You're not comparing the same thing. First, Rivers is no Curry. Second, there is no PnR going on here. Bev's man simply got by him, and Dwight is there to help. Everyone else, stay with your man. Lin just needed to get around a loose screen so his man is not open. It's just that simple.
i didn't think it was a particularly tight screen which is why i said your point might be fair. the scenarios are the same though. lin guards rivers, ajinca screens lin. dwight stays in the paint. rivers gets a few seconds to shoot the ball (would've had less time if lin was being more cognizant). that being said, the play is designed to get an open look (albeit poorly executed) and we were happy to concede that look (just as the wolves/lakers/bobcats were willing to concede the look to steph in the video).
Gosh, are you serious? The scenarios are not the same. Curry has the ball the whole time - dribbles around the screen and shoots it with the split second he has. Rivers (Lin's man) does not have the ball - he's just moving further away from the action, but gets a lot of room because Lin is not staying with him like he should.
I hope you know that there's 2.6 seconds left. 90% of the time the player will jack up a shot. What Lin did is correct. If the guy decides to pass with 2.6 seconds left, his assignment will have almost no release time, and Lin would be able to intercept the pass in his position. The only way to get out of that is to throw a lob pass which would waste so much time that it would give his assignment no time to release the ball properly. If the guy decides to force a shot up he wouldn't have room to even do a fadeaway because Lin is on the back left, Bev on the right and Dwight in front giving him the lowest percentage circus shots. So your entire point is moot in this example.
2.6 secs is not enough time to release a shot? Do you not watch basketball? Derek Fisher did a turnaround fade away in .4 secs. No, what Lin did (more like didn't do) was not correct. Oh my goodness I give up. It's not that hard.
Why don't you watch the replay again? 2.6 seconds was when he was almost starting to pass. Rivers caught the ball at around 1.2 seconds. He was 8/24 for the day and 2/6 in 3s. He didn't even have time to set his foot and he had to start jumping. That's an extremely low percentage shots. If it was Curry or Fisher, then I'd agree with you. If Lin wasn't where he was, then the alternative is a fade away jump shot. That shot is much easier to do with 2.6 seconds and a higher percentage shot in the paint with the given time. Especially when Bev's assignment is taller and longer than him. So no I disagree with you. I would have rather Rivers take that circus 3 pointers.
You are delusional if you think Lin is in position. There is plenty of time to pass the ball behind the screen and shoot an uncontested three. There is no one in the passing lane.
In this specific scenario, Rivers actually had about a second to shoot and had a good look at the basket. With only 2.7s left, Morrow had no chance of getting a good look with Dwight so close to him, and Dwight was also in good position to contest Ajinca's shot. Lin ball watched and gave up an open 3, and even if the shot was slightly rushed, it was still probably the best case scenario for the Pelicans. Of course, Rivers missed so no harm done, but that was definitely a mental lapse from Lin that could have potentially wasted what was otherwise a good 22 second defense by Lin.
http://stats.nba.com/gameDetail.htm... Houston Rockets - Saturday, April 12th, 2014 That was a clean look for Rivers and his foot was set. Rivers was even calling for the ball. That was anything but a "circus 3 pointer".
Watch his release properly, did you see how he swung his arms entirely back and was completely off balance? That is a sign that his foot was not set properly and he had to adjust his arms for the shot. Which is why it was completely off.
If your resort is to calling me a Lin fanboy, then this discussion is over. Again, watch the replay properly.
I agree the positioning was a mental lapse from Lin. But I disagree with the notion that he shouldn't watch the ball with so little time left. I don't think Dwight would have been able to contest a back fadeaway shot. And Bevs assignment was taller and longer than him. It would have been a higher percentage shot than Rivers shooting a 3. Where Lin was at, it left no room for it. So again I think the play was good.
But that's just not the case. It was a slightly rushed shot, but it was the base case scenario for Pelicans. You simply can't call this a circus shot. Pelicans would prefer this shot over Morrow shooting over Beverley and Dwight, or Ajinca over Dwight. Not to mention, it's far easier for an NBA player to rush their shot slightly and make it, than it is for them to shoot over Dwight Howard and make it.
Maybe circus shot wasn't the best word to use, but the shot was definitely a super low percentage one. Watch how Rivers landed after the shot. Like I said his foot didn't have enough time to set properly hence his arms and foot are completely everywhere. And I don't think Morrow had to shoot over Dwight, where they were at, he could have just stepped forward and jump a back fadeaway which is also a low percentage shot. But I think with the height and length disadvantage, that shot would have been more likely to go in. Thats usually what most players try to do with around 2 seconds left in the shot clock. I highly doubt the play was designed for Rivers to take the 3 because prior to that Rivers was completely out of position for the pass. So I still think the way Lin watched the ball at his position and with the time remaining was acceptable.
You judge professional basketball with an intramural eye. It's almost as if you haven't seen enough pro basketball to know that pros only need, literally, 0.5 seconds to get a set shot from the 3pt line. Why is it advantageous to be caught in a screen? How is getting caught the "right" play? The Rockets, Lin's team, are better off if he gets by the screen and actually effects the shot. No one cares that the player missed because we are imagining Lillard shooting that ball in the playoffs. Not Rivers. Does anyone really think Lin is in the NBA for his defense? He's a liability. He's not the only Rocket that is a liability, but he's part of the defensive scheme and it's a problem. He can also single-handedly get us back into a game with his offense if he's rolling. He has a lot of pluses and minuses. People on here expect you to be reasonable about the minuses because we are all completely unreasonable when it's all pluses. WE ALL LOVE A HOT STREAK. No one hates Lin when he's on fire. We hate that he plays like a fool with no basketball IQ when he's not on fire. It's doing the simple things like fighting over a screen or closing out in time or not turning the ball over that pisses fans off. He f'ed that play up. Fine. NBD. But will he learn from it and will you stop making excuses for a piss poor individual play?
I already said had it been Curry or Fisher etc., I would have agreed. I didn't say getting caught on the screen was the right play, but I said what he did watching the ball (resulting to getting caught) was correct at around 2 seconds left. Morrow was 9-14 and he had a mismatch going for him. And for the rest of what you said, it's completely ad-hominem attacks.
I'm sorry, but one marginally good thing (watching Morrow with the ball) is completely negated by Jeremy losing his man on a backscreen, for an open 3 point attempt no less. At such a crucial period down the stretch, you can't make any mistakes defensively, and no matter how you cut it, that was a defensive lapse.
generally if you have 2.6 seconds left you should be looking for a shot. if you have space then you shoot it. theres no guarantee that the shot or the look will get any better if you use the entire 2.6 seconds. if theres only a few seconds left and you think you got a shot, you better take that shot or risk settling for a worse shot or a clock violation i find it really hard to believe youve been following basketball since 2001
You guys need to get a grip in reality. We can do frame by frame of anyone in the last 2 min to show what mistake they did. I tell you no one is perfect. Get over it, he made great defensive stops at the end which negates (by faaaaaar) any .5 second defensive lapse he may have had for a shot that didn't go in. Enjoy the win, be happy he played confident this game and hope he does it again not only next game, but over and over on a consistant basis.
