NBA 2012 All-Star Game

As the 2012 All-Star Game ends and the regular season in the National Basketball Association continues, NBA fans and internet betting fans are getting more and more excited to know which team is going to be named champion for this year.

The NBA All-Star day had several exciting events such as the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, the Sprite Slam Dunk Competition, Foot Locker Three-Point Contest, Taco Bell Skills Challenge and also the Haier Shooting Stars Contest. The game between the Western Conference All-Stars between the Eastern Conference All-Stars ended along with the Western Conference All-Stars group winning, 152-149.

Kevin Durant, playing small forward for the Oklahoma City Thunders was given the prestigious NBA All-Star MVP award, beating big names like Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard and LeBron James, among others. He won and finished the match with 36 points. The BBVA Rising Stars Game ended with Team Chuck winning, led by Kyrie Irving, who scored 34 points on 8/8 three-point shooting and who also received the MVP award in the Rising Stars Challenge. For the Sprite Slam Dunk Game, fans were wowed by Arkansan Jeremy Evans who plays small forward for the Utah Jazz. The winner with the Slam Dunk Contest was decided by Twitter vote and text. Over 3 million votes were cast and the winner of the competition was Evans, with over 29% of the vote. Kevin Love for the Minnesota Timberwolves won the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest wherein, Kevin Love and Kevin Durant had a finals tiebreaker which then ended with Love taking home the prize with a final score of 17-14. Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs succeeded the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, which showed an obstacle course including things like dribbling, passing and shooting. In the end, Tony Parker took home the trophy by topping Rajon Rondo's time in a playoff. Meanwhile Stanford Cardinal alum, Landry Fields, took home first place included in Team New York at the annual Haier Shooting Stars competition, with teammates Cappie Pondexter together with Allan Houston. All To sum it up, it has been a very exciting weekend for NBA supporters.

But all good things must come to an end, even this NBA All-Star Game; and for all of those other athletes and the world of sports betting, they're now back in the real game. Everyone is going to follow the remaining season to wait for the overall 2012 NBA winner. Some say that with the attention Jeremy Lin with the New York Knicks gets, the team itself is gathering support, which is a plus factor for it enhances the overall team determination to make it to the finals. But we'll just need to wait and see. To excite the world of sports and online sports bettors, Bet365 sports betting, one of the leading sportsbooks using the web, like the NBA, is also continuously giving their fans the best promos and exciting specials to add spice to their NBA nights. Bet365 is promoting its Refer a Friend promo, wherein the customers may take advantage of the rewards just by spreading the news about bet365 to close friends, relatives or other people who are into sports betting.

All they need to do is fill the referral form. The user will be handed a $50 bonus to bet on sports for every friend he or she referred. What's more exciting is that bet365 will offer the referred friend $50 which can be used on the sportsbook; the more friends they refer,the more cash they'll receive. But not only will they get even more bonuses by referring friends, they also have the opportunity to enjoy watching the remaining parts of the NBA season while enjoying the rewards with them. With the intense NBA months and exciting Bet365 promos, this pair will surely make every game time worth watching.

A Super Star Jeremy Shu-How Lin Is Born

Jeremy Shu-How Lin, attended Harvard University economic professional and native zhejiang pinghu, his parents were Taiwanese earlier on immigration to the United States, LinShuHao born in California, height 191 cm, 90 kg, Harvard University basketball team captain of the team, the secretary point guard, has "the Chinese Nash," said. 2010 season back on LinShuHao NCAA really made. Beijing time on August 18, 2010, the NBA for 2010 th rookie official filming as official propaganda, and interpreting of the NBA.

The New York Knicks claimed Lin off waivers on December 27 to be a backup behind Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby after an injury to guard Iman Shumpert; recently-signed guard Baron Davis was also injured and weeks away from playing.Lin becomes a restricted free agent at the end of the season. Lin said he was "competing for a backup spot, and people see me as the 12th to 15th guy on the roster. It's a numbers game." The Knicks' third-string point guard, he made his season debut on the road against the Warriors, where he was warmly cheered in his return to Oracle Arena.On January 17, 2012, Lin was assigned to the Erie BayHawks of the D-League.On January 20, he had a triple-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 12 assists in the BayHawks' 122–113 victory over the Maine Red Claws. Lin was recalled by the Knicks three days later.

On January 28, Davis suffered a setback that postponed his Knicks debut.
 Then New York considered releasing Lin before his contract became guaranteed on February 10 so they could sign a new player. However, after the Knicks squandered a fourth quarter lead in a February 3 loss to the Boston Celtics, coach Mike D'Antoni decided to give Lin a chance to play. "He got lucky because we were playing so bad," said D'Antoni.
Lin had played only 55 minutes through the Knicks' first 23 games.

"Players playing that well don't usually come out of nowhere. It seems like they come out of nowhere, but if you can go back and take a look, his skill level was probably there from the beginning. It probably just went unnoticed."
—Kobe Bryant, after Lin scored 38 points on February 10, 2012.

On February 4, 2012, Lin had 25 points, five rebounds, and seven assists—all career-highs—in a 99–92 Knicks victory over the New Jersey Nets. Teammate Carmelo Anthony suggested to coach Mike D'Antoni at halftime that Lin should play more in the second half. After the game, D'Antoni said Lin has a point-guard mentality and "a rhyme and a reason for what he is doing out there.'' In the subsequent game against the Utah Jazz, Lin made his first career start. He had 28 points and eight assists. In a game against the Washington Wizards, Lin had 23 points and 10 assists. It was his first double-double.On February 10, Lin scored a new career-high 38 points and had seven assists, leading the Knicks in their 92–85 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. He outscored the Lakers' Kobe Bryant, who had 34 points. On February 11, Lin scored 20 points and had 8 assists in a narrow 100–98 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.Lin scored 89, 109, and 136 points in his first three, four, and five career starts, respectively, all three of which are the most by any player since the merger between the American Basketball Association (ABA) and the NBA in 1976–77.He is the first NBA player to score at least 20 points and seven assists in each of his first four starts.Lin was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week after averaging 27.3 points, 8.3 assists and 2.0 steals in those four starts with the Knicks going undefeated.On February 14, Lin scored a game-winning three-pointer against the Toronto Raptors with less than a second remaining in a game. In the following game against the Sacramento Kings, Lin recorded a career-high 13 assists and led the Knicks back to .500.
External images
    Lin on February 20, 2012 cover of Sports Illustrated

The Associated Press called Lin "the most surprising story in the NBA".
Bloomberg News wrote that Lin "has already become the most famous [Asian American NBA player]". Knicks fans developed nicknames for him along with a new lexicon inspired by his name, Lin.Time.com ran an article titled, "It's Official: Linsanity Is for Real". Hall of Fame player Magic Johnson said, "The excitement [Lin] has caused in [Madison Square] Garden, man, I hadn't seen that in a long time."He appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the headline "Against All Odds", which The New York Times called, "the greatest tribute". Lin's story was also on the front-page of many Taipei newspapers.On February 16, Lin was invited to participate in the 2012 NBA All-Star Game weekend in the Rising Stars Challenge, Shooting Stars competition and in the Slam Dunk Contest as the passer for the Knicks' Shumpert.

The Knicks scrambled to start selling replicas of Lin's No. 17 jerseys and t-shirts, and the sales and traffic for their online store increased more than 3,000%Lin credited his success to playing without pressure. "I've surrendered that to God. I'm not in a battle with what everybody else thinks anymore," said Lin.