Jeremy Lin getting bullied on the Rockets

[Winseb]

Not sure if trolling or stupid.

When a guy plays 44 mins a game and pretty much the main scorer on that team, he doesn't make mistakes.

Lakers loss is on everybody else but James Harden.

Nobody else on that team even cracked 20. Until somebody on that team is cracking 20 points a game , or put in the minutes Harden put in, I ain't gonna criticize Harden, he does all heavy lifting.

Come on, now. Your last few posts were stupid, but this one takes the cake-- especially the bolded. If you'd actually watched the game like you said you did, you'd know Harden carried nothing. He was handed free throws on a silver platter, got no-calls, broke up plays, played zero defense save for one or two possessions, threw lazy passes and made terrible decisions down the stretch. I'm in no way exaggerating when I say that was probably the sorriest 35 points I've ever seen.

Someone punch me for responding to an obvious troll.

[sogood]

There was a play where Jordan Farmar and Lin collided. Two Lakers immediately went to help Farmar up while not one helped Lin. One of the Lakers was the first to checked up on Lin to see if he was okay.

Nice chemistry Houston.

[microfib4thewin]

Say what you will, but that was one clever screen from Nash.

Pushed Beverly forward as a screen on Lin, further forward where he could be screened by Gasol, then switched to screen Lin himself.

Takes two guys out with one move, wins the game, destroys Rockets' chemistry.

Epic.

Gasol fouling Dwight instantly was great too. I can only imagine what would have happened if it was Kaman instead.

[TaylorMonkey]

Anyway, weren't those two BFFs just last season? Interesting when Lin takes a nasty dip in the Lakers game only Bev is there to check up on him.

I hate Beverly but him sticking up for Lin raises him up one tiny notch for me.

He's like the Jaime Lannister of the Rockets.

[pacers33granger]

The biggest problem that could come from this is that no one will trade for Lin without some serious incentive. No one wants to pay that 15 mil of his next season, have to deal with any media issues, and Lin isn't an upgrade on any team that needs a PG.

Knicks - no way, plus that 15 mil is a full cap hit for them
Toronto - Lowry is better and cheaper for now at least
Milwaukee - they plan to use Knight and a Lin/Mayo backcourt would be horrendous
Miami - last thing they need is a guy who needs the ball in his hands
Orlando - Nelson is comparable and a leader for their team
Utah - could work, but I doubt it
Sacramento - already has 2 young PGs

[SmoothKobra]

Only read the first couple posts, but this happens on every level of basketball, from high school to the pro level. Lin needed to be in position to go over the top of the screen when defending the last play, and instead he allowed himself to get sealed off and allowed the game winner. Rockets stars are upset with him, and rightfully so. Lin looks like he's not going to last long in Houston, and that's probably the right move for both parties. Lin wants to be a starter and a scorer, and he's just not a main piece on a team with Harden and Howard. I still have Houston coming out of the West. It would be crazy if they actually got some viable pieces for Lin.

Sealed off as in getting bearhugged by Nash? Last I checked you can't set your screen by wrapping your arm around someone.

He got sealed off because he was out of position in the first place.

[spaceballer]

There was a play where Jordan Farmar and Lin collided. Two Lakers immediately went to help Farmar up while not one helped Lin. One of the Lakers was the first to checked up on Lin to see if he was okay.

Nice chemistry Houston.

Yeah, that was weird. Harden looked at Lin lying on the ground after the hard foul and just walked away. Lin struggled to get up and only the Lakers players came over to see if he was ok and to help him up. He was on one knee for a while for a long time after a hard foul, and I thought he might have been hurt.

[90sAllDecade]

Sensationalist much?







Yawn.

No credible quote from a player, just rumors. Players get yelled at all the time for blown assignments. To say he is getting bullied seems like really grasping at straws.

Credit to the Lakers, they got the win and are competitive despite what people thought early on.

