ClutchFans Game Thread: Rockets @ Bobcats 1/21/2013

You sound to be sure that Lin's value will drop in the future. May I ask why?

 

Who do you think is the best PG in history then?

 

Lin got frustrated because Biyumbo was moving when he set the picks for Kemba and these moving screens were not called by the refs the entire game.

 

Exactly how I feel. Beside in a 5 on 5 pickup, everyone do what they do best.

 

Finally a win after losing 7 in a row.

 

I feel the same way.

Probably because they are the slowest-paced and one of the older team in the League, and they are allowing a higher eFG% than their own.

 

Thought I share my observation of this game. The turning point I think came at under the 10min mark in the 3rd quarter (~9.40) when Walker brought up the ball & Biyombo running towards him. That's when Lin shouted to Asik to help on the pnr defense. (Can somebody post a video link?) That Walker/Biyombo pnr play has been pretty effective up to that point. When Asik came out to help on the pnr defense, they pretty much neutralise that play. Subsequently the Bobcats stopped using the Walker/Biyombo pnr play & Walker was not able to score again for a long stretch in the 3rd quarter (except for 1 fast-break layup). He was forced to shoot the threes the rest of the way which he made some & missed some. I think that has a huge impact on the game, just my 2 cents.

I was surprised the coaches didn't do anything or make any adjustment about that Walker/Biyombo pnr and it has to come down to Lin calling out Asik to help on the pnr defense. Shouldn't the pnr defense be a 2 on 2 instead of a 1 on 2?

 

Agreed.

 

just a thought, not sure whether Lin after played in D'Antoni's system, just don't have confidence in McHale's simple plays, thus he don't have confidence in the game, and show some hesitation. That could well frustrate both McHale and Lin himself pretty badly.

Then TD or Beverley who don't really care or appreciate D'Antoni's system, might work better in simple ones, and would just run full speed even he will run into a wall, which sometimes would work. Lin might just think too much, and slow down or not running full speed, which will never work.

I sometimes would think Lin's Harvard degree over educated him, which is not really good. He is making things too complicated than it should be...... at least at this stage of Rox team, it is not needed, it is his strength, but currently, have negative impact....

 

finally a win......

 

OMG I am tripping. I am watching the game right now on replay and didn't realized they played earlier today. I was at work today and didn't realized today was a holiday. This whole entire time I was so worry and nervous that the Rockets might lose 8 games in a row.

 

seems there is zero trust between players and coach, time to embrace another losing streak

 

So simple. ISO, ISO,ISO..not working? Then shoot three.

 

This. Also, in addition to crash the board, they try to delay our fastbreak by disrupt our rebounders, delay the first pass of the ball. In the past couple of games, I've seen several rebounder lost their ball after grabing it, it got stolen right after rebound, even they could not do that, that would delay our fast break so their teammate could have that little time run back. That force our rebounders has to make half court pass, which they are not good at, and turn into TO. That is pretty efficient way to slow us down.

 

My heart goes out to him. I'm sure he feels much worse than us.

 

Lin's too afraid of God and its interfering with his badassery on the court.


you need some more vicious kid. you're too humble.

 

Yay I had such a great day and the Rockets winning is the cherry on top! So happy for the team.

 

I know we won and all but we needed 40+ minutes from Harden to beat the Bobcats.

They say the hardest thing for a general to do is change a winning strategy, and that's why we are where we are.

Other teams have read the scouting reports:
-pack the paint; hack lin but not harden
-get back and prevent the break
-close out on the snipers except lin
-cheat off asik when he rolls
-abuse our 4's on the glass
-bounce lin off screens to free up their point
-etc.

Other coaches have adjusted and McHale has not. And I want to stay optimistic but there is nothing to suggest that he will make adjustments.

His addiction to Harden Hero-ball might make us miss the playoffs (not a big deal really, who expected us to make them this year?) but more importantly, I'm afraid it will stunt our team's development going forward. Standing around and watching Harden go ISO can't be good for Lin, Parsons, Asik etc.

It's also not good for Harden. Guys like AI and T-Mac had their careers shortened and damaged because they were asked to play too many minutes when they were younger.

I would hope that our coach could address these issues but he hasn't instead:
-Lin can do everything except shoot 3's; McHale plants him in the corner
-Harden plays too many minutes; Douglas shoots 3's better and plays better D, yet he rides the pine
-We get NOTHING from our 4, Jones and D-Mo barely get any garbage time even in blowouts

The last losing streak was the perfect chance for McHale to mess around with the rotations. We were getting blown out early in the 4th against the Clippers (who we were NEVER gonna beat) and the Pacers (non-conference team).

We have games against fringe playoff teams (Wolves and Dallas) the next day. Those blowouts would have been the perfect chance to try something different. And yet he ran our starters into the ground and we lose the next games against teams that we will be competing with for the 8th playoff spot.

I want to stay positive and I HOPE all we need is rest. But I would feel a lot better about this season and the future if our coach wasn't likened to a kid with an etch-a-sketch.

I really hope I am wrong; that McHale makes adjustments, we get rest, and we ride our high-paced brand of basketball into the playoffs.

Go Rockets!

 

oh and I forgot the PnR, why do we not consistently run the Lin-Harden and Lin-Smith PnR? were those not good plays? would they not help our offense?

 

Well, if I think about McHale's Celtics teams, they had good post players in McHale and Parish. So, I'm not entirely surprised if McHale prefers a slow down / half court game. Of course, there's NO ONE on the Rox team that had moves / shots like McHale though!