Game 7: Atlanta Hawks vs Cleveland Cavaliers

Game Thread 735

One game after Jeremy Lin received the season high playing time at almost 19 minutes (18:58), he posted the season-low minutes at 9 minutes (9:19) in the 76ers game.

He only played 4 minutes in the first quarter before playing another 5 minutes in the fourth quarter after the Hawks was trailing 22 points with 5 minutes left.

It is unclear if 1 early turnover by Lin made Coach Pierce not rely much on Lin in a game against his old team where he worked as an assistant coach. Or there might be additional consideration of a back-to-back game to save his legs while still recovering. But the inconsistent playing time certainly does not help Lin’s attempt to regain his NBA form.

There is a lot of truth when Dominique Wilkins, one of NBA greats who works as the Hawks announcer, said Lin probably should be given a bit more time to get the rust out since he has not played much in 2 years.

Coach Pierce’s answer to a reporter’s question on Trae Young might offer some insight of what he looks for in the Point Guard position and his overall system.

[2:17] Reporter: “Trae Young did not get ginourmous numbers in the points column but his assists were there once again tonight”
Coach LP: “His numbers are not, you know .. 8 assists 0 turnovers. We’ll take that all day, every day. As I said, we didn’t capitalize on some of the shooting but we play the want we want to play:
– we got ball movement
– we got to the paint
– we made extra passes
and shots didn’t fall when we needed them to.
But I thought his floor-play, command of the offense, is great tonight”

Hopefully, Lin will know what Coach Pierce expects from him so he can get more playing time to gain his shooting rhythm quicker and help his team.

By psalm234