StutterStep wrote:People laughing now but remember how Lin looked until defenses zoned in on him. Last night Harden was in a zone, sort of like when a player goes for 50pts and wakes up the league.
Once defenders zone in on Harden, let's see what his FG% becomes and his scoring.
yeah this is a very interesting point.
Let's approach this in terms of X's and O's.
To take out the 3 point shot, you need to play Harden TIGHT. However, if you do that then he is fast enough to drive past you.
To take out his drives, you need to pack the paint. Any single coverage outside of a premium big, he'll just do a step around and score.
So, to take out both, you require a minimum of 2 defenders. One to play Harden up close (or he'll drop the 3) AND one or more help defenders available on the switch to rotate into the paint.
This is why Harden was having such difficulty when Lin was sitting. The Rockets don't have alot of credible offensive players. Delfino can score, but he's not creating his own shot. Defenses will realize this fairly quickly and simply double Harden and play Delfino tight then dare the rest of the team (players like TD) to shoot while packing the paint.
When Lin was sitting, the Pistons were able to play Harden close, AND rotate a help defender to double team him, and STILL have a close rotation defender to stop him if he manages to split the double team.
The end result was what you saw... Harden passing out of the double team. That results in a 4 on 3 mismatch, which is great IF you can score the ball once it's out of Harden's hands.
This is where Lin's presence is critical. Since Lin CAN generate his own shot, and he IS a good passer with good court vision, he's able to take maximum advantage of the mismatches that result from overplaying Harden.
This goes both ways. Because Lin is a great scorer like harden defenses have to respect him. They still play him fairly tight with help defense. You'll notice in last night's game they hardly ever sagged off him despite his shooting in the pre-season.
And this is why Harden + Lin was so much more devastating than Harden on his own, or Lin on his own will ever be.
As long as Harden is on the floor with another credible offensive player (which in the case of the Rockets right now is Lin and to a lesser degree Delfino), he will likely suceed. The main difference here is it's a bonus that Lin is the complete package at the PG position. He is not only able to find easy shots for his team mates but score as well. Essentially a double bonus for the PG position vs a pg like a Rubio who is weak individual as an offensive threat
And it's this particular dynamic between the two players that led me to predict that Lin and Harden's game were pretty close to ideal in terms of fit.
2 x driving threats that can pass and score means for a defense it's pick your poison.
