Agree with the other posters, that Lin shouldnt be playing unless he is 100% healthy Brooks and Bev are doing a fine job in the last two games.
You do what gives the team the best chance to win. If Lin is healthy enough to contribute positively, then he plays. Who knows? Maybe they blow out OKC last nite if he was healthy. Maybe they win game 2 if he wasn't hurt. I don't think keeping a healthy Lin away from the arena gives the team the best chance to win. He absolutely torched Fisher last year so at the least he should get some minutes.
The problem is every game could be the last one for Rockets now. It is really not the time to try and see if he can contribute positively.
I would suggest that if you don't see the disregard for Lin on this board, you're not looking very hard. Let me give you an example. Say you have a white Republican who criticizes Barack Obama 10 times in 10 Obama decisions. At first, someone who is a neutral observer -- say an African-American Democrat -- may say "you know what, that person just disagrees with Obama's policies." After about the 10th time, though, the neutral observer may say "that person may have a problem with Barack Obama as a person." And so I think is the way many Lin fans feel about people criticizing Lin. The extent, tone and repetitiveness of the criticism, to me, has a different feel than the criticism of other players I have seen. And I've seen a lot. Now, Lin doubters may say "well, he gets more criticism because he gets more hype." That's fair. I'm not sure I buy that as an explanation, but I can understand that approach. However, if you look at the criticism of Lin from a Lin fan's perspective, I think it would be pretty hard not to understand that many of his fans are looking at a lot of what is being said as containing a deep, sincere disregard for Lin. And not just as a player. Dislike, racism, stereotyping are not always overt, conscious things. That is why the terms "covert racism", "unconscious racism" and the like exist. I'm not accusing anyone of anything. But things like subliminal racism do exist, and are known. And they exist in all walks of life, unfortunately.
Err....I spent a lot of time in the Knicks boards during Linsanity. Even with Melo supporters, the knocks on Lin on this board are far more superficial, shallow, immature and frequent. A lot more one-liners. There it was more of a valid discussion. Melo IS a ball hogger. Lin DID help run D'Antoni's offense the way D'Antoni wanted it and the team seemed to respond better to it and loved playing with him and pulling for him. There REALLY was a rift in offensive styles. Most fans liked that, including Melo supporters because the Knicks were winning and got them back out of a huge slump and back into playoff contention when the Knicks were dead in the water with both their stars out! Whether there were Melo/Lin supporters, they all felt like Lin was one of their own. Here there really isn't any type of issue with Lin taking spotlight from Harden or whatever, so a lot of the in-fighting is by and large unwarranted. I don't think some Rocket fans accept Lin as one of their own and him getting cut in the first place has some fans thinking he's still the same old scrub they justified him as when he initially got cut. It seems they really are hell bent on making it the Rockets and Lin/Lin Fans. Not the case in NY.
No win situation for Lin and way too much pressure for him to start. If he can be eased in with say 10 minutes or so, hit a few shots, dish out a few assists to help the team, that would be the best case scenario. Beating OKC is still a long shot, so whatever magic is working at the moment, whatever matchups happen to be aligned in our favor right now, stick with it. If the Rockets do advance and play Memphis or LAC, I would want to see him back in the starting lineup... I don't think it's right to lose his starting job in the playoffs after he started all 82 games to get the team into the playoffs.
No one can predict how the actual games will go. But the team can see how he looks in practice and workouts. I would assume that if he is healthy, then he can contribute. Just give him a shorter leash than usual.
Um.. He lost his starting job because he is injured and Beverley has been playing great basketball. We are also winning with Lin on the bench.
Trainers shut him down before the game. I applaud his attempt to play, but when you can't put on your own shirt without help, you shouldn't.
I hope Delfino is ready for the next game more than Lin. He deserved it. You can't say you're fine to play and then blame the injury when you play bad. He should lose say on whether or not he is ready.
* Ok, this should end the "Lin didn't want to play like in the Miami series last year" talk. * This is on the coaches now. And I support them. The team has a groove, let it ride. I'm sure Jeremy understands that. Go with the hot hands. * The coaches also might think Jeremy is being brave but his health will make him a liability rather than an asset. Again, gotta trust the coaches here.
I very much agree with these points. Things tend to change from game to game in the playoffs. We can end up having sub par games by brooks and bev, or garcia being a non factor. Though I hope it won't happen, but ups and downs are part of the playoffs with teams constantly making adjustments from game to game. I rather just have all my cards in the deck. The key is never to become complacent.
To be honest, I think Lin is pretty much done for the playoffs. With the way his playing time being handled in the entire regular season, there is no way this coaching staff will let him play significant minutes in this playoffs. He should just stay put, cheer for team on the bench and get ready to fight for the start spot next season.
Isn't it as simple as the Tebow phenomenon? Over hyped player with a ton of blind supporters who fans don't even think deserve that much attention.
They may win a game or two here or there in regular season, but the Rockets would be hurt by losing Harden worse than OKC is hurt by losing Westbrook in a series. If Harden was out instead of Lin, Rockets would have been swept.
If this is true, then this would be different than his being "benched." If the trainer says you're not good to go, then I don't think the coach really has a say.
