It’s not that I don’t love Jeremy Lin’s story. Who doesn’t? This is a Lin-tessential — nuts! — American tale, no matter Lin’s ethnicity. While this country is allegedly the great melting pot, the negative tweets by some negative twits indicate the pot’s been simmering on the back burner too long. Someone, stir the damn thing, and let’s move past having to categorize everyone, instantly, by his racial makeup. When I heard ESPN compare Lin’s “pedigree” to Tim Tebow’s, I thought perhaps the Westminster Dog Show was back in town.
If you’re a Knicks fan, Jeremy Lin is a great story. If you’re not a Knicks fan, he’s a great story. Because here comes Carmelo Anthony back from injury, and here’s this unknown guy and suddenly Melo’s the one who has to be worked into the lineup, not the other way around. That’s fun for Knicks haters, although Anthony has been very gracious.
Lin is fully aware of the potential damage of being that guy, the guy whose postgame interviews are drowned out by the chanting crowd, whose locker is the center of the media scrum, who takes the limelight away from his teammates. This is where the similarity to Tebow is real: He distributes credit like he distributes the ball — and he is averaging 9.2 assists in 10 starts.
But you knew Lin had really arrived, that he was past the novelty act, when the media began to look for flaws. And his is clear: He commits a lot of turnovers, 5.6 a game. (More than John Wall, according to a graphic I saw last week!) Those likely will abate as he plays more; I believe the first criticism appeared after his seventh game as a Knick. In New York, that’s got to be a record for restraint, anyway.
Ahead for Lin and the Knicks are the Miami Heat, who will look to make a statement against the surging Knicks on Thursday. As AP explained:
Linsanity is on its way to Miami, and the Heat can finally say they’re eager for the arrival.
It may be the NBA’s marquee matchup so far this season, the phenomenon that is New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin taking center stage in Miami on Thursday against the NBA-leading Heat in both sides’ finale before the All-Star break. Online ticket brokers reported early Wednesday that the average price of a seat on the resale markets is about $600. Unless you want courtside seats, that is. They run about $8,000 — each.
“It’s not about Jeremy Lin versus LeBron James,” Heat guard Dwyane Wade said. “It’s the Miami Heat versus the New York Knicks.”
And, sure, Heat-Knicks is a big deal. Always is, probably always will be, even though the teams’ run of four straight years of playoff knockdown-drag outs ended nearly 12 years ago. But the Lin story has already seemed to crank the intensity of the rivalry up several more notches, to the point where some Heat players and coaches have been getting asked about this particular matchup for more than a week already.
A book about Lin-sanity is already in the works, and is due to hit shelves in May. As AP reported:
A new book promises to give a Lin-side look at the NBA’s newest sensation.
Hachette Book Group says it is publishing “Jeremy Lin: The Reason for the Linsanity,” by Timothy Dalrymple. It is due in stores in May, the company announced Wednesday.
Harvard graduate Jeremy Lin recently became a New York Knicks phenomenon. He’s the NBA’s first American-born player of Taiwanese descent. And his recent prominence has spurred countless puns on his name.
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