04/20/24
February 11, 2012
Jeremy Lin Drops 38 on Lakers: New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin scored 38 points and dished seven assists in a 92-85 victory Friday over the Los Angeles Lakers. Lin, an undrafted 23-year-old out of Harvard cut by two other teams earlier this season, has become an overnight sensation after scoring 25, 28, 23 and now 38 points in his first four starts with the team. "It is not often that a guy is going to play four games, the best you are going to see, and nobody knows who he is," said flabbergasted and flummoxed New York coach Mike D'Antoni.
posted by rcade to basketball at 01:25 PM - 9 comments
This is an unbelievable story. I just figured out yesterday who Jeremy Lin was, after wondering how I could be sick of a sports star's hype when I'd never heard of him.
posted by rcade at 01:44 PM on February 11, 2012
Yeah, it is unbelievable, and so awesome for him- I'm not tired of the hype, I only recall someone making some "Lin" pun a couple of days ago (on Metafilter, maybe, or here?) and not even getting it.
Now? Yeah, he'll likely come back from cloud 9, but if you can put up those numbers in 4 straight games you shouldn't be sent back to the far end of the bench any time soon; one game is a fluke, but four in a row means the guy has the ability to play at an NBA-level.
And the fact that his story sounds like he's a smart, balanced guy who works hard at the fundamentals of the game, with the humility of taking demotion gracefully and seeing it as an opportunity to improve one's game... it just makes you want him to continue to succeed.
posted by hincandenza at 03:10 PM on February 11, 2012
Anyone who's not bashful about taking 2 pointers (both medium and long) and still shot for well over 50% from the field in that game gets my vote.
The party will be over when someone mistakenly refers to His Royal Courtsideship as Spike Lin.
posted by beaverboard at 03:37 PM on February 11, 2012
Watched Lin play UConn last year and he looked like a poised veteran playing amongst kids. He really sees the game well.
posted by cixelsyd at 04:43 PM on February 11, 2012
Heh... they won again tonight 100-98 over Minnesota, he scored 20 with 8 assists, including the game winning free throw with 4.9 left. :)
posted by hincandenza at 01:04 AM on February 12, 2012
NBA needs this sort of hype, post-lockout
posted by NerfballPro at 12:22 PM on February 12, 2012
This guy predicted him as the second best point guard in the 2010 draft after John Wall.
The reason is two numbers Lin posted, 2-point FG pct and RSB40. Lin was at .598 and 9.7. This is impressive on both counts. These numbers show NBA athleticism better than any other, because a high score in both shows dominance at the college level on both ends of the court.
I can see where his athleticism could be underrated by scouts. His quick first step is apparent but after that he just doesn't appear all that athletic. I watch him play and he gets into places that only athletic players can get to and I'm left scratching my head.
I remember that Lin tore it up in summer ball last year and then just vanished in the regular season. The Warriors fans would be chanting his name trying to get him in in garbage time. It's crazy to me that so many teams have seen him up close and just shrugged and let him go. Great story.
posted by tron7 at 12:25 PM on February 12, 2012
I watched most of this game and I'm no Knick fan, when Kobe got dialed in during the second half, I thought it was all over. As trite as it comes off in the media reports, it really did feel like a battle between Lin and Kobe in the fourth quarter. I kept thinking to myself "Kobe is not going to let Lin be the highest scorer". The fact that Lin could make those clutch plays and passes is remarkable. It was the most exciting pro basketball I've seen in quite a while.
Nate Silver from 538, ran a great statistical piece on Lin a few days ago. In the last 25 years only 41 players have scored at least 20 points, had at least six assists and shot 50 percent over a period of four consecutive N.B.A. regular season games. (I don't know what his shot % was in the Minnesota, but he scored 20 and had 8 assists).
About a dozen of those players were "All-time greats", and the rest are then broken down into "Franchise Players", "All Stars", "Above-Average Players", etc.
Only 3 of those 41 could be considered "Mediocre" players, meaning their stats were a fluke. Silver's conclusion is that Lin is highly unlikely to be in that category.
posted by jeremias at 03:28 PM on February 12, 2012
Highlights from the game, plus a brief interview in the middle.
The kid is humble and obviously knows he's on cloud 9 right now. It'll be interesting to see what happens when Melo comes back. This is a good news/bad news thing for the Knicks.
He's going to have crazy pressure on him, and I hope he can handle it.
My favourite fan shirt from the video:
All I do is
Lin, Lin, Lin