featured-image

Lin and Kelly Return to Starting Lineup

The Lakers will debut their 12th starting lineup of the season against Oklahoma City on Tuesday, as Jeremy Lin and Ryan Kelly have been tabbed to replace Wayne Ellington and Jordan Hill. Jordan Clarkson, Wesley Johnson and Tarik Black will remain in the starting five.

On the heels of his 29-point display on Sunday, Lin will start for the first time since Jan. 19. However, head coach Byron Scott says that he had been planning on starting Lin even before the first-year Laker dropped his season high in scoring.

Now, Scott wants to see consistency from Lin, who has struggled to string together exceptional performances in consecutive games this season.

“I want to see the next 10-14 games with consistent play from him on both ends of the floor,” Scott said. “And I know he’s capable of doing it. It’s just a matter of going out there and doing it. But the last couple of weeks, like I’ve said, he’s played some really good games.”

Scott is also looking forward to evaluating how Lin meshes with fellow point guard Jordan Clarkson in the starting lineup.

“It makes us better offensively as far as that we don’t have one guy predominantly dominating the ball,” Scott said. “Both of these guys make passes. Both of them can beat you off the dribble. They can create shots for themselves and their teammates.”

Lin, who played shooting guard at Harvard and also played in dual point-guard lineups with Houston, also anticipates that he and Clarkson can boost the offense alongside one another.

“I think we’ll be able to help each other,” Lin said. “I don’t necessarily always see it as: ‘You’re the point guard and I’m the shooting guard, or I’m the point guard and you’re the shooting guard.’ It’s just tandem, and I think it can be pretty effective in terms of just two ballhandlers bringing the ball up the floor.”

Lin currently averages 11.6 points and 5.0 assists in 29.6 minutes as a starter, which slightly dip to 10.8 points and 4.5 assists in 23.5 minutes off the bench. The 26-year-old now hopes to make the most of his first start in 25 games.

“I just want to keep building on everything,” he said. “Just keep going out there and trying to play hard and run the team and stuff like that. I feel like the mentality can’t change really. It shouldn’t be any different.”

Kelly, meanwhile, has averaged 5.9 points in 23.1 minutes in the starting five, and 3.5 points in 15.5 minutes as a reserve. Having played mostly small forward this season, Kelly will now start at his natural power forward slot.

The Duke product played predominantly power forward as a rookie in Mike D'Antoni's offense last season, averaging 8.0 points, while making 25 starts. Kelly's efficiency has also fallen with this year's position change, as he is shooting 29.4 percent from the field after hitting 42.3 percent in 2013-14.

Pressey Fills In
Scott will miss the Lakers’ next two games in order to attend the funeral of his mother, Dorothy Scott, who passed away last Sunday. He has tabbed assistant coach Paul Pressey to serve in his stead, which Scott says was an easy decision.

“He knows me and the players know him, so Paul will do a great job,” Scott said. “He’ll be demanding just like I am. He’s gonna ask them to play extremely hard every night. And I know him: He’ll get the best out of them.”