Posting and Toasting

You can probably find a Jeremy Lin jersey now.

2012-02-10T13:25:17Z

My understanding is that Jeremy Lin jerseys have been pretty much impossible to come by this week. I know they were available at some point in MSG souvenir shops, but they sold out as quickly as fans got their greasy little paws on 'em. Though I expect they'll sell out again, today is the day to shop:

After legions of Knicks fans cried foul for days over the crushing absence of Jeremy Lin jerseys, city stores on Friday are slated to receive their first batch of gear emblazoned with the name of the NBA’s newest sensation.

"Obviously, New York is excited about Jeremy, and we’re going to give the fans what they want," said Modell’s spokesman Rich Lampmann.

Lin jerseys will be available at three Modell’s stores in midtown and at the Madison Square Garden souvenir shops.

Modell’s is pulling a batch of the jerseys off the production line early in order to satisfy the red-hot demand. They’ll be on sale at the Modell’s stores on W. 42nd St., E. 42nd St. and Broadway at W. 34th St.

Now, that's good news for prospective jersey-buyers, but we ought to acknowledge the ingenuity some Knicks fans showed in the interim. Lin-hacks if you will:

- I wish I could remember who it was, but somebody on Twitter said they were taping over their old Danilo Gallinari jersey (sorry Danilo. Still love you.) so that it read "~~GAL~~LIN~~ARI~~". I assume they also added a (+9) to the number part on the front and back.

- This young gentleman made a minor edit to a Carmelo Anthony jersey and-- boom!-- Lin jersey.

- And then there's me. I took an old blue dress shirt, cut off the sleeves with a scythe (because that's how I do things), and detailed it with orange glitter paint. Then I wrote "NEW YORK KICKS BASKETBALLs GO NICKS" and "7TEEN" on the front and "JEREMY LIN LINSANITY!!!1 2012" and "KNIX 17" on the back. And now I don't have to go to Modell's. I'd be happy to print more if y'all are interested.

- I'm also selling Limited Edition Jeremy Lin Semi-Adhesive Wet Chin Band-Aids for $17 a piece. Act now or miss out!

The Eastern Conference All-Star reserves do not include Amar'e Stoudemire or Tyson Chandler.

2012-02-10T00:26:26Z

The All-Star reserves for both conferences were just announced. Here's the whole roster for the Eastern Conference from the SBN NBA page:

Dwyane Wade, Heat*
LeBron James, Heat*
Derrick Rose, Bulls*
Dwight Howard, Magic*
Carmelo Anthony, Knicks*
Joe Johnson, Hawks
Paul Pierce, Celtics
Andre Iguodala, 76ers
Deron Williams, Nets
Roy Hibbert, Pacers
Chris Bosh, Heat
Luol Deng, Bulls

Yeah. None of those people are Amar'e Stoudemire, which is probably reasonable. None of them are Tyson Chandler either, which seems less reasonable but, then again, it's kind of better for Amar'e and Tyson to get a long weekend to rest. So, as of right now, the Knicks' only two All-Star Weekend participants are Carmelo Anthony (if he's healthy enough to play) and Landry Fields (who'll be a Sophomore person).

Meanwhile, the word from internet personality Tas Melas is that there are rumors of Iman Shumpert being a Dunk Contest participant. I've no idea where that rumor comes from, but it's an odd one. Shump's a pretty silly athlete and we've seen plenty of good video of him dunking...but I'd estimate that he's like 4-10 on dunk attempts this year. He's tried some that would have been impressive, but converted very few.

But anyway, buns for Tyson and Amar'e, but also kinda not buns, too, you know?

Thursday Mugger Crocodiles

2012-02-09T21:31:31Z

Photo: Karunakar Rayker

Good afternoon, partypugs. The insanity surrounding Jeremy Lin (if only there was a word to describe that!) has not died down, so I'm afraid the majority of the links below will in fact be Lin-ks. It's getting a little tiresome-- EVERYBODY has to give their "take" on Lin. Did you know he went to Harvard?-- but at least the Knicks are getting positive national attention, right? Anyway, take the jump for some things to click on.

- Mugger crocodiles aren't actually violent thieves. It's just a bastardization of an Urdu word (which is, Wikipedia says, a bastardization of a Sanskrit word). They'll bite ya, though.

