Jason Terry And The Best Athlete Tattoos

Best. Tattoo. Ever.

Talk about a guy buying in. You can’t remove that. Well you can but the laser surgery costs a bunch and then you have an ugly scar instead of the best tattoo I’ve ever seen on an athlete.  The Jet is just unbelievably excited to play for the Celtics and that is just so awesome so see/hear/sense in any way.

“I have been a little busy getting a new tattoo. Obviously I did it with the Mavericks before the season the year we won it, and hopefully this year, again, we’ll have the luck of the leprechaun and we’ll get it done again. I definitely believe last year they were right there. They’re already a championship team. They just needed a little jet fuel,” Terry told ESPNBoston.

Just needed more jet fuel? How awesome a line is that? Unbelievably awesome would be the correct answer. I love athletes that are confident, especially if they’re on the team I’m rooting for.  Hell, I briefly considered how difficult it would be to get dual citizenship in Jamaica so I wouldn’t feel like I was letting my country down by rooting for Usain Bolt in the Olympics.

Plus you want the guy coming off the bench that’s going to take big shots with defenders on him to not only be unafraid of Shane Battier or whatever defender gets thrown at him but you want him to feel like every shot is going in as well. Plus nothing can top a good celebration in the other teams mug when the shot goes splash. Would it be insane if I got a Jason Terry jersey before I got a Rondo? Yeah I guess it would be but still.

Speaking of Rondo, Jet clearly doesn’t want anything to do with how Allen and Rondo fell out saying in the same ESPNBoston.com interview that Rondo is “obviously the best point guard in the league.” Now just say Brady is the best quarterback of the last decade and I would take a bullet for this man.

Other than his tattoo making me immediately restructure my rankings of people with the nickname Jet (Terry is now No. 2 behind Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez), it also got me thinking about athlete’s with tattoos.  Just about every player has some it seems. So here’s my Top Five.

The Best

No. 5 – Jeremy Shockey

AMURICA F*CK YEAH! Can’t question this mans patriotism (Well except that he never played for the Patriots I guess).

No. 4 Nate Robinson

I’m a sucker for a good skyline on just about anything. Hats, shirt or even 5-foot-9 combo guard’s necks. Plus Robinson is a native of Seattle which has a pretty nice skyline (but no NBA team anymore unfortunately).

No. 3 – Chris “Birdman” Anderson

A lot of people hate this tattoo. But I don’t. Would I get it? Hell no but the Birdman is all about the tats and I say if he wants to free the bird than good for him.

No. 2 – Carmelo Anthony

I’m talking about the ‘WB’ log here. Officially the ink is for West Baltimore where Melo moved when he was eight and good for him for repping his hometown.  However the more subtle (and probably real) meaning, which those with street cred like me  (I’ve watched some episodes of The Wire)  means “Warn A Brother”, makes this even better.

No. 1 – Jason Terry

Did you not read the beginning of this post. What else did you think it was going to be.

-Phil

 

Who Will Go the Distance?

The Devils and Rangers are skating towards the cup, but who can get there?

With the Chase for the Cup and NBA playoffs underway, New York and Boston teams are well represented. In hockey the Rangers and Bruins nabbed the top two spots in the East and the Devils are the sixth seed. While the Nets failed to do much of anything this season, the Knicks were able to move into the seventh seed and the Celtics are fourth. It’s going to be a tough road to the championship for all of these teams, but which one has what it takes to make it?

Melo and the Knicks or Paul Pierce and the Celtics, who will win the title? (Nick Laham/Getty Images)

We already know it won’t be the Bruins, who were eliminated in a seven game series with Washington Capitols. The Knicks and Celtics are in an uphill battle finding themselves down 1-0 in their opening round match ups, but the Rangers and Devils won their first games in the second round. Who do you think will advance to the finals? Initially the question was going to be which is more likely: the Knicks win one game, or the Rangers win it all? We’re going to stay positive for now.

