Nothing Left To Prove

Today on the biggest stage the NBA can muster in February -- Sunday game, national broadcast, Madison Square Garden stage, defending champion Mavericks on a season-high winning streak and fully healthy -- Jeremy Lin and the Knicks did it again.

Now, he's *not* the best point guard in the league: a 2-to-1 assist to turnover ratio (and yes, the turnovers are overblown considering how much he's got to handle it in this offense, and the minutes he's racking up, but still), and the assumption that Derrick Rose is going to get healthy and be Derrick Rose again prevents that. He's also likely to break down under the workload at some point, since the Knicks are running him out there for 40+ minutes a game right now, mostly because they fall apart without him.

And I don't think that just because they've got JR Smith on the bench now, and Carmelo Anthony back any day now, that they are guaranteed to be better for the change. Both of those guys can shoot you out of a game, and aren't immune to the kind of decisions that keep teammates from hustling. Finally, even under the best of assumptions, they are defensively challenged with the guys who are likely to get the most floor time.

But Lin, his own damn self? There isn't anything more that this guy could have done in the last two weeks and counting to make his team better. The Knicks matter now, seem very likely to make a run at winning the division, and could be hosting a first-round division series.

So if you sick of him now, or sick of hearing about the Knicks, or wonder just how much hype you are going to have to endure to get your sports on... well, I'm sorry.