I swear you clowns will argue about anything. Lin played well on Sunday. Some others players did not. I don't give a **** if Lin goes off for 40, or goes 0 for 15. My only concern is that the Rockets win 4 of the next 6 games.
all you are standing too close to the puzzle to see the bigger picture, fixating on what many deem here a role player. It really doesn't matter how well Lin plays if Harden shoots 28% freaking percent. This team lives and dies by Harden and Howard. We cannot have another apathetic brickfest from him like we did in the first half, and Howard needs to go hard and then harder if they play him with single coverage.
i disagree, lin can be the game changer in a game this series. Lillard cant check him. Matthews is ALLLL in on harden, he even walked off court talk S*&^ to fans saying they got this. Houston may have to lean on another playmaker by switching things up so portland cant focus on harden everyplay. Harden got cuaght up in matthews talking and tried to make it a one on one game. He wasnt looking for easy passes to howard or open looks to the wings at all, he was just looking to score. im not saying harden will do the same everygame but matthews is not going to back down. If harden & lin feed off each other like lin was doing in OT he should get good loooks to drive, pull up for midrange, or drive and alley howard.
100% agree. Now is not the time to prove who is the man, but rather who is the better TEAM. So Harden has to punish them them playing him hard and tight. (that's what she said) But I notice that when players are defended 1on1 when they spread the floor (players in the corners, with the middle open) and harden is either doubled or defended well 1 on 1 - the players never set any screens to free up a man to get the ball. It could be just me, but I find the Rockets never use down screens to have cutters get the ball unless it was an inbounds play...
Well said, sir. Those two sentences should be common sense but based on some of the stuff I've read here it's clear that common sense is anything but common. A little perspective goes a long way.
Lillard isnt a defense beast, Lin should be able to feast on him on offense when given the chance. Defense side, its another story.
Why not letting Lin and Bev keep attacking Lillard and make him spend energy defending, throw him off his comfort zone, just like how they used Wesley Matthews to slow down Harden and make him play D?
although, all is for the win, I shudder the idea if it was Lin doing those Harden game 1 effort and results on how CF will react. It may crash the site. Even with Harden, the key guy who brought us to where we are since coming here get those reactions. Imagine if it was Lin. It will be pandemonium mayhem to the extreme level.... imagine ... i shudder. on a serious note, one guy can not bring us the win, not even the good plays of Lin/Jones/Parsons (on early regulation) is enough. We need at least 5 guys being in the zone. H&H are the defacto guys that should be there, but all needs to contribute.
I agree about making Lillard work more. And in general, the Rockets should be trying to get to the rim more. Based on regular seasons stats, the Rockets take 39.8 percent of their shots at the rim, best among playoff teams. The Trail Blazers allow their opponents to take 34.0 percent of their shots at the rim, worst among playoff teams. Further, the Trail Blazers’ pick-and-roll coverage is not good.
I agree Lin looked good. I kept checking his stats and was surprised they weren't gaudier because watching the game it looked like he was putting his mark on it, with great passes and excellent drives. Lin stepping up is definitely a good sign in this series, especially with Beverley hurting. However, even if Lin carries us to the second round himself, he's still a goner after this season. I love Lin, but it's not about his play really, it's his contract and position. Houston is after value contracts, and the best values are rookies and superstars, not mid-tier free agents like Lin and Asik, even if they do outperform on some level. That, and Morey's track record on finding quality point guards is far ahead of any other position. I'd be surprised if the Rockets committed a whole bunch of money to the point guard position in the near future, given that Harden takes over a lot of playmaking responsibilities, and there seems to be a steady pipeline of young cheap guards that are more than serviceable that would complement his game.
Last season, Lin did play against Westbrook, Curry and Lillard. He did win some of those games respectively. He made them to play D, not to say he can draw fouls. If a player keep playing one side and ignore another side, the effectiveness will be diminishing because you are giving their coach to adjust.
Lin did score 7 of Rocket's 14 points in OT... Driving lay-up, and 1 Drive in, pump fake, fade away off the backboard and another driving lay-up meanwhile Harden misses everything. lol
JLin7 misses 2gms after plays ALL 82 #NBA gms last season = "Injury Prone." Beverley injured AGAIN after misses 26gms= "Wolverine." What? #DblStandard
While I agree that there's definitely a double standard when it comes to Lin on CF, the Wolverine thing with Bev has to do more with the fact that he tears his meniscus and comes back in 2 weeks without surgery. Dude, most people are done for months (or have to remove it to come back in that amount of time), and his doctor was surprised how well it was healing, hence Wolverine. Also G1 he injures his knee a bit and bam, ready for G2. Lin, on the other hand, has pretty much been out of the playoffs for BOTH the last 2 seasons due to injuries either taking him out completely or for the majority of the games...
It's bull**** what people said about Lin, but don't bring Bev into their juvenile hate. Lin isn't injury prone or mentally weak and Bev is indeed a Wolverine that won't ever back down.
Terry Stotts is going to exploit the Rockets every time Lillard is being guarded by a forward. Lillard also displayed a nice balance between running the offense and executing the game plan to go at Harden/Jones while challenging Beverley at will to rack up fouls. The fact that Lillard doesn't have to play much defense against Beverley is a factor in his ability to be so poised at the offensive end. One of the better options for McHale is to let Lin play Lillard one on one and to just get a hand up on shots to turn him into a volume shooter. Lin has size and quickness to stick with Lillard. The issue will be recovery and adjustment to hard picks, but if I were the Rockets, I'd rather that Lillard take 20 contested shots even if he gets to the rim on some drives than to have Aldridge going off for another 30-40 point game. Lin has a better chance of holding his own against a matchup with Lillard than any of the PFs have against Aldridge. If Aldridge gets to 30 points, the Rockets will lose the game.
Truth. If Harden and Howard played like max players, that game would've been over by the 3rd quarter.
