Jeremy Lin is turning things up just in time when he needed the most. After taking a breather during the All-Star break, the former Harvard standout is having a mini-Linsanity run of his own after he pulled off the most productive back-to-back games in purple-and-gold jersey.
In the most tumultuous campaign of his entire career, the 26-year old Lin has shown great perseverance despite absorbing backlash from critics and even his head coach Byron Scott for not living up to his full potential.
He was a subject of trade speculations for the past several months, often mentioned as potential trade bait because of his hefty expiring contract of $8 million. Based on reports coming from NBA insiders, the Lakers did attempt to find a suitor for Lin but could not get one because of the player’s flat performance through the first half of the season.
Lin, who was averaging 10.4 points and 4.7 assists in 25 minutes per game before All-Star break, was simply out of sync and looked a shell of his glorious days in New York roughly three years ago, until the last two games.
Probably motivated by his upcoming free-agency, Lin returned from her weeklong vacation like a man on a mission, playing the game with more aggression than he ever had all season long.
In the Lakers’ loss against the Brooklyn Nets, Lin recorded 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting in 24 minutes. Not only he almost doubled up his point production, but he played hard defense on Nets guard Deron Williams, which even impressed Scott.
In a very rare occasion, Lin was seen exchanging heated words with opposing players following a shot by rookie forward Bojan Bogdanovic in the closing seconds. The Lakers guard’s actuations even surprised Nets play-by-play broadcaster Ryan Rauco, who described Lin’s action as something out of his lad-back character.
Lin then followed it up with his best scoring output this season, recording a season-high 25 points on 10-for-15 shooting along with six assists to power the Lakers past the Boston Celtics 118-111 in overtime last Sunday.
It’s an exaggeration to conclude that Lin’s current showing may lead to a Linsanity version 2.0 in Hollywood. After all, it’s just a couple of solid-scoring game from the Asian-American star. Then again, it has been a long time coming since Lin put up big numbers offensively. To be exact, the last time he scored more than 20-points happened in November when he dropped 21 points against the Charlotte Hornets as a starter.
In a very frustrating year, it’s good to see a hard-working guy like Lin smiling again as he enjoys perhaps his best stretch with the Lakers. Linsanity might now be a thing of the past, but once again he proved to everybody that he can seriously play ball in the NBA.
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