Jeremy was aweful but to be fair you should said he helped lose the game. Pretty much every rocket sucked exept Harden. If Lin is going to play like this, McHale should consider him the 6 man. PB and AB were fearless and that was the thing Lin lacked in this game and what we need facing elite teams like OKC.
I'd even say that Harden wasn't good. He didn't suck, but he definitely was off. It was just an all around poor performance, and a lot of that is youth. Not to mention OKC was fired up in front of their home crowd for the first playoff game. It won't be as bad next game.
This garbage thread is on par with Harden or Mchale hate threads. Not one person can be rightfully blamed for ANY loss. This is a team. And the sooner you temper your ridiculous expectations with this young team and learn to chill the f out with the finger pointing, the more you'll be able enjoy.
This performance against the best team in the west with a bunch of youngsters in a series that NOBODY gave them a chance in is hardly embarrassing. Losing to the Mavs by 40 in a elimination game with Yao and Mcgrady is embarrassing....losing badly to a firedup OKC team in the team's first playoff game was expected. Anyone who didnt expect it has their red coloured glasses on.
Smith's rebounding was awful in terms of player performance. McHale's rotation was absolute ****. Enough with Delfino at the 4, or Delfino guarding Durant. It needs to be Parsons 90% of the time on Durant, 10% of the time maybe T. Jones or even Garcia. We run zero plays, it's isolation, crossover, contested jumper. Omer and Patrick are the only one's who came to play.
Team pretty much got smashed by the shock factor and couldn't recover. I've seen this happen in every sports. Newcomer (and even some veterans) just melt after they get an early psychological blow. I'm actually kinda happy the Rockets got their butts handed to them in the first game in a big way. That should get some of the playoff jitters out of their system, and they can then play the next few games with a "nothing to lose" mentality. And yes, this knee jerk thread is really up there. Thread starter kinda reminds me of some guy called Dei....
This needs to be our rotation next game: Asik Tjones Parsons Harden Lin Delfino Beverly Robinson Smith or Garcia I'd like Thomas's activity on the boards, shot blocking. As well as Terrence's, we need that. Ibaka ate us up.
I didn't know Lin was the only player who played last night? How stupid is this thread and OP? Lin at least played great defense with a few slip ups, but that is due to defensive setup of McHale's system. I would really have to blame the coach for this - he made no effort in the second half to adjust to OKC. It is 1 loss guys, calm down.. this team has potential, just not this year and definitely not against OKC.
Lin is the worst point guard in the playoffs. Beverley severely outplayed him the poise Beverley showed is all Lin needs to have. Smith played scared to and Parsons was not ready for playoff intensity basketball. Lin by far was the biggest disappointment.
A bunch of scared players in red representing the city of Houston is an embarrassment to itself. The score is embarrassing but what's more embarrassing is they played with no heart just with a lot of fear. To me that is not acceptable and embarrassing.
I wouldn't say he single handedly lost the game...just that he was God Awful. Asik played horrible as well. McHale looked as lost as a punk inside a whorehouse. He had no clue of what to do. They should play Beverly and if Lin keeps this up, might as well give Brooks a look. It can't get any worse.
As usual, the people on this board go over the deep end on emotions. That being said, I was disappointed that JLin seemed like that player who was supposedly "exposed" by Miami last year. I had thought by now with multiple turns through the league, he would have had the experience to handle these pressure situations better. During the regular seasons, you don't see JLin making the mistakes that Kenny Smith mentioned at half time. I can only attribute it to the pressures of the postseason.
Yeah, and if this game was played in a vacuum, I might agree. but circumstances matter, and anyone who knows jack about this game and this league knows that effects of playoff pressure on young players cant be dismissed as nothing. They got beat, and beat badly by the best in the league(as far as Im concerned, OKC can beat Miami), You cant be embarrassed about losing a game that nobody expected you to win. Furthermore, I dont get embarrassed by how sports teams perform....in the grand scheme of things it really doesnt matter....if you are embarrassed by the result of a game that is your issue.
