At the peak of Linsanity—that joyful burst of basketball magic that transfixed the world in 2012—Jeremy Lin handed Kenny Atkinson a ragged slip of paper.
Atkinson was a young assistant with the New York Knicks.
Lin was his protege.
The slip of paper was their bond.
On it, Lin had sketched out four half courts, and on those half courts, four plays.
"Hey, can you keep this?" Lin said. "I think it will work against this team."
It was minutes before tipoff. Atkinson was taken aback, a little bemused and a little amused.
The fourth-string point guard is calling his own plays?
"I was blown away," Atkinson says today.
They had known each other for two months, become confidants, become friends. Two striving prospects trying to gain a foothold in the NBA.
Lin was an overnight star, balancing exhilaration and anxiety and the hopes of several million new fans. He was nervous. So he grabbed a pencil and began scribbling plays on a swatch of torn paper—a wallet-sized security blanket.
Angle Power. 21 Hammer. 31 ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Howard Beck
Linsanity a Memory, Nets Offering Second Act for Jeremy Lin and Kenny Atkinson
October 27th, 2016 by Howard Beck Leave a reply »
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