Lin hits game-winner as Knicks beat Raptors
Even after his amazing week, this one took Linsanity to a whole new level. Against Toronto on Tuesday, it was Lin for the win!
Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with less than a second to play to cap his finishing flurry of six straight points and New York rallied to beat the Raptors 90-87, extending its winning streak to six games.
"I'm just glad it went like this so we can calm the Linsanity down," cracked Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni.
No chance of that. The NBA's first American-Taiwanese player, Lin scored 27 points and added a career-high 11 assists in his first game since being named Eastern Conference player of the week.
"He continues to impress every night," New York's Jared Jeffries said. "Every game he plays better, he does more and more to help us win basketball games. You can't ask any more of a kid coming into this situation."
While he's the one standing in the spotlight, Lin said sharing success with his teammates is as big a reward.
"It's not because of me, it's because we're coming together as a team," Lin said. "We started making these steps earlier but we were still losing close games and so obviously it wasn't fun. But when you win, that solves a lot of problems. We've been winning and we've been playing together."
Making just his fifth career start, Lin had no hesitation in taking the decisive shot.
"I'm thankful that the coach and my teammates trust me with the ball at the end of the game," he said. "I like having it at the end of the game. I'm just very thankful."
The season-high crowd of 20,092 roared as Lin shot over Jose Calderon and drained a pull-up jumper from the top with half a second to play, giving the Knicks their first lead since the opening quarter.
D'Antoni declined to call timeout before Lin's winning shot, saying it would only give the Raptors time to draw up their defense. Even so, D'Antoni was impressed with the calm and confidence Lin showed in letting the clock run down.
"You just watch and you're in awe," D'Antoni said. "He held it until five tenths of a second left. He was pretty confident that was going in, no rebounds, no nothing. That ball was being buried."
Toronto's Rasual Butler airballed his attempt at the buzzer as the Knicks swarmed their newest hero at center court.
"The kid made a great shot," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "(Calderon) had to give him space or he was going to give up a driving path and (Lin) made a tough shot."
But Casey was left steamed at his team's failure to hold a lead, especially after the Raptors made nine turnovers in the final quarter.
"It should not have come to (Lin's) play," Casey said. "We had some many boneheaded plays to get to that play and to make that play relevant. We should have taken care of business before that."
Amare Stoudemire returned from a four-game absence with 21 points and Tyson Chandler had 13 for New York.
Calderon scored 25 points, Linas Kleiza had 15 points and 11 rebounds, and DeMar DeRozan scored 14 for the Raptors.
Up 75-66 to start the fourth, Toronto widened its lead with a three-point play by Barbosa before the Knicks stormed back with a 10-0 run, cutting it to 78-76 and forcing the Raptors to call timeout with 6:22 remaining.
Kleiza stopped the run with a driving layup, Amir Johnson added a hook shot and, after Lin made one of two from the line, Barbosa's layup made it 84-77 with 4:49 to go.
Toronto led 87-82 with less than two minutes to go when Iman Shumpert stole the ball from Calderon and drove in for an uncontested dunk. After a missed shot, Lin completed a three-point play, tying it at 87 with 1:05 left.
Barbosa missed a 3 for Toronto and, at the other end, Shumpert missed a jumper but Chandler grabbed the rebound. Lin took the ball near midcourt and let the clock run down to 5 seconds before driving and pulling up against Calderon to launch the decisive shot, touching off the latest instance of Linsanity.
"(Calderon) was trying to push me left," Lin said. "He was giving me a little bit of space. I just tried to take it down as low as I could. I figured it's probably not going to be possible to get to the basket with the help that they had."
Calderon was surprised to see Lin pull up for the game-winner.
"I thought he was going to drive," Calderon said. "That's why I tried to give him his left hand but he made a great shot."
Calderon was held scoreless in the final quarter, with D'Antoni crediting Shumpert for keeping the Toronto guard in check.