The Sacrificial Lamb

Can Melo and the Knicks rise above Rose and the Bulls or will they just be a sacrificial lamb? (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images)

Let’s look at some good news for the New York Knicks: 1. There are eight playoff spots in each conference and the Knicks are holding onto that final spot. 2. Tonight they will play the Milwaukee Bucks with a chance to give themselves some breathing room. 3. Their remaining schedule includes: the Wizards, Cavaliers, Nets and Bobcats.

Now time for the bad news: Presently the Knicks are four and a half games out of the sixth spot. They are going to have to play the Bulls first round. All season long the teams in the East have known the last two to get in would have to play either Chicago or Miami in the first round. Hopefully they give out participation trophies.

The past two games the Knicks have played came against the Bulls and they saw two very different teams. On Easter Sunday they pulled out an overtime victory at the Garden with Melo dropping a cool 43 points. The Knicks have tried to find ways to balance their offense and ensure their scorers get equal touches, but so far this method seems to work best with Amar’e Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin being off the floor with injuries. Some sided with Melo, others with Lin, but it seems they just can’t play well together. Melo reminded the basketball community that he is one of the best scorers in the Association regardless of what else may happen around him. Credit for this win doesn’t all go to Anthony however as Iman Shumpert continued his terrific rookie season making Derrick Rose’s return from injury a nightmare. The Bulls with Rose have similar, less pronounced, issues as the Knicks. When their secondary squad is on the floor they play an unselfish brand of basketball with plenty of ball movement that is difficult to defend, but when they have to appease multiple primary scorers they can’t seem to get it done. Last night the Knicks played in Chicago against the Roseless unit. They got spanked. The Bulls had more than 20 assists and Rip Hamilton went off in the second half making it a difficult evening for New York.

Ok the glass is half full. The Knicks play the Bulls in the first round with Rose on the floor. Shumpert has shown that he can defend Rose. The criticism of Chicago is if you take away Rose they don’t have much to support him. Clearly that isn’t the case because they have gone 16-7 without the reigning MVP, but when he is on the floor it looks like he is out there all by himself. Being optimistic let’s say Amar’e returns in time for the first round. Now they would have the Melo and Amar’e combination that worked so well last season with Baron Davis, who is gelling with Melo, running the point. They have a shot to knock off Chicago and escape the first round.

Realistically speaking I think the Knicks can take the series 6 games and make it competitive and entertaining. Mike Woodson has done an excellent job since returning by allowing players to use their strengths and skill-sets while challenging them to work harder on the defensive end. We knew going into this it would take some time for this unit to gel, but the Knicks are starting to play like a team at the right time.

-Erik

Should the Knicks be optimistic judging by the split two game set with the Bulls? Let us know what you think via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a comment.

Ruth Region: #2 Mark Messier VS #15 Carmelo Anthony

How long does a player have to be with a team to make an impact? Well if they win a championship it doesn’t really matter. One of these guys did just that and the other may have worn out his welcome one year into his stay.

When Mark Messier arrived in New York the Rangers hadn’t won the Stanley Cup in more than half a century. His impact was immediate as they wrapped up the top spot in the East that first season. Messier was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy, which as far as I can tell is the MVP of hockey (they don’t make anything easy in terms of translating to the other major sports). He also won the Lester B. Pearson award in that same 1991 season, which may also be the MVP. Last night the Rangers locked up a playoff berth and hadn’t done so this early in the season since the 1991 season with Messier. He brought the Cup to New York in 1994 and scored the series winning goal in game seven. He was bold and brash with guarantees and bravado. Perfect character for New York.

The Knicks aren’t very good this season despite the hype and Carmelo Anthony is receiving the blame. He played his college ball in Syracuse and brought a title to the Orangemen and always wanted to play in New York again. Give him credit for wanting to play under the bright lights, but the second half of that is actually performing. Melo and Amar’e brought the Knicks back to the playoffs, but this season they need to win a series.

