On Friday afternoon, I got an email from the NBA Store shamelessly plugging a Jeremy Lin jersey.
Jeremy Lin certainly has made the most of his opportunity, and you can’t blame the NBA for trying to make the most of Jeremy Lin. But the cynic in me viewed the shameless monetization of a week-long fad as some sort of hex that surely would knock the Knicks neophyte off his cloud and bring him hurtling back to reality.
Wrong again.
Lin had his best game yet, scoring 38 points – the most by any Knick this season – and adding seven assists as they held off the Lakers, 92-85, for their fourth straight win. The streak has coincided with coach Mike D’Antoni – quickly running out of options to save his job – inserting Lin as his primary point guard.
You want Linsanity? We’ve got Linsanity.
- On Friday night, Lin scored four more points than Kobe Bryant, who leads the NBA in scoring.
- Including his off-the-bench effort in last Saturday’s win over New Jersey, Lin has four straight games of at least 20 points and five assists while making at least half his shots. The only other player with a similar streak this season is LeBron James, the leading candidate for MVP.
- In his first three career starts, Lin has scored 89 points. That is the most by any player in their first three starts since the 1976 NBA-ABA merger. (Via Elias)
From Mark Herrmann of Newsday: “Bryant wasn’t buying the plot line that Lin had come out of nowhere. “It just means we haven’t been paying attention to him. The skill level was probably there all along,” he said. When a reporter from China asked if he had any suggestions for the first Chinese-American to play in the NBA, Bryant said, “I’m not going to give him any damn suggestions. He almost got 40 points against us.” Actually, Lin was not totally unknown. The Lakers did consider signing him after he was cut loose by the Warriors, Brown said. They did see him a bit last season, when Lin was in their division. “I knew he used to miss layups on the fast break at Golden State. I know he used to turn the ball over at halfcourt. He was trying to find himself,” said Metta World Peace, the former Ron Artest. “He’s playing ball now.” Before the game, World Peace acknowledged what a role model Lin is to Asian- Americans. And the New Yorker in him jabbed advice to the new NBA comet: “You’re in New York, the fashion capital. Change your haircut. Wear some shades. Put down the nerdy Harvard book glasses and put on some black shades. Put on some leather pants. “Come to practice with your pants sagging and say, ‘I don’t feel like practicing. Practice? Practice?’ Come to practice with a cigar, lit. Have some swag. Put down that law book.”
The Knicks’ winning streak also has coincided with the disappearance of Carmelo Anthony. The ball-stopper was 3-of-15 in Lin’s coming-out party vs. New Jersey and injured his groin six minutes into Lin’s first start Monday vs. Utah.
D’Antoni legitimately laughed when he was asked after Friday’s win whether he would allow Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire – currently on bereavement leave and due back Monday – back in the lineup. The coach insists that the offense can remain fluid with the ball moving through both Lin and Anthony.
From Al Iannazzone of Newsday: “Both need the ball, and there has been speculation that Anthony, who is out with a strained right groin, will return to dominating the offense when he’s back. But D’Antoni believes Lin, Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, who is in Florida for his brother’s funeral, will make the Knicks a potent pick-and-roll team. “It’s like when we had Chauncey [Billups],” D’Antoni said. “Chauncey had the ball in his hands a lot. Melo has it a lot. Melo is one of the best pick-and-roll guys; hopefully now we have two of the best. I only see it helping. I don’t see it as a problem. There will be some adjustments on both people’s parts. I see it as a big, big plus.”
The NBA isn’t the only entity capitalizing on Lin. The Knicks also jacked up their ticket prices this week, although Bryant’s only visit to the Big Apple also may have had something to do with that. And the Knicks actually were considering cutting Lin just over a week ago.
From ESPN.com: “Sources with knowledge of the Knicks’ thinking told ESPN.com’s Marc Stein that the Knicks had been giving strong consideration to waiving Lin before his breakout game last Saturday against New Jersey. Sources told Stein that the Knicks, given Lin’s unguaranteed contract, were leaning toward releasing him before Tuesday’s 6 p.m. deadline and had begun targeting replacement point guards to take Lin’s roster spot, with veteran guard Mike James from their affiliate in the D-League (Erie BayHawks) chief among them. But after Lin’s 53 points combined against New Jersey on Saturday and Monday, New York scrapped its plans, with Lin’s contract becoming guaranteed for the rest of the season when Tuesday night’s deadline passed.”
As for the Lakers, they fell to 4-10 on the road and looked a little gassed after Thursday’s OT win in Boston. The Celtics looked a little short of breath, too, in an 86-74 loss at Toronto that left coach Doc Rivers a tad upset.
From Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald: “The coaching staff cooled down with an extended postgame meeting out in the hallway — clearly preferable to where they watched the actual calamity last night. The breakdowns started so early, Doc Rivers nearly drew a technical foul in the first quarter. The Celtics just had come out of a timeout, and the ball barely was inbounded before the play was botched. Rivers ran onto the floor, spewing epithets and screaming for another timeout. He called a huddle and immediately laid into the two apparent culprits — Chris Wilcox and JaJuan Johnson — before storming off to the bench, hurling invective into the air as if he was Kevin Garnett.”