"He did a great job," D'Antoni said. "Shump got on Calderon and changed up everything."
The Raptors had a photo of Lin on their team website in the hours before the game, and his visit generated major interest among Toronto's Asian community, estimated at over 280,000 people, or more than 11 percent of the local population. The Chinese Canadian Youth Athletics Association and the Taiwanese Canadian Association of Toronto both sent groups of almost 300 fans as Toronto sold out for the second time in 13 home games. One group of fans in the upper deck wore white T-shirts spelling out his name.
Not all the fans were so positive: Lin was booed several times throughout the game.
Local media also took note; some 75 reporters and 16 cameras packed a Tuesday morning press conference to hear Lin speak, with dozens more turned away to prevent overcrowding. More than 25 Chinese Canadian journalists were due to cover the game, including one who presented Lin with a book of "Year of the Dragon" stamps from Canada Post and asked him to record a message in Mandarin, which he did.
Even D'Antoni was shocked by the size of the throng upon walking in Tuesday morning for his turn at the microphone.
"Are we in the playoffs now?" D'Antoni joked as he made his way to the front of the room.
It was Calderon, coming off a career-high 30 points in Sunday's loss to the Lakers, who was hot early, scoring 12 points in the first as the Raptors led 28-21 after one. Lin missed his first shot and didn't score until a driving layup with 3:46 left in the first. He had four points and four assists in the opening quarter.
Lin turned the ball over on three straight possessions early in the second and Toronto took advantage with a 6-0 run, widening its lead to 13 points. He also missed a running bank shot as the half ended as the Raptors took a 47-36 lead into the break.
Stoudemire scored seven points and Lin had six points and four assists as the Knicks scored 30 points in the third, but still trailed 75-66 heading into the fourth.
AP
Miami hits new milestones by routing Pacers 105-90
LeBron James and Dwyane Wade found a way to motivate their teammates Tuesday night.
James scored 23 points and nearly produced his first triple double in 11 months as Miami rolled to a 105-90 victory at Indiana to become the first NBA team in 33 years to win three road games in three nights.
"I think as far as team chemistry, we got better every single night," James said. "Tonight we had 17 assists. We rebounded and defended. When we do that, we're very, very tough to beat and it shows the professionalism of the group."
Some thought it was time for Miami's remarkable run to come crashing down.
They were playing their fourth road game in five days and were facing a team that had just gotten a two-day break and had hoped to make amends for a 35-point loss last month in Miami.
Instead, Indiana got Miami at full power.
After a quick start, the Heat dominated every facet until the closing minutes when the Pacers finally started trimming the lead.
Miami matched the three-game feat last achieved by Phoenix from Dec. 21-23, 1979. Miami also became the first team to win each of the three games by double digits since Milwaukee from Nov. 20-22, 1970. Plus, at 23-7, Miami has now tied the franchise's best start.
Walsh proposes solution for regional cricket
Former West Indies pacer Courtney Walsh believes that one solution to getting regional cricket back on track is to allow for the free movement of players.
The Jamaican, who spoke on Good Morning Jojo on Tuesday, said teams should be allowed to incorporate the services of players outside of the region during tournaments while countries should consider utilising players from other regional territories within their squads.
Walsh, who claimed 519 wickets in 132 Tests and 227 wickets in 205 ODIs, said there is no debating that regional cricket needs overhauling and fresh ideas be put on the table. This he said is one option that should be considered.
“I think we have to look at revamping a lot of stuff in cricket. The standard of our cricket used to be very high where when Jamaica played Leeward Islands or Barbados or Guyana it’s like a mini-Test. That is not happening now. If you look at the scores we are getting – 230, 70, 50, and you get a result, it is poor consistency. We need to up that bar and we may even have to look outside of the box for a season or two, bring in a couple of players to play,” Walsh said.
