so there's an asian guy in the NBA that's not 8 ft tall?

[Miramonti]

I feel bad for Lin because when he finally has a "bad" game, scoring less than 20 points, it'll seem really bad (compared to his streak). In reality, that'd be a pretty good/average game for most players.

I think at the end of the day, he will be measured by whether or not the knicks are better with him and by how much, and are they more successful with him in the playoffs. Optimally, they'd be very successful and most everyone else's stats would prosper. If he's still doing this with Melo and Amare in the lineup, it could be a sign he's not able to gel the team and stars well enough. Take for example Monte Ellis, who has often has some great games, but few believe he contributes much to winning.

Only time will tell.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I really don't know what it is about this guy? Even watching his game you think this guy is a solid nba player but nothing special. Somehow at the end of the game he ends up with near 30 points and almost 10 assists though. It's f@cking crazy.

 

[darkxshade]

I thought his last play was smart by waving off his team to the corners for the iso play. That forces the raptors to man on man defense... can't double team him or it'll be 3v4 at the rim. Then with the man on man defense and the runway clear, he forced Calderon to back up to anticipate the drive and he nails the jumper instead. It was definitely a difficult scenario for the Raptors.

 

[Miramonti]

I really don't know what it is about this guy? Even watching his game you think this guy is a solid nba player but nothing special. Somehow at the end of the game he ends up with near 30 points and almost 10 assists though. It's f@cking crazy.

I still think he reminds me more of Rose, than Nash. He has a tenacious hard to stop drive, and can take contact and improvise around the rim. Like Rose he's not a great shooter, not even a great passer, but still shuffles the defense by being there.

He's not a Nash or Paul etc. with the pick and roll, and still makes d-league mistakes. But he competes and tries to make the right decisions on every possession. I think there is a simplicity and tenacity to his game that is effective and gets his teammates playing with an edge, particularly on the defensive end when needed. The way the defense stepped up in the 4th was outstanding.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I thought his last play was smart by waving off his team to the corners for the iso play. That forces the raptors to man on man defense... can't double team him or it'll be 3v4 at the rim. Then with the man on man defense and the runway clear, he forced Calderon to back up to anticipate the drive and he nails the jumper instead. It was definitely a difficult scenario for the Raptors.

That was bad defense by Calderon. He was way too far off. He should of forced a harder shot than that. If Lin gets around you hopefully help comes in and Lin is put into a much more difficult situation. At that point Lin has to take a tougher shot or make a pass and someone else needs to make a shot. Uncontested 3 at the buzzer is unacceptable. Especially as close as Lin was. If Lin was 5 ft out and jacks up a 3 you live with that. You can't let him dribble down and take it right at the 3 line.

 

[Miramonti]

I thought his last play was smart by waving off his team to the corners for the iso play. That forces the raptors to man on man defense... can't double team him or it'll be 3v4 at the rim. Then with the man on man defense and the runway clear, he forced Calderon to back up to anticipate the drive and he nails the jumper instead. It was definitely a difficult scenario for the Raptors.

It blows my mind he did that. Who starts for the first time a little more than a week ago, yet tells his teammates including the "superstar" STATS at the end of a tied game, 'don't worry guys, I got this one.' LOL

 

[slayer202]

Noooo no nononoo. His jump shot has been his weak point. You let him shoot that ball

 

[Eug]

I feel bad for Lin because when he finally has a "bad" game, scoring less than 20 points, it'll seem really bad (compared to his streak). In reality, that'd be a pretty good/average game for most players.

If he remains in the teens for points with lots of assists and few turnovers, and the Knicks keep on winning a decent number of games, I think most will be happy with him. Or at least they should be.

 

[Miramonti]

That was bad defense by Calderon. He was way too far off. He should of forced a harder shot than that. If Lin gets around you hopefully help comes in and Lin is put into a much more difficult situation. At that point Lin has to take a tougher shot or make a pass and someone else needs to make a shot. Uncontested 3 at the buzzer is unacceptable. Especially as close as Lin was. If Lin was 5 ft out and jacks up a 3 you live with that. You can't let him dribble down and take it right at the 3 line.

