Ric Bucher's post on Basketball | Latest updates on Sulia

For those who didn't believe my answer to what's wrong with Jeremy Lin - James Harden - I offer you Monday night's

OT loss to SA, which Harden missed with a sprained right ankle. Linsanity instantly, magically, returned in the form of 38 points (including 12 of 12 FTs and 4 of 5 treys) and 7 assists. Lin supporters were desperately hoping that a W over the Spurs might, just might, convince the Rockets that maybe, just maybe, the wrong guy is being featured. In truth, had the 134-126 loss been reversed it wouldn't have mattered. The Rockets have far more money invested in Harden and, from what I've been told, coach Kevin McHale has far more faith in him for that to change. It simply proves that the show Jeremy put on for New York was no mirage -- he simply needs to be the main man with complementary players around him. (Omer Asik assumed the Tyson Chandler role ably with 21 points and 10 rebounds.) I mentioned that analytics indicate the two are far more efficient when they're on the floor without the other this season, but the reason is psychological, from what I'm told: Lin is not wired to be a catch-and-shoot, play-off-another-dominant-player type. It doesn't whet his competitive fire quite the same way. Or at least it never has. He was in that role in Golden State, Houston the first time and early on in New York and it's why he never got any run. Making it worse, he couldn't have known the Rockets were going to land Harden, so he had no time to work on his off-the-ball shooting game over the summer even if he had the desire to develop one. It's an interesting dilemma the Rockets face and I don't see more time together providing a solution.