The Knicks Need to Turn Over a New Leaf

Melo and the Knicks are falling fast. (D. Clarke Evans/NBAE/Getty Images)

The post all-star break Knicks look about as hopeless as the pre-linsanity Knicks. Currently in the midst of a four game road trip, New York has lost the first three and four of the last five. Jeremy Lin has gone from the one point guard who could run Mike D’Antoni’s system to, well, an undrafted decent player from Harvard with poor ball control. Things look pretty bleak for the Knicks, but considering this team was thrown together in the off-season, surely it isn’t all bad.

Still we’re going to start with the bad because it is obvious. Even with Lin running the offense there is poor ball movement. He is no longer taking the league by surprise and teams are really putting a lot of pressure on the second year player on offense and defense. Lin looks intimidated to attack the paint, which is the key to the Knicks offense. He was fearless when he first broke into the starting line up giving the Knicks a credible ball-handler, distributor and scorer all in one Asian package. Now with a full complement of scorers, the offense looks stagnant again. Blame Melo? He is part of the problem, but not because of his selfish play. He has not been shooting the ball well going 2-12 with six points against Dallas.

Offensively the Knicks are settling for bad shots and falling into big deficits early. If it wasn’t for the out-of-this-world shooting streak Steve Novak is on from behind the arc, these losses could be much worse. The Knicks need to feed Chandler inside more and attack defenses inside-out. They can’t be afraid to draw contact and play physical basketball. That applies on both ends of the court. The defense is still a problem as it will always be with Mike Antoni at the helm and Amar’e and Melo leading the team. Tyson Chandler needs to be a strong presence in the paint so that opponents will fear driving to the hole. Right now it is a wide open lane.

On a positive note, or I think it is a positive note, the Knicks have great depth. The second team is often outplaying the first team with Baron Davis getting healthier and Novak shooting at a ridiculous percentage. Iman Shumpert continues to have a good rookie season and is the spark that ignites the second unit. Defensively he is the only player really willing to get dirty and punish teams for poor ball handling. He is averaging two steals a game. The second unit allows the team back into games that seemed impossible because they can make stops. If Melo, Lin and company could come up with those stops, we would see a different Knicks team.

They have played difficult teams in the stretch with the Mavericks and Spurs on back to back nights on the road. Winning some of these tests will help improve their playoff position as well as give the team some experience to draw from. The hope for this team is the incredibly high ceiling. Right now fans have to feel that they are playing as bad as they possibly can, but there is so much room for improvement. They need to clean up the sloppy play, step up the defense and penetrate on the offense.

-Erik

Are the Knicks really this bad? Let us know what you think via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a comment.

All Offense is Alright

Do we want more contested shots or more dunks in the All-Star game? (Nathaniel Butler/NBAE/Getty Images NBA Photo Store)

This year’s NBA All-Star Game showed why it is second only to Major League Baseball’s midsummer classic for the best game in the four major sports. There were more than 300 points in a flashy offensive showdown where East and West tried to out alley-oop their way to an All-Star game win until LeBron James and Dwayne Wade decided to make it a close competitive game. While many analysts are complaining about the lack of defense and level of indifference from the players, the fans were treated to an electric game they can’t see any other day of the sports year.

The paradox found in any All-Star game is how can the athletes compete at half speed, for fear of injury in the exhibition contest, while maintaining intensity? It is nearly impossible. That’s why baseball has a distinct advantage over the other sports. Due to the lack of contact and low-injury risk, players can put forth a level of effort nearly equal to that of any other game. Pitchers don’t throw inside as much, but 98 mph is still really freaking fast. Baserunners won’t try to take out the second baseman (which I believe should be eliminated from the game entirely, but that’s probably because my favorite player, Robinson Cano, is a second baseman) or attempt as many steals. The product is highly watchable and can produce some memorable moments like Torre Hunter robbing Barry Bonds of a home run.

