This week brought us one of the more perplexing questions of the NBA season thus far: Is it better to be an All-Star reserve or Jeremy Lin? Right now, you could make the argument that the mythology surrounding Lin is on another level than that of being named to a simple All-Star team. Then again, you never know when stories like these will fade out of our short attention spans’ range, and an All-Star nod is forever.
Lin and his energy are bringing the Knicks back from the dead. That’s not a sentence many had planned to write. It’s why this league is crazy in the best way. On to the weekend.
Friday.
Los Angeles Clippers at Philadelphia – A-. A team full of big names and flash and fireworks against a team full of disruptively long arms, defense and a team growing organically from the parts it has. They’re both making noise and this is their only meeting of the season.
Oklahoma City at Utah – B. The Thunder will be on the second night of a back-to-back. It’s the only late game of the night, and whether you’re fighting to stay awake or at some trendy, awesome party, be sure to blast Kevin Durant’s “Worried About Tomorrow” and watch the evening jump to a MVP-like status.
Los Angeles Lakers at New York – LIN. When looking at this game pre-Linsanity and sans-Melo or Amare, it didn’t intrigue me all that much. Now, of course, Madison Square Garden will be abuzz with Kobe and Co. coming in as the next participants in The Lin Experience in front of a national TV audience. If this story hasn’t exploded yet, this game could well do it.
Saturday.
New York at Minnesota – BUZZ. Because no matter what happens Friday night, this is still Lin v. Rubio, Part I. There might not be a buzzier showdown in the NBA right now.
Portland at Dallas – B+. The Mavericks, Dirk in particular, are getting their stuff together of late, and this is the two teams’ first meeting since last year’s postseason series, which Dallas won en route to a title. Still, remember Brandon Roy? Pure awesomeness.
Sunday.
Chicago at Boston – A. The Celtics with Rajon Rondo are (obviously) a different team, and he also completes the excellent point guard match-up with MVP Derrick Rose, which doesn’t suck. Both squads are playing well and these Eastern Conference Elites games are usually pretty fun.
Miami at Atlanta – B+. The Hawks have an impressive record, they’ve advanced in the playoffs in recent years and yet, they’re sort of tough to get excited about anymore. Since the Heat are always a measuring stick for everything and everyone, one would imagine Atlanta will be pumped for this one.
Utah at Memphis – B. The Grizzlies aren’t on national TV much, so this is a nice chance to catch a team that’s worth watching and will be right in the thick of the Western Conference race all season. Utah has slipped of late, but remains one of the West’s more interesting, youthful squads. You never know when these games will show up in the tiebreakers later on.
Enjoy the weekend.
Griffin Gotta contributes to The Hoop Doctors and is a co-managing editor of Straight Outta Vancouver. The story arcs and infinite weirdness of the NBA are addictions he deals with every day. Email him at griffingotta at gmail dot com.
