Sunday, February 12, 2012

Five straight games with 20. Five straight wins

The game was on BTV this morning, with the Chinese commentators conducting themselves pretty well. Someone remarked that if this had been 10 years ago, Lin Shuhao could have shared the stage with Yao Ming.

With five seconds to go, Lin misses the first of two free throws, causing one commentator to groan. (The Chinese commentators, sitting at a desk in the studio and watching the game on laptops, go for a "I'm a friend in your living room" vibe, except they are completely pedantic most of the time. It's quite the contrast with American broadcasts.) "If we were at Madison Square Garden, they'd be chanting MVP," he notes by way of contrasting the crowd reaction in Minneapolis.

"He can still be a hero if he makes this," the other says.

He makes it.

With the Knicks up one, the commentators debate who should get the ball for the Timberwolves. One says he'd let Ricky Rubio have it because they're priming him, and last-second opportunities are hard to come by; one says he would not give it to Rubio.

The rookie bounces it off his foot and out of bounds.

The Knicks win again. Jeremy Lin had an average game at best -- the commentators kept noting he looked tired -- but let it be noted that he scored his team's go-ahead point after getting fouled while going hard to the basket.

Eventually we'll quit these updates and just let the kid be a basketball player. Let's say we start when the Knicks get off this incredible roll they're on.

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