For the Rockets, teams need time to gel, for example the first year LeBron Heat took twenty games to gel with a playoff finals loss, it's only six games into the season and they're 4-2 with all the new changes.

[MistyMountain20]

Jeremy Lin violated Basketball Code, you give the ball to your star no matter what and you die with him. Whatever the hell shot Jeremy Lin took at the last possession was crap.

Jeremy Lin was setting up a play directed by the coach. Are you saying that Lin should refuse to listen to his coach because of basketball code you made up?

James Harden avg 26 points a damn game, you don't take one of the last shots and it was that bad.

Parsons gave him the ball with about 2 seconds left, blame Parsons for giving Lin the ball. Also blame Harden for standing around that play and making no effort to run the play that was set up.

And James Harden was the one who brought them back in the first place.

Funny thing, the Rockets outscored the Lakers when Lin was on the court. Didn't seem like he was screwing them up too much. Their starting point guard - Patrick Beverly - was a -7 on the court. Clearly this is Lin's fault.

Then Jeremy Lin couldn't get around the screen and Howard was late to help and Lin was clapping his hands at Howard.

You need glasses. Nash was holding Lin, it wasn't a matter of "getting around" a screen". Lin wasn't clapping at Horward, he wasn't even looking in his direction, what are you talking about?

Howard should have seen the double screen anyways, it was his miscue.

James Harden and Howard are the stars and Jeremy Lin isn't. In Basketball there is a hierarchy. Just like Mario Chalmers is the Miami's Big 3 whipping boy, Jeremy Lin is probably gonna end up the James Harden and Howard's whipping boy.

You have demonstrated here how you spectacularly fail at basic understanding and logic.

[spaceballer]

The biggest problem that could come from this is that no one will trade for Lin without some serious incentive. No one wants to pay that 15 mil of his next season, have to deal with any media issues, and Lin isn't an upgrade on any team that needs a PG.

Knicks - no way, plus that 15 mil is a full cap hit for them
Toronto - Lowry is better and cheaper for now at least
Milwaukee - they plan to use Knight and a Lin/Mayo backcourt would be horrendous
Miami - last thing they need is a guy who needs the ball in his hands
Orlando - Nelson is comparable and a leader for their team
Utah - could work, but I doubt it
Sacramento - already has 2 young PGs

Actually, it's an 8.3M cap hit for the Knicks if they trade for him now (not that it'll happen). It was only 15M cap hit if they matched.

Any team that trades for him will have to pay him $5M this year and $15M next, but both years count as $8.3M in cap hit (which is really the only thing that counts when you're talking about salary cap or trade matching salary rules or luxury tax), even for the Knicks now.

[yunaclf]

There was a play where Jordan Farmar and Lin collided. Two Lakers immediately went to help Farmar up while not one helped Lin. One of the Lakers was the first to checked up on Lin to see if he was okay.

Nice chemistry Houston.

Yeah I saw that too. Farmar kept asking Lin if he was ok while his teammates aside from Beverley just walked off.

[N8N]

Not sure if trolling or stupid.

When a guy plays 44 mins a game and pretty much the main scorer on that team, he doesn't make mistakes.

Lakers loss is on everybody else but James Harden.

Nobody else on that team even cracked 20. Until somebody on that team is cracking 20 points a game , or put in the minutes Harden put in, I ain't gonna criticize Harden, he does all heavy lifting.

Come on, now. Your last few posts were stupid, but this one takes the cake-- especially the bolded. If you'd actually watched the game like you said you did, you'd know Harden carried nothing. He was handed free throws on a silver platter, got no-calls, broke up plays, played zero defense save for one or two possessions, threw lazy passes and made terrible decisions down the stretch. I'm in no way exaggerating when I say that was probably the sorriest 35 points I've ever seen.

Someone punch me for responding to an obvious troll.

Well, we all make mistakes. Just put him in your ignore list from now on.

The question right now is, will Houston implode or will their talent be sufficient enough (regardless of teamplay/chemistry) for a deep playoff run?