However, baseball also lays claim to one of the most embarrassing All-Star debacles of all time. In 2002 the game ended in a 7-7 tie prompting the rule change stating that the winning league gets home field advantage in the World Series and the annual slogan: “This one counts.” I’m not sure which is worse: the rule or the slogan. Some are suggesting that the NBA should take the same approach. Why? The rule change hasn’t gained the MLB All-Star game any popularity among fans and this past year there was controversy over how many players opted out of the Midsummer Classic. Most notable was Derek Jeter, who had recently returned from injury and collected his 3,000 hit. Baseball was anticipating a higher viewership for a celebration of the milestone, but Jeter decided to stay home in Manhattan and probably sign a few personal autographs for some attractive female fans.

It’s clear that players would rather not play in the game. There was a time when there was such a thing as AL or NL pride and the players had true dislike for

Melo and the other guys from the East get out of the way for Russel Westbrook. (Nathaniel Butler/NBAE/Getty Images)

one another and the animosity fueled some classic games. There also was a time before cell phones and the internet. In the NBA there is regular play between East and West, but to see the 10 best on the floor at one time is impressive. Do we really want to watch Blake Griffin take a charge to stop Carmelo from slamming home a windmill? The first three quarters were dedicated to the kinds of plays that make highlight reels. Personal favorite was the James behind the back pass to Wade who went up for the layup, but flipped it back to James, who slammed it home. In the fourth quarter, s**t got real.

I’ve never taken a D-Wade forearm to the face, but I’d have to imagine it isn’t pleasant. The commentators were downplaying the incident calling it a hard foul for the All-Star game. Now it comes out that Kobe Bryant suffered a broken nose and mild concussion. It was a hard foul for a back alley mugging. That play sparked the game back to life and James went on a run to become the game’s MVP. It came down to the final seconds, as all good basketball games should, and LeBron had a chance to go iso on Kobe, but elected to pass the ball off. Now the question of James’ play in the clutch has resurfaced, much to the delight of ESPN. We won’t cover that here other than to say it was extremely anti-climactic. I wanted to see a Lin vs. Jose Calderone type finish, but to quote the Rolling Stones, “You can’t always get what you want.”

I hope David Stern and the NBA don’t mess with the All-Star game too much. I understand as a business they have to keep evolving and search for new ways to engage their audience (like the “new” ball) so I expect something to change. The real problem is the dunk contest. I believe the solution is simple. I don’t actually know what it is, but I know who does: LeBron James. He is the one player anyone wants to see in the dunk contest and he hasn’t done it. David Stern: go straight to the source and find out what it will take to get him to compete.

-Erik

Does the NBA All-Star game need to be changed? Let us know what you think via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a comment. Don’t forget we are still looking for players for our March Madness style tournament of the greatest players in New York and Boston history.

Star Gazers Unite in Orlando

Melo will represent the Knicks and SeeYouInOctober as an Eastern Conference Starter.

This weekend while the stars of the film world will be out in full force on the red carpet in Los Angeles, the NBA’s best and brightest will be taking the court in Orlando for the 2012 all-star game and various events leading up to it. The Knicks, Nets and Celtics will all be represented in different ways this weekend, but only one player from the three teams will be starting.

No, it’s not Jeremy Lin, but it is a Knick. Forward Carmelo Anthony will join Dwayne Wade, LeBron James, Derrick Rose and host Dwight Howard as the first five on the floor for the Eastern Conference All-Stars. Traditionally the game is built on high octane offense, little defense and plenty of flash. On both sides there is serious potential for alley-oops with Chris Paul and Blake Griffen on the Western starting squad, both representing the Lob City Clippers and D-Rose will have Superman inside looking to victimize the Lakers’ Andrew Bynum. While baseball may hold claim to the “best” all-star game, the NBA always brings the flash and electricity fans are looking for.

