On Thursday night, Jeremy Lin faced his first real test as an NBA phenom. Against the defending Eastern Conference champion Heat, it's fair to say it didn't go so well. Lin shot 1 of 11, scored 8 points, dished out just 3 assists, and turned the ball over 8 times. I tuned in for this one closely, figuring the Heat wouldn't be surprised by Lin. Not unexpectedly, Miami threw a game plan at Lin, and he struggled. I figured Miami might try sticking Dwyane Wade on Lin to throw him off his rhythm. Wade is an athletic freak, and one of the league's best man defenders, so him struggling in that case would have been far from unexpected. But the Heat didn't do that.
Instead, Miami kept Mario Chalmers on Lin when he was in the game. Now, Chalmers isn't a bad defender, but he's no DWade. But the key to what the Heat did was to have Chalmers pressure Lin out to a few feet beyond the perimeter. Instead of letting Lin get his head up and initiate the offense (which is one of his big strengths), the Heat put pressure on him high, which clearly unsettled him. The result was 8 turnovers and an easy win for Miami. Of course, it wasn't all the Heat's D-- Lin couldn't get a roll when he got to the hoop, and he was far from the only Knick who struggled from the floor- Amar'e Stoudemire was invisible and Carmelo Anthony barely made a third of his shots. But the Knicks' success lately has revolved around Lin, and his struggles were, I think it's fair to say, a major reason this game was effectively over after 3 quarters.
Pressuring point guards high is, of course, far from a failproof strategy. Try it with Chris Paul, and he'll beat his defender, get into the paint, and, more likely than not, either hit a floater or dish it off to a shooter or a big for an open look. Try it with Steve Nash, and he'll shake the defender and shoot a quick pull-up three, which is a shot he'll hit at a pretty high clip. There are a few reasons it worked so well for the Heat against Lin-- Lin is a good shooter, but he doesn't have Nash's ability to quickly pull up and hit a three off the dribble. He's also not strong enough to drive and dish among the trees the way Chris Paul can. He's more of a pick-and-roll guy who can finish outside the lane and hit the open guy as he comes off a ball screen.
The question, then, is what the Heat's success defending Lin means. Is Linsanity over? Is he going back to the D-League? Of course not. The NBA, like any pro sport, is about adjustments. Lin's got somewhat higher hurdles to face than most. Unlike your typical NBA standout, Lin isn't a physical specimen. He's not strong. He's not very athletic. And he's not explosive. He can't hold a candle to guys like Derrick Rose, Chris Paul and John Wall when it comes to athletic ability. That makes his adjustment harder-- he needs to stand out in other ways. But athleticism is far from an end-all, be-all. Steve Nash became one of the best point guards ever, even though he's an average athlete at best and looks like the pool boy. And Nash is probably the player whose game most resembles Lin's. I think there are two adjustments that can be made to counter aggressive perimeter D like the Heat's. The first is for the Knicks to initiate the pick and roll higher than they have been. Instead of setting the initial screen at the top of the key, they could try initiating the offense at around 28 feet against aggressive defenses. If they can get Melo on board with being the screener, even better. For all the hate that's been thrown his way, Melo can hit an open 23 footer, and he's too strong for just about any 3 not named LeBron to deal with rolling to the hoop. Playing a Lin and Melo two-man game puts pressure on defenses and alleviates pressure on Lin, as he gets the benefit of a screener to clear space and allow him to get his head up.
The other adjustment Lin needs to make is to develop a Nash-type pull up three-point shot. Lin is a good shooter, but he's more of a pick-and-pop guy than an off-the-dribble shooter. If he could develop the ability to hit that three-point pull up, defenses would have to think twice about pressuring him high, as help defenders would have to step out if he beat the high defender off the dribble, which in turn would open up passing lanes for the Knicks' other players. While that's a longer-term project for Lin, I thnk it'd be a huge step in his development.
No comments:
Post a Comment