It kinda does matter? It's the regular season, the regular season dictate whether they make the playoffs or not.
its kind of crazy to me how hard kobe is backing him. Every time Kobe talks now he goes way out of his way to talk about how he is 'texting jeremy all night' and jeremy this and jeremy that... n during the game kobe was like literally hugging jeremy constantly n talking to him n whispering in his ear... magic johnson, kobe bryant, worthy, byron scott, even robert horry... the whole lakers organization is really really really backing lin. like going way out of their way to talk about him all the time. I'm not sure I understand what is going on. I almost kind of feel like the whole Lin experiment is some kind of giant psychological revenge against Dwight Howard and the entire Houston organization. Am I crazy for thinking that?
How good Jeremy is is debatable, but one thing no one can deny is that he's a hard worker and always looking to improve, and I think Kobe sees that. Kobe always struck me as the type who is a capable/willing mentor but he doesn't bother with those who aren't 100% serious about basketball.
Donno if I agree with you about this being revenge on Howard. What I think is one of two things. 1) Putting more spotlight on Jeremy so that he can become a scapegoat. But seriously, Lakers with or without him is no different. No playoffs for Lakers this year, no matter how hard you push Jeremy and put him on a pedestal. I doubt even Lebron had this level of sucky talent surrounding him in his first Finals run with the Cavaliers. Everybody in their right mind knows this. I think Kobe started this 'pump Jeremy up' thing so that Kobe won't get flak for hogging up the cap space. 2) Kobe genuinely wants to psych Jeremy up so that Jeremy doesn't look like a scared puppy. Kobe's right. Jeremy plays well when he's confident and running proper plays, and not letting superstars hog the ball all the time. Jeremy needs to grow into a big dog and take a giant whiz on the fire hydrant, and Kobe is using psychology to make Jeremy realize this. Then every past and present Laker follows Kobe's lead.
Game 3 he played for the Lakers. When he's good, he's good. Nothing new to us. That was a nice 3 over CP.
Yeah, but this year might be different. Kobe won't allow him to play weak and timid. Check out this article, and the amazing quotes made by Kobe in regards to Lin: http://espn.go.com/blog/los-angeles/lakers/post/_/id/40265/lakers-empower-lin-and-he-responds
Jeremy Lin's problems have always been inconsistency and that seems to ebb and flow with his level of confidence. He plays better when he feels that he is needed and relied upon. He is not consistently aggressive and he is pretty much a liability when doesn't go out and play aggressively with confidence. His style of play unfortunately tends to lend itself to high turnovers, but maybe with the organization going out of there way to get behind him publicly and create a united front will provide him with the assuredness that he seems to so desperately need in order to perform at his peak.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Big moment for Jeremy Lin. He's been too deferential to Kobe. But he waved Kobe off and hit a tough 3-pointer, to Kobe's approval</p>— J.A. Adande (@jadande) <a href="https://twitter.com/jadande/status/528410843851915264">November 1, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Jeremy Lin said he waved off Kobe because Kobe couldn't see Blake Griffin waiting behind him to double....</p>— J.A. Adande (@jadande) <a href="https://twitter.com/jadande/status/528426099093426176">November 1, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Kobe liked Lin's wave-off. "You have to be able to assert yourself....If you're a chump, if you're a pushover, I'll run over you."</p>— J.A. Adande (@jadande) <a href="https://twitter.com/jadande/status/528426562845036544">November 1, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Kobe said he wants JLin to be aggressive & make his mark. Kobe: "At some point you’ve got to piss on a fire hydrant."</p>— Baxter Holmes (@BaxterHolmes) <a href="https://twitter.com/BaxterHolmes/status/528426735730049025">November 1, 2014</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
That's all great since he made the shot, but would Kobe really feel that way had he missed it? I kind of doubt it. On the other hand, Kobe is aware that his only real chance at any success this year hinges on Jeremy Lin having a bounce back year and he is going out of his way to empower him and build up his confidence. I'm admittedly curious to see how this social experiment ends.
Lin fans like to make up scenarios in their heads The rockets paid him and started him. I'm pretty sure Kobe wanting lin to play well has to do with winning games. The revenge against the rockets , that's what you want to think. Oh by the way, they are 0 and 3. But who am I fooling? Lin fans never care about teams
Yeah, that is really a critical thing in this whole debate. You don't pay a guy $25m if you don't want him to succeed. Lin had plenty of opportunity here. Just didn't work out.
Do you have a gif of the Lin possession after this where he got destroyed by Jordan ala Dwight? Pretty sure that Kobe refused to pass Lin, or any other teammate, the ball after he crumbled in the paint and the Lakers ended up losing.
