Jeremy Lin and Lin-Sanity

The New York Knicks are under .500 and stuck in the middle of the pack behind the surging Phialdelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics, but it would seem they’ve found the way out of mediocrity.  Previously unknown point guard Jeremy Lin came off the bench and scored 28 points to lead the Knicks to a 99-92 victory over the New Jersey Nets on February 4th.  He got his first start of the season two days later and scored 28 points as the Knicks downed the Utah Jazz 99-88.  He started again on February 8th and scored 23 points and had 10 assists and the Knicks beat the Washington Wizards 107-93.

And with that, the Lin-Sanity Phenomenon was born.  Lin scored no more than nine points in any previous Knicks game and had been buried on the depth chart while New York was being buried in the standings.  Now Lin is the toast of the town.  He played in 29 games for the Golden State Warriors last season but was cut before this season began.  Lin is the first American born Asian player in the NBA.  His parents are both Taiwan born engineers.  Lin has sparked renewed interest in the NBA in Asia. The Chinese had been losing interest since Yao Ming retired. Jeremy has plenty of smarts, too; he graduated from Harvard, a school that is not known as a basketball player factory.

In New York, his jersey has sold out and production is ramping up to meet the demand.  After years of disappointing and  lousy teams, Knicks fans finally have something to cheer about again.