The Los Angeles Lakers’ three-game winning run came to an end at the hands of the Oklahoma City Thunder 108-101 on Sunday, but Jeremy Lin’s hot run lived on as the former Harvard hot-shot delivered another all-around game to help the purple-and-gold put up a strong fight against the Western Conference elite.
After struggling in the first half of the season, the 26-year old Lin is flipping the script at the right time, becoming the most consistent player on the Lakers roster five games after the All-Star break.
Lin, who recorded 14 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds in a win against the Milwaukee Bucks last Thursday, pulled off another virtuoso all-around performance off the bench, as he tallied 20 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals against the Thunder.
Capitalizing on the absence of injured superstar Russell Westbrook (facial fracture) and Kevin Durant (foot injury), Lin darted in and out of the Thunder defense for easy buckets while creating scoring opportunities for his teammates.
However, the Thunder still proved to be formidable even without their best scorers, as Enes Kanter (16 points and 18 rebounds) and Serge Ibaka (18 points and 14 rebounds) each racked up a double-double, while DJ Augustin recorded 18 points, 9 rebounds and 5 dimes to fill the huge void created by Westbrook’s absence.
Lin felt disappointed that they came up a little bit short against Thunder, believing the game was pretty much winnable had they made big baskets down the stretch. Nevertheless, the Asian-American tallied another quality outing, improving his average to 17.0 points and 5.0 assists over the last five games. He also shot 50 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free-throw line and turned the ball over just three times during the stretch.
Impressive by Lin’s strong game as of late, Lakers head coach Byron Scott has been mulling on inserting the guard back to the starting lineup at some time heading into the final 25 games of the season.
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