All I Do is Lin, Lin, Lin!

You can bet Bryant knows who Jeremy
Lin is now.

The global phenomenon that is 'Lin-sanity' continued Friday.

With the 16-time NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers in town, Jeremy Lin upstaged Kobe Bryant, something the 33-year-old veteran in not accustom to.

Lin has electrified the Madison Square Garden crowd lately, energizing an underachieving New York Knick team. Without superstars Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire, Lin led the Knicks to their fourth straight win, defeating Los Angeles, 92-85.

The 23-year-old Harvard graduate not only scored a career-high 38 points, but the most points scored by a New York player all season, that includes Anthony and Stoudemire.

Heading into Friday night's home game, Lin became the first player since LeBron James in 2003 to score 20-plus points and handout eight or more assists in his first two NBA starts. Despite falling an assist short of that against the Lakers, Lin is in elite company.

Lin's improbable run started less than a week ago in the team's 99-92 home victory over the New Jersey Nets. In that game, Lin played a then-career-high 36 minutes, sparking New York and scoring 25 points with seven assists.

Since that time Lin has started each of the team's next three games and scored a combined 89 points. That is the most by any NBA player in his three professional starts since the ABA-NBA Merger in 1976.

He is now averaging just 9.0 points and 3.5 assists per game this season, but has rejuvenated the Knicks in Anthony and Stoudemire's absence.

New York's improves to 12-15 on the year, bringing them within a half game of the Milwaukee Bucks, who behind Brand Jennings' 24 points defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in overtime, for the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference.

For Los Angeles, it was their 12th loss of the season and 10th away from Staples Center, ending their nine-game winning streak against the Knicks. After arguably the biggest road win of their season in Boston, the Lakers never got it going. A night after combining for 41 points and 31 rebounds, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, scored just 19 points with 23 rebounds against a relatively undersized New York front court.

However, Bryant, as he always does, showed up.

Bryant, who averages 30.5 PPG in 'The Garden', second only to Michael Jordan's 31.8, scored 34 points, despite missing 10 of his first 11 shots, but added 10 rebounds.

It was just three years ago that Bryant had the Garden faithful chanting his name after setting the storied arena's single-game point record with 61 on 19-of-31 shooting.

Bryant was upstaged by someone nobody say coming. Lin is only the fourth player in NBA history to play in the league as a Harvard graduate and his Asian ethnicity makes him the ultimate underdog.

'Lin-sanity' is alive and well in the world's biggest city.

Mr. Big Shot

New York might have a Big Three of their own.

Chanucey Billups lived up to his nickname Sunday night in Miami.

In a night when most were watching the 83rd Academy Awards in Los Angeles, the story was in South Beach. Billups fueled a 9-2 run late in the fourth quarter, hitting a deep three-point jump shot in front of Dwayne Wade with a minute to go in regulation, giving the New York Knicks a 85-84 lead.

The Knicks would go up 87-86 with just about ten seconds to go when LeBron James drove to the hoop, getting by defender Carmelo Anthony, which looked to be an open lane to the basketball. That was until Amar'e Stoudemire came on the help defense to block the shot away.

After two successful free throws from New York, James shot the potential game-tying three as time expired, only to see it hit the back of the iron and hand the Miami Heat their sixth loss at home this season.

However, the real story was Billups, coming up with two steals and five big points in the closing minutes to seal a Knick victory. Billups was being said to be a throw in with the Anthony deal made earlier this week.

Billups has done his best to prove the critics wrong, averaging 21 points in the three games since becoming a Knick. Billups is a 13-year veteran in the NBA and a former Finals MVP. The fact of the matter is Billups knows how to win and slow the game down when the pressure is at its highest peak, something you can't teach.

New York is now 2-1 since the trade and looking to build on a win, where they came back from as many as fifteen down against the East's elite.

Miami is now only 14-15 against teams .500 or better and has dropped to 5-11 in games decided by five points or fewer. This could pose a problem for the Heat down the stretch and well into the postseason. It felt like a playoff game atmosphere in Miami tonight, giving us reason to believe that this could very well be a fun matchup in a month and a half.

Miami is still the fourth best team in the NBA and only a half game behind the idol Boston Celtics for the best record in the Eastern Conference, but on this night the story was "Mr. Big Shot". And now, the new-look Knicks have a Big Three of their own to be reckoned with.

New York Bound

Melo has reason to smile, he's headed home.

Carmelo Anthony finally got his wish and is headed home.

After months of speculation and anticipation, the four-time All-Star was traded in a 12-player deal to the New York Knicks late Monday night.


A Brooklyn native, Anthony went to the University of Syracuse and brought home their first National Championship in 2003.

After only a year in college, Anthony declared for the NBA Draft and was selected third overall by the Denver Nuggets. Since that time, Anthony has developed into one of the league's most prolific scorers and led the Nuggets in scoring seven of his eight seasons in Mile High.

The Knicks, one of the most decorated franchises in the NBA, have been irrelevant in the playoff picture much of past decade. With the signing of forward Amar'e Stoudemire to a five-year $100 million contract in the offseason, the Knicks have put themselves back on the map.

Now, with Anthony added to the mix, the Knicks have a formidable 1-2 punch in Madison Square Garden. The question is, are the Knicks an NBA Finals contender this year with Anthony?

The answer is simple, No. The Knicks have traded away most of their supporting cast to get Anthony and we all know with no depth, no team can contend for a title. The Knicks also need to improve their defense, something head coach Mike D'Antoni is notorious for not doing, especially during his time in Phoenix.

Stoudemire and Anthony are both known as offensive minded players defense and defensively liabilities. However, when they chose to play both sides of the ball, they can be extremely good defenders.

As for the the trade's immediate impact, the Eastern Conference just got that much harder though, for teams like the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat and Orlando Magic and their road to the NBA Finals. The Knicks may not be ready to contend for a NBA title just yet, but they have acquired a top five player in the league and pose an offense that can score at will.

Playoff basketball just got that much more interesting, it wouldn't be surprising if the Knicks upset one of the Eastern powerhouses in an early round of the postseason and if not beat them, force them deep into an intense series.

Basketball supremacy seems to be returning to Madison Square Garden, earlier than expected.