2月17日

Melo’s Property Laws might have a bit to do with that apprehension: 
(1) If the ball’s in my hands, it’s mine.
(2) If I can take it from you, it’s mine. 
(3) If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine. 
(4) If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours. 
(5) If I saw the ball first, it’s mine. 
(6) If you are playing with it and put it down, it becomes mine.
(7) If it’s a broken play, it’s yours.


The once-impecunious Lin can now rest easy--he’ll be pulling down $800,000 this season. He’s also kicked the futon habit, moving into an apartment in Trump Towers in White Plains, a building where the Knicks have previously housed other new hires.
pull sth⇔down
to destroy something or make it stop existing
My old school was pulled down.
pull down sth
to earn a particular amount of money
break/kick a habit (=stop doing something which is bad for you) 
that's all come through in spades in a short period of time, in about 10 days

Noting the differences between them — Yao was born in Shanghai and raised to play basketball, while Lin hails from Northern California and attended Harvard 

Someone who hails from a particular place was born there or lives there. (FORMAL)
Now it's a party: Sarah Palin is ready to raise the roof if you mention Jeremy Lin.
raise the roof Slang

1. To be extremely noisy and boisterous: They raised the roof at the party.

2. To complain loudly and bitterly: 

tip-off

the beginning of a basketball game, when the ball is thrown into the air and two players jump up to try to gain control of it

The connection between the Knicks’ starting guards is on display before every tip-off. The two stand face to face, slap hands, pretend to put on glasses, flip through an imaginary Bible and then point to the heavens. The symbolism is evident: intelligence, faith and a unique fellowship.
ser|en|dipi|tous /s'erend'ɪpɪtəs/
A serendipitous event is one that is not planned but has a good result. 
It instantly became a running gag: that Lin owed his success to Fields’s furniture. Fields even posted a photo of the serendipitous sofa on Twitter.
set tongues (a)wagging

Fig. to cause people to start gossiping