Maybe should have closed a little more with the clock winding down, but it's all 20/20 hindsight. Who would have possibly thunk he's going to shoot the 3 when his bread and butter, not to mention statistics lies in him being aggressive with his the drive? I think Calderon played the stats and was right to give him the left, but was clearly shocked to see the shot (like everyone else.) He looked like sh!t when the shot fell, lol.

 

[darkxshade]

That was bad defense by Calderon. He was way too far off. He should of forced a harder shot than that. If Lin gets around you hopefully help comes in and Lin is put into a much more difficult situation. At that point Lin has to take a tougher shot or make a pass and someone else needs to make a shot. Uncontested 3 at the buzzer is unacceptable. Especially as close as Lin was. If Lin was 5 ft out and jacks up a 3 you live with that. You can't let him dribble down and take it right at the 3 line.

I somewhat agree with that... I'm no pro so I can't say how difficult it would have been to keep track of the game.

The thing is that I'm looking at it from the Raptors perspective, they didn't have a gameplan cuz no one has called timeout[also a smart play by MDA not to call it]. So here we have is Calderon with his back against his team and the Knicks... and what we have to work with is that Jeremy is a driver and a not a great shooter so I found it understandable that Calderon was trying to prepare for the drive. He was not expecting a shot at all.

Though the one thing I would have done differently is that defensively, he could have tightened up as the seconds wound down because at the 5 sec mark, it wouldn't make sense to go for a drive and pass it off as defenders closed in on him.

edit: Jeremys body language during that last play was very indicative of a drive, very deceptive. Anyway, editing to say that play was a one off IMO, he won't be able to use it again. The first hint was when he did it to Gasol but that wan't a game winning shot but now people will know that's part of his arsenel now that he did it in a clutch situation.

 

[Eug]

The Lakers tried the same thing. They tried to make him shoot the jumpers.

So he did, and sunk them.

BTW, the Lakers seem to like watching Lin too, despite that 38 point blowout.

Jeremy Lin's heroics leave Lakers giddy

Somebody already mentioned World Peace yelling "Linsanity!" after Lin sank the game-winning 3, but after the Toronto game Kobe also said:

"He's playing extremely well. I don't see it as a fluke. Watching him play against us and watching him tonight a little bit, he knows what he's doing. I don't think it's an accident by any means."

 

[Miramonti]

The Lakers tried the same thing. They tried to make him shoot the jumpers.

So he did, and sunk them.

BTW, the Lakers seem to like watching Lin too, despite that 38 point blowout.

Jeremy Lin's heroics leave Lakers giddy

Somebody already mentioned World Peace yelling "Linsanity!" after Lin sank the game-winning 3, but after the Toronto game Kobe also said:

"He's playing extremely well. I don't see it as a fluke. Watching him play against us and watching him tonight a little bit, he knows what he's doing. I don't think it's an accident by any means."

I heard about Hawks players turning on the game when they were finished, a few games ago, to watch what him play. It's the stuff movies is made out of.

Sounds like they are going to slot him into the All Star Weekend activities next week. It would be a tragedy if he has the worst games of his career right beforehand, lol.

 

[darkxshade]

Honestly I don't wanna see him at the All Stars, with the condensed schedule, I'd prefer he get more rest... but that's just me.

 

[JSt0rm]

This shit is crazy. The thing is I know a lot of you are hard core nba fans and you guys are probably looking at this whole thing like well wait and see but to a passive observer its pretty crazy looking.

