The irony is not to be missed here. All season long Lin fans have accused McHale of racism for supposedly not playing him enough. In the end, McHale's biggest downfall in the series might be playing Lin and letting Lin handle the ball during crunch time despite folks knowing that that is not really Lin's strength.
I predict this goes to 7. Even with crap coaching, Rockets are better than this. Two things I would've banked on after the first 2 games - LMA cools off and Harden gets his shot back. Both those are happening. Also predict McHale no longer plays Lin down the stretch.
Typical Jeremy Lin. Redeem himself and play well in a couple of games. Then revert and screw everyone over in game seven.
I do find this one stat really interesting. JLin has been a huge producer of points during the OT games, and while he makes some stupid mistakes, he has been scoring when we needed him to. Too bad, that he makes boneheaded plays that cost him PT in the OT. We really needed his output. He scored 4 points last night with 5 rebounds and 4 assists. When combined with Bev, they both scored a net of 10 points, 6 bounds and 5 assists. That is pathetic considering Lillard and Mo Williams dropped 32 points on them. We are getting exposed for our greatest weakness and that is at PG (makes me more mad that we got rid of AB). The Rockets need both PGs to match the production of their PGs. Right now, everyone else is matching up well with each other. And who knows if Lin will ever be the same, but all bridges in Houston are on fire...It will be up to him to douse the flames in game 5, 6 and 7(if at all possible).
Lin is, and has been a high risk & high reward type player. It was okay for a young team, or regular season games. But for a playoff team/game, it's just too much risk. Unless the Rockets is in the desperate position, such as game 3 when they played Daniel & Lin big minutes, they should limit his play time from here on, especially when the game is close.
Why not just bench him from now on. Some people are so blind and think he is the reason that Houston lost. Why not give everybody a chance to see what will happen without him? Actually we already saw what happened in OT of Game 4. But let's see more. He is not the deciding factor of win or lose. People here sound like a 20-minutes backup can decide a game. To me the gaming wining assist in Game 3 and the turnover in this game are just something happen randomly when the game is decided by one or two points. He made 11 of 25 OT points for Houston in Game 1 and Game3. There is a reason for that. He is fearless. He is not afraid of attacking when the game is on the line. And you should allow him make mistakes, too. Otherwise, just bench him. Let your beloved Beverley got the ball stolen in the final seconds, instead of Lin.
I hope he figures his **** out, only glimmering piece of hope is it's his first playoffs experience. Also, I hope McHale figures to not put him in in last 50 seconds when he's been **** whole game!!!!
With the community totally soured on Lin, I'll be shocked if this series goes 7..... I don't think we have the players to win without him... And even if he does play, I think he'll be too scared to be effective. I think we should look beyond Lin, and focus on retooling the club for next season. The best case scenario is Doc Rivers bolting from Donald Sterling and coming here.
I think Lin will redeem himself in game 5. It's his last chance to and he usually plays well when everyone is against him. Whether or not this even goes to game 6 is our ability to maintain the lead and close
In case you just started watching, the teams offense consists of DH post or JH ISO. Please contrast the way Portland plays with this teams. Blazers played as a team and got the win.
Then I'm glad you're not the coach or front office. This is desperation time and we need all the help we can get right now, Lin included. Play him limited minutes if need be, and pray everyday of the offseason that the Rockets trade him, but for right now just hope he plays well for the team's playoff sake. My goodness
I feel the same. We've all seen how mentally fragile he is. He beats himself up and his confidence turns to crap, which snowballs into pee wee league skills and decisions. I say there's a 15% chance he grows some nuts and hits the floor on a mission to redeem the 2 games he cost his own team. "Don't expect much anymore, and you won't be as disappointed in the end. Either that, or blame someone else!" -every Lin fan, ever
