1. I agree with the OP. On this board, whatever is Lin-related has become so sensitive you cannot criticize anyone in the context of Lin. Yes, I understand the LOFs brought it to themselves. This is why it is so frustrating. The OP has a legitimate discussion. But he is going to be ignored by a lot of good posters because it looks like a LOF complaint. 2. Benching both Asik and Lin is clearly a head-scratcher. Leaving Delfino in it over any of those two players is even more stupefying. I can understand the merit of (even though I don't agree with) staying with Robinson and Beverley because they did some good stuff in there. But Delfino over Asik or Lin? How can you explain that? 3. The Harden ISO play taking 22 of the 36 seconds remaining when we were down by 2 points is a big bucket of FAIL.
The last play was stupid, and Garcia should have seen more PT than Delfino since he becomes totally useless when he is off. His demeanor completely showed it, normally he has a quick trigger with what ever shot but tonight he was hessitant. If I was the coach, I would have had Lin Harden Parsons Trobb Asik but its a call that is a really tough one to make, you can go to either side. You have a lineup that has finally given you a chance to win and trimmed the deficit to its lowest the entire game (with Bev)...do you go with what is working? Its a toss up tbh. I can't really fault this decision. That is my entire point. People also seem to be ignoring the clutch play of the mavs. When we were up with 4 to go in the 4th Dirk and VC pull up for some really Clutch 3s. When those guys are on its very difficult to contain them.
i agree. only thing i need to emphasize is we have to play our starters to get them used to the game of this type, especially closing out games, and learn lessons from losses and wins. the more they play, the better they become. if he trust beverley more than lin, he should start beverley over lin. then stick with your starting rotation.
Er, the "vast majority" just seem to be trolls pretending to be Lin fans. But it's unfortunate that so many people fall for it. Still, I'm surprised that when a veteran now supports Lin he gets labelled as such. It's funny and sad because at that point it just makes me wonder... Anyway, what the real team fans are concerned about is us winning. And I think most of us recognize that there are problems when you don't play your best players during a close game. Again for reference, statistics of last 5 min this season: Code: Jeremy Lin GP FG% 3FG% FT% AST TO STL PTS eFG% TS% USG% 26 54.2% 60.0% 78.9% 5 3 4 44 60.4% 68.0% 21.8% James Harden GP FG% 3FG% FT% AST TO STL PTS eFG% TS% USG% 31 43.1% 29.4% 85.7% 12 11 4 98 47.5% 60.3% 37.9% Carlos Delfino GP FG% 3FG% FT% AST To STL PTS eFG% TS% USG% 24 38.9% 33.3% 100% 4 1 1 21 45.0% 49.2% 14.5% Patrick Beverly GP FG% 3FG% FT% AST To STL PTS eFG% TS% USG% 6 33.3% 50.0% / 1 1 0 6 50.0% 50.0% 19.6%
I think it is embarassing to lose to the Mavs, they are so old and really not very good. How old is Marion, and he was lighting us up? Mike James is pushing 40. Carter is probably a grandfather, and Dirk isn't exactly at his peak. Should have won that one. These are the loses that set your playoff chances on fire. Late season collapses are a Houston tradition, so we are in a very dangerous place.
You have to give McHale credit, Asik DID played in the 4th. He was sub in in the final position, after sitting most of the 3rd and entire 4th. Seriously speaking, if I am Asik, I would have punch McHale in the fact.
It is not LIN. The reason why LIN bought up all the time is because the Rockets do not have a true PG other than Lin. Open your eyes and see. When Lin is bench, the ball movement stop. It will be Hero Ball and shot 3s. That's it. You will not see anyone other than Harden has a shot at the paint. Yesterday's game, Lin, Asik and DMO were benched all Q4. Lin and Asik 24 minutes a piece, DMO only get 16 minutes. Lin and Asik are 25m a piece. DMo is over archiving as a starter. All 3 of them were HOT during the game. Why punished performance?!??
Anyone else get the feeling Asik would be a monster if he could land free throws? Can't someone teach the boy? It's pure mechanics. The same issue with D-Ho. It seemed like every time Asik had the ball, he was getting a foul called. It's more than just those lost points though. If we weren't in a hole to begin with, we would play a different style of ball. (I would hope, at least) Perhaps Omer's foul shooting is the reason he was pulled to begin with. I don't know what McHale was thinking, and I mean that literally not sarcastically, so unless he gives a reason I won't know why he played it out like he did.
dude come up with something original. I am sure you ate up everything that McHale was spewing about how his relationship with Lowry was perfect up until the day they traded him, just because McHale said it. Look, McHale doesn't hate Lin as a person, he just doesn't think highly of Lin's game, if you can't see that, you are blind.
