Nate Silver looks at past players who have scored 20 or more points, had 6 or more assists, and shot better than 50 percent in four or more games in a row. It’s an illustrious list of all-stars, including Jordan, Bird, and Magic, with only a handful who were just so-so.
Like everyone else, I was skeptical. I saw him play with the Warriors, and it was never that impressive. However, watching last night’s game against the Lakers it was hard not to buy in to Linsanity. We’ll see if he can extend the streak tonight against Minnesota, but even if the Knicks do win, should we read that much into it? Remember, there aren’t that many other scoring options on the Knicks right now, two of the past four wins were against horrible teams (New Jersey and Washington) and the other two, the Lakers and the Jazz, were teams just slightly above .500.
He got the 20+ points and 6+ assists….the 50%, not so much.
The fix is Lin.
This is just what the NBA needs after a nasty strike killed half a season. I’m gettin’ a bit excited about Lin myself.
Same here. I wasn’t feeling this season as much as previous ones (although I’ve still been watching plenty of games), but my interest is peaked.
Nice nice nice article.
Like Jeremy said, he DID NOT expect this to happen. He was never given the chance to play with the first team in a real match enough time for that chemistry to happen.
He might be an above average point guard, but not sensational. It is his flow and chemistry with the team that cause the Linsanity! Soon he will definitely come down from the peak and not score that many, because the main task of point guard is not to score but control the flow of the game. But it is his ability to make everyone on the team better that is valuable!
Knicks is the perfect storm for Jeremy Lin, and as a fellow Bay Are-ian and basketball lover, I cannot be happier. The D’Antoni system has always been a PG dominated system, and for anyone that can run the pick and roll properly it can do him wonders (exhibit A: Raymond Felton). Lin got waived by 2 teams with guard depth, and landed in NY with great system to show off his talent, cracked the line up due to lack of competent PGs, and fired up the team in all cylinder while the infamous black hole known as Melo is out with an injury. Not that I doubt he will eventually find a place in the league, but the Linsanity is one of the best NBA storylines I can remember in recent history.
Despite all the accolades and success in HS and college, Linsanity was overlooked by:
1) Div I schools even after HS state championships and first-team all-state awards.
2) All 30 teams in the NBA draft.
3) The Dallas Mavs even after seeing Linsanity in person during summer league.
4) The GSW after sending him to the D-League time and again where he explodes for triple-doubles nightly.
5) The Rockets.
6) The Knicks for a month despite needing a point guard.
Only dumb luck gave Linsanity an opportunity to prove himself. Fact is, he was being judged by the color of his skin rather than the content of his character and playmaking.