“You have Ramnaresh Sarwan and Travis Dowlin outside of Guyana not playing right now. I still think they are good enough to play regional cricket. So if they can’t make the Guyana team or they are not playing for Guyana, Leewards, for argument’s sake, who seem to be struggling a bit, can bring in these players to sort of help the youngsters you have here to guide them and move them around. It is things like that we have to look at.”
The 49 year old, who made his debut for the West Indies in 1984, also spoke on the current impasse between his fellow Jamaican, Chris Gayle, and the WICB, saying that at the end of the day, cricket should be the winner.
“I think cricket has to be the winner and whatever needs to be done, should be done so that we get a result from it one way or the other, and hopefully he would be able to come back out and play cricket for the West Indies once he wants to play. You wouldn’t want for the Board to be selecting Chris Gayle and he is not up to playing,” he said.
“He has indicated that he wants to play (and) if he seriously wants to play, I think it’s time for that to come to a closure and cricket upfront (would) be the winner, and he is allowed to play once he is prepared to play,” the former cricketer added.
Walsh’s first claim to fame came in 1979 when he took 10 wickets in an innings in school cricket and three years later made his First Class cricket debut.
Walsh made his Test debut against Australia in Perth in 1984, taking two wickets for 43 runs.
Later that season, he also made his One Day International debut against Sri Lanka at Hobart. He first played for Gloucestershire in 1984 and was a mainstay of the side until 1998.
In 1987, Walsh was named as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year.
Rampant Gayle slams ton again... But Barisals get burnt
Discarded West Indies opener Chris Gayle continued to weave his magic with his willow, pummelling yet another century in the Bangladesh Premier League.
The former West Indies captain carved out an exciting 116 from 61 balls in the feature match of the day's double-header at the Shere Bangla National Stadium, but it was in a losing cause as his Barisal Burners went down by 21 runs to Kieron Pollard's Dhaka Gladiators.
Gayle, controversially overlooked by West Indies selectors for the last year because of a standoff with the regional board, counted six fours and 11 amazing sixes to set the innings alight.
However, he found no support and when he was out in the 18th over, the Burners limped to 187 for five in response to the Gladiators' 208 for five.
five sixes
Earlier, Pollard lashed five sixes in a frenetic 15-ball 36 to bolster the Gladiators' innings. He put on a breezy 62 off 28 balls with Azhar Mahmood, who top-scored with 77 from 47 balls.
Imran Nazir had given the innings a flying start with 58 from 35 balls, including three fours and five sixes.
In reply, the Burners were languishing at 60 for three in the eighth over before Gayle staged a valiant fightback, posting 103 for the fourth wicket with Mithun Ali, whose measured 38 required 32 balls.
In the preceding game, West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels slammed a top score of 72 as Duronto Rajshahi beat Sylhet Royals by 16 runs.
The right-handed Samuels faced just 48 balls and struck three fours and five sixes to help fire Rajshahi up to 171 for eight off their allotted overs.
He was at the centre of two good partnerships - 56 for the third wicket with captain Mushfiqur Rahim (33) and 53 for the fifth wicket with Abdul Razzaq (30) - before perishing in the 17th over.
Samuels returned to take one for 22 from four overs of stingy off spin, keeping the Royals in check despite Kamran Akmal's 41-ball 56.
Whitney's funeral for this Saturday
Whitney Houston's funeral will be Saturday in the church where she first sang as a child.
The owner of the Whigham Funeral Home in Newark said Tuesday that the funeral would be at the New Hope Baptist Church, but there will be no wake.
The 48-year-old Houston died last Saturday at a hotel in Beverly Hills, California, just hours before she was set to perform at producer Clive Davis' pre-Grammy Awards party. Officials said she was underwater and apparently unconscious when she was pulled from a bathtub.
After an autopsy Sunday, authorities said there were no indications of foul play and no obvious signs of trauma. It could be weeks before the coroner's office completes toxicology tests to establish the cause of death.
