I’m sure you have all heard about it by now, but just in case you haven’t, here’s the video of Jeremy Lin‘s game winner against Toronto Tuesday night.
He led all Knicks in scoring with 27 points (12 in the fourth quarter, and the last 6 points of the game), along with 11 assists to help bring the Knicks back from a double-digit deficit.
There are no words to describe what we’re witnessing here. In the video, listen to the Toronto crowd (20,092), which was a sell-out, and only their second sell-out of the season. It sounds like TWO Madison Square Gardens in there!
JLin had a great first half Saturday night against the Timberwolves in Minnesota (15 points on 7-of-12 shooting, 4 assists) featuring golden boy point guard Ricky Rubio, but Jeremy had his first sub-par half as a starter when he shot 1-for-12 from the field for 5 points, and had 4 turnovers). Maybe all these minutes Lin has been logging the past 5 games over the past week finally caught up with him.
But Lin was still a hero when he drove hard to the hoop with a few seconds left in a 98-98 ball game, was fouled, and went to the line to hit 1-of-2 free throws. That ended up being the game winner. So even with a bad second half, he still willed his team to a win.
Lin is now 4-0 as a starter, but don’t forget he scored 25 points off the bench (vs. New Jersey on Feb. 4th) in the game before he became a starter.
ESPN had an interesting stat after this game. JLin has scored more points (109) in his first four starts than any player since 1976-77 (the year of the ABA-NBA merger). Behind him are the following (unbelievable some of the names on this list)!:
Allen Iverson – 101 Shaquille O’Neal – 100 Michael Jordan – 99 Bill Ray Bates – 99
Click here for more photos of Jeremy from the game.
After the Knicks beat the Lakers on Friday night, Jeremy Lin said in his post-game news conference the following:
“I talk to Yao after every game. He’s taken me out to eat every time we’re in the same city. He’s obviously a role model and a big brother and mentor to me. We keep in touch all the time.”
See the photos below of Yao and Jeremy together that I personally took back in July of 2010 when they met for the first time during the Yao Foundation Charity Tour stop in Taipei.
He states this at the 3:23 mark in the post-game video below. It’s also interesting at the 5:30 mark when he talks about how great of a player that Jared Jeffries is, who I personally thought had alot to offer when he was with the Rockets, but the Rockets wrote-off for some reason and gave up on him (sound familiar?…Lin, Jeffries, and Steve Novak, who are all playing well for the Knicks now).
Yao Ming and Jeremy Lin meet for the first time before the charity game in Taipei, Taiwan (7/28/10). Check out this video of coverage of Jeremy’s appearance in that charity game and how big of a deal it was in Taiwan, even back then.
Yao poses for a photo with Jeremy Lin and his family.
Jeremy Lin seemed to get more questions from the Taiwan press than Yao Ming, Bill Duffy, or any of the Taiwanese players or coaches combined.
Click here for the complete blog post from when these photos were taken back in July of 2010.
If you missed Friday night’s game, you missed an instant classic. Luckily, here’s a video of tonight’s highlights.
All the cheering and screaming at Madison Square Garden you hear in this video could have been happening at Toyota Center. As well as national TV games, increased attention in the U.S., Asia, and around the world.
And here’s ESPN coverage and analysis from Magic Johnson, Jon Barry, Michael Wilbon, and Chris Broussard after the game:
How bad do the Rockets look for cutting him and keeping Jonny Flynn instead? And how sick must Daryl Morey be feeling after seeing how Lin has performed this week? This is one of those occasions where stats and being a lottery pick (Flynn was the 6th pick in the draft) was valued more important than heart, desire and work ethic of an undrafted free agent…which is so odd since the Rockets are known for valuing that in their players past and present (Scola, Lowry, Chuck Hayes, Yao, etc). We would love to get your comments below about this.
Click here for more photos of JLin in tonight’s game (thanks to Raymond for posting them in the forum).
The following was reported by the AP earlier today. It looks like JLin is getting close to reaching Yao Ming status in China.
NEW YORK (AP)—Jeremy Lin is making the Knicks must-see TV in Asia.
The NBA says Thursday its Asian TV partners have added Knicks games to their broadcast schedules following the emergence of Lin, the first American-born NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.
Sina in China will show Friday’s game against the Lakers, while stations in Taiwan will televise Knicks games this month against Toronto, Sacramento, New Orleans, New Jersey and Atlanta. ESPN Philippines also added the Feb. 17 Hornets game in New York.
Lin, an undrafted guard from Harvard, has led the Knicks to three straight wins, scoring more than 20 points in each game.
Ironically, his performances are missed by many in New York. A dispute between Time Warner Cable and MSG Network is keeping the Knicks off that system.
MSG said its ratings are up 36 percent over its season average in the two games since Lin moved into the starting lineup on Monday.
Wednesday night was another incredible night for Jeremy Lin, who scored 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting, and had 10 assists on the road to help the Knicks beat the Wizards.
Highlights in the video below include:
– Beautiful drives to the rim throughout the game
– 2:38 – a gorgeous fadeaway bank shot high off the glass for a bucket
– 3:07 – a monster throw-down!
