Lol, Lin can't win. He does good, Lakers might lose pick. Lin does bad, he don't get no contract. Rockets win, they got rid of him for a measly 2nd round pick.
Damn near efficient as it gets for Lin tonight. 2-8 game with 3 TO's next game. Just to bring balance back to the world.
Lin seems to do well when he's handling the rock and has free reign to penetrate and run the PnR. But when he has to share with a superior offensive player (e.g. Melo, Harden, Kobe), he's out of sorts. Problem, of course, is that you need an elite wing to win a chip so I think he'll have to settle for middling and lower teams for the rest of his career, unless he can somehow figure out how to be effective with a good wing. My guess is that he'll start to take off in the second half of the season though.
Interesting game. I think Byron Scott actually wanted to win this time, but he still had weird lineups, I don't think he's going to let Lin play this way much... it is not his offense.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Celtics coach Brad Stevens: "Jeremy Lin killed us."</p>— KEVIN DING (@KevinDing) <a href="https://twitter.com/KevinDing/status/569731531276578816">February 23, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
[rQUOTEr]Jeremy Lin had 25 points, 6 assists on 10-15 (66.7%) shooting off the bench. Last reserves to go for at least 25 points, 5 assists and shoot 65 percent from the floor off the bench were Magic Johnson (Feb. 16, 1996 vs Mavericks) and James Worthy (April 6, 1994 vs Kings)[/rQUOTEr] http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/recap?gameId=400579121
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>And of course you HOOOOLDDDAAATTTT of the night, Carlos Boozer: <a href="http://t.co/YKF1wwdc21">http://t.co/YKF1wwdc21</a> <a href="https://t.co/nNK9RGPCJX">https://t.co/nNK9RGPCJX</a></p>— Silver Screen & Roll (@LakersSBN) <a href="https://twitter.com/LakersSBN/status/569735695171854336">February 23, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Didn't watch the game but the box score looks like he had another nice game. I believe JLin can be successful in the right situation. Shooting 10-15 for 25 points. 1) He plays best when he has free reign on the offense, and doesn't have to play the "traditional PG position". He is not a bring the ball up securely (ala Rafer Alston) PG or a supreme playmaker like Chris Paul or Steve Nash. He also doesn't have good court vision. He is not an instinctual PG, and point guard decisions doesn't come naturally. It is he who is, which is why he gets caught jumping with the ball in the lane, with no where to pass to. 2) What he does have is speed, a quick first step, decent finishing and shooting abilities. He also plays really well in the Pick and Roll, as we've seen his Pick and Roll chemistry with Tyson Chandler on the Knicks, and in spurts with Ed Davis on the Lakers. I just don't think the traditional PG role is who Lin is, and its a disservice to his team and him as a player to forcefully convert him to a traditional PG role. He's more of a scorer than a playmaker. A combo guard. 3) He'll never be a great player but certainly a serviceable player in the NBA. I think he's best suited for a 6th man role ala poor man's Jamal Crawford, Isaiah Thomas for the Suns, how Aaron Brooks is used sometimes by the Chicago Bulls, or when JR Smith was actually pretty good.
Both teams went small ball for much of the game, especially in the stretch run. More shooting from teammates + no rim protection on the Celtics contributed to Lin having an easier time racking up stats. He made some crunch time mistakes, too, as did the rest of the Lakers, that allowed the Celtics to force overtime. There was, in particular, a play where Lin lost Bradley on a backdoor cut, which resulted in an easy layup with something like 30 second left in the 4th.
From Celtics' Legendary PG Bob Cousy, "My greatest asset was peripheral vision, and it seems Jeremy has that, too," Cousy said. "People thought I was doing supernatural things with my vision, like, 'Wow, you must have eyes behind your head,' but every good point guard needs that asset. "Lin sees the floor extremely well and has good size for a point guard. He seems smart, not just because he went to Harvard, but in the way he plays. Just based on what I saw against Dallas, it's hard for me to believe [Golden State and Houston] cut him. It's hard to criticize without being there, but point guards who can run the show in the NBA are in such demand."
Lakers didn't just go small ball, they went really heavy on the offense; it helped with the spacing problems they have had all year long. At the same time, they had Boozer as their only big for the ending stretch, which contributed to them losing their 10 point margin at the end of the fourth while playing to run out the clock.
