Jeremy Lin is no Derrick Rose. He will never be Derrick Rose, he will never have the speed and athleticism of Derrick Rose
But Lin provides a particular set of skills that can make him dangerous to people like Rose ... if fully developed that is. Right now he's showing glimpses, but he can prove to be quite a pest to everyone else.
Here are some of the highlights of Lin against the Bulls.
In transition
(via JeremyLinChannel)
Lin continues to operate quite strong on the fastbreak when he doesn't have to work within the halfcourt sets, where he still struggles with his decision-making and how to distribute the ball between all his talented offensive options. You'll see here how he executes a perfect bounce pass to find Tyson Chandler when the Bulls are on their heels, getting the easy bucket before the defense can set up and dig in.
Steals
(via JeremyLinChannel)
Lin always struggled with keeping Rose in front of him, but he still remains active in the play and does his best to cause Rose some trouble when he meets the teeth of the defense. You'll see here how quick his hands are in stripping the basketball when Rose exposes it in trying to make a decision when his driving lane is cut off. If the Knicks defense does a good job, Lin can still make a play and turn it to offense on the other side. Lin had three steals in this one and made some other solid plays with the ball.
Blocks
(via JeremyLinChannel)
Lin again shows that he can stick with Rose even when he gets the first step, in this case making a spectacular backside block on Rose to prevent the layup. Lin is no incredible defender, but he can make plays if his man makes a bad decision. Lin added three blocks to his three steals tonight, showcasing his versatility.
Seth of Posting and Toasting (our Knicks SB Nation site) reports that he was satisfied with Lin in this contest.
Anyway, Lin did his darnedest against Rose. Offensively, he had eight assists, many of which came on terrific lead passes in transition. As in the previous game(s), though, Lin picked up his dribbles, lost some dribbles, and forced some shots (including one or two that would have had shirtless Knicks fans running around the court throwing grenades if Melo had attempted them). He was mostly in control and created plenty of plays, though.
It isn't Lin that's the biggest problem. The team has to learn to start playing around him. They need to learn to defend better, keep their men in front of him, and just stay active play after play. Lin is willing and able. His superstars Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire need to improve their overall play.
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