Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks keep winning, with their 100-85 home win over the Sacramento Kings being their seventh consecutive W. Lin took a step back from scoring, focusing on feeding his teammates, notching up a career high 13 assists as the Knicks finished with 7 players in double figures.
Landry Fields, the over “nerd” in this new and successful Knicks equation, still without Carmelo Anthony, led the team in scoring with 15 points, while Amar’e Stoudemire had a quiet with 11. No player on the Knicks team took more than 11 shots from the field, with the team finishing just over 50% from the field. The Kings’ soft defense didn’t do much to stop them as well.
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But as everything involving the Knicks right now, as long as Carmelo Anthony stays on the sidelines, it was about Jeremy Lin. From people selling tickets for thousands of dollars, to this amazing team chemistry that was so unlike D’Antoni’s team just two weeks ago, and to this other side suddenly seen from the point guard sensation, finishing with 10 points, 5 rebounds and 13 assists.
The bad? Turnovers. The entire offense is set on Lin handling the ball. Just like D’Antoni’s Suns project, that revolved entireley on Steve Nash’s ability to run the floor and make everyone better, the Knicks are going in the same direction with Lin. So far, it’s been perfect in terms of result, but Lin has been averaging six turnovers a game through his stars, and against better defensive teams, that will cost with more than just points.
For now, the craze continues, and it’s almost incredible no one has a movie out already. Lin will be at the All-Star game in the Shooting stars contest, while theories of David Stern thinking on how to get Lin in the game itself a running around the web. For now, you’ll have to settle for this extensive infographic on the most shocking rising of a unknown player in a very long time, maybe in the history of the league.
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The Knicks now improve to 15-15, still 8th in the Eastern conference and third in the Atlantic division, while the Sacramento Kings, losing for a third straight game, find themselves last in Pacific division and second to bottom in the conference at 10-19.