Bang.

[CablexDeadpool]

Nobody else on that team even cracked 20. Until somebody on that team is cracking 20 points a game , or put in the minutes Harden put in, I ain't gonna criticize Harden, he does all heavy lifting.

Come on, now. Your last few posts were stupid, but this one takes the cake-- especially the bolded. If you'd actually watched the game like you said you did, you'd know Harden carried nothing. He was handed free throws on a silver platter, got no-calls, broke up plays, played zero defense save for one or two possessions, threw lazy passes and made terrible decisions down the stretch. I'm in no way exaggerating when I say that was probably the sorriest 35 points I've ever seen.

Someone punch me for responding to an obvious troll.[/quote]

Oh so James Harden didn't put in 15 points in the second half? Do those points not count. Where would the Rockets be without James Harden's 15 points in the second. Points are points and points count no matter how they got there.

I watched the game. James Harden offensively carried the Rockets.

So now, James Harden walking to the free-throw line isn't part of his game? That's the only thing he is good at consistently?

Kevin Durant gets to the free throw line like it's out of style. Every scorer gets to the free throw line. So now it's bad because James Harden does it.

Like I said, until James Harden isn't playing 40 mins a game and putting up 26 points and nobody else is putting up 20, he can pretty much do no wrong. Everybody else job is make up for the things he sucks at and they didn't with the Lakers and they loss.

It's up to the coaches to change the way their offense and team is ran. Rockets are James Harden dependent and you live and die with him.

Just because I really don't care to agree with the "James Harden sucks and he is a diva" narrative and doesn't mean I am stupid. Just like I didn't care to agree with the " James Harden is a Top 5 SG" narrative And the entire Realgm was sucking him off while he was going 9-25 every other night with 14 free throw attempts.

Calling him efficient and crafty and all that good crap. He couldn't play defense then. He walked to the free throw line then. Jeremy Lin was still the whipping boy then and nobody cared because "James Harden is Top 5 SG."

Couldn't say nothing bad about him then and now you can say nothing good about him. And it seems like a lot of people waited for this moment to bad talk him and go, "See I told you so."

It's funny.

[Kabookalu]

This thread has made for some great entertainment.

[Scraptor]

Only read the first couple posts, but this happens on every level of basketball, from high school to the pro level. Lin needed to be in position to go over the top of the screen when defending the last play, and instead he allowed himself to get sealed off and allowed the game winner. Rockets stars are upset with him, and rightfully so. Lin looks like he's not going to last long in Houston, and that's probably the right move for both parties. Lin wants to be a starter and a scorer, and he's just not a main piece on a team with Harden and Howard. I still have Houston coming out of the West. It would be crazy if they actually got some viable pieces for Lin.

Sealed off as in getting bearhugged by Nash? Last I checked you can't set your screen by wrapping your arm around someone.

He got sealed off because he was out of position in the first place.

I think this post from clutchfans explains exactly where you're mistaken.

In a final inbound play situation, it's a chess match between defensive coverage and offensive screens.

The better offensive coaches (D'Antoni is a very good offensive coach) will design inbound plays with multiple picks/screens to create the space required to attempt a shot.

The better defensive coaches (like Thibs) will prepare their players for those switches both in terms of how to best approach those screens (over vs under) but more importantly what to do when the initial person doing the coverage gets picked or screened (rotation/switches).

So, assuming that Lin was supposed to initially cover Blake, a good defensive scheme *assumes* that he may be single/double screened or picked long enough to prevent him from contesting the shot in a timely manner. It is then the responsibility of the defense to follow the "5 men on a string" philosophy.

"5 men on a string" operates under the idea that all 5 defenders are attached on a string, and as each person is forced to switch coverage, the next player in the "string" slides over to compensate for the coverage.

Ideally, Lin would stay with Blake, however once it's clear that he's being screened/picked/held, Beverley would slide over to cover, and if he's picked/screened then it falls upon the next man (in this case Howard).