On the bench for the East we see some familiar faces in Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierece from the Boston Celtics and Derron Williams of the Nets. All three are worthy selections and Rondo and Williams show the depth of talent in the East at the point guard position. D-Will is on a tear going into the break and he put the exclamation point on that with his 38 point performance against the Knicks recently. Pierce is an all-time great Celtic and that is not an easy list to make. This season he passed Larry Bird in scoring bringing awareness of his greatness to those who haven’t been paying attention to his career.

While the game is essentially a glorified pick up game, the NBA does a nice job insulating it with other events fans can get excited about and this year they struck gold. The Rising Stars Challenge, which airs tonight at 9 pm ET, pits rookies against sophomores. However this year the two classes will be mixed on teams chosen and coached by Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley. It was team Shaq that got an early victory in terms of popularity when phenom Jeremy Lin was added to the team. While Lin may not be an all-star yet, to have left him out of the weekend entirely would have alienated many fans who will tune in just to see what the hype is all about. While Lin will be coming off of his worst performance after getting burnt by the Miami Heat for as many turnovers as points, he doesn’t expect to see much defense in this game. Helping his cause will be teammate Blake Griffin. Whatever side of the Linsanity you fall on (hater or supporter) how cool is it going to be to see Lin feeding Griffin for the alley?

Landry Fields of the Knicks will also play in the Rising Stars Challenge on Team Shaq, but opposing him will be MarShon Brooks on Team Chuck. Brooks of the Nets, has had an outstanding rookie year thus far and with D-Will makes up the two bright spots in Jersey. His success has been overshadowed by the team’s failure and D-Will’s outstanding play. While Superman may still be in Orlando he could be on his way to Jersey/Brooklyn and that’s not a bad big 3 to have.

Speaking of point guard Derron Williams, he, along with Rondo, will compete in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge. Rondo was selected to replace  defending champion Stepehen Curry who is battling injury. The main event every year is the Slam Dunk Contents, but this year is seriously lacking in star power. Even if I named the guys competing you would say, “Oh yea he’s a decent player.” Iman Shumpert of the Knicks was supposed to compete and bring Jeremy Lin, and allegedly Lin’s infamous couch, but has pulled out with knee injury. While I would love to see a player I know compete, as a Knicks fan, I’d rather watch a healthy Shumpert play down the stretch.

-Erik

What’s the best part of the NBA All-Star Weekend? Let us know what you think via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a comment.

An Ode to Linsanity

Fans hope Jeremy will lead the Knicks to Linfinity and beyond. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images)

In the past two weeks I’ve had people coming up to me who can’t even tell me who Eli Manning is asking what I think about Jeremy Lin. It the craze was dubbed Linsanity and it propelled the New York Knicks back into the playoff picture in the Eastern conference, where they should have been all season. Now teams around the league with the Knicks coming up on their schedule aren’t looking to stop Amar’e or Melo. No. They are searching for their own Salk vaccine for the Linfluenza. Since taking over the point Jeremy Lin has led the Knicks to eight lins and two losses. Last night was one of the losses and we here at SeeYouInOctober feel it is time to put Linsanity to bed with one last article rank with puns.

Now understand that we have class and tact. We are not going to post any puns we feel to be racially linsensitive like the ESPN headline “A Chink in the Armour.” That sounds like the guy in charge of creating the headline was drinking with buddies to celebrate the return of MSG and the Knicks to Time Warner Cable and he was dared to do it. Come on, that is just linsulting. It is hard to deny Jeremy’s impact both on the court and off since his linvasion with media attention linterrupting the lives of his friends and family back in Taiwan and rumors circulating about renting apartments and even dating Kim Kardashian. Fans can’t get enough of his linspirational story. Fans have to admire the way he has seized his lindow of opportunity. His stellar play even brought a linstant solution to the lingering dispute previously eluded to between MSG and Time Warner. Customers had limped on without the Knicks and Rangers for months despite the outstanding play of the Blue Shirts. But now it is back.