Houston's body was returned to New Jersey late Monday.
Houston was born in Newark and began singing as a child at the New Hope church, where her mother, Grammy-winning gospel singer Cissy Houston, led the music program for many years. Cousin Dionne Warwick also sang in its choir.
An impromptu memorial for Houston was held Sunday during the Grammys, with Jennifer Hudson saluting her memory with a performance of "I Will Always Love You." Viewership for the awards show soared over last year by 50 per cent, with about 40 million viewers tuning in.
A sensation from her first album, Houston was one of the world's best-selling artists from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s, turning out such hits as "I Wanna Dance With Somebody," "How Will I Know," "The Greatest Love of All" and "I Will Always Love You." But as she struggled with drugs, her majestic voice became raspy, and she couldn't hit the high notes.
Houston left behind one child, daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown, 18, from her marriage to singer Bobby Brown.
On Monday, mourners left flowers, balloons and candles for Houston at the wrought-iron fence around the tall brick New Hope church.
King Stitt’s farewell service for Feb 25
A thanksgiving service for the life and works of pioneering toaster/deejay/selector King Stitt will be held at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in North Street in Kingston, on Saturday, February 25, at 2 pm.
King Stitt (whose real name is Winston Spark) died on died on Tuesday, January 31, at his home in Nannyville, St Andrew. He was 71.
Born on September 17, 1940, the veteran toaster was influenced by Count Machuki, the original Jamaican deejay. And, by the late 1950s, King Stitt began deejaying on Sir Coxsone’s Downbeat Sound System.
His first record releases came from producer Clancy Eccles with classic deejay tracks like Fire Corner, Lee Van Cleef, Herbman Shuffle, Vigorton 2, and Dance Beat.
King Stitt’s best known work for Sir Coxsone is the ska album featuring trombonist Don Drummond titled Paradise Plum. Another outstanding album is Dancehall ’63 released in the late ’90s of King Stitt deejaying over old-school rhythms.
JO
Big blow for BUJU - US government scoffs at lawyers’ appeal
LAWYERS for imprisoned reggae star Buju Banton were dealt a major blow yesterday when the United States government said there was sufficient evidence to support his June, 2011 conviction on cocaine conspiracy and trafficking charges.
According to the Associated Press new agency, Federal prosecutors filed their response last Friday in Atlanta's federal appeals court, where Buju's lawyers had filed an appeal in December.
The AP report out of Miami said prosecutors noted that "Banton's words and actions, in recorded conversations and a videotaped meeting in a Sarasota, Florida, warehouse where Banton tasted some cocaine, revealed the singer 'eagerly brokered' a drug deal between a friend and undercover government agents.
Buju, 39, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in a federal court in Tampa, Florida. He is serving his term at the Federal Correctional Institute in Miami.
With good behaviour, his lawyers believe he will be paroled in six years.
His legal team, led by David Oskar Marcus, argued that the US government acted illegally by failing to bring Buju to trial before 70 days. This, they said, is a violation of the US constitution's Sixth Amendment.
But the Federal government dismissed the appeal, saying prosecutors brought a legitimate case against the Grammy-winning singjay whose real name is Mark Myrie.
He was sentenced by Judge James S Moody who gave Buju the most lenient sentence for a drugs charge. During the trial, prosecutor James Preston cast Buju as 'a self-assured drug broker', presenting several video and audiotapes made by an informant of the dreadlocked artiste tasting cocaine at a Florida warehouse in December, 2009.
Buju was arrested at his south Florida home that month. A six-day trial in September, 2010 ended in a mis-trial and the entertainer was granted bail.
A second trial was scheduled for February last year, in which Buju was convicted.
Nine days before his conviction on February 22, Buju Banton won a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album for his 2009 album Rasta Got Soul
AP
Hugh Hefner's son arrested
The 2011 Playmate of the Year on Monday sought a restraining order against the 21-year-old son of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, after the son was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, the Pasadena Star-News reported.
