Jeremy Lin Was Following Coach’s Instructions On No Late Game Foul That Sent Kobe Bryant Berserk

Kobe Bryant and Jeremy Lin defends — Oct 31, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24), guard Jeremy Lin (17) and Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin (32) battle for the ball in the second half of the game at Staples Center. Clippers won 118-111. Reuters

Jeremy Lin reveals in a post-game interview that he was just following the instructions of Los Angeles Lakers coach Byron Scott on the postponement of the foul late in the game against the Memphis Grizzlies. The Lakers were down by a point after Kobe Bryant made a three with 24.2 seconds remaining in the game and the score at 106-105.

With not much time remaining to get back the ball, Bryant was seen going berserk and instructing Lin to give the foul to stop the clock and send Mike Conley, Jr. to the line. With nobody responding to his instructions, Bryant was clearly infuriated and gave the foul himself, running all the way to the top of the key. Lin reveals later that is was Scott after all who gave the instruction to keep in abeyance the foul up until 10 seconds remain in the shot clock.

"Yeah, I told him to wait until they got past half-court. Then, we wanted to foul him by the ten second mark so he was trying to listen to me while I'm trying to talk to him an Kobe ran up to make the foul and I told Kobe that was my judgment," Scott told reporters in the post-game interview.

Regarding Kobe angrily fouling when Lin was waiting, Byron said he wanted Lin to wait till 10 secs left. And Byron said he told Kobe later.
— KEVIN DING (@KevinDing) January 3, 2015

The incident is the latest in a series of breakdown of communications during late game situations in the Lakers' season. Earlier in the season, Bryant was even captured by cameras as telling his teammates to get out of the way as he takes the final shot. There was not much difference in the Grizzlies game as Bryant missed again the game tying shot as he tried an under duress three point attempt off a Lin inbounds pass. The Western Conference power walked away with the road victory and pushed the Lakers further down the standings at 10-23.

Lin, incidentally played one of his better games of the year with a statistical line of 20 points, 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals on just 14 shots. Bryant just took 14 shots and but was still instrumental down late in the last rally of the home squad. Despite the miscommunication with Lin late in the game, Bryant was appreciative of the positive impact the Harvard standout made in the game and said that his teammate is finding the right balance of when to score or when to setup his teammates which bodes well for the Lakers going forward.

Watch the post-game interview with coach Scott below: