Amongst all of the Linsanity of the rise and rise of Jeremy Lin, let's have a little education lesson.

Many will not know that the first Asian-American to play professional basketball in the United States of America was a 5'7" Japanese-American by the name of Wataru "Wat" Misaka. More than this, Wat was the first non-white professional baller in the States, after being drafted by the New York Knicks in 1947.

He may have only scored seven points in three games -- much different to the records being recorded by Lin -- but Misaka was a pioneer all the same.

Back in September 2008, I wrote about Misaka, at the old version of A Stern Warning -- take a read here. 

In further reading, the always informative Hardwood Paroxysm today has a piece on Misaka and race. 

Perhaps you've missed where this guy Jeremy Lin has emerged from, becoming the talk of the NBA. If so, watch this video which chronicles his story up until his 38 point performance against the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden. It is like a trailer for a Hollywood film, only it's real and unfolding as we watch.

Today Lin had another solid performance, contributing 20 points, eight assists, six rebounds and three steals, whilst turning the ball over six times in what was amazingly his worst outing of the past week, as he led the New York Knicks to their fifth straight victory (over the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves). 

You might be fed up of hearing about Jeremy Lin right about now. However, the guy has been that impressive this past week that he has inspired fan art like that above (source) and has dominated the NBA headlines.

And now, check out New York Knicks point guard Lin dominating at Harvard in some flag football. Is there anything that this guy can't do? We'll have to ask Chuck Norris that question.

Thanks Sharapova's Thigh.

The Jeremy Lin show continues. As you no doubt will have heard, Lin is taking the New York Knicks (and by extension the NBA news this week) by storm.

After two spectacular games against the New Jersey Nets and Utah Jazz, Lin today is playing against the Washington Wizards. As you may expect, with the little defence that the Wiz play (4th worst in the league in points allowed), this is another opportunity for the Taiwanese-American to shine.

At the time of writing, with over one minute remaining, Lin has 23 points (9/14 FG), 10 assists and four rebounds against John Wall and the Wizards. 

Check out this crossover and dunk that Lin pulled off:

The guy exudes excitement. Also, I don't know what that is hanging off his face, either.

The Sydney Kings have today made public their desire to re-sign star players Julian Khazzouh, Jerai Grant and Anatoly Bose.

The trio lead the team in scoring (along with Aaron Bruce), rebounding and blocked shots. 

Luke Martin, Graeme Dann and Ben Madgen already are signed through the 2012-13 season.

That leaves Bruce, Luke Cooper, Alex Gynes and import Kevin Ratzsch as the players receiving regular playing time who are yet to be approached, at least publicly, about playing with the team next season.

With the Kings hanging by a thread to an NBL Finals chance this season, with every win needed from here on in order to get into the top four, next season is obviously a big focus for the team. No doubt much can be learn from what was not achieved this season.

The Kings media release went on: no comments

Back in August, Kobe Bryant was involved in an alleged incident whereby a San Diego church parishioner claimed that Bryant grabbed his wrist, thinking that he was taking photos of him with his cameraphone.

No charges will be filed against Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant in connection with a cellphone incident at a Carmel Valley church last summer, city prosecutors said Tuesday.

This, on the face of things, sounds like another case of a gold-digger looking for a chance at money/riches in connection with a superstar. If this is true, it's a true shame that they chose a place of worship in which to do it.

Bryant was accused of grabbing a parishioner’s cellphone during Sunday Mass at St. Thérèse of Carmel Catholic church on Aug. 14 because he thought the man was taking photos of him. The basketball player then reportedly handed the phone back to the 21-year-old man after seeing no photos.

The alleged victim went to the hospital complaining of wrist pain.

Check out the sensationalist beat-up of this news reporter who tries to bring up the ye olde sexual assault case in the conversation:

In other Bryant news, apart from the trivial fact that he passed Shaquille O'Neal to move into fifth on the NBA's all-time scoring list, comes this much more important news: Kobe doesn't pack his own bags.

Yep... you heard right. Check out the breaking news here (oh, and Metta World Peace doesn't like roaches):

New York Knicks fans don't know where he came from, but Jeremy Lin has exploded into an amazing force at the point guard position over the past two games.

On Saturday, with 3:35 to go in the first quarter, Lin came off the bench to lead the Knicks to a 99-92 win over the New Jersey Nets and Deron Williams. He ultimately played 36 minutes, scored 25 points (10/19 FG, 5/7 FT), dished off seven assists, grabbed five rebounds and had two steals, to go with only one turnover.  

Coach Mike D'Antoni was happy with Lin finally providing a point guard presence on the Knicks roster (despite being the third-stringer previously): 

"The biggest thing is, he's got a point guard mentality," said D'Antoni.

The Harvard graduate, after jumping from the Golden State Warriors, to the Houston Rockets, to the Knicks, has been impressing more than just his coach.

"He has been breaking down guys in practice for a while now," Tyson Chandler said. "We were saying at halftime he just needs to play more minutes."

"He won the game for us," Carmelo Anthony said.

And then D'Antoni decided to start Lin at the point against the Utah Jazz last night. Lin repaid the faith as he led the Knicks to a 99-88 victory.

In 45 minutes, Lin recorded 28 points (10/17 FG, 7/9 FT), eight assists and two steals, however did blemish that line with eight turnovers. He scored on a variety of drives to the basket, showing a quick first step and an ability to absord contact and finish with both hands. He also mixed it up with some jump shots and an array of great passes in the lane to the likes of Chandler.

Check out one of Lin's amazing drives:

Of course, the Taiwanese animators at Next Media Animation were over the moon with Taiwanese-American Lin's emergence and honoured his 25 point Nets performance with one of their famous animations:

The question is, where does Lin go from here? At 200 pounds and 6'3", the guy has proven that he is stocky and strong enough to play the NBA game. He has a quick first step, however how long will he surprise opponents for now that he has had two huge back-to-back games? It will certainly be interesting to watch on Wednesday as the Knicks take on the Washington Wizards, presumably with Lin at the point again. Could he be the long-term answer at the point for the Knicks?

Projecting a long way down the track, could Lin be voted to the NBA All-Star team in 2013 on the back of some Asian support? I know a huge number of my Asian friends are excited about a possible NBA successor to Yao Ming. 

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The NBA today suspended Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves) for two games, after he stomped Luis Scola (Houston Rockets) on the face and chest on February 4.

Amazingly, there are still fans on some message boards and comments sections who claim that Scola was somehow at fault (and deserved it), you know, since he's South American and all... The blatant racism by many American fans against European and South American players continues to astound me.

The play by Love was flat-out dirty and highly disappointing from one of the league's hardest working players. This type of behaviour needs to be stomped out (pun intended) immediately, before it becomes endemic in the NBA game. A two game suspension, in my opinion, was insufficient. The fact that an official didn't spot the incident is also somewhat troubling.

Video:

Chicago Bulls coach, Tom Thibodeau (source):

Granmama, Larry Johnson (source):

We've featured various NBA stars here in the past, teaching English basketball-related phrases for English Baby!. Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic is the latest player to help out the English-learning masses with this clip, talking about slang for shot-blocking.

Superman 2.0's natural personality comes across in this video and he even shows off some of his Mandarin-speaking skills that he learnt whilst in China.

Other English Baby! stars we've featured previously:

Zydrunas Ilgauskas

Rip Hamilton and Carmelo Anthony

You can check out others, such as Yi Jianlian, Al Horford, Zaza Pachulia, Danny Granger, Channing Frye and Juwan Howard here at English Baby!