Lin should treat this series like a two stage Ninja match. First stage is Lin vs his own coach. He needs to grow a pair and play the game the way he thinks should be played. Then meet the real heavy weight in WB. He will lose, but he should go down fighting.
Lin is actually the x factor in this series. In the only Rockets win against them he played great. If he plays crappy we have no chance but if he can keep up with Westbrook then just maybe there's hope. If Beverly averages more than 15-20 minutes a game we have no chance because you can't stop Westbrook you can only match him.
Believe it or not, this matchup can very well determine the outcome of the series. Westbrook takes so many shots in a game, and if Lin can make his game off, then you'll have WB losing the game for the team.
the key will not be the number of points westbrook scored, but how many shots he takes away from KD to get those points. if westbrook scores 35 on 28-30 shots, i would say 'job well done, lin'. and believe me, this is a very likely scenario.
no he thought the "8" in 29/8 is for turnovers, hence the quote "he'd rather have 29 points and 9 turnovers and i tell him...." a few days after that game.
hahahahha.. was thinking the same things, which leads me to think that westbrook might not "go off" on lin (exceed his average of 23) since lin won't need to help on perkins. but then again, he might be tempted by the opportunity to steal a few from perkins..
so sad you guys still not trust in Lin as he is clearly the second best Defender on the team. clearly and its not even close. 3rd is parsons who i hope will at least prevent durant from going off completely against us. But not only is Jeremy Lin a real good and smart Defender but hes "deceptively quick"( lol) and smart. the question is will the Help D be there? because no one on this planet can guard RW without decent Help Defense. No one. not even LBJ. Other question is will Lin get as many screens as WB so Westbrook actually has to chase around Lin as much as the other way around? if so chances are Westbrook gets a little angry and trigger happy. soon as that happen Rockets have a chance against OKC. really it all depends if Lin finally gets his 36-38 minutes per game. If Beverley plays only ten minutes against Westbrook he´ll foul out. i promise this. Lins rotation should be this. Play the first 10 minutes, bring in Beverley. bring Lin back at the 9 minute mark in the second. than sub lin out at the 9 minute mark in the 3rd and let him play all 4th quarter, the first three minutes with Patbev and the bench and a little run against their second unit.Then bring in Harden to finish them off( not with isos though) If McHale gives Lin 26 minutes or some BS Rockets wont have a chance to win even one game. like it or not but its the truth. if Lin gets F**** by McHale again Rockets will be blown out every single game. If Lin gets 26 minutes at least hell go 16/9 for the series... He has one advantage over Westbrook for damn sure. And that is an actual brain...
Lin should have a crash course with The Glove on how to trash talk and play mind games with Westbrook. Speak Chinese to him, throw him out of his comfort zone, then we might take a game or two. And I hope Lin has the balls to take over when Harden is having a hard time, not so much as chucking shots but just run around and look for his own shots and disrupt OKC's defense. If not, I'd rather have Beverley or Brooks in there. It shouldn't take 8.3 million to find a player that stands around in the corner watching the ball.
Of course Westbrook gonna win the matchup. Not only he is a better PG now, he has the freedom to do whatever he wants on the court, sometimes even includes ignoring Durant, without getting benched. Try telling Lin to do the same and see what happens. I have confidence that Lin will have a hot start in one of those games, but I am equally confident that he will still be subbed in the middle of the quarter, sit 10 mins straight until he totally cools off. A lot of guys, especially the Rox coaches, fail to see that when Lin is playing a good game, this team is a totally different animal.
You're talking about a top 5 PG who's the first option on the best team in the NBA against a top 20 PG on an 8th seed, umm of course Westbrook should have the edge. For all those people with the "oh, just play Beverley more" it's not that simple. While Beverley obviously is a much better defender than Lin, we're not gonna have enough offense with Lin on the bench especially since Harden won't be getting his calls.
Let's hope Westbrook go ISO ball and neglect Durant while Lin involves everyone and get good shots. Beware of fastbreaks though.
Lin will get dominated by WB the same way Parsons will get dominated by Durant, the same way Iblocka will dominate Smith and Jones... If Harden gets shut down by Sef, who is a defensive player, then the Rockets' short playoff stint will feel a lot longer then it should.
didn't lin drop 29 against the thunder in our win? westbrook is more explosive but lin will handle himself well.
Beverley on Russ isn't going to do anything. No one PG can effectively stop Westbrook; that's what makes him one of the best. Our best hope is to just match him offensively, ie Lin in the last OKC game. Bev is too much of a liability offensively to rely on for long spurts in the playoffs.
I was about to post something very similar but you beat me to it. Westbrook has a big head about him... he has no qualms taking shots from Durant, and he will want to try to feast off of Lin (remember the very first preseason game when Westbrook scored like 18 pts in 5 mins on Lin). He will come out in game 1 on sunday and he'll shoot jumpshot after jumpshot.
The problem with Lin is that he knows if he deviates from McHale (that is, NOT pass the ball to Harden, NOT camp out at the corner), that coach will bench him without hesitation. What Lin needs to realize is that he's going to be benched regardless, so he might as well make the most of his time out there in his first NBA playoffs and play his game... there's really nothing to lose with the offseason coming up.
