Yep. Did we win? Yes. Did we deserve to win? Probably not. It's actually a good thing for McHale that we didn't lose. He would've gotten grilled about not having Lin in the 4th. Luckily the Knicks went full Knicks.
How did Jeremy play in the 4th against the Grizzlies and Pelicans? This doesn't wash anymore. Jeremy has earned the right to play in the 4th and redeem himself from stupid plays as he did in very recent games. And AB did not play well. He had one or two decent plays to Howard but he did not play well offensively.
Well judging by the boxscore i'm guessing everyone is pretty much upset about the defense. Am i right? Other than AB's 1-8 it looked like it was just a big shoot out between the two teams. With Carmelo's 10-23 combined with JR's 3-13 losing it for NY, as usual. Rox had a decent shooting game.
The actual replacement starter is on the team's coach, which at this point will be Stotts or Brooks (can't be Pop, he was last year)
Harden made clutch jumpers. I'd rather the ball go inside to Dwight more often, especially down the stretch. Contested jumpers can turn into open 3's.
brooks entered the 3rd quarter with NY leading 71-66 at the 3:34 mark. NY had scored 24 points in the first 8:26 seconds. New York scored 10 more points to finish with a 34 point quarter and an 81-73 lead. so yes the "group" did play decent in the 4th against some of NY's bench players but AB's play was undistinguished rounding out the 3rd but McHale kept with him. it wasn't until Smith and Garcia went in for Howard and Jones that the team had better "flow" whatever that is.
ha! as soon as i saw that, i knew lin was getting pulled. it was justified though, lin was getting REALLY agitated with that airball layout/miscall(i think it was an airball). he was so pissed that he missed his assignment on beno, mchale pulled him out right after. Still doesn't justify sitting him the entire 4th though.
First half. Dwight was happy. Lin was happy. The game ended with dwight not engaged and Lin on the bench.
Was Jeremy effective during his minutes in the 3rd? Were we playing the Pelicans or the Grizzlies? Since when does a player "earn" the "right" to play minutes because of his play in other games? McHale went with his gut and kept Brooks in the game, just like he's benched players like Dwight Howard in the 4th, when the cat off the bench was helping us win. You do know winning is the object, don't you? Not some bizarre "slight" you seem to have detected with your magnifying glass that you somehow think has injured your favorite player, while getting your underwear tied in a knot. Get a grip, dude.
Oh. I thought the year Yao played basically no games but was voted the starter, it was coaches decision on the replacement. Oh well, too bad this wasnt last year. An all Rockets starting backcourt in Houston would be pretty fun.
Howard told McHale to keep the cat on the floor and there was a rumor that Howard had back spasms.... And what about Lin's play in the 1st half or does McHale have short term memory loss?
It was an airball. He lost control of the ball for what would've been an easy layup. That's something he has to learn, not letting one bad shot/missed call affecting his game.
Well, at least we aren't the Knicks. I took a look at one of the knicks forums to see what they thought of JR Smith's shot and found this gem.