Jeremy Lin and his New York Knicks took to Toronto on Tuesday to tilt toward the Toronto Raptors, and as you'd expect, a startling media contingent followed. Yahoo! Sports will have more on Lin's visit to the Air Canada Centre on what coincidentally happens to be the same evening as the team's Asian Heritage Night, so we'll save the game and media crush discussion for later Tuesday night and Wednesday.

In the meantime, there is so much to get to. Like this video from Monday's Colbert report:

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Ben Wallace was once a Boston Celtics training camp hopeful. Following that, he was an athletic and raw project with the Washington Wizards, a one-year wonder for an Orlando Magic team that was designed to lose but nearly made the playoffs, a champion in Detroit, a washout as a hoped-for franchise player in Chicago, a hard-working liability of sorts in Cleveland, and he's finally ending his career as a welcomed reference to the good old days on a rebuilding team back in Detroit.

On Tuesday, he will play his 1,055th career NBA game, setting a record for the most games played by an undrafted player. And, as he prepared to set that record, he told the Detroit News on Monday that 2011-12 will be his last season as a pro. From Eric Lacy:

"No consideration coming back," Wallace said after practice. "This is definitely my last year."

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We're not sure why Sports Illustrated decided to film Bar Refaeli and Los Angeles Clippers All-Star on a trampoline, but ... yes we do. It's for SI's annual Swimsuit Issue (HT: TBJ), and the photographer (who appears to be the legendary Walter Iooss, though he's gone smartly uncredited in an Alan Smithee turn) decided it would be best to see a high-flying athlete and a curvy supermodel bounce around. I guess. For those who are really desperate, on this Valentine's Day, here's the clip:

It's also interesting to note that, despite Bar Refaeli's good humor and good looks, Chris Paul wants her touching his head just as much as he wants Pau Gasol touching his head. Chris Paul's got a thing. Don't touch his head.

It doesn't say much for our cold, loveless hearts that we attempted to write a paean to NBA fans to celebrate Valentine's Day and failed, but then again we're kind of sick of coming up with things that rhyme with "Lin."

Instead, all we can say is that we hope the shoebox in front of your desk receives the a litany of well-penned Valentine's Day cards, thrown in with the ferocity that LeBron James and Blake Griffin showed the rim on Monday night. Happy Valentine's Day, darlings.

With Chauncey Billups sidelined for the season and no clear options at shooting guard on the roster, the Los Angeles Clippers are in the market for a new player. They need a scoring punch, the sort of guy who can hit threes and add enough athleticism to keep pace with the Lob Angeles ethos. In other words, they need J.R. Smith, soon to return from his bogus journey to China to help an NBA team over the last few months of the season.

Smith has several suitors, including the suddenly resurgent Knicks. But the Clippers might have a leg up on their competition, because they have Chris Paul. Beyond Paul's greatness on the court, he has a strong relationship with Smith. From Ramona Shelburne for ESPNLosAngeles.com (via SLAM):

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There are a lot of goofy characters in the NBA, from Kyrylo Fesenko to Metta World Peace to that Nuggets mascot who throws cakes at people. They make the league more fun, even if their ideas or gags don't make sense by the rules of normal human logic.

Minnesota Timberwolves center Nikola Pekovic is one of those guys. So while this team-produced video for "Where in the World is Nikola Pekovic?" might not make any sense, please enjoy the simple fact that he says his name in the most hilarious monotone possible, visits worldwide landmarks via green screen, and wears a safari hat. This is subtle comedy at its best.

(via Myles Brown)

We're surprised it took this long, but Jeremy Lin's best mate and starting backcourt friend (did I mix those two words up?) Landry Fields has finally posted a picture of the couch that Lin sleeps on from time to time on his Twitter account. Last week, we relayed the story of Lin dozing on his brother's couch from time to time as he both waited out his team's pick-up of his contract option and searched for his own apartment, and now we have an actual couch to show you.

(Please don't be an elaborate fake, Landry Fields, because I can't think of a younger brother of college-age in human existence that owns a couch/pillow setup that looks like this. Also, would this couch hold a 6-3 guy?):

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Pretty good get, Fox Sports Wisconsin's Paul Imig, scoring an exclusive interview with Orlando Magic All-Star Dwight Howard following his team's victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night, complaining about how he wants the ball more late in games.

Really weird timing, Orlando Magic All-Star Dwight Howard, in complaining about not getting the ball enough late in contests after your team put together a fantastic fourth-quarter comeback (including a 16-0 run) on the road to take down the Bucks. Especially after you played the entire second half and missed 6 of 9 shots. But there Howard was, talking exclusively to Imig, about how he'd like the ball more late:

"I do want the ball more in the fourth quarter," a frustrated Howard told FOX Sports exclusively after the game. I want to become a closer. The only way you get there is by getting the ball and have coach have the confidence in giving me the ball. That's how Kobe (Bryant) and the rest of the great fourth-quarter players got that way. It's trial and error. When Kobe first got in the league, it took him a while to become the killer he is in the fourth quarter now. Coach just needs to have confidence in me."

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According to Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson, New York Knicks superfan texted the former Knick point guard over the weekend for his supposed role in gifting Jeremy Lin to the Knicks last December. Lin spent his rookie season with Golden State in 2010-11 before being cut from the Warrior training camp on its first day earlier this winter. He was then cut from Houston Rockets camp and nearly from the Knicks a week and a half ago before taking his star turn last week.

And while we were ready to dismiss Jackson's role in letting Lin go (BDL has been pretty harsh on Jackson's missteps since taking over as GSW coach), his defense of the Lin cut seems a little too defensive to us. At worst, it doesn't say a lot about Jackson's due diligence when it came time to settle on a training camp roster, when Jackson admits that he never saw Lin so much as shoot a lay-up in camp before cutting the guy. CSN Bay Area's Matt Steinmetz has the news:

"I got a text message from Spike Lee this morning," Jackson said after Warriors' practice on Saturday. "I had nothing to do with Jeremy Lin. I never saw him do a layup. So for the people … stop asking me. He never practiced for us so leave me out of it."

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NBC Washington's Sarah Kogod reported over the weekend that LeBron James told a heckling fan that he wanted to kick his tail all over the beltway, and if anyone has a problem with LeBron saying as much to that fan they can just take their heckles somewhere else.

In the fourth quarter of Miami's win over Washington, James was reportedly accosted by Bob Moore, who made mention of that years-old urban legend regarding former James teammate Delonte West, and James' mother Gloria. Something tells me that Moore did quite a bit more than "made mention," actually. Here's the story, from Kogod's Twitter timeline:

LeBron was waiting alone in the backcourt when fan Bob Moore made a comment to LeBron about Delonte West and LeBron's mom…

...Accrding to Moore, LeBron said "The only reason you talk [expletive] is because you know I can't come off the court right now and beat your ass"...

...Also according to Moore, LeBron continued "But if I had a free pass, I'd kick your ass right now."…

...Moore replied "I'm right here baby. Let's go" before security stepped in.

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