The evangelization of Jeremy Lin continues thanks to a career-best game against the Los Angeles Lakers. For years, whenever Kobe Bryant has made his annual visit to Gotham, he has been the marquee attraction and his record-breaking performances at MSG has made it one of the most eagerly-anticipated dates on the NBA calendar. But coming into this year's game, Lin was the man making headlines thanks to his surprisingly play, leading the Knicks to a three-game winning streak in a season that has been a overwhelming disappointment.
Thanks to social media and the prevalence of the Internet, Lin has become the hottest thing in the league since Ricky Rubio during the first few weeks of the season and Blake Griffin's star turn last year. And this is happening in the media and hype capital of the world that is New York City, where they just won the Super Bowl last week. Nobody cares anymore thanks to Linsanity.
(Click here for images of Jeremy Lin rookie cards)
Lin's emergence has also been a huge boon for the basketball card market, with sales of his top rookie cards rivaling even the values of Kobe's best. The turnaround has been so dramatic, a quick search of Lin's cards on eBay the week before shows that he was nothing more than a bargain bin player, but after he became the Knicks starting point guard and put together a string of impressive games, they shot up drastically. The best example is his National Treasures rookie card. What sold for around $15-$25 last week just had one sell for $1,450.00.
The big question now is whether Linsanity will having staying power. When Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire return - not to mention whenever Baron Davis decides to actually play - Lin will no longer have the ball in his hands for 20 seconds at a time. Mike D'Antoni's system caters to Lin's strengths and it will be interesting to see if that remains the case once the Knicks "star" players return. At the very least, Lin has proven he can play on an NBA level and won't have to worry about being sent back to the D-League anytime soon. Just like every phenom that comes along in the NBA, the newness will eventually wear off and Lin's cards will settle into a level that is neither the record-breaking highs of this week nor will it be the bottom of the barrel level of two weeks prior.
As part of my continued service to the community, each day we will feature a different image gallery that highlights some of the finest cards that the industry has to offer. It might be from sports or even comic books or possibly movies or it might be something out of the ordinary and maybe even borderline absurd. But what matters is that people get to know about these cards and get interested in the hobby like I am. We'll be back soon for another gallery, but check out our other Card of the Day features with Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, and Blake Griffin.
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