(updated November 6 6 a.m.: Jeremy Lin made four of eight shot attempts last night, including 1 of 2 from behind the arc in a 116 to 101 victory over the Portland Trailblazers)
Jeremy Lin has been responding to adversity and setbacks all his life.
Although he won’t say it, the season got off to a disappointing start for him when coach Kevin McHale decided to start the season with Lin coming off the bench and Patrick Beverley taking over at starting point guard.
Then in the first game of the season, Beverley hurt his ribs and Lin has been back in the starting line up ever since.
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Through four games with Lin manning the point, the Rockets are 3-1.
The Harvard grad who worked on his shot during the off season is now shooting 54 percent from the field and nearly 17 points per game. That’s a marked improvement from last year’s shooting percentage of 44 percent.
His most notable improvement has occurred behind the three point arc where Lin has increased his accuracy from 34 percent to almost 42 percent. Lin has never been a great three point shooter, but 42 percent is darn good.
With Dwight Howard getting a lot of attention in the paint and the opposing defense focused on James Harden, this should open up new opportunities for Lin.
Beverley is expected to come back from his injury in about a week. Lin’s strong play should guarantee that even if he goes back to the bench, he’ll get good minutes.
Granted its only been four games. But Lin is off to a good start to the season.
What do you think? Should Lin go back to the bench when Beverley returns?
RE: Jeremy Lin making the best of his minutes: I think when Beverley comes back, if they happen to play a weak opponent then maybe start him to see how he handles the game. But if he struggles, they should go back to Lin. If Beverley comes back against some tough opponents, then McHale might want to play safe and have Beverley come of bench and see how he is playing first. Until there is good season for Lin not to start, i.e. he struggles against other starting PGs or if Beverley cannot run the 2nd unit well, then perhaps it makes sense to have JLin play PG for the bench unit, which he should be more than capable. Lin’s current PER of 20.60 puts him #8 for his position. Putting that in perspective, Derrick Rose has a PER of 1.89 right now. So people need to stop complaining about Jeremy Lin’s play, he’s been more than solid.
RE: Jeremy Lin making the best of his minutes: Jeremy Lin should definitely start. But more importantly, he should finish every game. If God is with him, who can be against him?