There is no bad blood between Jeremy Lin and his former team, the Charlotte Hornets. They parted amicably since the Hornets management can only afford to offer him so much in light of its talent-heavy roster.
They also could not offer him the starting point guard position for the team because that rightfully belongs to Kemba Walker.
Jeremy Lin would have loved to play against his former team during the match pitting the Brooklyn Nets against the Charlotte Hornets but the 28-year-old Harvard graduate still felt some tweak in his left hamstring.
Lin pulled his hamstring in their match against the Chicago Bulls on November 1 right in the second quarter of the match and he never returned to the game to see his Nets team being decimated by the Bulls at a final score of 118-88.
The Nets’ next game was with the Detroit Pistons and the absence of Lin at the starting point guard position turned it into the breakout game of Brook Lopez for the Nets as they defeated the Andre Drummond-led Pistons, 109-101.
Lin did not play in the next game with Charlotte and was also on the bench while his team was battling the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves. It was a grinding match from the beginning and the Nets eventually pulled off late and coasted to a 119-110 victory.
Excellent defense by the Hornets
In explaining their loss to the Hornets a few days back, Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson said that it has nothing to do with Jeremy Lin not in their lineup for a hamstring injury.
Atkinson said that the Hornets showed their defense, particularly on Brook Lopez, and it proved effective. The Nets head coach said that the Hornets is the top defensive team in the NBA so to be able to taste its defense is just something that not only the Nets will deal with but the rest of the teams in the league.
He said that the Hornets took away most of the opportunities from the Nets players and made them go down the line with fewer points, details the Parent Herald.
The Nets head coach also admitted as partly to blame for the defeat because he did not provide Brook Lopez enough options for his aggressive offense.
The Charlotte Hornets probably knew that they cannot let Brook Lopez have too many touches on the ball and shots in the post. The Hornets started by fronting him in the post, harassing, and putting a double team on him all the time.
Not a blessing in disguise
Critics are debunking claims that the absence of Jeremy Lin on the Nets roster for a couple of games was a blessing in disguise because the team looked better offensively.
Not counting his not able to complete the game with the Bulls, Lin was only absent thus far for three games and the Nets are 2-1, two wins from the Pistons and the Timberwolves, and one loss from the Hornets.
Brook Lopez may have had his breakout game in the win against the Pistons but in order for the Nets to sustain its offensive run and starts piling up the wins, they must have Lin onboard.
The aftermath of Lin’s left hamstring injury, though, underscores what Brooklyn’s season is all about: gauging the depth of the roster with minutes for prospects, projects and experimental line-ups, points out the Bleacher Report.
With a right ankle ailment keeping Greivis Vasquez sidelined next to Lin, this situation calls for more from the Nets’ other ball-handlers, more specifically, Sean Kilpatrick and rookie Isaiah Whitehead, with a sprinkle of Randy Foye, who is also coming off from a right hamstring injury.
It’s not the ideal replacement committee. Not one of those three fits the truest description of a full-time point guard. Lin has quickly established himself as Brooklyn’s offensive lifeline; he is irreplaceable even with the rest of the roster at full strength.
Lin is the Nets’ most complete point guard, and they’ll feel his involuntary hiatus on offense most nights.
It is not only the numbers or the way he plays, but what that means for the rest of the team. Lin puts players in the right spots. He blitzes into the heart of defenses. Almost every one of his running mates shoots better off his passes.
I am confused….he did finished the game with the Bulls. He played the game with the Pistons and responsible for keeping the Nets with lead before going down with the injury…Not sure if we watched the same games.