For me, some of the best parts of Lin-sanity, now well into its third week (I know, I know — doesn’t it seem like we’ve never not known about J-Lin?), are the little things. Like last night’s exchange between Lin and Kris Humphries when they bumped into each other in the tunnel between locker rooms after the Nets whupped my Knicks at the Garden. Lin told Humphries, known to some as the Nets power forward and to all as the dude Kim Kardashian dumped after three days of marriage, that he didn’t know why Knicks fans booed him so much, that it was “crap,” and that Humphries was playing really well. Humphries, in relating this incident on ESPN Radio, said he really appreciated this from Lin, and that it’s “nice to see when great things happen for nice people.”
One day earlier, J.R. Smith, the brand-new Knick who’s been known throughout his NBA career as a trouble-maker and a head case, was quoted as saying: “It’s a clean slate for me. I’m not the same 18-year-old kid that I was eight years ago. I’m a grown man, 26 years old and ready to make big decisions for my life and make the best decisions for my teammates.”
All of a sudden, everyone on the Knicks seems to be making the best decisions for their teammates. This is the kind of spell Jeremy Lin has cast over the team.
Pretty much everyone I know has been trying to put Lin’s literally out-of-nowhere explosion onto the scene into some sort of context they can fathom. Here’s my take. It’s as if I were eight years old again, in my back yard, pretending to be Mickey Mantle batting in game seven of the World Series with two out and the bases loaded. And then two weeks later, I actually was batting in game seven of the World Series with two out and the bases loaded!
Is there any part of Lin-sanity I’m not totally enjoying? Well, I can’t say I love the fact that Mike D’Antoni is getting any credit for the emergence of J-Lin as the Knicks point guard. Sure, D’Antoni installed him there — after every other body on the Knicks bench either had a 
broken arm or a broken leg or a concussion. My son Matt asks me, how I can let this bother me? Why can’t I just be happy? I am, Matt, I am. D’Antoni just irritates me, though. Really, how much of a genius do you have to be to realize that if you lose game after game after game exactly the same way, then for God’s sake, TRY SOMETHING NEW!
But yes, Matt, that’s a small detail, and I’ll try to let it go. What do I love about Lin-sanity? That all of a sudden my Knicks are contenders again. That Lin has everyone on the team playing better — from Landry Fields and Tyson Chandler and Jared Jeffries to Steve Novak and Iman Shumpert and Amar’e Stoudemire. That they’ve “discovered” hit-the-open-man, team basketball, after years and years of idiotic, unwatchable Stephon-Marbury-like one-on-one showmanship. That intelligence in sports is being recognized, and rewarded. That it actually looks as if my team is having a good time out there. And that as a result of all this, my quality of life has improved — immensely.
So what does all this have to do with Ricky? Or beagles? Or even dogs in general? Ab-so-lute-ly nothing. Just needed to get my two cents in about J-Lin. 🙂
Hank….I hope that you are writing about J-Lin for years to come. Even if you wife does tire of proofreading about it. His emergence has been clearly the best sports story in my memory. I realize that since it is the first time my Knicks have actually been interesting to watch since the glory days of Clyde, Willis et al makes it somewhat more emotional to me…..but there is so much to like about the guy. Speaking of Clyde and Company, 41 years ago this weeks my wife and I timed her contractions while watching the Knicks awaiting the birth of our first daughter. Now even she is back on the couch watching the Knicks for the first time since that era….fortunately no contractions to count this time, but the occasional grandson will wander by the TV.
I am not discouraged by last night’s Heat game. Just the way other sound, but not flashy role players like Fields, Jeffries, Chandler and Novak have had their game elevated means that Lin can have the off night or two. Now to get the megastars on track! I think if he delivers us 15ppg, 7assists and 2 or 3 steals, we can live with the other shortcomings and the team will do fine.