Trap of the Day: Jeremy Lin
Today’s sweeping craze in the Big Apple: Linsanity! Carmelo Anthony is out potentially two weeks with a groin injury? No problem. I’ll say it again: Linsanity!
I couldn’t believe my eyes the other day after receiving a text message from a friend of mine in New York City. He informed me that the New York Knicks’ crowd inside Madison Square Garden was chanting “M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!”
For who??? …Wait, what–really?!
The New York crowd was brought to their feet dozens of times. Not by perennial All-star and Olympian Carmelo Anthony (or Crymelo as I prefer to call him). Not for highly-touted signee Amare Stoudemire, and definitely not for Tyson Chandler, the final member of Knicks’ self-invented, “big-three.”
The ovation was for the undrafted 23-year-old point guard, Jeremy Lin. In a matter of three NBA games, the rising star has won over the traditionally not-so-welcoming New York fan base. The Harvard grad finally earned the minutes on the basketball court he has been waiting for and has been putting up All-star caliber numbers ever since. It’s as if all he needed was the Broadway spotlight to finally settle on a place to shine.
Just three weeks ago Lin was playing in the developmental league for the Erie BayHawks, searching for motivation, and trying to compete in front of crowds with mediocre, high school basketball attendance rates. Apparently the Knicks caught wind that Lin has some serious skills, as word spread quickly that the young point guard racked up a triple-double for the BayHawks, scoring 28 points, to go along with 12 assists and 11 rebounds. Lin was called up to the Knicks three days later. He hasn’t looked back since and his numbers don’t lie.
On top of helping the Knicks reach a three-game win streak, Lin is also rapidly becoming one of the most-watched athletes in all of Asia. Even ESPN Philippines has reached out wanting to air Knicks games featuring the first ever American-born NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.
Lin will officially get his first monumental test as the ultra-competitive Los Angeles Lakers come to town tonight. Can he possibly maintain his numbers, or could the reality of his stardom be slightly inflated after all? For the record, Lin is the first player to score 20+ points, with at least eight assists in his first two NBA starts…since Lebron James did it eight years ago. Unreal!
Stay tuned, the Jeremy Lin show is just beginning to take off. For a better feel on the Linsanity craze, check out the Jeremy Lin Trap!
-Geoff