NBA Roundhouse: Lin Loses, LeBron Considers Cav’s Return

As fast as Linsanity started, it crashed and burned just as quickly when the Knicks lost to the New Orleans Hornets 89-85. This was the Knicks and Lin’s first lost since he came off the bench and took the world by storm and the Knicks on a seven game winning streak. Much of the hype surrounding Lin covered the fact that one of his problems has been turnovers.

While Lin has been breaking records since his first game, the one he could do without is the nine turnovers he had in this game. That is a tie with the most turnovers this season.

Lin did something unheard of in sports today and took personal responsibility for the mistakes. But Coach Mike D’Antoni said that this was “not even a concern” and was already looking ahead to the next game. An issue Lin is having is some of these plays are a little risky. We all know taking risk is a part of sports, but some of these risks are causing miscues to his teammates. Instead of going for the high light real shot, sometimes the simpler shot will lead to fewer turnovers.

But D’Antoni says that the team will look at the film and go fourth.

Before the world could grasp that Lin is human and therefore not perfect ESPN ran a story on the loss. The problem was that the title didn’t focus on the issues he was having in the game; it focused on his race instead. On the mobile and tablet websites the headline read “Chinks in the Armor”. This was up on the site for 35 minutes before they removed it.

ESPN is now back peddling and doing the standard apology and says it is, “Conducting a complete review of our cross platform editorial procedures and are determining appropriate disciplinary action to ensure this does not happen again. We regret and apologize for this mistake.” I’m not sure I would call using an awful racial slur a “mistake” but the cable network giant has now fired the employee who wrote that headline and suspended another for 30 days who used the same slur on air.

LeBron Back to Cleveland?

LeBron James caused an uproar in Miami and Cleveland when he said he would not rule out a possible return to the Cavaliers at some point in his career. He also did not back away from that statement the next day. James tried is best to reassure Heat fans that he is fully committed to winning the NBA title in Miami this season. He told reporters that, “The question was asked of me, could I see myself playing back here. I said yeah, in the sense of I don’t know what my future holds and I don’t want to take that out. I love the fans of Miami.” He continued by saying he is invested in this team and looking forward to a career with the Heat but does not want to rule out anything that might happen in the future.

He also said that, “And if I decide to come back, hopefully the fans will accept me.” Which is highly unlikely, we all remember how he tortured Cleveland two years ago with that ridiculous clock and kept the fans on edge before announcing his decision to leave and be a part of the fantastic trio that consist of James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. We also remember how the fans of James hometown reacted to this decision by burning his jerseys and cursing his name, literally. Whether or not he actually can go home again remains unseen, it will be interesting to see if his time in Miami is running out.

Every Rose Has It’s Thorns

Chicago Bulls Derrick Rose has missed his fifth straight game because of back pain. Rose has increased his practice but has still remained on the sidelines. Bulls fans are getting a little worried that this is going to start a string of losses because of Rose’s absent. While they have remained a decent team without him, he is a really good prop for the team. But to calm the city down Coach Tom Thibodeau has said he is “doing fine” but needs to work on “get the conditioning up to speed.” Rose’s next chance at coming off the bench is Monday against Atlanta. As far as the All-Star Game, it is going to be wait and see like his regular games if he is medically cleared and ready to go he will play.

Other News and Notables

• This should not come as a surprise to anyone but Jeremy Lin is named one of the Players of the Week. He shares this title with Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook. Lin has averaged 27.3 points, 8.3 assists and 2 steals. While Westbrook has managed 30 points, 6 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.5 steals.

• Ben Wallace has said that this is least season with the Detroit Pistons and in the NBA. He wants to spend more time with his family. Wallace was fairly unknown before earning his spot in the NBA, his tough defense and terrific rebounding ability was got him noticed. He eventually won four defensive Player of the Year awards and helped the Pistons win the 2004 championship. The veteran player has played 16 seasons and has remained undrafted since the 1976-77 NBA/ABA mergers. And the perfect finale for Wallace is that he beat Avery Johnson’s record for the most games played by an undrafted player. He played his 1,055th career NBA game against San Antonio.

• New Jersey Nets Brook Lopez played for the first time this season Sunday night against the Milwaukee Bucks after missing the first 32 games with a broken right foot. He was hurt in a preseason game against the Knicks and had surgery right before Christmas. He was the Nets’ leading scorer last season at 20.4 points per game. Nets coach Avery Johnson has said that he will sit out Monday night’s game against the Knicks, but he will play Wednesday night against the Magic.