- Your drop-everything-and-only-attend-to-this thing of the day is this "Minisode" from Kenneth Drews of the Disciples of Clyde podcast. It's about Lin and the tough time Amar'e Stoudemire is going through, and it's a lot about Ken himself. Way deeper than pretty much anything I've ever linked.

- I traded emails with Bethlehem Shoals about Lin last night, and he fleshed out his side of things at GQ today. My points to him were pretty much:

1. While there are a litany of reasons for Lin to be hyped and over-hyped, the one that gets Knicks fans is that, even if he regresses considerably, he fills THE major need this team had.

2. A regression against better teams and better scouting is imminent. Of course it is. But the guy has played like an MVP candidate this week. Regressing from THAT won't discourage me in the slightest.

- Daryl Morey openly admitted to missing the boat on Lin on his Twitter account today, which was pretty cool of him.

- O.G. Asian-American Knick Wat Misaka has been paying attention to (and communicating with) Lin as well. He's been doing it for a while, actually.

- According to his Twitter, Josh Harrellson is in Union Square, like, right now. Pleeeease somebody go find him and hang out with him and take pictures of him and massage his wrist and tell him I love him and miss him.

- I imagine this is good, relevant news for at least a few of you: some Knicks games are getting broadcast in China and Taiwan now!

- This isn't nearly as big a deal as people would like it to be (at least I don't think so), but Lin says he feels inspired by Tim Tebow (presumably not off the top of his head. Somebody asked him about that.. Makes sense to me, since they're both very faith-oriented and have developed a bit of a cult following. That's about where the comparison ends, though, and I don't think any sensible person is suggesting otherwise.

- Late addition: Bob "Rob" Mahoney names five unsung defensive players and one of them is Jared Jeffries.

And that is all! No game tonight, but I'll probably post later following the announcement of the All-Star reserves. Have a wonderful rest of your day, get home safely, and try not to get scalped by anybody. That'd really ruin your day and nobody wants that for you. Except for the scalpers. Be wary of them.

Hey, you could win some tickets to the Knicks-Nets game from TiqIQ

2012-02-09T20:52:19Z

Perhaps you may have noticed this, but there's actually a spot for you to buy Knicks tickets at Posting and Toasting. On the far right of the menu up top, there's a link that says "Tickets". If you click on it with your computer mouse, it'll take you to this page, which gives you all sorts of pictures and graphs and deals from all different ticket brokers. I imagine that might be of some use.

Don't go spending dollars (or chasing waterfalls) just yet, though, because TiqIQ would first like to offer you some free tickets. You just have to "like" TiqIQ and Posting and Toasting (feel free to "unlike" P&T soon thereafter if you'd rather not have my nonsense flooding your feed), post a quick thing about who your favorite player ever is (say Lee Nailon and you can also win a high five from me), and then I think you'll be in the running for free tickets to the Knicks-Nets game on Monday, February 20th.

As always, I am reluctant to put anything promotional on the front page unless there's an opportunity for some of y'all to win free stuff. If you'd like a shot at said free stuff, take the jump for the full instructions.

Two More Jeremy Lin Parables

2012-02-09T16:37:55Z

The burgeoning legend of Jeremy Lin has become sort of an exercise in basketball hagiography. It feels like every game he plays produces a couple more anecdotes that attest to his brilliance, but also teach us something about, like, basketball in general, and maybe ourselves and the world and life and stuff. The aftermath of last night's game brought about two fun little moments to be added to Lin's ongoing tale:

1. Tyson Chandler admitted to having no idea Lin could dunk:

"I didn't know he could dunk," Chandler said. "When he was going in for a dunk I was like 'No Jeremy, just lay the ball up' and all of sudden he dunks it. I probably was just as excited as the crowd was."

"I was thinking after he dunked," he added, "for at least 20 seconds I was thinking, 'Did I know he could dunk?' I don't remember him dunking."

As Michael Katz makes clear in that blog post, Lin can dunk.

Moral: Don't judge a book by its cover! That book might just torch John Wall and throw down a tomahawk!

