Pastors and church leaders, who is the person on the bench that could be a game changer for your team, organization, or church. Everyone is going crazy about this young player from Harvard who has been sitting on the bench for the Knicks before he was invited onto the brightest stage to perform in Garden. This past week, he went from bench warmer to Star in the matter of four games. “U.S. media outlets are not alone in the coverage of the undrafted point guard from Harvard — the NBA’s first American-born Chinese or Taiwanese player — who has emerged from the end of the bench to become a world-wide phenomenon in a week.”
Who is sitting among us with extreme potential to contribute or better yet, change the game. Don’t ignore the next generation. They may not come in the package you are expecting, but don’t count them out. It is time to call them into the game.
Check out this article to find out more about Lin-Sanity!!!
Whole world taken with Knicks’ star Jeremy Lin
By Tom Pedulla and Rachel Shuster, USA TODAY
NEW YORK–”Lincredible!” exclaimed the back page of Saturday’s New York Post.
Emerging New York Knicks star Jeremy Lin waves to the crowd at Madison Square Garden following Friday’s 92-85 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Emerging New York Knicks star Jeremy Lin waves to the crowd at Madison Square Garden following Friday’s 92-85 victory against the Los Angeles Lakers.
“Just Lin, baby” read the bold headline in the New York Daily News.
Point guard Jeremy Lin is the talk of New York, the nation … and the world after he validated his four-game rise from anonymity to stardom with a career-high 38 points in leading the New York Knicks past the visiting Los Angeles Lakers 92-85 on Friday night.
Lin has carried the Knicks to a season-tying four-game winning streak, which they can extend tonight when they play at the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Lin, whose previous high for the season before the streak had been nine points in limited playing time, has been living with his brother, a dental student at New York University in Manhattan, and sister-in-law. Lin also spent a night on the couch of teammate Landry Fields.
So one of the foreign reporters told Lin after Friday’s victory that his Asian fans are worried about his unsettled living situation.
The 23-year-old thanked those fans for their concern — and assured them he is working on it.
Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant said before he arrived at Madison Square Garden that he knew very little about Lin, who played in only 29 games last season for the Golden State Warriors and was cut. The Houston Rockets also had Lin with them for a time before releasing him.
But after Lin brought a frenzied crowd of 19,763 to its feet time and time again Friday with soft jumpers, spinning drives to the basket and crafty passes, Bryant is beginning to grasp what “Linsanity” is all about.
“Players don’t usually come out of nowhere,” Bryant said after Lin helped New York snap a nine-game losing streak to Los Angeles that dated to February 2007. “If you can go back and take a look, his skill level was probably there from the beginning. But no one ever noticed.”
They’re noticing now especially because the Knicks (12-15) have been without All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony, who has a strained groin, and forward Amar’e Stoudemire, who has been with family in Florida following the death of an older brother.
Lin has made believers of once-skeptical teammates and coaches.
“He’s not a fluke,” said Knicks center Tyson Chandler, adding, “You can tell when a guy isn’t really that skilled but is just having a good stretch. This guy is skilled. He’s fast. He gives the defense a problem, and he’s really crafty at the rim.”
That Lin even has had the chance to post four games in a row of 20-plus points is more remarkable given the Knicks were considering releasing him in anticipation of veteran guard Baron Davis finally getting healthy and making his season debut. With Davis remaining out, and the absence of Anthony and Stoudemire, Lin has made the most of his shot.
And quite literally. During the winning streak, with Lin starting the last three games, he has shot 57.5%. He has scored 114 points (28.5 per game) with 32 assists, 15 rebounds and seven steals.
Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni is at a loss to explain the exploits of his sudden star, saying it’s a “once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
“It is not often that a guy is going to play four games, the best you are going to see, and nobody knows who he is,” D’Antoni said.
The Knicks’ marketing team scrambled and Lin shirts are available online. They were in short supply at the Garden on Friday and at least one souvenir stand sold out even before the game began.
Ratings on MSG network are through the roof, up since Lin joined the lineup, and the NBA said some of its Asian TV partners have added Knicks games to their schedules.
“I am not really too worried about proving anything to anybody,” Lin said. “As a team, we are growing and I think everyone is buying into it and that is why we are becoming more dangerous.”
The slender 6-3 guard outplayed Bryant in drilling 13 of 23 field goal attempts Friday, including 2 of 4 from three-point range, with seven assists and four rebounds. Bryant closed with 34 points, hitting only 11 of 29 from the floor. He was 1 of 5 from beyond the arc with 10 rebounds and one assist.
“It is a great story,” Bryant said. “It is a testament to perseverance and hard work. It is a good example to kids everywhere. I am sure he has put in a great deal of work to always have that belief in himself. Now, he has the opportunity to show it.”
Lin averaged 2.6 points and 1.4 assists in 29 games last year for Golden State. He also played 20 games for the Reno Bighorns of the NBA Developmental League, averaging 18 points and 4.3 assists.
He emphasizes that opportunity is everything. “I wouldn’t say Golden State wasn’t suitable for me,” he said. “I think I have grown as a player. In terms of personnel, there is more opportunity here.”
