Lin could be 12th man and he'd still get blamed. It's what people do around here. It's really just an excuse to talk about Lin (by fans and haters alike).
Yeah, its a tough call without knowing what are the probabilities of winning under different scenarios. Here's an example. Suppose the strategy of holding for the very last shot would give the Knicks a 30% chance of winning in regulation, and if it goes in overtime they have a 40% chance of winning there. Taken together, that would result in a 58% chance of the Knicks winning if they elected to go for the last shot. Now, suppose Smith had a 40% chance of hitting that wide open, top-of-the-key 3-pointer off an offensive rebound, and if he hit it suppose that gave the Knicks an 85% chance of winning the game (both numbers I'm kind of making up, but they seem plausible). If Smith doesn't hit the shot and the Rockets take possession, that puts the Rockets in the situation the Knicks would have been in if they held the ball. So, it comes out to the Knicks having, in total, a 59.2% chance of winning the game with Smith taking the shot (and it would be a bit higher if we factored in the chance of the Knicks getting an offensive rebound). Maybe there are some other elements I'm missing, but it didn't seem like an obviously bone-headed shot to me. But Smith's reputation precedes him, and memories of the recent Bargnani screw up also linger, so I'm sure he'll get roasted.
Mchale can be blamed I guess for terrible rotations, but other than that one over dribbling as he lost the ball for the jump ball, Harden had a near perfect game. 37 pts for 10/19 shooting is nothing to laugh about and he added 7 rebounds and 6 assists.
We have a five day layoff everyone needs to have surgery to remove their heads from their asses and then we should be fine.
Good for you. Those people talking about LOFs don't realize Lin is a key part of the team. Well, despite McHale's efforts to make him not be. Anyway, it's a really uninspired win and the next game is Wednesday so they can rest up.
That's a fair point. McHale's probably got shortest leash on Lin compared to he all other starters in the team. I like when he yelled at Lin for his mistakes last time, but still put him back in late game. That's tough love, tonight's benching was not.
Because you really care about the Rockets?. You and you're merry band of LOF's only care about lin and this thread is proving this .
NOTSportsCenter NBA @TheNBAonNOTSC SOURCE: All teams trying to tank considering trading the farm for JR Smith.
With Lin, the bad plays seem to come in big spurts for some reason. He had a stretch in the third where he was badly missing shots, turning it over, and getting worked over on the defensive end. He seemed to be playing a little out of control, so I'm not surprised McHale didn't put him back in. Still, when the alternative is Aaron Brooks, I think Lin should have come back in.
The issue wasn't that he was benched, he had some defensive lapses in the third he deserved to be taken out. The problem is that McHale obviously doesn't trust him as a player to put him in when the game is on the line, despite the fact that he has proven over and over again that he has the ability to turn it on in the 4th. Now If brooks was on fire either defensively or offensively then you might have a case in riding the hot hand etc but he was neither. If that's the case there's no reason to keep a 8 million a year point guard on the team if you don't trust him to produce. Harden and Parsons both played 44 minutes tonight and are playing ridiculous amount of minutes every game, the way we are going by the time play off comes around both of these guys will be running on fumes. Our rotations in general is just horrible, this is something that both the coaching staff as well as Morey need to address asap.
Yes, but we'd be heavily favored to win the overtime, right? The Knicks were playing a back-to-back, Anthony was hobbled, we're at home and we're the better team.
the problem was that he, Harden, as well as Parsons all do the same thing. I wish I would have recorded the video where Lin was pulling his foot in and out of the lane preventing a defensive 3 seconds while trying to stay close to the ball for help defense. only reason why he would do this is 1) he's been instructed that this is the defense or 2) there was definite need to help the big men out. on top of that the rockets were down 5 when lin went out and subsequently fell down by 8 at the end of the 3rd so it's not just lin here. he's the scapegoat. McHale's got someone to get upset about when we all know he's upset at the entire team but as many have mentioned, he doesn't have the balls to bench Harden and Parsons. what we fail to realize is that this is NY, a 10 win team, and haven't AB in for Lin wasn't the reason that Houston won. it was yet another idiotic play by NY (JR Smith) and a foul on a rebound that went Houston's way. it was nothing the coaching staff did. same substitution pattern except despite a good 1st half by Casspi, McHale went with Smith. Houston came back against NY's bench and when the 10 win NY team's starters came back in, Houston barely got the win. What would have happened if NY made a shot (they had good looks) there at the end?
One thing I don't understand about McHale is that he has the guts to bench Jeremy but doesn't have the guts to say why. His excuse this time was that group got them back into the game so he left them in. Well guess what? Dwight was not part of that group and he put Dwight back in. The Rockets won thanks to JR Smith so I'm not complaining. Just why can't McHale be a real man and say what he really thinks? Like a real coach with real authority to call the shots?
If all you can and will do, is to second-guess others' motives, you might as well stop quoting anything from anyone, just write up whatever you want to on anyone. Seriously, nobody can and will "prove" his/her agenda to you or to anyone. Now, it's your turn to "prove" your motive - whatever noble cause it may be. Man, almost every single post of yours (well, you are not the lone one), is directing at posters.