2. After the game, Ryan Wittman (a former Knick Summer Leaguer, by the way) texted his dad, Randy, to rub it all Lin.

After Lin finished with 23 points and a career-high 10 assists, Wizards Coach Randy Wittman had to absorb an equally painful text message from his son, Ryan, who played against Lin for four years in the Ivy League at Cornell.

"He told me that they did a much better job guarding him than we did tonight," Wittman said with an uncomfortable chuckle. "Makes Dad feel good."

Moral: Ryan Wittman is kind of mean to his dad!

Anyway, I think we might have to start collecting and organizing these anecdotes so that when the Legend of Lin is assembled, we can be responsible for the Knicks chapter.

Knicks 107, Wizards 93: "I just feel like I'm in a room with 100 puppies."

2012-02-09T06:00:49Z

Another game of the Jeremy Lin experience is behind us, and all we got was more kindling for the fire (the...Linferno, if you will. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm trying so hard not to pun). Lin had another terrific game and the Knicks' offense started terribly but blossomed through the latter three quarters. After that horrid first period, they established a lead in the second quarter and kept right on building it to the final buzzer. And, as Landry for prez said in the game thread (quoted in the headline), the experience brought all the mirth and excitement of being in a room with-- well, maybe not 100 puppies, but at least like 70-80. It was a lot of fun.

- Several guys had great nights, but we'll open with Lin. Early on, he was running plenty of pick-and-roll with Tyson Chandler, but the Wizards brought weak side help, so Lin did the wise thing and kicked the ball out to the perimeter. Only problem was the guys on the perimeter were Jared Jeffries and Bill Walker and neither had any interest in sinking open jumpers. When Lin did try to take it himself, he ended up forcing a couple of bad shots. He sat with about four minutes left in the quarter, having picked up his second foul (and opened a nasty gash in his chin) trying to draw an open court charge on John Wall.

- After that, Lin was excellent. In the second quarter, those drive-and-kicks started going to Steve Novak on the weak side and saw much happier conclusions, which in turn opened up the inside options a bit. Lin got his first points by picking Jordan Crawford in the backcourt and streaking coast to coast, then continued to pile 'em on with some brilliant drives to the basket. We saw some savvy-ass hesitation dribbles, including one that created enough space and confusion to let Lin score right up and over JaVale McGee. In the third, he kept right on driving and had twelve more points, including these two that made my eyes and teeth fall out of my head:

Three things about that video:

1. As a lot of people have said, the kid's sense of when his defender is off balance is impeccable. Wall gambled for a split second and Lin crossed his shit UP and went right to the rim. Oh, and he can get up pretty high as well.

2. Yes, he had a band-aid half dangling half-stuck from his chin for most of the game.

3. We've been waiting for Lin to face a good defense that trapped him and helped on him and stuff, and the Wizards were not that team. At best, the Wiz gave token help. At worst, they pretty much assembled a step ladder to the basket.

Anyway, Lin did a superb job of getting to the basket, got to the line a bit, sank a couple of nifty bankers from short range, and kept bricking his three-point attempts. Oh, and he threw some very lovely passes, including many lobs and pinpoint feeds in the pick-and-roll and one gorgeous one-handed dime to the backdoor-cutting Landry Fields. 23 points, 10 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 turnovers, no signs of regressing yet. (All in 34 minutes, too. A much healthier outing.)

- Wall did get 29 points and Lin said afterward that he "did a bad job of containing him", but the defense I saw was perfectly adequate and about as much as one can do against Wall when he's hitting his jumpers.

- Landry Fields and Iman Shumpert both played big minutes (Shump came off the bench again) and looked pretty superb. Neither settled for a lot of outside shots, instead using the space created by Lin's maneuvering to knife right to the basket to finish behind the defense. Shump snaggled three steals to go with his 17 points and Fields grabbed 8 rebounds (including a putback dunk that was so perfectly timed it looked choreographed) to go with his 16 points. Both shot 6-11 from the field and made all the necessary diagonal drives and cuts to supplement the pick-and-roll game in the middle of the floor. The low point for the two came when Fields inexplicably passed up a wide-open layup for an alley-oop attempt and Shump badly missed the finish (to be fair, it was a bad pass). D'Antoni looked like he was going to sneeze lava.

