As of March 12, 2016, the Charlotte Hornets are officially the hottest team in the NBA with a season-high seven-game winning streak, following their demolition of the Houston Rockets 125-109 at the Time Warner Cable arena.
Since February 5, in the Hornets’ losing game against the Miami Heat, top scoring for the team has been alternating between Kemba Walker and Marvin Williams. The last time that Jeremy Lin topscored for the team was during the Hornets’ home victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James. Lin scored 24 points in that win.
Following the NBA All-Star break, the Charlotte Hornets went on a tear, winning 12 of their 14 games including the last seven. They are the only team in the NBA at the moment that is undefeated in March.
While he has been consistently contributing coming off the bench, Jeremy Lin’s numbers are not as remarkable during the first half of the season, which was primarily because of Hornets head coach Steve Clifford’s guard rotation.
With the acquisition last month of Courtney Lee from the Memphis Grizzlies right on the trading deadline, the Hornets’ guard rotation has gotten deeper. Courtney Lee became the perfect replacement for Michael Kidd-Gilchrist who sustained another season-ending injury following his return in late January.
Because of the excellent play of Jeremy Lin as a backup point guard, he was being eyed as a key contender for the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award. As it is, only Will Barton of the Denver Nuggets comes close to Lin’s numbers off the bench.
The Charlotte Hornets are now sporting a 37-28 win-loss slate with 17 games remaining. The team has the lightest schedule among the NBA squads the rest of the way as it will only be playing against five teams that are ranked higher while the remaining 12 will be against teams that are either out of the playoff picture or below its standing.
Thus, there is a good chance that the Hornets can actually end up being in the top four of the Eastern Conference when the playoff begins, something that team owner and president Michael Jordan would really love and consider as a major accomplishment.
Not concerned with individual honors
The 27-year-old Harvard graduate may be aware that he is primed for the Sixth Man of the Year award and if indeed the Hornets make it to the top half of the Eastern Conference playoff, he will be most likely a shoo-in for the plum. Barton’s Nuggets appear to be on course to missing the playoff so that gives Lin an advantage.
However, it seems the award is far from Lin’s mind at this point and it was very obvious in his latest game against his former team, the Houston Rockets.
He scored 16 points in the contest and could have made more but Lin decided to play team basketball all the way. There was an instance when he got a steal and galloped down the court. With two Houston Rockets defenders, he dished off the perfect assist to the streaking Kemba Walker who laid it up for the deuce. Walker greatly acknowledged the assist from Lin.
Lin could have forced the shot and drew the foul because he is capable of making that happen but since he knows that Kemba Walker has the hot hands and is on a scoring streak, he gave up the ball and the opportunity to score just to ensure that they get the basket on the play.
His numbers during the second half of the season may have decline but it is not because he is not playing well. On the contrary, he is playing good basketball. It just that he needed to give up some of his playing time for their excellent guard rotation and he understands that. The good news is that it is doing wonders for the Hornets and that is more important for Lin.
Likely to get more minutes
However, there is a possibility that Jeremy Lin may get more minutes towards the next few games as Clifford starts to preserve Kemba Walker and Marvin Williams for the playoffs. As it is, the goal of the team is to win a playoff series, which the Hornets has not been able to do since 2002, details the International Business Times.
Sorry that Quora posting is BS. JLin didn’t fit the color mold and to a degree the temperment mold (selflessness) which is why he didn’t get picked up and continues to play a subordinate role. Diva is not in his DNA.
On the contrary, Kemba wants to shoot and doesn’t care about the open teammate especially if it’s Lin. That play which Lin passed to Kemba instead of scoring would be a complete opposite from Kemba who wouldn’t pass to Lin.
QUORA has much of it right, in their response. However, I think that the responder was fearful of also admitting to the black racism preference when it comes to NBA players. It is not that “unreasonable” in that the league is hugely populated by black players and European white players. Without an Asian player showing adequate skills other than at the center position (other Asian players are part black or Filipino), there is an underlying bias which hurt Lin tremendously as the “last nail in the coffin” for a non-black player. Many many black ballers came from mid-level colleges and they were discovered without too much difficulty or fanfare, so to ignore the anti-Asian bias is simply intentional or stupid.
Lin is showing himself to be a selfless team player with skills that are somewhat submerged by the current system. Given the KW is hotter than a pistol and the Hornets are winning, it’s hard to fault Clifford for playing the line-ups he is playing. I’d like to see Lin as PG of the 2nd team more than he is being used but it is obvious that using him with Walker, when Lee is available, is folly. Lee is shooting better and can’t run the point for the bench. Lin, for all of his work, simply is better as the point than the 2 and should be used more as such. He will be invaluable to help save Walker’s legs for the playoffs. He will be a fairly valuable commodity for other teams the next year and, hopefully, will be used more effectively than present. Don’t forget, players know how hard it is to be able to play effectively, consistently, off the bench and winners never win without a good 6th and possibly 7th man.