LINsanity

I blame Michael Jordan for developing my interest in the NBA. While football and cricket are for life, basketball has been like a mistress. At times it consumes you with passion, but at others you feel content to walk away. I think this may be because the standard of basketball in the UK is not the highest. The late 90s were great years for the London Leopards and I filled my boots following them around the country as well as watching the NBA.

Sadly the Leopards for a range of reasons were not sustainable at that level and frankly neither was British Basketball. THe crowds and the quality has slipped. While the NFL has brought regular season games to London, the NBA focussed primarily on pre season fillers. This together with a lack of TV coverage stunted the growth of the sport, that has been saddled with "the next big thing" label for too long.

In the late 90s I was drawn towards following the Indiana Pacers and Reggie Miller. I say because the idea of seeing games was not an option. We were lucky to get to the USA on a couple of occasions and witness the NBA in Charlotte and in NYC. On the school visits to the USA I've built in trips to Madison Square Garden to see the New York Knicks, and more and more the Knicks have become my team.

While a trip to Indiana is about as likely as an overseas tourist visiting Wolverhampton, New York City is obviously more accessible and attractive. At the start of this season I decided to buy an internet package that has allowed me to watch all Knicks game online. Great value and it has allowed me to follow their progress at a depth previously not possible.

However in truth the Knicks have been under achievers in a city that demands success. Last year I was in NYC when new signing Carmelo Anthony made his debut. Anthony is a genuine all star player, the type of marquee signing that New York expects. The problem is the team hasn't gelled andtoo many games have been lost.

Circumstance of no established point guard, an injury to Carmelo Anthony and the tragic death of Amare Stoudemire's brother, meant that the Knicks went into the last fortnight very short handed. Enter Jeremy Lin. Lin defies all basketball stereotypes , he is an Asian American of Taiwanesse parents, he went to college at Harvard. He was undrafted, and was cut by Golden State Warriors after one season. The Knicks picked him up when no one wanted him. For weeks he sat at the end of a bench collecting the minutes that no one else wanted.

Then came his moment. Five games later and the Knicks haven't lost with Lin at point guard. He dropped 38 points on the LA Lakers last Friday. He went head to head with Kobe Bryant and came out victorious. The Knicks had played slow half court basketball in the early weeks of the season, now Lin has energised them, and the can play fast break, Tyson Chandler has benefitted hugely being the recipient of many pick and rolls and ally-oop passes.

New York is in the middle of LINsanity. The Knicks never sold Lin shirts, they do now. On Saturday night at Minnesota crowd records were broken when the Knicks came to town. With Lin in the line up, Knicks tickets have become hot. Its a story that strikes at the heart of sport, it's about the little guy making good, defying the odds, its David v Goliath, as Lin drives to the hoops past the trees standing in his way.

The NBA started the season in a labor dispute where one group of rich men battled another. It was not good public relations at a time of austerity amongst basketball's main audience. Jeremy Lin has to some degree carried the NBA and put into back onto the main pages of the papers. For that the League owe him a huge debt of thanks.