Wild Speculation and Outlandish Guesses: Tagalog and Hebrew Edition

What was the biggest NON-Jeremy Lin story from last week?

Jordan Durlester: The biggest non-Lin story of last week was me being upset at myself for not going to see Lin play more often (oh, I know this is a cop out of an answer). Palo Alto High School is a fairly short drive from where I grew up and I had tons of opportunities to go watch him play...but I didn't end up going. I had planned on seeing him his senior year of college when his Harvard squad came to Santa Clara to square off...but I didn't end up going. My brother worked for the Reno Big Horns last year and told me on plenty of occasions to come catch a game while Jeremy was up there...but I didn't end up going. I'm as proud and happy for him as I am upset and disgusted at myself.

Jacob Greenberg: So, I just watched J-Lin hit a three pointer to make Linsanity an international phenomenon. All he does is WIN, WIN, WIN.

No. He doesn't Lin, Lin, Lin. He wins, wins, wins. Stop. No one can use that pun ever again. I mean it.

Anyways, it's hard to think of another story that doesn't involve Jeremy Lin. I'll throw out this New York Times Headline: Two Polls Show a Santorum Surge. Somebody better clean off those polls, then! Hey yo!

Franklin Mieuli: Unless we count the Warriors winning three in a row (we don't), I think we have approached the rookie wall. For the uniniated, the rookie wall appears somewhere around the 25-40 game mark of the season. Rookies, used to a 30 game college season with only two or three games a week, get tired. Flying across country, playing against stronger men instead of boys, rookies start getting injured and start playing with fatigued legs. Kyrie Irving and Marshon Brooks are injured, and Ricky Rubio, Tristan Thompson, Marcus Morris and Norris Cole have started struggling. I expect we'll see rookie player get worse for a couple of weeks.

Long Bui: The end of the Lance Armstrong doping probe. Barry Bonds apparently cost We the People a cool $55 million, I wonder what our bill for this will be. Bravo Jeremy, on being sensational enough to cover up government largesse! Is there anything you can’t do?

Fortunate Moments For Unfortunate Franchises: The Five People Z-Bo Met in Basketball Heaven.

"I just don't want the day to come, when I pick up the paper, and it says that [Zach] shot someone, or someone shot Zach. Every day that goes by that I don't see that, I feel good."

Moe Smedley 

Zach Randolph's high school coach

March 2006

"This is how I always imagined the playoffs to be when I was sitting at home watching on TV the past three years. So when San Antonio came back and took that lead, I knew the crowd wouldn't let us down, we wouldn't let ourselves down, and, well, we always had Zach."

Mike Conley

Zach Randolph's teammate (2009-present)

April 2011

"This city has embraced me. The people here have been great. I feel like I'm from Memphis."

Zach Randolph

Memphis Grizzlies forward (2009-present)

April 2011

Minnesota Timberwolves Twitter Poetry: "Hey, Minneapolis"

Ed Note: On Valentine's Eve here in Minneapolis, I've been thinking about what to get the Wolves for tomorrow's special day. Since I don't have any way to the organization what they really want (a pure 2-guard, a mulligan on the Johnny Flynn pick, or a date for Rubio with the Gasol brothers), this is going to have to do:

The Scene: The upstart Minnesota Timberwolves currently sit at 13-12*, and as a unproven and youthful squad bravely championed by a bearded man rising from the mist, they are existentially unsure of their current place in Twin Cities culture and greater Minnesotan sensibilities after their recent unexpected run of success. Understandably, the recent dispatches of the ten rostered T-Wolves on Twitter have told the story of this angst over "finding their place" all too well.

Will this be the year Love leads the Wolves out of the fog of the Lottery?

Will the Cities, and even the greater Seven County Metropolitan Area ever love this motley band of West Coasters, Europeans, and previously erstwhile losers? On this Valentine's eve, feel the guttural and raw emotion of this team's impassioned plea to greater Minneapolis, each other, and their LOVEliest player, interpreted directly through a compilation of recent player tweets, and reconstituted in free-form poetry tinged with the iciness of the Minnesota winter:

That's What He Said

Jeremy Lin might be the #2 PG available in [the 2010] draft.

