The last time few outside of Cambridge other than President Obama knew Jeremy Lin’s name was when he and the visiting Knicks lost to the Celtics, 91-89, at the Garden on Feb. 3. Lin played only 6-1/2 minutes, all in the first half. The Harvard graduate missed all three of his field goal attempts and finished with two free throws, two rebounds and one assist.
Then Lin literally became an overnight sensation. The night after the Knicks lost to the Celtics, Lin came off the bench to score a career-high 25 points, dish out five assists and grab five rebounds to lift the Knicks past the Nets, 99-92, at Madison Square Garden. Lin scored 12 points in the fourth quarter to help the Knicks rally and save Mike D’Antoni’s job as Knicks coach.
New York had lost 11 of its last 13, but Lin has led the Knicks to 10 wins in their last 13 games. It’s been Linsanity ever since. Obama was one of the few who knew about Lin before that. Obama went to law school at Harvard, and his secretary of education, Arne Duncan, a former Harvard player, told him about Lin when Lin was still in college.
In starting the last 12 games, Lin has averaged 22.1 points, 9.2 assists and 4.1 rebounds. That adds up to 35.3 and ranks seventh in the NBA and first among point guards, ahead of Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo.
Lin has also averaged 5.7 turnovers as a starter, by far the most in the league, but he turned the ball over only once while collecting 19 points and 13 assists in a 120-103 home win over Cleveland Wednesday. The Knicks haven’t played since, so they’ve had plenty of time to practice and rest prior to today’s game on ABC.
Rondo, the subject of renewed trade rumors, will go head-to-head against Lin in a matchup that should go a long way toward deciding the game’s outcome. On Feb. 3, Rondo had only 7 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 5 turnovers, but the Celtics prevailed anyway over the Knicks. In the season opener on Christmas Day in New York, Rondo collected 31 points, 13 assists, 5 rebounds and 5 steals, but the Celtics fell, 106-104, in overtime. Paul Pierce didn’t play that day.
Today will be the first Celtics-Knicks game this season with Pierce and Lin starting.
Hubie Brown, who will analyze today’s game, expects Lin to take fewer shots now that Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony have returned from injuries and J.R. Smith has signed with the team from China.
“The big question marks for Lin,” Brown said, “will be: 1, Will he continue to play 35 minutes per game? 2, Will he continue to shoot at that 50-percent level? We will see how he adjusts against defenses that have already seen him. With Rondo defending him, this is a major test for Lin.”
Brown loves the Celtics’ half-court defense.
“Rondo can defend well,” he said, “because of his size, the length of his arms and his ability to strip the ball if you lose focus. They are finally healthy and should have their best five players starting. The contribution of the Celtics bench is key. It’s been totally erratic.”
“This should be a great test for the new-look Knicks,” said Mike Tirico, who will handle play-by-play today. “This is the most time Lin, Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire have had to practice together. Combine the interest in Lin with the Celtics’ tremendous defense, the Harvard alum’s return to Boston, and the usual New York vs. Boston intrigue, and you have a great backdrop for this game.”
Pierce nearing 1,000
If Pierce doesn’t miss any games this week, he’ll play in his 1,000th for the Celtics Friday when the Blazers visit the Garden.
Only John Havlicek, with 1,270 games, and Robert Parish, with 1,106, have played more games than Pierce as a Celtic.
Pierce passed Bill Russell and Kevin McHale on the franchise’s list of career games earlier this season, his 14th season in Boston.
Trivia question
Pierce is still well short of the NBA record for most games played for the same franchise. Can you name the player who owns that record? The answer is listed later in this column.
All-Star Game not serious
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers accused some of his NFC teammates of embarrassing themselves with their lack of effort in a 59-41 loss to the AFC in this year’s Pro Bowl. Imagine what he thought of the lack of intensity in last Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game.
Ray Allen certainly didn’t appreciate it.
“I thought the game, it wasn’t serious,” Allen said. “It was too much the ball was going in the air and alley-oops.”
Allen admitted he didn’t like what he saw.
“I’d rather see a competitive game,” he said, “where guys are playing defense and they have pride about getting stops and you see the plays work. You’ve got five great players on each side of the ball, so watching it unfold and seeing different strategies throughout the game, that’s what I like to see, and I think that’s what the people like to see.”
Allen wasn’t voted to play in the NBA All-Star Game, but he has played in 10 All-Star Games and scored 28 points in the 2008 game.
The NBA All-Star Game last Sunday was a joke, bearing no resemblance to a typical NBA game. What’s so much fun about watching someone dunk when the opposition lets you do it? All-Star players worry more about avoiding injury than competing.
Playing in his home arena, Orlando center Dwight Howard lofted four 3-pointers and, of course, missed them all, and he frequently stepped out of the way of driving opponents. No one paid to see that. Howard is 1 of 33 from threeland in his eight-year NBA career.
The first three quarters were a dunkfest until the fourth quarter when the players finally grew serious about winning. But the final score — 152-149 — tells you all you need to know about its lack of defensive intensity. Only five shots were blocked in the game.
Allen always played hard in All-Star Games, and he expects everyone to do the same.
“That’s what I wanted to see,” he said, “as opposed to nobody playing defense, everybody kind of reaching and not getting back on defense. You just throw the ball up and get a dunk contest.”
Some are ripping Dwyane Wade for his hard foul that gave Kobe Bryant a concussion and a broken nose. They claim his foul was too physical for an All-Star Game. That may be so, but when was all physical contact ruled off limits in All-Star play?
The high-scoring NHL All-Star Games — it was 12-9 this year — will also never be confused with what is best about hockey. Only baseball’s All-Star Game looks the same as the regular season.
Allen spent last weekend on vacation in the Bahamas with his family. He didn’t plan to watch the All-Star Game, but he had no choice.
“People in the Bahamas love NBA basketball, so it was on everywhere I went,” he said.
Traveling the West
When Kevin McHale and the Houston Rockets visit the Garden Tuesday night, it will begin a stretch in which the Celtics play seven of eight games against the Western Conference. So far, the Celtics are only 1-7 against the West, 1-4 at home and 0-3 on the road. The seven losses have been by an average of 9.3 points. The most lopsided were by 16 points at Dallas on Feb. 20 and by 15 at Oklahoma City on Feb. 22.
The Celtics’ only victory over a Western Conference team came against Memphis, 98-80, at the Garden on Feb. 5. Former Celtic Tony Allen didn’t play in that game.
After visiting the Sixers on Wednesday, the Celtics will host Portland on Friday, then embark on a season-long, eight-game road trip. The first five games will be at Western Conference teams: the Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, Kings and Nuggets.
Trivia answer
John Stockton played 1,504 games in his 19 seasons, all with the Utah Jazz. Reggie Miller’s 1,389 games, all with the Indiana Pacers, are the second most of any NBA player with the same franchise.
Bill Doyle can be contacted by email at wdoyle@telegram.com.
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