Marston Hefner was released from jail Monday after posting US$20,000 bail, according to police and jail records.
Officers were called Sunday night to the apartment Marston Hefner shares with his girlfriend, and he was arrested after she was found with minor injuries, Pasadena police said in a statement.
The woman wasn't identified in the police statement, but Lt Jari Faulkner told the Star-News that Claire Sinclair, 20, sought an emergency restraining order against Marston Hefner from police on Monday. Sinclair is the 2011 Playmate of the Year.
It was unclear if the temporary restraining order was granted, and police reached by phone late Monday would give no information beyond the details of Marston Hefner's arrest.
Marston Hefner is one of two adult sons of the Playboy founder and his former wife, ex-Playmate Kimberly Conrad Hefner.
It was unclear if Marston Hefner had hired an attorney. He could not be reached for comment, and the arrest was not addressed on the Twitter accounts of Hugh, Marston or brother Cooper Hefner.
On her Twitter account, Sinclair wrote: "There's two types of pain in the world - pain that hurts you, and pain that makes you stronger. All of your positivity is giving me strength."
AP
Elephant Man back in court next month
POPULAR deejay Elephant Man's electricity theft trial is scheduled to start in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court on March 27.
The new date was set when the flambouyant artiste, whose real name is O'neil Bryan, appeared in court recently.
Elephant Man was arrested at his home on Hillcrest Avenue in St Andrew last June and charged with abstracting electricity after a team from the Jamaica Public Service Company and the police carried out an operation in the area.
The team reportedly visited one of the apartment complex and found that one of the meters had no socket. The team, on closer inspection, said that it observed that the meter contained an illegal connection, which went directly to an apartment they said was occupied by the entertainer.
Police reported that several appliances were connected to the illegal connection reportedly found in Elephant Man's apartment.
Meanwhile, the artiste is to return to court on trial on May 21 for a preliminary enquiry into charges of rape and grievous sexual assault.
JO
Foreign ministry says Cayman cops still probing case of missing J'can nurse
THE Foreign Affairs Ministry yesterday said that it has, since last August, been in constant contact with its counterpart in the Cayman Islands regarding the investigation into the disappearance of Jamaican nurse Kerran (Kerry-Ann) Baker.
"Through our regular contacts with the Jamaican consulate in Cayman, we have been informed that the police are still investigating the case for hard evidence, and that the process is being followed through thoroughly," said the ministry in a release to the Observer.
The ministry was responding to an Observer article on Monday in which Baker's family made an impassioned plea for the Jamaican Government to get involved in the case. According to the family, the Cayman Islands authorities were not forthcoming with information regarding the investigations into Baker's disappearance.
"We have not been hearing anything from anybody. We need the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get in touch with the Cayman Government because the case seems like it is dying out," said Wilmot Anthony, Baker's stepfather, the anguish evident in his voice.
Yesterday, the ministry said it has asked the Cayman Islands authorities to keep the family abreast of the investigations.
"Understanding the sensitivities involved and the grief of Ms Baker's family, the Consulate Office in Cayman has advised the Royal Cayman Island Police service to fully engage with the family, disclosing the details of the case," said the release.
Baker, 25, a practical nurse, disappeared from her apartment on Arrow Drive in Bodden Town on the evening of Saturday, July 31. She was last seen on CCTV footage in a Cayman Islands supermarket around 7:00 pm that day.
A man was taken into custody "on suspicion of murder, following a police operation in the Prospect area", but was later released without charge, Janet Dougall, public relations officer at the Cayman Islands Criminal Investigative Branch headquarters told the Observer last week.
Several major searches have failed to locate Baker, who had lived in the Cayman Islands three years prior to her disappearance. Her white Honda Civic motor car was later found with her car keys and what appeared to be blood smears nearby. Her groceries, which she apparently purchased at the supermarket, were also found in her ransacked apartment.