To kick things off Time Warner customers were treated with a gimmie game against the awful New Orleans Hornets. Unfortunately they crashed and burned like the Lindenburg. The foot started to come off the gas pedal just a little from the hype machine. It was the third game with Amar’e back the Knicks got caught looking ahead to a match up with the defending champion Mavericks. When Dallas arrived in the Garden, Tyson Chandler and the Knicks were ready for his former team. Offensively this was the kind of game Mike D’Antoni expects to see from his team moving forward. They lintroduced JR Smith to the line up. Smith, in his first NBA game since returning from China, and Steve Novak were deadly from behind the arc combining for 50% shooting in three point land and 29 points. The Knicks needed this linflux of scoring with teams starting to key in on Jeremy and Melo still out with a groinlinjury.

Last night was the moment fans feared with Melo returning. Would he be able to cure the linsanity? Like most scorers Anthony is known as a selfish player.

D-Will struck back with vengence and furious anger. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images)

He can be a black hole on the court and stop the ball movement and flow that has really turned this offense on. The problem last night was not Melo. The problem was Derron Williams. D-Will knew he was the man who allowed the frenzy to start the last time these two teams played and has been on a tear ever since. The Nets’ point guard played one for the ages as he dropped 38 on Jeremy and the Knicks including 8-14 from beyond the arc. What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immoveable mania? The one with more to play for willlin every time. Nets’ coach Avery Johnson said the plan was to make Jeremy work on defense so he couldn’t recover for the offensive side of the court.

The losses are just bumps in the road. There is plenty of room for this team to improve going forward and Lin is only in his second year in the Association and has much to learn. The biggest weakness in his game is his linsecure handling of the rock. His turnover numbers are as historically significant as his scoring numbers to this point if not more so, but as he figures out the NBA those numbers should come down. The entire team is also still learning to play together with no off season workouts and limited practice time with the truncated schedule. It will take some time for them to get lin-sync. With the all-star break approaching they hope to get at least four practices lin during that time. Also concerning for fans is the health of Iman Shumpert. He was inactive for last night’s game and may continue to sit on the bench until after the all-star break with a knee linjury. Shumpert is still scheduled to participate in the dunk contest where he will be assisted by Jeremy. Those two are becoming linseparable.

-Erik

Is Jeremy the missing link? Give us your take on Lin-Sanity and your favorite use of Lin via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a comment.

Just Call Him Jeremy

Another guard falls victim to Jeremy Lin. (David Sherman/NBAE/Getty Images)

The Big Apple has been clamoring for some good basketball since the truncated season began, but were extremely disappointed in the big three of the Knicks and realized Superman Dwight Howard wouldn’t be arriving in Metropolis when trade piece Brook Lopez went down. Then coming from the East, or really the West, Jeremy Lin arrived to kick off the Lin-sanity. The point guard and newly anointed starter was asked recently if he had a favorite pun like Lin-derella to which he responded. “I like Jeremy.”

While Lin himself may take a humble stance to his production, the media and fans aren’t shy about giving praise for his performance which has been anything but humble. This week he was given another name: East Player of the Week. He is the first Knick to receive the honor this season. Lin earned the honor in part because of his 109 points over his first four starts, the most since the merger. The team finds themselves in the midst of a five game winning streak, their longest of the season. It hasn’t been an easy road for Lin who has had to play against all-star guards like Kobe Bryant and Derron Williams as well as other new comers like John Wall and Ricky Rubio. During his duel with Kobe, a fan at the Garden held up a sign proclaiming Lin the “Yellow Mamba,” a play on Bryant’s nickname of Black Mamba, referring to a deadly snake not his race. Not really sure if that is kosher…

Boxer Floyd Mayweather has weighed in on the Lin-sanity saying it is more about his race than play. “Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he’s Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don’t get the same praise,” tweeted Mayweather. Actually they don’t. When a player is the best in history that means he has risen to a level above the competition. Despite the hype Iman Shumpert didn’t put up numbers like Lin’s and despite the hope Toney Douglas is riding the pine behind Lin because of a lack of production. In the same way this isn’t about race Floyd, the reason many boxing fans don’t like you isn’t because you’re black, it’s because you won’t fight Pacquio.

