Jeremy Lin is enjoying the media darling treatment that any player for a New York based team with three consecutive impressive outings gets. Sometimes, it ends with a Super Bowl, like Victor Cruz coming out of nowhere this year. Sometimes, it’s like Joba Chamberlain.
The numbers? Lin plays a major, or the biggest part in three consecutive wins over the Nets, Jazz and Wizards. Three teams with a combined record of 26-51. I would consider Knicks fan and NY press to hold their horses, but doing stuff in the biggest market, as usual, sends ripple waves across the nation.
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Hey, I’m not saying the kid isn’t good. In three nights he’s suddenly averaged 25.3 points and 8.3 assists while shooting 58% from the field. Those are, like, All-NBA first team kind of numbers. They were good enough for giving Derrick Rose the MVP last season. Lin has to be the real deal, right?
Friday night, the Lakers are coming to town, and while the Lakers boast the same record as the Utah Jazz, pretty much, they should prove a much different kind of test. They have a much better defense and Lin will probably get to be watched, at least for a few possessions, very closely, by Kobe Bryant.
But there’s so much about Lin to love, to want him to be the real deal, for D’Antoni to find a point guard for his dysfunctional team, which looked much more of a team without Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire on the flood Wednesday night.
Lin is the first American player of Chinese or of Taiwanese descent in the NBA. He went undrafted in 2010, climbing his way up from the Summer Leagues to a starter from the New York Knicks, which still means quite a lot, even these days. He went to Harvard, and Ivy leaguers succeeding as pros always make a great story. You gotta love intelligent players, who also have grades to to back up their court-smarts.
Lin’s defense, for example, could be better. John Wall went off with 29 points, but D’Antoni tried to focus on the positive – I think it’s for real. The things that are real are his vision, which won’t change. His speed, which won’t change, his knowledge of the game, which won’t change. I think it can only get better.
Which makes us wonder – Where was D’Antoni hiding this kid all this time? Was he really happy watching his Knicks play unintelligent basketball, in a system that MUST HAVE a good and clever point guard running it, while Lin was rotting on the bench? It looks more like D’Antoni just got lucky by calling a raise and smiling when the river was revealed.
Hey, if Lin, in his third NBA start, feels comfortable telling guys like Tyson Chandler what to do while shouting at them, the Knicks may have some real hope yet. Bandwagon fans thinking the Knicks are 4 Real, again, here we come!