The thing is I dont think the nba gives a huge shit about the hardcore base. For every 1 of you there are 2000 people looking at this thing, easily. They are looking at a tiger woods right here. They are looking at $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[3chordcharlie]

That was bad defense by Calderon. He was way too far off. He should of forced a harder shot than that. If Lin gets around you hopefully help comes in and Lin is put into a much more difficult situation. At that point Lin has to take a tougher shot or make a pass and someone else needs to make a shot. Uncontested 3 at the buzzer is unacceptable. Especially as close as Lin was. If Lin was 5 ft out and jacks up a 3 you live with that. You can't let him dribble down and take it right at the 3 line.

I've got no problem with allowing that shot. A hand up would have been good, but Lin isn't a terribly good shooter, so honestly you want him to take a long-range shot in that situation. Play him close and any foul ends the game = 60%+ chance of losing game immediately + 20% losing in OT = 20% chance of victory.

The other legit choice was to foul him with 8-10 on the clock, which doesn't fit with established strategy in a tie game, but Lin was visibly tired, and had missed three straight free throws in the 4th quarter; adrenaline and 'playing through' don't help shooting from the stripe, so likely you get the ball back down 1 with time for a play = 30-40% chance of victory in regulation.

It's worth noting the raptors had just taken a brutal foul call rebounding a missed FT (on their defensive end).

When that ball went up, there was a 75% chance the game was going to OT = ~37% chance of victory.

 

[Noirish]

buy MSG!

 

[Miramonti]

buy MSG!

I'd definitely consider shorting some if it surges some more, but it's only at 32 up from 29.

 

[darkxshade]

I've been tracking MSG too ever since the craze but it's hard to pull a trigger when you don't know what his averages will be like. Where will the revenue come from as a result of his popularity? Do they get a cut of merchandising sales? I know they own the Knicks but have to differentiate the Knicks from the NBA which they don't own. I don't know how their business model works.

 

[Miramonti]

I've been tracking MSG too ever since the craze but it's hard to pull a trigger when you don't know what his averages will be like. Where will the revenue come from as a result of his popularity? Do they get a cut of merchandising sales? I know they own the Knicks but have to differentiate the Knicks from the NBA which they don't own. I don't know how their business model works.

At some point, he WILL be a normal player albeit perhaps a good one. They are still the Knicks and D-less D'Antoni is still the coach, lol. So the point is to short the shares at a level that even if you're wrong, you're right because it will have already compensated for potentially more revenues. I don't see it at that point tho. Perhaps if it goes down with the market going down one could do well, or if it hits 27-28, it could be a buy. It's not a highly volatile stock in either case, so even if one is right, one isn't going to be extremely right unless they bet over-proportioned to the risk they are taking.

So I guess my conclusion is there isn't much here warranting a bet yet either way.

 

[JujuFish]

and he just beat Shaq out when setting the record for most points scored all time in his first 5 games as a starter.

Since the ABA-NBA merger. He'll need 23+ points to keep that distinction through 6 games.

 

[HendrixFan]

I really don't know what it is about this guy? Even watching his game you think this guy is a solid nba player but nothing special. Somehow at the end of the game he ends up with near 30 points and almost 10 assists though. It's f@cking crazy.

D'Antoni.

Not saying he doesn't have some skills but put him on any other team with any other coach and non of this ever would have happened.

 

[darkxshade]

So I guess my conclusion is there isn't much here warranting a bet yet either way.

Like I said, I don't know how their business model works but if he even turns out above average which seems very likely at the moment then from that standpoint I can see:

-Time warner buckling to contract demands of MSG = more revenue
-Broadcasting rights to international markets = more revenue
-Merchandising[Modells just stocked up 800,000 Lin Jerseys] = more revenue
-Rising ticket prices at the Garden for as long as he's a Knick = more revenue
-Even NY Rangers are killing it.


The list prob goes on so I'm looking out months or at least until 2 quarters away I can totally MSG making a run. But again, I don't know where they get a cut so I'm hesitant. I have enough stock picks as it is.

 

[Sephire]

 

[rh71]

my mom called and asked if I got my kids Lin jerseys yet. Really?

 

[HendrixFan]

I can't read any NBA news without it having something to do with Lin. The blogs are just overflowing with him now.