-Ed Weiland, May 22, 2010

hoopsanalyst.com

H/T: Don via marginalrevolution

It’s not often we’ll lead with a link but in this case, there’s not much to say that has not already been said. Read it. It’s one thing to pontificate about successes, and an entirely different thing to predict it. Ed may well be the George Soros, John Paulson, and Mike Burry of the basketball world. And Jeremy Lin may in fact be the biggest thing since sliced (white) bread. Rap videos. Lin-finite endorsement potential. Viral video skits. How big can #Linsanity grow before the bubble bursts?

Games of the Week: February 13-19, 2012.

Welcome, Jeremy Lin bandwagon fans, to the National Basketball Association (NBA), the league where Jeremy Lin plays his games.  Believe it or not, there are 449 other players not named Jeremy Lin in the NBA, all of whom play on 29 other teams that are not named the New York Knicks.  Crazy, I know.

Anyways, games of the week.  Seven of them.  (Two with J-Lin).  Let's get to it.

The Week That Was: February 6-12, 2012.

In my opinion, the real of news this week was that I strongly considered changing the name of the blog from The Diss to Brian Winters' Beard.  But that move's still at least a fortnight away.

Anyways, on tap for this week: the beauty of the NBA's most hallowed rivalry, the status of Agent Zero, and the unexpected effects of #Linsanity on this humble little blog.  Let's get to it.

1.  Boston Celtics vs. LA Lakers: Where the Records Don't Matter.

The Lakers traveled to Boston this past Thursday to play the Celtics, and the resulting game was magnificent.  It was a close and testy contest throughout, and the fourth quarter featured classically brilliant basketball.  Both teams set tough screens, battled hard down low, and played slow, methodical basketball. Both teams really emphasized defense, and Metta World Peace, especially, looked active and alert.  In the end, the Lakers prevailed, after forward Pau Gasol blocked a put back shot from Ray Allen that would've vanquished Los Angeles at the buzzer.  It really was about as good of a game as you could ask for in the regular season, and though these teams did look a bit long in the tooth, it was clear they had saved up some special energy for this contest.  Thanks for that, guys.

To me, these two teams look like contenders, regardless of their records or AARP membership statuses.  Both teams can bring it when they want to, and in their particular cases, it seems that age makes less of a difference than experience.  Needless to say, both of these teams have racked up a lot of experience playing in big games, many of which were against each other.  Kobe looked vintage when he got up for this alley-oop, Ray was looking as quick as ever busting off of screens and nailing jumpers, and Pau's block to save the game was downright sick.  Miami's not unbeatable, and neither is Oklahoma City (just ask the Kings).  If we saw these teams again in late June, I wouldn't be neither surprised, nor disappointed.  

I want to mention two story-lines that I'm probably pulling out of my tuchus. but at least I'm admitting that, rather than saying .  Firstly, this game featured as many all-star snubs as it did all-stars. First time non-all-stars Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Pau Gasol (all as of this year) and Metta World Peace, who was once an all-star named Ron Artest, played masterful games.  Whereas I'm not sure all-star games matter much for baseball, football, and that other sport on ice (broomball, is it?), it's a big screaming deal in the NBA.  Anyone who thinks those guys weren't playing with chips on their shoulders doesn't watch enough basketball.  Secondly, I also noted that Kobe was doing a lot of talking with Rajon Rondo.  It wasn't trash talk, though.  Very friendly-like.  Almost congratulatory.  You think he's not trying to recruit someone to take the spot CP3 was going to have?  I wonder what the Lakers would have to give up to get Rondo.  My guess is they'd offer Pau, but Ainge would ask for Bynum as well.  Given that Bynum's seemingly about to begin the "consistent to perennial all-star" portion of his career, which Rondo has been at for two seasons now, that makes more sense.  But as everyone and their mother has said: Derek Fisher and Steve Blake will not get it done.

And speaking about that pesky point guard problem for the Lakers...

A Dose of (Unwelcome) Sanity in the Linsane Asylum.

It's a bit late in the evening, and I should be in bed, but something truly needs to be said about #Linsanity.

Surely by now, you've heard of the multidimensional phenomenon that has quickly become known as #Linsanity.  If you have not, I'll provide a brief synopsis. The New York Knicks' backup point guard Jeremy Lin, a second year player out of Harvard and of Taiwanese-American descent, has had three very strong games for the Knicks.  His contributions have come at an opportune time, with the Knicks' two stars, Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire out, and the embattled head coach, Mike D'Antoni, fighting for his job.  In his last three games, Lin has averaged 25.3 points, 8 assists, and just over 3.5 rebounds on 60% shooting in about 39 minutes per game.  The Knicks have won all three of these games.