFECTIOUS. you are always ready to attack cuz he makes the never ending effort to find you. those outlet passes? happens every game! if you hustle and catch the d sleeping, lin will throw that ish across the court for some easy dunks.

 

try looking at it this way. we are developing everybody in the team and that might be the cost we have to pay in order to get Asik to where we want him to get. today, it did not cost us much because we won.

 

Fire his shooting coach! That shot is ugly! Also it seems like teams are going to give him that shot until he proves he can make it consistently.