If there was ever a time to make a statement for Jeremy Lin, it was Friday night, when the lights shined on Houston as he and the Houston Rockets matched up with his ex-team, the New York Knicks, for the first time since Lin signed a lucrative deal with the Rockets in free agency, to the surprise (and criticism) of many around the league.
And Lin delivered, scoring 13 points, grabbing seven rebounds and dishing three assists as a key player in Houston's 131-103 thrashing of New York Friday night.
Such a strong showing against his former team is lending people to thinking that Lin made the right choice by going West over the summer instead of sticking with the Knicks, though New York has since surged to a 9-3 record this season.
So, is Lin better off in Houston, or should he have stayed in New York?
Age before Beauty
The Knicks and the Rockets are definitely two different teams with two different tales.
On the one hand, Houston is a young team that--while their playoff chances are questionable--looks to have a tremendous upside in the coming years. James Harden has emerged as one of the league's hottest new stars, giving Lin an athletic, quick, and more importantly, young target that he has all of four seasons to get to know and develop a cohesion with on the offensive side of the court. If they can get it right, this could potentially become the best backcourt in the Western Conference--maybe the entire league.
Chandler Parsons, Omer Asik and Patrick Patterson are all young studs with tons of talent, fountains of youth and plenty of room for improvement if they stay together and grow as a unit. On the other hand, the Knicks are the oldest team in the league, and while the expectations are high this season, the shelf life for them is not. New York is clearly a 'win-now' team that probably won't be together as is for more than two seasons--not the most ideal situation for an up-and-coming point guard like Lin, who would best thrive on getting familiar with teammates instead of going through a revolving door of players.
Harden vs Anthony--who does J-Lin play better with?
Let's flashback to Feb. 4, at a seemingly unimportant game in New Jersey, when the Knicks were struggling and spiraling, both Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire contending with injuries. Suddenly, Lin, an unassuming point guard comes off the bench and drops 27 points on a surprised Nets squad, leading the Knicks to a 99-92 win. This kicked off "Linsanity," during which Lin averaged 22.5 points and 8.7 assists over a 12-game stretch--during which the Knicks went 9-3--before the All-Star break, putting the Knicks back in the playoff picture and making Lin a household name.
Yet after Anthony came back, Lin just wasn't the same player, Anthony's isolation-style preference of play an unnatural match for Lin's fast-paced transition style of offense. Top it off, rumors flew that Anthony did not think highly of Lin's style and basically pushed for the team to center their offense around him again.
After Lin left New York, he hasn't quite lived up to the expectations that were placed on him. He is struggling from the field with a .348 field goal percentage, limiting him to only 10.2 points a game, though he is averaging 6.1 assists a night. But there is little doubt that he has found his role with the team at the moment as the playmaker, the floor general, aided by a fast-paced, perpetually moving Harden. Friday night highlighted what the two could do together when on the same page, Harden slashing to the hoop for points, Lin aggressively attacking the basket while directing traffic for Harden to set up shop. Perhaps Anthony and Lin together were a disaster waiting to happen, an Acme Dynamite kit waiting to blow up in the Knicks' face. But in Lin and Harden, these two might just be simply dynamic together.
From Limelight to Low-Key
At heart, Lin appears to be simply a humble, regular guy, so it's not a surprise that he was turned off by the media attention that he received during his run in New York, as he has indicated in recent interviews. And really, who could blame him? In a city where excellence is demanded on a daily basis, particularly from a passionate and expectant fan base, failures are often more magnified than successes, and that can't be a confidence booster for a young point guard to grow up in when he inevitably has that off-night.
In Houston, Lin appears to have found a peace of mind that he couldn't find during the media hoopla that he stirred when he was wowing the basketball world last February.
"It's really, really low-key," Lin said to the New York Times. "And it's really peaceful. When I walk around, I don't wear a hat or glasses or anything - unless I want to.
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