Definitely could have used Bev out there last night. I'm sure McHale wouldn't have hesitated to put Bev in when Lin got in foul trouble. Lin should have been subbed out when he picked up his third foul in the 2nd quarter with 3 minutes remaining with the way the refs were calling the game. Instead, he was left in and picked up his fourth which affected his defensive aggressiveness in the 2nd half. AB0 just isn't cutting it at the moment. Hopefully he steps up tonight.
I think it will be the opposite. Beverley starts. Then Bev got into foul trouble. Then Mchale hesitated to put Lin.
This is a good point. But I don't think Bev could play that much better than Lin in terms of defending Bev. He will do better, but not sure how much. Facing the Spurs, Parker ran around screens all day and Bev had to chase. His pressure D was not effective on TP. But if Bev was guarding cp3, having lin guard Reddick would ahve been much better than Harden's pylon defense. TBH, I think Harden was tired - all his shots hit the front of the rim. Should have sat him out wayyy sooner so that at least Casspi and Garcia could have had a shot at closing the gap with their hot shooting. Another thing that bothered me was why leave Lin longer than he needed at the end of the game? Save his legs for tonight...ffs. There was no need for him at 6 min. Also Greg Smith was a really nice sub last night - anyway to work him into the rotation for small stretches? Guy played super meaningful minutes and most of his time...
That would work on maybe average to slightly above average point guards. Do you really think CP3 and Doc Rivers would spend time thinking how they will attack Patrick Beverley on the defensive end? Not a knock against Bev, but CP3 is too good (plus I live close to Wake Forest University). If Bev played him the same way he played Kemba Walker ( way too overaggressive) he'd get 3 fouls in the first 5 minutes. CP3 will always get his, he averaged 27/12 entering last night, so as long as he doesnt got 42/15 like he did vs Steph Curry then you take it, you have to stop the others around him like freaking JJ Redick from going off. Rockets can learn from how the clippers play, they have the best ball handler in the league and how often does he iso? Not all that much, the ball and his teammates are in constant motion.
If we had beverley, then maybe we would have less harden. And the game would be a bit closer. Harden seems out of himself (that is me being nice). Jlin had the second best efficiency rating on the team. He had a great game considering he only had 1 miscommunication turnover.
Chris Paul had a phenomenal game (flops aside), but Darren Collison was pretty poor: 2 for 10, 4 assists in 15 minutes.
Chris Paul had an awesome game, but you think Collison with 7pts on 2-10 shooting with 4 assists and 2TO's had a better game then Lin? Your expectations for Lin must be super sky high.
It makes a difference having Beverley available because that's another 6 fouls they could use on Paul.
This is what I have been saying.... and by the time Paul gets the 3rd foul the refs would be tired of calling Pauls flops... they can't be too obvious lol
I hope Beverly comes back healthy and soon too. But even Beverly will still have trouble guarding Paul. The warriors got torched by Paul. He scored like 42 points on, Curry, T. Douglas, Thompson and Iguodala. 3 respectable defenders. Paul gets away with a lot carries and travels.
Maxwell had problems guarding Jordan but Maxwell could hold his own and be competitive... that's why we miss Beverley. I hate he got hurt. I feel we played too hard in preseason we have too many hurt players right now.
It is not a knee-jerk reaction to miss a guy who is good enough on defense to be deemed a starter by the coaching staff on a team with this much talent. He could have helped, and possibly in a big way. Patrick Beverley is important to this team.
Shake your head all you want but Beverly can only do so much. He would have been in as much foul trouble as anyone else. Bev has great energy and having him would have allowed the PG position to rotate more often possibly slowing CP3, but make no mistake about it CP3(flops-a-lot) is elite. Bev, Lin, and Brooks are not...
No way is Beverley stopping Chris Paul right now, IMO. No one is. Anyone who saw Beverley vs Reggie Jackson or Beverley vs Kemba Walker, I think, knows that probably isn't happening. And I like Beverley. Chris Paul came into the game last night with a PER of 37.6. After the game, his PER was 37.8. Meaning, he played about the same way last night as he has played all season. And a number of things he did came once Lin got 5 fouls and Brooks was hobbling on a turned ankle. Lin stayed calm and helped the team on offense. The ratio of Chris Paul's Efficiency number to Lin's was about 2:1. The real problem in this game, I thought, was that the ratio of JJ Redick's Efficency to James Harden's Efficiency was about 4:1. You expect the Paul/Lin ratio. But if you get the Redick/Harden ratio, I really doubt Houston is going to win that game. Lin played incredibly well last night. He's finally getting it, getting how the team wants him to play and how he needs to play to be a more mature point guard. As much as I like Patrick Beverley, I think if he starts last night Chris Paul does the same things he did but Houston gets less production from Beverley on the offensive side of the ball. If the season ended today, Chris Paul is the MVP of the league. #3 in the league in points. #1 in PER. #1 in assists. He's just that damn good. You're not going to stop him, you just have to try to somewhat offset him. And I thought Jeremy did a very good job of that. As I have said before, I don't care who starts. As long as Lin is playing this way, I'm happy and the team benefits. Steph Curry had 11 TO's the other night matched up against Chris Paul. That was my nightmare for Lin coming into this game. Thankfully, it didn't happen. Would Patrick have helped the team tonight? Oh yeah, for sure. Was he going to be the "antidote" for Chris Paul? No, I can't see that being the case with how Chris Paul is playing right now. Lin had the second-best efficiency number on the team last night, behind Casspi. If things were bad with Lin playing, they probably would have been a lot worse had he not been playing. To get an idea of how well Lin is playing, his PER is currently about 19.4. During Linsanity, that figure was about 19.9. Tonight will be another big test against Lillard, who is having a great year so far.
I also didn't like how Brook was sent in during garbage time on a ****ed up ankle. That made me so sad
What choice did McHale have? Lin was in foul trouble & Canaan is inactive. Harden gave us nothing defensively & offensively. Aaron Brooks, regardless of what people think about him, have been tremendous in helping us fill the PG void. There was one play where he guarded CP3 close and you could tell Chris was pissed. I wish Aaron would've given Chris an elbow to justify all his whining and flopping.
Lin has played fantastic so far this season. Doing exactly what he should be. I just think that as a starter, he seemingly lacks the involvement he should be having. Once Harden and Howard sit, he gains a new sense of confidence to just play basketball... This should be the next phase that he must improve as a player...knowing when to assert himself in the game and when to facilitate... Chris Paul is the best guard in the league for a reason. No one is stopping him 1 on 1. His ability to change directions, dribble drive and shoot makes him lethal...and he is doing this at will so far this season. Beverly might have slowed him down, but Chris Paul tortures guards that try to harass him, and makes them look silly. As others have mentioned...the issue was primarily with the poor defense played on the other 4 guys. Of course it did not help when the refs whistled your best defensive player for 3 fouls in 6 minutes...and tagged James for 2 more in the first quarter. The Rockets have to find ways to engage defensively. I think the result will be totally different at the TC on Saturday, but forget about stopping Chris Paul..the key is to not let him make those around him better. If i am not mistaken he had 17 assists last night...that is way too many. You have to force him to be a Jump shooter. Allowing him into the paint is just asking for him to attack the rim or lob a pass at the rim. We have the size to clog the paint and it becomes paramount that force Paul to just keep shooting. During the course of a game, your legs arms and shot start losing its arc...and you tend to miss...By following the Morey model of success...and understanding the value of forcing CP3 to shoot mid range jumpshots, we have effectively reduced the effectiveness of a guard like Chris Paul.
