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Houston Rockets – Dwight Howard Hides the Jeremy Lin Problem
The Houston Rockets seem to be slowly giving up on their best point guard, demoting him into a bench role, although it still all might be about bringing him back slowly from injury. Sometimes, it’s hard to argue with numbers – their starting lineup that includes James Harden, Patrick Beverley, Chandler Parsons, Dwight Howard and Terrence Jones has the best net rating in the NBA.
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Houston Rockets – Jeremy Lin Seeing James Harden & Dwight Howard Doing Well Without Him
Initially, with Jeremy Lin out of the picture due to his ankle injury, the Houston Rockets looked disorganized and selfish. But since the return of Chandler Parsons, things have been looking better. James Harden isn’t as selfish and even putting an effort on defense, while Dwight Howard is playing his best basketball since signing that huge deal in the summer.
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Houston Rockets – Jeremy Lin Not Always Needed by James Harden & Dwight Howard
The Houston Rockets can win games without Jeremy Lin, but the question is whether or not this kind of defensive effort, which makes up for the unintelligent offense you get for putting the ball in the hands of James Harden all of the time, is going to be something we see from the team almost every night, or was this just a one-time deal, motivated by the growing rivalry with the Golden State Warriors.
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Houston Rockets – James Harden Without Jeremy Lin is a Disaster
With so many injuries the Houston Rockets are dealing with right now – Jeremy Lin, Chandler Parsons, Omer Asik and Greg Smith, it’s essential James Harden doesn’t just have great games, but doesn’t try and do everything on his own. Unfortunately for the Rockets, there’s no one stopping Harden from doing just that, leading to a third loss at home, this time to the surprising Phoenix Suns.
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Houston Rockets – James Harden Needs Jeremy Lin With Him
Without both Chandler Parsons and Jeremy Lin, it’s not that surprising to see James Harden try and win a game all on his own for the Houston Rockets. Despite a big fourth quarter it wasn’t enough, because the players around him aren’t smart enough to make up for those injured and not playing, and a bad defense that continues to plague this team in every game.
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Houston Rockets – James Harden Finally Plays Like He’s Supposed To
At a very early stage last season, the Houston Rockets decided that Jeremy Lin isn’t going to be the team’s point guard, James Harden will be. The problem? Despite his impressive scoring performances, he time and time again played too selfishly for his designated role. After sitting out a few games and watching Lin from the sidelines, maybe Harden finally understood what it takes to lead the Rockets to the next level.
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Houston Rockets – Jeremy Lin and James Harden Not Always Needed
With Jeremy Lin out for the next couple of weeks, there were those worried about the return of James Harden, which would mean too much selfish basketball for the Houston Rockets. Instead, they got a very dormant display from the team’s biggest star, while the right kind of style prevailed against the helpless Brooklyn Nets, as Chandler Parsons continued his excellent season with some big help from Omri Casspi, Francisco Garcia and Aaron Brooks coming off the bench.
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Houston Rockets – Jeremy Lin Injury Doesn’t Get in the Way
For now, it doesn’t seem like the bruise Jeremy Lin picked up is going to be something that keeps him from playing in the next game for the Houston Rockets. In any case, his absence, and that of James Harden, meant nothing to the surging Rockets, beating the Atlanta Hawks 113-84 with Aaron Brooks and Francisco Garcia picking up the slack with an impressive performance while coming off the bench.
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Houston Rockets – Jeremy Lin Makes Them Look Like a Team
Like a trail of breadcrumbs left for Kevin McHale to pick up and understand the hints, each time he uses Jeremy Lin the way he’s supposed to be used, the Houston Rockets look like a very good basketball team. It doesn’t matter that Aaron Brooks starred for the team in their 112-101 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves, but it does mean something that James Harden didn’t play, and unless something is done about his playing style the potential of this squad will continue to be wasted.
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Houston Rockets – James Harden & Jeremy Lin Enjoy The Dwight Howard Free Throw Show
At some point, hack-a-Dwight had to backfire on someone. That team happened to be the Denver Nuggets, seeing an incredible free throwing performance from Dwight Howard, stepping up instead of the mistake-filled James Harden game or Jeremy Lin having a solid performance from the bench, leading the Houston Rockets to a 122-111 win.