- Tyson Chandler did what he does, finishing a number of Lin's feeds and drawing a foul on pretty much every one that he didn't finish. He ended up with 25 points on just 12 shots and 14 free throws, which is a line so pretty I want to take it to see One For The Money and try to kiss it on its mouth. Chandler got burned a bit by the nimbler Trevor Booker (the Knicks went semi-small with Chandler and four guards/wings and the Wiz went even smaller), but made his presence felt otherwise and pulled down 11 rebounds (one of which was an exceedingly badass tip-dunk of a Shumpert airball as the shot clock expired.)

- Chandler attempted a couple of short-range jumpers again and rimmed out both. I swear his form looks fine and those would drop if he wasn't visibly regretting the endeavor while it was happening.

- Steve Novak! Again! The guy is draining threes at a Shawne-Williams-in-December-2010 rate right now. He nailed five of nine from downtown, pretty much all off the catch in the corner or at the elbow. The most ballerest of them came after a pump fake that sent the closing-out Wizard flying into crowd. Steve just gathered himself and drained the corner jumper while some Wizard (don't remember who) tried to untangle himself from a folding chair. That's so Novak.

- One more thing about Lin is that he does some pretty neat tricks to establish angles in the pick-and-roll, whether it's slowing his dribble to allow things to unfold around him or, in one particularly awesome play, actually crossing paths with the rolling Chandler, turning all the way around, and feeding Chandler on the opposite side of the rim from the one he rolled on. I didn't explain that well, so I'll share a video if I find one. The point is Lin's quite talented at taking detours to resurrect a pick-and-roll play if the initial action isn't working.

- Mike Bibby got all of Toney Douglas's back-up point guard minutes and did nothing with any of them. Four missed threes in 14 minutes.

- Besides his Band-Aid stylings, Lin also apparently switched sneakers at halftime. I did not notice this, but Clyde did, which makes perfect sense.

- Lin also denied everybody in the crowd free Chick Fil-A by sinking a pair of free throws at one point. I have no idea what the specifics of that promotion are (I guess one miss = free chickens?), but I find it kind of funny that the Wizards people decided to pin the free food responsibility on the failings of an opposing player instead of the success of their own players, like most places do.

- Do you think Nick Young and Jordan Crawford have some sort of bet going? That's the only explanation I can think of.

- Finally:

Yeah, this has been really, really fun. Don't take for granted how bleak things were just a couple weeks ago and how completely the mood has changed. <3 <3 <3

Postgame Thread: Knicks 107, Wizards 93

2012-02-09T02:29:50Z

Another great game from Jeremy Lin, another fine team-wide offensive outing, and another bad team vanquished. The Knicks have won three straight.

Recap later!

Game Thread: Knicks at Wizards- 2/8/12

2012-02-08T23:47:29Z

Evening, daffodils! The Knicks are in our nation's Wizards basketball capital, Washington D.C., to face-- you guessed it-- the Wizards. Those Wizards had lost four straight games for beating the Raptors on Monday, and they're 5-20 overall, which is less wins and more losses than they were probably hoping to have at this point in the season.

The Knicks, of course, aren't quite as prepared to beat the Wizards as they'd usually be. Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony will both be missing from tonight's game, which means that Jeremy Lin will not only have to guard John Wall, but pretty much weave the entire Knicks offense with his bare hands yet again. And he'll probably be doing it against a defense (albeit a pretty bad one) looking to trap and double him at every opportunity.

Speaking of Wall, this is of course the first match-up between the two since Lin made a (bigger) name for himself by battling the first pick in the 2010 Summer League in Vegas. I was at that game, and it was both my first glimpse of Lin's skills (though I'll confess to being way more into Moussa Seck at the time) and his devoted following (The place was packed and people were BAWLING in the audience. I'm not exaggerating.) So, uh, yeah. This should be cool, and hopefully Lin's up for the task, somebody else will step up to provide offense, and the Knicks can figure out a way to take the most winnable of the three more games they'll play without Stoudemire.

This here's your thread to comment along and Bullets Forever is a superb Wizards blog to check out. As always, please do not post photos, .gifs, illegal streams, or links to rabbit breeder directories in the thread. Tip-off's at 7 sharp.