It’s not insanity, it’s Linsanity. Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks has taken over the sports world. He has scored 20 points or more for five games straight, and before that he scored a total of 76 points for his career. At first I wasn’t sure about him because the first three games weren’t against the best competition, but after seeing him go shot for shot with Kobe Bryant, I started to believe the hype.
It’s incredible that he was an undrafted point guard. When he went to the basketball powerhouse Harvard University, so you know he’s smart, but he’s also got athleticism and skill to go along with that. The best thing about him, though, is he’s humble and it’s all about the team, and with all these egotistic players that act like divas, that’s good to see. Although he’s a Knick, he’s someone everyone should pay attention to. That means you too, Kobe.
Historic Milestones
There were two basketball players that reached new scoring milestones this past week. Those players were Bryant and Boston Celtics’ Paul Pierce.
Bryant surpassed his former-Lakers teammate Shaquille O’Neal to be the fifth all-time scorer in league history. Bryant has been known as this era’s closest thing to Michael Jordan, and he’s already known as one of the greatest ever, not only in Lakers history, but in the league’s history.
You have no idea how much it hurt me to say that as a Celtic fan, so it was much better to see my favorite player, Paul Pierce, surpass Larry Bird for second place in all-time Celtics scoring leaders. Getting his only championship ring against the Los Angeles Lakers cemented his legacy as a Celtic and outplaying this era’s greatest player in Bryant is a bonus. Pierce is definitely a hall of famer, and is in the pantheon of great players that the Celtics have had right behind Bill Russell, John Havlicek and Larry Bird.
Who owns L.A.?
With the Lakers having an average season to say the least, and the Clippers being relevant for the first time in about 30 years, are the Lakers now the “other” L.A. team?
Sorry Clippers, as long as Bryant is in a Lakers uniform it won’t happen. Even then, it will take 15 championships before L.A. becomes Clippertown.
Behind Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, it looks like they have the foundation for a dynasty in the making, but I doubt that L.A. will ever be Clipper town. The team can always move to a different city. Seattle is a great sports town; San Diego is a great location or how about Bakersfield? Bakersfield Clippers has a nice ring to it.
Mid-Season MVP
Just two years ago the talk was that Kevin Durant would be the NBA’s next superstar, and leading the Thunder to the league’s best record, it’s a no-brainer that he’s the MVP so far to this point. Sure, you will have names like Chris Paul, Lebron James and Kobe Bryant thrown out there, but Durant has been more important to his team than James or Paul, and the Thunder have a much better record than the Lakers. There’s no player more deserving of the MVP award than the “Durantula” Kevin Durant.