The Jeremy Lin show or Linsanity as it has been called continued on Friday night at Madison Square Garden with the Los Angeles Lakers coming to the Big Apple to take on the New York Knicks. With three inspired performances in a row before facing off against the Lakers, Jeremy Lin had become the talk of the NBA and getting a lot of comparisons to Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos in terms of the media frenzy surrounding this young athlete.
Even though everyone has been highly entertained and inspired by this young kid’s solid numbers over the last three games, most people have been waiting for this unexpected run to end by the Harvard grad, but that wasn’t the case against the Lakers with Lin having a career night against Kobe Bryant and company.
After an emotional and tiring overtime win over the Boston Celtics just one night earlier, the Los Angeles Lakers were exhausted on Friday night with little left in the tank to take on the resurgent Knicks led by up-and-coming point guard Jeremy Lin. Without Carmelo Anthony or Amare Stoudemire, the consensus was that this would be the end to Lin’s inspired run. Unfortunately for the Lakeshow, Lin only elevated his game that much more against the Lakers with a career-high 38 points.
This 38-point performance by the rising star was impressive to say the least. Lin torched the Lakers inside and out while getting his teammates involved yet again with a game-high seven assists. Ultimately, this kid out of Harvard could turn out to be a bust once Stoudemire and Anthony return, but right now he is the hottest player in the NBA with the potential to single handedly get the New York Knicks back into playoff contention in the Eastern Conference.
As for the Lakers, it was another disappointing outing with no energy or motivation by any of the players besides Kobe Bryant. The Black Mamba led the way as usual with a team-high 34 points and 10 rebounds, but it was nowhere near enough to spark fire in his teammates with only Pau Gasol (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Matt Barnes (11 points) showing up at Madison Square Garden.
The Los Angeles Lakers lost their 10th game on the road (4-10 road, 15-12 overall) with this loss to the New York Knicks, 92-85. There is just one game left on this six-game road trip with the Lakers traveling to Canada to take on the Toronto Raptors on Sunday before heading back to the Staples Center on Tuesday to face off against the Atlanta Hawks.
Next Lakers Game: Los Angeles Lakers @ Toronto Raptors Sun. Feb. 12, 2012 10 a.m. PST on KCAL (Yes, 10 a.m. in the morning!)
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