For the Lakers the big issues, to me, seem to be defense and spacing. If you look at their offense on film, something that you rarely EVER find are those "drive or post up, kick out, swing pass, swing pass, open 3" sequences that teams like the Spurs or Rockets have many of. They just don't seem to position their guys for those. They do attack and get to the basket some, but the only open Js they get seem to be with the opponent not bothering to guard their big guys or out of random scrambles. The defense got killed by offensive boards tonight-- including Zbo's nail in the coffin shot-- and for struggled with dribble penetration, too when Memphis built their lead. Lin, for one, got hung up on too many screens by the beefy Memphis bigs and the Lakers big didn't do a good job helping on those, either. They did better on D to crawl back into the game but it wasn't enough and their frontline is still too short and too skinny.
Geez overreacting much? I didn't even say he played great, but WELL, as in satisfactorily for his standards. Maybe...lay off the hate a little.
I supported him while he was a Rocket... But come on, this guy is just really hard to cheer for considering he has a very shaky game. His handles are absolute horrid at any term in the NBA. He's not really an NBA player to me at this point.
Totally agree, must be a scouting report on Lin, that you can burn him on the screening from the bigs. Because he gets burned by the other pgs all the time (like Curry who gets multiple screens)
I love how no one ever brings up this crucial turnover which actually LOST us that game in OT. The announcer even says so, pretty much. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/EY6CzAC6cKo?start=224" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Lin's low Bball IQ on display in the closing seconds of the game... Down 3, Lin has the ball and plenty of time to run the last play for Lakers offense during regular time. Kobe has been making some tough shots through the Lakers comeback and is relatively hot. What play does Lin run? A pick and roll with Jordan Hill for a long 2 point shot while ignoring Kobe on the wing. Hill misses the shot and Kobe shows his frustration with Lin right away, on the court and during the ensuing timeout.
It was mentioned in the post game interviews that Byron Scott yelled out for the "elbow" play and Lin thought Scott yelled "Go!" so he got the ball to an open Hill for a 2 for 1. Lin said in reviewing the tape he thinks they got a pretty good open look under the circumstance-- little time off the clock and Hill taking a wide shot that could have cut the lead to 1. There was about 30 second left on the game clock when Hill took the shot. So it's not like there were only 3 second left and they took a 2 while down by 3. Still got time to either get the ball back defending or playing the foul game whether the shot goes in or not. As it turned out, Lakers got Memphis to miss their shot but let ZBo grab the rebound and score. I doubt that the math on the play is that much in favor of the alternative unless you believe Kobe has "the clutch gene" and "the hot hand" so you rather have him take a contested shot than having a teammate taking an open one. The Lakers were not in a favorable position anyway if they are just handing the ball to Kobe for a 3. Tony Allen would be guarding him and most likely focused on stopping a 3 as opposed to a 2. Anyhow, this whole focus on the last minute ignores the real problem-- the Lakers got themselves down 17 and, even after coming all the way back, were still in a pretty ****ty position in terms of win probability with 30 seconds left. The problems that the Lakers, including Lin, exhibit during the whole game are more of a concern than what happened in that possession.
It's McHale's fault! It's the dudes who called him names in middle school's fault! It's Michael Jackson's fault!
http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/la-sp-lakers-grizzlies-20141112-story.html Jeremy Lin also thought when McHale said to call "time out" he thought it was "no doubt" like Gwen Stefanni singing "just a girl" or "spiderwebs"
