The Oklahoma City Thunder put on a scoring clinic on Sunday night, totaling 120 points in the team’s 29-point blowout of the Houston Rockets.
Oh sure, the Thunder are the top seed out west, so the expectations for the Rockets are not exactly at the forefront in this series. With that being said, Houston needs to figure out a way to slow down Oklahoma City’s offense. There’s no way that the Rockets can hang with the Thunder if they are giving up 120 points on a nightly basis.
James Harden had 20 points on Sunday night against his former team, but the real story in the game from Houston’s perspective was the play — or lack thereof — from Jeremy Lin.
Lin was awful, for lack of a better term. He scored just four points on 1-of-7 shooting in 32 minutes of action. In addition, Lin turned the ball over four times, as well. That’s right, he had just as many turnovers as points in 32 minutes of playoff basketball.
Lin was one of the Rockets’ biggest off-season acquisitions and for the most part this season, Linsanity has been pretty good in Houston. Lin averaged 13.4 points, 6.1 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game during the regular season, but Houston did not acquire him to do just that.
Lin had a bad game on Sunday, but it’s not the end of the world. He needs to make adjustments and come out ready to make plays for his team in Game 2. Houston has no chance without his normal production because keep in mind, this is an 8/1 match-up. Lin and the Rockets should be playing like they have nothing to lose because they really don’t have anything to lose — nobody expects them to win this series.
Follow Paul Seaver on Twitter: @PaulSeaverRS
