Los Angeles Lakers News: Jeremy Lin's Play Through the First Week of the NBA Season
The Los Angeles Lakers and point guard Jeremy Lin are entering this 2014-15 NBA season with a lot of questions. Bringing in head coach Byron Scott was a good choice, but this squad is off to an 0-4 start. Much of the Lakers success depends on 26-year-old point guard Lin and veteran shooting guard Kobe Bryant.
It's never easy adjusting to a new team, so Lin and Bryant have a lot of work to do. Let's review how Lin has done so far.
Game 1
In their first game, the Lakers faced the Houston Rockets. Lin played the previous two seasons on the Rockets and helped the team make the playoffs in a tough Western Conference. Unfortunately for the Lakers, the game resulted in a blowout loss at home. Constant booing of Dwight Howard didn't help as the big man had 11 rebounds. Lin didn't have a great shooting debut with just one shot made from the field out of five shots. The Rockets won the game 108-90.
Fortunately for the Lakers, Lin did lead the team in minutes played (29) and assists with six. Lin only took one 3-point shot attempt and grabbed two rebounds. The Lakers will need Lin to continue racking up his assists, especially with Steve Nash out for the season.
Game 2
The Lakers suffered a terrible 119-99 defeat to the Phoenix Suns in their second game of the season. Coach Scott decided to go with Ronnie Price at point guard for the majority of the game. With Price starting most of the minutes for the Lakers, Lin was only able to score six points and get one assist. Even though the Lakers lost by 20 points, this served as a good "experiment game" for the Lakers. Obviously, Lin is a better option than Price.
Game 3
The Lakers faced their intercity rivals in Game 3, the Los Angeles Clippers. Despite losing the game 118-111, the Lakers had their best offensive game of the season. Lin had an outstanding offensive game with nine assists and 17 points in 34 minutes of action. Lin scored the very first basket of the game, a 3-point shot. The significance of that shot was it was the Lakers largest lead of the season at the time.
With less than five minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the game was tied at 103. Lin hit an amazing running three point shot over Paul to give the Lakers a 106-103 lead. Unfortunately for the Lakers, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul III were just too much to handle. Griffin scored 39 points in the Clippers second victory of the season.
Game 4
In Game 4 the Lakers were embarrassed by the Golden State Warriors, 127-104. Bryant and Jordan Hill had a combined 51 points, but the Lakers played virtually no defense. Stephen Curry stole the show with 31 points and 10 assists. Lin didn't have a great scoring game with just six points, but he did have a team high six assists.
So far this season, Lin leads the Lakers in assists with 22. Surprisingly, Lin has made the second most three point shots on the team and he ranks second on the squad in minutes played. The biggest blemish for Lin this season has been turnovers, but Lin is shooting 92.9 percent from the free throw line so far this season.
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