After a rough couple of weeks + a few days, Jeremy Lin’s return to the basketball court in another loss for the Atlanta Hawks is hopefully something to build on, and not a sporadic appearance in a sea of injuries that plague him.

Lin played 17 minutes after missing the Hawks’ last two (and he played just 4 minutes in the game before that). Atlanta lost 129-108, once again losing the game very early on during the 1st unit’s minutes on the court.

Lin wasn’t in his fantastic November form, but that’s to be expected after being in and out of the active roster for the last few weeks. He scored 8 points (two 3-pointers, 2-for-3 from the line) and added 4 assists.

We saw aggressiveness in spurts, especially when he had Terry Rozier guarding him but also a little bit of hesitance when driving to the basket when trying to decide what to do. It did lead to some nice assists, but Lin’s injury setbacks obviously showed their effect on his return game.

The Hawks’ starting PG and still face of the franchise’s future, Trae Young, had another one of those games that makes them look 780 miles west of there, across Alabama and Mississippi, perhaps envying Dallas with the leading candidate to win rookie of the year, Luka Doncic.

Lin’s next game is an interesting one – on the road, in Brooklyn, against the Nets, a team he was signed to help nurture and grow with, but ended up being mostly injured during his time there before getting traded to the Hawks. Revenge game? Perhaps, perhaps not. But the avenging factor is very small importance – Lin playing more minutes and staying healthy while getting his groove back on is the thing to look forward to.