A well schooled defensive unit would not be reactionary (waiting until the person was picked/screened), but proactive (see that a screen/pick play was developing and pre-emptively move to fill the gap in coverage).

So, imagine you're Dwight... if you were an elite Team defender, you would see that Nash was moving to grab Lin, notice Pau and Bev close to each other and Blake on the move and immediately move to close out *before* the inbound since you *know* that the only way they win is a 3 point shot.

At a minimum, you would react as soon as you see Nash screening/holding Lin and make the leap to understanding that Bev would be unavailable or potentially delayed and act to close on Blake.

What happened on the last play was not a failure of an individual defender so much as a break down in a team defensive scheme. Yes, in an ideal world people would fight through the screens, but in reality it's going to happen especially near the end of the game when they are much less willing to call fouls on players who are holding or doing moving screens.

If there is anyone to blame in terms of the loss it would be McHale (if his defensive scheme was inadequate), but more than anything it's more likely a lack of reps. End of game defensive schemes are the result of hundreds of hours of practice and in-game repetition.

Defenses are notoriously poor at the beginning of the season except for the most experienced teams. Players aren't always in good shape, and roster turnover means you're often trying to integrate new people into those defensive schemes.

While the break down in that last play was not good, it's not unusual this early in the season, especially for younger teams or teams with significant roster changes.

Now if we're still seeing these sort of defensive breakdowns in January, then there maybe be something to worry about.

Personally, I'm more worried about other things than a single defensive breakdown at the end of the game, no matter how dramatic.

[Kupchak9]

The real problem here is that McHale can't run a simple alleyoop play. He's got a team with some of the best athletes in the entire league that are much stronger and faster than the current Lakers as well as 2 great passers in Lin and Harden, they could run a play to the rim so easily. Instead he decides to run a play for Harden to play hero-ball... What makes matters worse was that even the incompetent D'Antoni anticipated that they would be running a play for Harden at the top of the arc instead of making a play at the rim..

It seemed like Lin was the only one willing to give a damn about strategic offense. The guy probably has a higher IQ and mental/emotional maturity than Harden, Howard and McHale combined.

McHale makes Mike Brown and D'Antoni look like Phil and Pop.

[Seralin]

McHale certainly has its own mistakes. Keeping Dwight in until the 2 minutes mark was a major mistake. He had been awful from the free throw line and he wasn't getting any better. At least take him out for the possession around 2.04 so that they cannot grab him right after inbound. It is not like the team was going to lose a lot with him being on the bench. At the least, the gap wouldn't have closed.

[Sofia]

[quote="AJ Valliant]

Sure, it's unwarranted. It's **** being a overpaid rotation player...the stars yell at you. That's not bullying, that's the nature of professional sports. He can dry his tears with the tens of millions of dollars he makes to eat the occasional pile of unearned ****. To equate it to systematic bullying like an outraged soccer mom is weaksauce.[/quote]

[/quote]

Wtf is this ****. This is the worst 'meme creation' I've ever seen.

At no point did he say Martin should have ignored Incognito, in fact when he differentiates between the Lin situation and 'systematic bullying', a fair assumption is he agrees that Martin did the right thing by standing up to the bullying. On top of this, you throw in a random nonsensical shot at Macklemore and put it all on a hipster meme!?

How about learning to how to offer a rebuttal to his argument, instead of making terrible memes that make no sense?

[Ayt]

Bullying? What?

[jc23]

Lol, if this is all true.

The Rockets need a scapegoat and Harden and Howard are untouchable since they are the "star" players on the team.

BTW: McHale needs to think long and hard about the Howard/Asik frontcourt before thinking that the PG situation is the main issue.

I mean imagine if harden got cussed out after every blown defensive assignment, or howard when he laughs and jokes around during "crucial" parts of the game.

Lin's not a great pg but he is a solid one, i hope he drop kicks beard and shoulders one day.