BASKETBALL

In the NBA, the “Lin”sanity of Jeremy Lin continued this weekend.  On Friday, Lin took his 7-game winning streak with the Knicks into New Orleans to face the Hornets.  But, Lin wasn’t sharp in that outing, turning the ball over more than 10 times.  He tried to rally with a solid performance toward the end of the game, but it was too late and the Hornets snapped their streak.  So, the Knicks were looking to rebound on Sunday when they took on the defending champion Dallas Mavericks.  The Mavs started out strong, but thanks to a strong performance from Lin in the second half, finishing with 28 points and 14 assists, the Knicks rallied back and took down the Mavs.  Jeremy Lin is for real.  Just a fantastic story in the NBA right now.  New Orleans 89, NY Knicks 85.  NY Knicks 104, Dallas 97.
Elsewhere in the NBA, the Chicago Bulls have sorely missed the presence of their superstar Derrick Rose.  On Saturday, the Bulls lost to a inferior New Jersey Nets team by 12.  So, they were thrilled that they finally got Rose back to play in a special President’s Day against Atlanta.  The Bulls got out to a hot start, outscoring the Hawks 35-17 in the first quarter.  But just when they thought the Hawks were dead, Atlanta came soaring back, oddly behind some clutch shots from former superstar Tracy McGrady.  But, in the end, Derrick Rose put on the finishing touches with some sweet fade away shots to give the Bulls the lead.  Rose finished with 23 points in his triumphant return.  Chicago 90, Atlanta 79.

Finally, in the NBA, while the Clippers are doing great in Los Angeles, the Lakers appear to be in disarray.  This is primarily because of the locker room issues with Pau Gasol.  There have been rumors surrounding his name since before the season began.  Will he be traded?  Are the Lakers bringing in Dwight Howard?  Is Pau staying.  Finally, Kobe Bryant addressed team management saying, “Either trade Pau Gasol or don’t”.  Kobe was saying that basketball is an emotional game, and that players need to have their head fully in the game at all times.  Kobe knows that this issue has been bothering Gasol, and scolded team management to stop rumoring to the media.  Either do it or don’t.  Kobe said he would like Pau to stay in town, but if they’re gonna get rid of him… just do it.  Either way, the Lakers need to make some kind of move if they want to be competitive in the playoffs.