I'm 100% sure that Sampson has the full support of the Houston organization. You only have to watch the recent Morey and Alexander interviews, and the attitude of McHale before he left for personal reasons. Rockets are focused on the All-Star campaign. JLin is too humble and Christian, Linsanity(his other personality) doesn't come out until he is desperate had have no other choice, like his situation in NY.
This is a nice rant, but I'm really beggining to think Les and Morey don't care. Wish I could be a fly on the wall in their conference room, hear the truth about whats they think. I'm really confused, sad.
Sampson put Toney D, because Toney "D". That's the only thing he's good at. Lilliiaiiard was creaming Lin in the first game. You are either a troll or don't no much about basketball. It's pretty simple why Lin wasn't in. Batum had a great night off/def and terrible refs, not much you can do about that no matter who was in. Tornado Jones would probably have been a difference maker.
LMAO!! Sampson is a terrible in-game coach. He leaves Asik on the bench when we needed rebounding at the FT line. He burns timeouts because he can't get the right personnel in the game. He leaves Tony Douglas in the WHOLE OT even though Lin played a much better game. As a Knick fan I watched both TD and Lin play. TD played so poorly, the Knicks dug up and dusted off Mike Bibby from out of the ground and played him ahead of TD. Mike Freaking Bibby!! The same Mike Bibby who can't find a job to rot on the bench in the NBA this season!! I can't stop laughing. I bet Sampson has a Fat head poster of TD in his house. "TD, I got a room full of your posters and your pictures man I like the **** you did with Knicks too, that **** was fat Anyways, I hope you get this man, hit me back, just to chat, truly yours, your biggest fan This is Samp" :grin:
What Sampson did is baffling. First of all, the Rockets have been playing team defense all game long. Why changed the way you guard a certain player? Second, did you see Lin guard Lebron the other night?? Did you see Lin taking a charge from Batum?? He's not a great defender BUT he's smart enough and know how to play the game. Third, DO NOT take players out when they're playing well PERIOD! Sampson lost this game and another home game against Portland as well by doubling Adridge when they were up by 3 pts and letting Batum shoot a 3 to tie the game with a min or so left. He sucks at coaching.
You obviously never played BB in your life, as you do not understand what it takes to win a basketball game.... I have a feeling JLin will show you, soon. If you just sit and watch him. The mere idea of trying to compare TD to JLin is ridiculous. Even their bare stat lines show you don't know what you're talking about. And when we consider intangibles, well, that's where the comparison becomes even worse than ridiculous...
Oh and another baffling thing is LIN has been playing a LOT of minutes and then all of sudden you take him out? It doesn't make sense. Also did you realize Lin is clutch when the game is on the line?? Did you know only a few players have this type of quality?? The desire to win. Basically, if anything i see a coach that is either panicking or really don't know what he's doing.
Maybe the owner and coach have a tank-mode, that is why they benched lin and asik when they needed them the most.
I was going to point out Lin did shut down gallinari 1v1, lebron 1v1 at a crucial moment, wade twice during the heat game as well. These guys would kill lin in a 1v1 match up, but during crucial moments in game he doesnt back down on defense. TD does seem to show more hustle and not seem less confident then lin. Sampson should have let him in, he isn't afraid to back down in crucial moments. One airball shouldnt mean bench in OT or final moments. Kobe missed 3 airballs in a row before. Lebron has too. Lin is nowhere near these guys but everyone has airballs. If thats the reason they didnt let him in, its rediculous. Hes proven he can play under pressure and one mistake shouldnt drop his reliability.
I wonder if Sampson is aware of all the hate coming his way right now. Poor guy. Honestly, I don't think he is really racist or a bad dude. He's just a tough coach who's a little bit old school. He misjudged Lin the same way so many other scouts and coaches did when the Rockets cut him from the roster last year. Now he's having a very hard time accepting with the idea that he might have been so spectacularly wrong. It's just human nature sadly. It'll be interesting to see how he reacts going forward. I liked the fact that they let Lin play more aggressively against Portland. Did you guys notice how Lin getting more freedom didn't hurt Harden's game? He got 30 points. I hope the team can keep building on improved chemistry.
It's because Harden doesn't have to work as hard for those points. Lin is a great passer who almost always makes the right decisions on who to get the ball to. Naturally, Harden is our best scorer, so it makes sense that Harden would get the most shots, set up by Lin's excellent passing.
I wonder how Harden feels about this end game ISO ball that Sampson wants him to play. Then after we lose, Sampson gives an interview that the ball got sticky, as if it was harden's fault and not the play that the coach called. Does he realise that he has more freedom to attack with Lin drawing some defensive attention at the point? I know he wants to prove that he's the man right now, and he's young, only 23, but I think he would be able to appreciate how Jeremy contributes to his game. I honestly think harden and Lin can be a great backcourt duo if we play to BOTH their strenghts and also get some serious low post threat in the off season. Just think, this team has been SO CLOSE to being 7-3 right now or better. Add in that one max contract player in the off season + chemistry for the guys already there and the Rockets are going to be on a fricking rampage next season.
I think Harden would score more with Lin as the primary ballhandler (with much better efficiency) than with Harden handling it so much.
Well said. I understand the frustration of Lin not being in there but the anger against Harden doesn't make sense. I really think the staff is what is holding back "Beardsanity". I've seen countless great plays involving the two of them(most recently Lin's 11th dime last night) and it just baffles me how they aren't more effective to start and end games... On another note I laugh at the "vendetta/racism/favoritism" cries on playing time and rotations.... Coaches play who they believe gives them the best chance of winning at the time. Period.
Still haven't seen a game, so I can't render a comprehensive opinion, but I can make a guess. Sounds like Linn is being marginalized a bit. Not being in an overtime doesn't really make sense.
It's bizarre that people keep on listing great defensive plays but feel the need to immediately qualify that Lin is not a great defensive player. His defensive stats, both standard and advanced, say otherwise. Why would someone with Lin's athleticism (and his BAM scores are well documented) and competitiveness and size NOT be a good defender? The c
Lillard shot 3/9, with 0 assists against Lin defending. He shot 6/9, 5 assists against the rest of the team, including TD. Enuff said.
ogntive dissonance surrounding his game is epic. This is the best case study on intellectual bias I've seen probably ever.
