After an interesting week in the NBA, a special, slightly-biased committee (of one) is here to present the risers and fallers over the past seven days in the Association.
One player that is rising fast is Jeremy Lin. "Linsanity" has taken control of New York City, as the Knicks seem to have found their savior at the point guard position. After being called up by the Knicks last week, and getting kicked out of his own brother's apartment for a party and forced to sleep on the couch of fellow Knick Landry Fields, Lin finally got a chance to shine with his 25-point, seven-assist effort against the (Brooklyn) New Jersey Nets on Saturday.
He then gave the Garden faithful an encore performance on Monday night, dropping 28 points and eight assists against the Jazz without the services of Amare Stoudamire and after a first quarter injury to Carmelo Anthony.
Will this last? Probably not. But as long as Lin is impressing, it may not matter much. Enjoy the ride.
Another player who just deserves more attention is fellow point guard Tony Parker. Over the past week, he has averaged 26 points and almost seven assists for the San Antonio Spurs, who continue to retool around their geriatric big three of Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan.
In a 107-96 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder, Parker took over, scoring 42 points to lead the Spurs, who have now won five straight and are making noise in the crowded Western Conference.
A player who might need Harry Potter's invisibility cloak after last week is Thunder center Kendrick Perkins. He is slumping this year, averaging just 5.6 rebounds per game.
His rebound rate, which is a stat used to determine the percentage of missed shots that a player grabs on the boards, is only 11.6 percent this year, and only four other centers have a lower percentage than Perkins.
And then there was that incredible, posterizing, demoralizing, ego-bruising dunk that Blake Griffin threw down on him, which will probably end up being dunk of the year when this season is all over, and will fill the bedrooms of young children.
A team that desperately needs a vacation and a giant hug is the New Jersey Nets. Why? Lets see: they've lost five of their last six games including a curb-stomping at the hands of the Chicago Bulls, an 108-87 game that was much worse than the final tally suggests.
The team has lost its exciting young players, rookie Marshon Brooks and streaky scorer Anthony Morrow, to injury.
Nobody seems to go to Nets games anymore, as they are less than a year away from going to Brooklyn.
Their best player, point guard Deron Williams, seems to have no interest in being with this team past this year, and according to reports from Russia, neither does Nets owner Mikhail Prokorov. He has stated in a debate that if he defeats Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and three other candidates to win the presidency of Russia, he will sell all of his assets to charity, which includes the Nets.
I would feel bad for Nets fans, but I doubt they exist.
Email: nathaniel.smith@ubspectrum.com
