In the past two games at Madison Square Garden, something magical has happened. Jeremy Lin has written history and helped the Knicks in a crucial stage of their development.
Lin’s two extraordinary games have sparked sensation within New York; the stats speak for themselves – 53 points total, 15 assists, nine turnovers, and most importantly two wins – but here are my observations:
- He runs the pick and roll surprisingly well and gets out on the fast break quickly. Look at what happens when D’Antoni gets a semi-decent point guard.
- Lin favors his right hand over his left and it’s particularly noticeable when he goes up for a layup on the left side. Teams will eventually pick up on that and attack his left hand ruthlessly.
- On his contract: he is paid a non-guaranteed, pro-rated $762,000 this season ($11,545.45 per game) while Carmelo Anthony, for comparison’s sake, gets paid a guaranteed $18.5 million ($280,606.06 per game). Melo makes almost twenty five times the amount.
- It goes without saying, but Lin has earned himself the starting point guard role easily and without a doubt. Shumpert and Douglas were clearly never suited for the position anyway.
- While D’Antoni has found himself a thoroughbred in Lin, the second year point guard has played over 80 minutes in the past two games. Lin gets the day off on Tuesday, but still needs to get less usage. It’s easy to ride the hot hand – and Lin definitely has the hot hand – but it’s also necessary to take a step back and realize this could be a useful player further down the line… like in the playoffs.
- Lin has been able to hit the the open man. A lot of times you would see Douglas look straight at the hoop or telegraph his passes when he was running the show. Lin does none of the above. He puts the ball in the right place without letting the defense know he is going to do so, and it makes watching the team one hundred times easier on the naked eye.
Young Jeremy didn’t win these two on his own; he did it with the help of Jared (five charges), Shump, Landry, Steve Novak (5-8 3PM), Bill Walker, and Tyson, but it was Lin leading the charge from the get-go. And from couch, it sure looked like magic.
