Are You Kidding, Xaivian?

Today's title is also today's first focus. 

Are you kidding, Xaivian Lee? And to show you how amazing a player Lee is, TigerBlog isn't even referring to his game-winning three-pointer in Princeton's 81-80 win at Dartmouth Saturday. 

No, TB is talking about a play that occurred with a little more than four minutes to go, with the Tigers up by nine at the time. Lee was beaten — seemingly — on a nice Dartmouth curl to the basket. Seemingly, of course, because what looked all the world like an uncontested layup instead became a blocked shot for Lee. 

He timed it perfectly. He didn't come close to committing a foul. He just recovered, closed the ground and tapped it away off the backboard, starting the Tigers the other way. It was his sixth block of the year, if you're counting.

Also if you're counting, he finished with 33 points, tying his career high. The last three came with six seconds to go, on a long three-pointer that turned what (briefly) was a Dartmouth two-point lead into a Princeton win. 

It also came after Lee had back-to-back turnovers from slipping on the court. And on a possession where he almost lost the ball again. 

So what happened? A complete unfazed Lee dropped in his game-winner. As TB watched on ESPN+, he had no doubt that shot was heading in. 

In addition to his 33 points, Lee also had eight rebounds and three assists. He is a marvel to watch on the court, with the quickness to free himself in any situation, leaving him with, as Pete Carril used to say, "every shot in the deck."

The win improved Princeton to 2-0 in the Ivy League while Dartmouth is now 1-1. Do not for a minute think that the Big Green, who won two Ivy games all of last year, will not be in the hunt for an Ivy tournament spot until the very end and have a great chance to make their first ILT.

Today, of course, is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It is a day that has become associated in many ways with the sport of basketball, and all 16 Ivy men's and women's teams will be playing. For Princeton, that means a men's game at home against Columbia at 2 and a women's game at Columbia (a matchup of the last remaining Ivy unbeatens) in New York City at 7.

Here is what TB has written about the intersection of the holiday and the sport before: 

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which makes the Civil Rights leader the only person ever born in the United States to have a federal holiday named for him or her.

TigerBlog spent a great deal of time in college studying the Civil Rights movement and Dr. King's role in it (he'd also be fortunate enough to meet John Doar, the Princeton basketball alum who was also a huge factor in the movement). 

In addition, TB has also been to the national park that bears Dr. King's name in Atlanta, back before it was a national park. The Civil Rights museum there is a must.

The occasion of his birthday first became a Monday federal holiday in 1983. Within three years, the NBA began to play games on the holiday, a tradition that will continue today with 11 games. Memphis (where Dr. King was killed in 1968) and Atlanta (his home) are at home each year.

The basketball tradition on the holiday was actually born a few months after the assassination itself. A year ago, TB wrote this on the holiday:

The National Basketball Association first started playing matinee games on Martin Luther King Day in 1986.

The first game to feature NBA players in honor of Dr. King came much earlier, back in 1968, the year in which he was assassinated. In fact, on the day after the assassination, which happened on April 4 of that year, Oscar Robertson began to organize a special exhibition game that would be played outdoors in New York City on Aug. 15.

According to an AP story, that game included players like Wilt Chamberlain, Lenny Wilkens, Dave Bing, Dave DeBusschere, Willis Reed and Walt Bellamy. That game raised $90,000 in support of Dr. King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference.