Lin Brings Excitement Back to the Garden

In previous articles about the Knicks I've indicated that my displeasure with this year's team was not due to their lack of success, but with the disconnect between their ability and the results. The Knicks were losing in spite of the presence of two self proclaimed superstars. Both Amare and Carmelo have a tendency towards being ballhogs, and nothing is more singularly frustrating then watching the team standing around waiting for the stars to take a bad shot. Last night, with Amare grieving the death of his brother and Carmelo getting injured in the opening minutes, team basketball returned to the Garden.

The story of last night was the second straight strong performance by Jeremy Lin. Lin is an outlier in the NBA, he's the first Asian American in the league and he's also an undrafted free agent out of Harvard. He is the ultimate underdog, a player who struggled to find a college scholarship and has defied expectations throughout his entire career. Before Saturday's game, Lin had never scored more than 13 points in game, but he's scored more than 20 in the two games since. Lin has only recently found his way into the rotation. D'antoni turned him out of a sense of desperation, the point guard play has been atrocious the entire year. With the calls for D'antoni's head growing, he needed to find some alternative and thus Lin got recalled from the D-League and pressed into service.

Somehow this kid, who's been an afterthought his whole career, a sideshow based on his transcendence of ethnic stereotypes, has galvanized the Knicks and brought hope back into the Garden. Lin has been impressive, running the pick and roll with aplomb and shredding defenses, getting to the rim with ease. His play has had a palpable effect on the Knicks offense. Whether that's due to his skill, his presence as a true Point Guard, or the absence of ballhogging superstars, remains to be seen. Let's not get ahead of ourselves folks, I can recall Frank Williams stringing together some quality games, and he was out of the league within a year. Lee Nailon also had moments of brilliance. The league is riddled with players who've strung together two good games and never replicated the success. Once video tape of Lin's game becomes available, opposing coaches will formulate plans to counteract his game. Lin will likely regress in coming games, but these last two games have been so exciting. Even if Lin winds up back in the D-League, I don't think any Knick fan will forget the emotional lift he's brought in the last few days. Lin cleared away all the bad karma the team accrued, and brought back a scrappiness that has been missing all year.

Besides Lin, it was the odd couple of Steve Novak and Jared Jeffries that led the Knicks last night. Both Novak and Jeffries are singular talents in the NBA, there are no other players that offer their skill sets. This isn't necessarily a complimentary appraisal, both have some shocking weaknesses in their games. But both are in the NBA for a reason. Jeffries is a man who often draws laughter from the Garden faithful for his lack of grace when dribbling, his inability to shoot the basketball, his stringbean figure, and his utter lack of hands. Still he is an effective defender, a man who can guard most positions on the floor, uses his length to steal and rebound, and is willing to take a charge. Taking a charge is an underrated play in basketball, it involves sacrificing your body for the good of the team. For a team that's showed a jarring lack of heart for the whole year, Jeffries', who took 5 charges last night, willingness to take a charge has had a catalytic effect.

Steve Novak may well be the least athletic player in the league. He is a throwback to a the 1950s, when unathletic white guys dominated the league with set shots. Like Jeffries and Lin, Novak looks out of place on an NBA floor. But he is a uniquely good shooter. In an offense like Mike D'antoni's which relies on spreading the floor with shooters, his lack of playing time has drawn some fans ire. Last night Novak made 5 of 8 3 pointers. Novak has a long history of being a dead eye shooter so there is hope that his hot play will continue.

Now the question becomes how can the Knicks reincorporate their stars. The team the Knicks trotted out yesterday was probably no more talented than some elite college teams, and yet they played better basketball than I've seen all year. Theoretically, the talents of Melo and Amare should aid the team, but if they get away from the team basketball that has been successful for them in recent games we can expect a disappointing return to form. Hopefully both take a long hard look at themselves and try and adjust their games accordingly. They ought to realize that if this team of misfits, a veritable bad news Bears, can win games, there is no reason for the lack of success with the team at full strength.