What does help the Lin-stant success is that both Caremlo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire have been missing. Tonight Amar’e will rejoin the team for a

When Melo returns will the Lins keep coming? (NBAE/Getty Images)

showdown with Toronto after mourning the loss of his brother. Stoudemire’s game projects to mesh well with the new star as he is one of the best pick and roll players in the league and made most of his reputation while playing with one of the Association’s best in Steve Nash. To this point Melo has been forced to run the point, but he is a scorer, not a distributor. So the biggest question will be how will Melo play with Lin?

Melo has taken the brunt of the criticism along with coach Mike D’Antoni for the Knicks’ struggles this season. He has earned his reputation as a black hole and ball movement has been dismal, but with Lin taking over and attacking the hole, the offense has opened up. He forces teams to cheat toward the lane and has found Tyson Chandler inside at a much higher rate. The center is scoring nearly three more points per game since Lin has taken over. When Melo returns from his current groin injury the scoring will have to be spread out a little further. When Melo teamed up with Chauncey Billups in Denver, he had his best seasons. A better distributor can give Melo better looks and higher percentage shots. It stands to reason that Lin’s scoring numbers will go down, but he can continue to play well with the full complement of Knicks. So as the Lin-sanity calms down will the story transition to the team as a whole?

-Erik

Have the Knicks found the missing Lin-k? Let us know what you think via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a comment.

On A Lin and A Prayer

Have the Knicks offensive questions been answered?

Wait this isn’t a Giant post. What’s going on? Well football season is over and while I will take the rest of the week to celebrate my G-men’s Super Bowl victory, it’s time to pay attention to the other major sports. It has been tough for New Yorkers recently in the NBA with both the Knicks and Nets struggling mightily. The little three of the Knicks has underperformed and hasn’t really learn to play together. So how can they right the ship? Play without the three superstars could be the only answer.

Monday night the New Jersey Nets went to the Garden to take on the Knicks in a battle for TriState supremacy. Unfortunately they aren’t in Brooklyn yet and Manhattan will always win over Jersey. Despite a poor offensive night for Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks took home the victory 99-92 thanks in large part to Jeremy Lin. The point guard, who was cut by the Golden State Warriors, exploded for 25 points.

With such a giant splash Lin was given the start on Tuesday. Tragedy struck the Knicks’ center Amar’e Stoudemire and his family as his brother was killed in a car accident. Stoudemire has understandably left the team to grieve and won’t return until Monday in time for Tuesday’s meeting with the Toronto Raptors. Without the Hebrew Hammer, Anthony and the rest of the crew welcomed the Utah Jazz. Melo, who leads the team in scoring, didn’t even last six minutes before leaving the game with a strained right groin. Lin continued to earn his minutes with a 28 point performance. It is incredible to think that it took 25 games for Mike Antoni to find someone to run the point. His system is designed to elevate the play of point guards and helped Steve Nash win two MVP awards.

Tonight Lin continued to dazzle with a 23 point game. The Knicks picked up their third straight win over the Washington Wizards. Lin has elevated the play of the rest of the team. The offense looks more like a fluid unit than the Melo show. Tyson Chandler has had a greater contribution to the offensive side of the court since Lin began running the point. The Harvard grad went undrafted after playing four productive years with the Crimson. Lin is also the first American Born Chinese player in the Association. (ABC in the NBA) It is hard to believe that Lin will continue to perform at such a high level because of his lack of talent. However, if there is one thing Coach Antoni is good at it is working with a point guard. While fans thought they were waiting for Baron Davis, perhaps the starting point guard has arrived just in time to save their playoff lives.

-Erik

Can Jeremy Lin keep up his play when Melo and Amar’e return? Let us know what you think via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a comment.