– Lots of cheering from the Washington crowd, many being Asian-Americans who came out to be part of Lin-sanity, just like YaoMania 10 years ago! Listen to them!
– On a couple of plays, former Rocket and 1st round draft pick Steve Novak scored 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting (5-of-9 from 3-point land).
Click here for more photos from the game, including a bad cut on Lin’s chin.
In case you hadn’t heard, Jeremy Lin had a breakout game Saturday night for the Knicks against the New Jersey Nets, scoring 25 points in an epic game that he said afterwards rated as the top game of his career.
THEN LIN DID IT AGAIN TONIGHT. In his first career start, Lin scored 28 points on 10-of-17 shooting to lead the team in scoring against the Jazz in another win, while also and dishing 8 dimes against the Jazz in another win. See photos of JLin from the game here, and the video highlights below:
The Knicks needed Lin since Amare Stoudemire didn’t play because of the death of his older brother, Carmelo Anthony had to leave the game because of a pulled groin, and Baron Davis‘ comeback has been slowed by an infected elbow.
Lin played almost the entire game (45 minutes) and obviously was fatigued as evidenced by his 8 turnovers. Coach Mike D’antoni, when asked if Lin got tired because he had to play him extended minutes because of the other players who were out, he replied, “Yeah, I’m riding him like friggin’ Secretariat.”
In case you haven’t seen it, below is an amazing video of Lin’s points and assists from Saturday’s game. You gotta love how his teammates react from the bench when Lin is blowing up.
And here is JLin’s post-game news conference after the Nets game:
Obviously, the Knicks are playing much better with Lin leading the team, penetrating into the lane, scoring, or kicking out to the open man. You can bet Lin will be playing lots of minutes from here on out.
With Lin proving he’s for real, I wonder how the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets feel about having released Lin earlier this season? Granted, both teams were deep at the point guard position, whereas the Knicks aren’t. And the Rockets apparently wanted to keep him, but they signed Samuel Dalembert instead, who has been a great acquisition for them. But did they really have to keep Jonny Flynn, who has done nothing for them this season?
What’s also odd is that other former Rockets now with the Knicks showed they can play well, too. Steve Novak scored 19 points (5-of-8 3-pointers) in just 19 minutes, and Jared Jeffries scored 13 and grabbed 8 boards against a larger front line.
Reports have surfaced in China that Yao is considering entering the film industry, which was confirmed by Erik Zhang, Yao’s agent and spokesperson. Here’s an excerpt from a Shanghai Daily article that was published earlier this week:
Previous reports said the Chinese basketball celebrity was in touch with Jay Cohen, an independent filmmaker in Hollywood and the two are planning to establish a film finance fund, according to TheWrap.com, a showbiz news website.
“It is still under discussion and we haven’t made a decision yet,” Zhang told reporters.
Cohen mentioned his cooperation with Yao Ming while being interviewed last week about his comment on Chinese film director Zhang Yimou’s latest work, “The Flowers of War,” said TheWrap.
Cohen said during his interview that the Chinese market is different from Hollywood, where the focus is firmly fixed on the bottom line. But he is optimistic about the business.
“They make movies for specific reasons,” Cohen told TheWrap. “Sometimes, it is to introduce the culture of China to other markets, sometimes for cultural history. No one is going to lose money, but sometimes they do it for a sense of cultural pride.”
It’s been busy for Yao over the past week, as seen in previous posts on this blog. Other things have happened this week worth mentioning that are recapped in this post (thanks to Raymond for posting these updates in the forum).
First, you may have heard that Yao participated in the National People Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultation Conference in Shanghai last weekend. Below is a photo of the “exciting” meetings they must have had. Look at all the sleeping attendees!
As always, Yao is such a hard worker, when other people may be resting, he has the discipline to be a professional. Can you imagine what would happen if city council members or state representatives in the U.S. were caught sleeping on the job like this?
Earlier in the week, Aaron Brooks‘ Guangdong Tigers played Yao’s Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks. Unfortunately for the Sharks, one of their star players, former Houston Rocket Mike Harris, wasn’t able to play because he had to fly back to the U.S. to attend the funeral of his brother. Brooks and his teammates took advantage by handing the Sharks their third loss in a row.
A couple of days ago, Yao took part in a Shanghai Oriental TV taping for the Spring Festival (a.k.a. Chinese Lunar New Year) where he played a chef in a short film and sang some Chinese New Year songs together with a group of children.
Click here for more photos of Yao at the taping of the Chinese Lunar New Year television special.
Since all TV stations in China are competing for viewership for the primetime variety shows airing on Chinese Lunar New Year Eve, Hunan Satelitte TV signed Shaquille O’Neal to a six-figure (U.S. dollars) appearance fee for their own show after they learned Shanghai Oriental TV had invited Yao Ming to be one of its stars for their show.
Shaq flew to Changsha of Hunan on a chartered flight last Saturday and spent Sunday in the studio taping his antics doing a Chinese shadow puppet show, kungfu fighting, street dancing, and making Chinese dumplings.