Please forward this to the coaching staff and Morey. Thanks. And don't bother providing facts and relevant stats to people here, they will chalk you up as LOF hence everything you say will be twisted and that twisted point would be countered. Weird GARM.
Not really. This team needs the playoffs, not another not-gonna-play PF. We have $$$ to go after a real player, anyway.
I did already complain his sitting his starters to close out the game vs orlando although it was a win but the flaw was there. the flaw was hided by a win so i was kinda minority. the most important thing is i got confused what message he was trying to send out. Clutch didn't like my complain. he thought it was normal for a coach to do that. i don't know where he got that impression or data. once a while we may see a case but clearly it is not normal for sure. he thought i was rooting for lin only. i guess coz it happened to be lin. everything becomes illogical. here is my view. if mchale believe beverley is better at closing out a game, i can't imagine he can't be a starter. mchale should start beverley over lin so he can have his starters to close out a game. i have no problem with it. i am not sure about t-rob and d-mo. both are rookies. they haven't played enough games for us to make a definitive conclusion on who is better on defense. yes, t-rob did have a couple big blocks. i view them as same as making a shooter miss his shots. big blocks are super good for entertainment. i don't veiw a few highlights as inidication of good defense. i am looking at overall, such as staying in front of you man, holding your position, not biting fake moves, and knowing how to rotate and how to help your teammates. don't get me wrong. i am not saying t-rob didn't play a good defense last night. regarding on beverley's defense, lin's defense if not better at least is at the same level as beverley. lin's defense has been underrated by many fans here. as a game went deep, lin's defense was getting better and better. i saw so many times he jamming his man to get a great stop at the end. there is no reason not to trust lin's defense. i won't say he doesn't like lin. i believe he doesn't have much confidence on lin.
So you stay with that backup squad for 15-17 minutes straight?? Even when the offense started stagnating screeching to a halt?? And you call other people stupid??? Lol.
With Harden losing a bit of his explosive and sub-par finishing at the rim (these past few games) I think it would have helped with another player on the floor who can penetrate the defense (Lin being the obvious option). Lin was also looking pretty comfortable spotting up in the game from what I saw (without looking at the actual stats) so he would have been another threat for Harden to dish out to. Beverley's defense allowed him to stay on the floor, but I'm sure he didn't have a single point and seemed reluctant to shoot throughout the game, allowing his defender to sag and collapse on D. If we were to ignore the coaching decisions (good or bad) for the fourth quarter, it was plain that the Rockets never got it going in the game. What a difference a few nights can make! We were always playing from behind and never took control of the rhythm of the game and it was more of a momentum thing in the end. Especially with the tight decisions going mostly Dallas' way last night.
As another poster pointed out, it was 7 points deficit when Lin and Asik were subbed out. More importantly, before the substitution, Rockets scored four consecutive points and forced Mavs to take a timeout, so the momentum was shifting. With 7 points deficit against an old and inferior team with about 15 min to go, there's no reason to panic and break your rotation. At best, this game showed the coaching staff are weak mentally.
Bev is a bench player. He's a great energy guy, heck he's fantastic. But in clutch time, you've got to get your starters in. Having Asik and Lin have been instrumental in closing a lot of good games in February, why stop now? They weren't even having a terrible night by ANY stretch. Lin, in particular, has also shown that he is quite clutch when the situation really calls for it (ala OKC game and a lot of others). I'm sorry but the last 5 mins of the game was just painful to watch with the ball getting "sticky". When our no. 1 option is just cold (5 of 17, 2 of 7), I can only imagine how differently things could have been if Lin was in there to be seen as another scoring threat to help Harden out.
I concur. You don't bench your starter for 1.5 quarters especially when they're doing well. Lin was having a good night and attacking the basket aggressively. Beverley was a defensive spark but he didn't shut down Collison nor Mayo. They still scored in bunches. The only scenario where you would bench your starter is only if they were sucking it big time and the bench was having an MVP night. In retrospect, if McFail wanted to keep Beverley out there, he should've had him and Lin both on the court. Definitely should've play Asik in the 4th. This lack of substitution for starters in the 4th was head-scratching and not very common in the NBA. You win with your starters and you lose with them.
Not everyone in chat was ok with it. I was in there questioning having T-Rob at center. Didn't think it was going to work for an extended period of play.
