Ever since Michael Jordan retired, the National Basketball Association or the NBA had already lost it’s appeal on me although a couple of years ago, an in-office betting for the season finals between LA Lakers and the Boston Celtics managed to amuse me. But still, it didn’t make me jump back in the same religious following as I did when His Airness headlined the 90’s Chicago Bulls.
Fast forward into the present, I came across a Yahoo article about this Asian American guy suddenly making waves in a sport that I used to love watching with my dad when I was a kid – basketball. Yes, there was Yao Ming, he’s Asian but his towering height alone can really turn heads and one can immediately get the idea that he’s talented on court plus the fact that he is a product of pro-basketball player parents. But this dude, Jeremy Lin is different.
He wasn’t even drafted after graduating from Harvard (yes, he is a graduate of this Ivy League school and has a degree in Economics) and he just came from being waived twice by Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets (ouch!).
This man is practically unknown to the world prior to February 4, 2012 when he was called by New York Knicks’ Coach DiAntoni to fill in the void vacated by injured superstar Carmelo Anthony and grieving Amar’e Stoudamire who had lost a brother in a car accident. He was supposedly a bench warmer in the game against the New Jersey Nets but who would have thought that this man will simply whip up 25 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists in his debut game.
And the feat was repeated for another two games, one against the Washington Wizards, and the other with Utah Jazz, all in double digit scores. Some say he was a fluke but with his latest outing against the anointed heir to His Airness’ throne, Kobe Bryant and his Los Angeles Lakers, well he seemed to be the real deal by scoring 38 points.
J-Lin, where have you been all this time? You now got me Lin-ked in to NBA again!
random thoughts... 