rofl...Lin is a team baller, and he respects the coaches and has numerous times praised McHale. Lin is too nice :'(
I am completely with you dude. Lin needs to put on his big boy pants. But you know, the best way to do that...let the kid stay in and take his lumps. He can't do that off the bench. I thought he started to turn it around in the 3rd. Then he sat out 12 straight minutes after playing well while his backup didn't do anything during that same stretch. So now, I don't really blame the kid. He did his job in the 2nd half and I think coach didn't do his in the 2nd half. Also, something I'm more curious about, what really is up with the non-staggering of Lin/Harden minutes?
Seriously I don't mind benching Lin when he sucks, but benching when he is playing better like on the 3rd. and not playing him on the 4th eariler. when the current line up was stagnating, it's overdoing it. Lin and Asik were pick/rolling so nicely with his higher passes. This sort mindset coaching is regressive and ultimately hurts the rockets.
Beat's me brother...I thought the staggering was working well, given each of them more freedom to create plays, give them more confidence, and always giving the team have a capable play creator on the floor. I miss the 1-2 PnR also, I love that play, always seems to produce positive results, either with Lin getting a clear shot to the lane, or Harden getting a mismatch on the smaller PG. Our coaching staff is garbage.
Really it's not about who starts or not. I feel if Lin is given consistent run time with the second unit he and thus the Rockets will thrive. He will be able to play to his strengths for this playoff push and the playoffs. If he is here next season, he will practice his butt off in the offseason on his offensive off-ball game.
Was Lin the reason that Hibbert and Hansbrough went nuts on Asik and D-Mo in the 1st quarter ? Was Lin the reason that Paul George was able to single handedly shut down Harden ? From what I saw, Lin stayed on his man George Hill like glue, and on offense, he stood patiently in the corner while Harden went ISO and put up bad shots. I will say one thing, when Beverly was on the floor, Harden passed the ball to him more than he did to Lin.
Strangely I've noticed this as well. Even in the 4th, Beverley brought the ball up more and also got more passes from James. As soon as Lin came in, Harden started hogging a lot more, pounding the ball while Lin was waiting for a pass. One specific play that really stuck with me is Lin dumped it off to Harden and moved to the left side to let him work. Harden pounded the ball and went 1 on 1 with George while Lin is sitting there waiting for a pass, but Harden elected to shoot a step-back 3-pointer that was highly contested rather than swing the ball back to Lin.
He tends to have these chucking games when his shot is completely off. I think his lowest FG games have been ones where he has attempted the most shots. He gets desperate and starts hero-balling. I blame it on the freelancing offense we have.
Maybe Asik and Lin practiced some PnR behind coach's back lol, and that is not to be allowed, since it is not in McHale's *system*.
if he got the 32 minutes he averages he probably would've put up his average numbers today at the very least..people just dont understand the law of averages and they have unrealistic expectations. Like a baseball player who hits .333, you dont go 1-3 every day. sometimes you go 2-4...1-5...3-6...4-5..0-3 If Lin doesnt go 15 points 6-7 assists people go "ohh he's not consistent" sometimes he'll hit that, sometime he'll be higher and lower, just the way it is.
It is part of the fact that this is Harden's first season to carry a team, he doesn't want to risk losing the No.1 position on a ok/good team
Here my rant for the day.... How can anyone blame this game on JLin?!?!?!?! Granted Jeremy made three turnovers in the 1st quarter. But atleast he was trying to be aggressive. I did not see a single ounce of aggressiveness from Harden in the 1st quarter or from any of our Bigs. DMo/Asik/Parsons got DOMINATED by the Pacers Bigs. Hibbert got 15 pts in the 1st quarter alone! Add in the fact that Pacers were getting like 50% of offensive rebound in the 1st quarter did not helped either. Pacers made our Guards miserable in defense by packing the paint and doubling at every chance. Add in the physical game with lots of no calls made it tough for our Guards to penetrate. This forum is so bull**** that people see only what they want to see and spew their bull**** comments. Only reason we were able to comeback is because our second unit Bigs (TRob/GregSmith) out played Pacers SECOND UNIT (aka Bench) when Hibbert and Hansbrough was taking a breather. Granted, Patrick Beverly played with lots of energy and played good defense. However, both of our PGs (JLin and PBev) pretty much kept Pacers PGs out of the whole game. What we needed was not defense from PG, but to help Harden lessen the offensive load by threatening offense (which JLin provides). My beef is with McHail for sitting JLin for entire 2nd quarter (16 min rest in Bench) and 1st 8 minutes of the 4th quarter (12 min rest in Bench). That tells you that your coach does not believe in your starting PG. If you want to make a point for his turnovers; that's fine, but atleast give chance to your starting PG an oppportunity to make amends. Plus, most of his mistakes in the 1st quarter were due to lethargic play by the rockets. When he finally got chance to play in 3rd quarter, he did very well scoring 6 pts (and 1 plus 3 pt shot) and three/four dimes and two steals. But, McHail did not trust him to play during critical stretch in 4th quarter when we needed him to take pressure off Harden. Why would you ever sit your starting PG 16 minutes in the 1st half and 12 minutes on 2nd half and expect him to be savior in the last 4 minute down by 10pts? That's a bad coaching at any level and does not do anything to show your support and development of a young player. Either McHail needs to go or JLin needs to be traded.
This is especially true in Lin's case...he's definitely a streaky shooter...when he's feeling it, he can go on a rampage...but when he's cold, he's ice cold.
I used to think this was a knee-jerk comment but now I am a believer. The Rockets would be better with one of them gone. Maybe the Rockets pick up some more pieces over the summer and come back stronger with McHale as coach and Lin as a backup. But this current situation of starting him for the marketing money but then not letting him play his game is bad for all concerned: Lin, McHale, the Rockets and the fans.
This will hurt the rockets in the playoffs if Mchale keeps this rotation up. I don't know if its the lack of trust or just going with the hot hands. In order for Lin to progress as the main pg, he needs playing time in all kind of situation. It doesn't matter if the lead is up by ten or down by ten, he needs to be out to learn and adapt. I think this is one of the faults in Mchale as a coach. He leaves Harden and CP in the ball game, even if they're Horrendous, but the affects of that decision is they get better.