The Lakers and Celtics are proud, historic franchises. But right now, both are looking up in the division standings at their rivals – the Lakers at the Clippers in the Pacific and the Celtics at the Sixers in the Atlantic.
The Clippers and Sixers met in Philadelphia, and the final two minutes was a microcosm of why the NBA is a star-driven league. The Clippers have the pairing of Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, who made the plays the team needed to win. The Sixers have a whole bunch of guys who aren’t ready for the big moment.
Here’s Philly’s possessions down the stretch:
- Trailing 74-73, 2:15 left: Five-second inbounds violation
- Trailing 74-73, 1:40 left: Lou Williams splits two free throws
- Trailing 76-74, 0:51 left: Andre Iguodala misses fading 17-footer
- Trailing 76-74, 0:20 left: Jrue Holiday splits two free throws
- Trailing 76-75, 0:18 left: Lou Williams makes two free throws
- Trailing 78-77, 0:03.9 left: Lou Williams doesn’t get off a shot
The game-winning shot was made by Paul, who tried to take Iguodala off the dribble, failed, threw a low bounce pass to Griffin who went to the floor to retain possession, got the ball back and drilled a tough, fading jumper over Iguodala.
The bottom line is the Clippers have Paul and Griffin, and the Sixers don’t.
From T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times: “Paul not only wins the game, but keeps the Clippers in position to have a chance to do so. They have no business winning this game. They’re not the same team since Chauncey Billups went down, and Vinny Del Negro is riding Paul like he’s afraid the commissioner will take him away if he doesn’t. “He’s my security blanket,” says Del Negro. Every time the Clippers fall behind by a considerable amount, the call goes to Paul to return to the game.”
Elsewhere …
- The Thunder completed a 3-2 road trip with a 101-87 win over the Jazz. On the trip, Russell Westbrook averaged 28.0 points and shot 52 percent from the field. The win clinched the Western Conference All-Star coaching berth for Scott Brooks. In this compressed season, OKC somehow now has three days off, then plays six of its next seven at home.
- The Bulls rested Derrick Rose, Pete Rose, Axl Rose, Charlie Rose and The Exorcism of Emily Rose and still beat the host Bobcats, 95-64. In its 13th straight loss, Charlotte had one player (Derrick Brown) in double figures as it was held below 75 points for the sixth time this season. We firmly believe the NBA is far superior to college hoops, but that may not be the case in North Carolina.
- The Heat gave the Wizards their first home sellout of the season, then gave them a 106-89 beating. Shane Battier scored a season-high 15 points, matching the total of his last seven games.
- The Hawks continued their murderous stretch with their second straight win, an 89-87 overtime escape at Orlando. All-Star snub Josh Smith sent a not-so-subtle message with 23 points, 19 rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Here’s the lineup heading into the All-Star break for Atlanta, which beat Indiana on Wednesday: vs. Miami, at LA Lakers, at Phoenix, at Portland, at Chicago, at New York, vs. Orlando.
- In a sloppy game, the Mavericks won at Minnesota, 104-97. Dallas welcomed back Jason Kidd, who had 10 assists but also had eight of the team’s 18 turnovers. Dirk Nowitzki scored a season-high 33 points and won his duel with Kevin Love, who had 32 points, 12 boards and five of the Wolves’ 28 giveaways.
- The Grizzlies had one bucket in the final 4 1/2 minutes but still pulled away for a 98-92 home win over the Pacers. Marreese Speights, who had 20 points on 8-of-32 shooting in his last five games, went for a season-high 19 on 8-of-13 shooting. Roy Hibbert celebrated his first All-Star berth by shooting 1-of-7.
- Jamal Crawford scored a season-high 31 points to help the Blazers hand the Hornets their eighth straight loss, 94-86. Portland is 4-9 on the road, with two of the wins at New Orleans. Hornets center Chris Kaman sprained an ankle during warmups. Hornets guard Jarrett Jack aggravated his knee bruise and is out at least a week. On Mar. 12, the Hornets host the Bobcats in the George Shinn Invitational.
- The Bucks edged the Cavaliers, 113-112, in overtime. Milwaukee rallied after coach Scott Skiles got himself ejected on purpose. Brandon Jennings snapped out of a slump with 24 and eight assists. Cleveland’s Antawn Jamison scored a season-high 34 points but gagged two free throws in the waning seconds of regulation, leaving the score tied.
- The Pistons routed the visiting Nets, 109-92, as Greg Monroe totaled 18 points and 11 rebounds. Don’t look now, but Detroit has won four in a row, its longest winning streak since a five-game run in Dec. 2009 – which was immediately followed by a 13-game slide. Just sayin’.