The Stephen Curry injury reverberates throughout the roster as his absence has required teammates to play out of position. Not that players playing out of position is anything entirely new if you’re a professional basketball player and especially if you play for the Warriors under Don Nelson.
But Marcus Thompson reports that coach Smart is a bit concerned about his other players ability to push and dictate the tempo the way a point guard can and should. With that said, Smart needs Lin more than ever to step up:
“These guys have to be in their position,” Smart said. “That’s why it’s so important for a guy like Lin if he can come in and give us quality minutes at the backup point guard for now until we get healthy. That’s a big plus if he can come in and keep us organized, take care of the basketball, know where to go on the floor and do what he does well.”
Reviewing Lin’s performance against the Lakers on Halloween, here’s what Smart had to say:
“Few little minor details that he has to clean up,” Smart said of Lin’s performance Sunday, “but he knew what he wanted to do. He got in there and called a few offensive sets and got the team organized. I thought when he came in the game, he really forced the tempo a bit, which is what you want. He made a big, big jump.”
There will definitely be a lot of speed bumps along the way for a young point guard playing on a short, short leash. Oddly, Lin seems to play his worst when the home crowd is behind his side. He looked much more relaxed against the Lakers, where he seemed calm in running the offense and not hurrying his passes or dribbling into double, triple teams. But the Warriors host the Memphis Grizzlies tonight at the Oracle Arena, which could spell doom for Lin as the fans get behind him.