Jeremy Lin said on Friday that he was trying to embrace the moment and have fun with all the attention he is receiving during his first NBA all-star weekend.
Lin, who went from sleeping on his brother’s couch to reviving the struggling New York Knicks franchise in just a couple of weeks, spoke after competing in the NBA’s rising stars challenge game.
Lin shot one-of-four and finished with two points in just under nine minutes of playing time as his Team Shaq lost 146-133 to Team Chuck.
Photo: EPA
“Just to be here and to see the company and all the players that are here is just, it’s been unbelievable,” Lin said. “I’m just trying to take it all in and embrace it and enjoy it every step of the way.”
Lin said now that the contest was finished, he hoped to use the break from the regular season schedule to get some rest and prepare for the remainder of the season.
“I am just trying to relax, recover and let some pains go away,” he said.
Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Kyrie Irving scored 34 points, added nine assists and was eight-of-eight from three-point range to lead Team Chuck to victory. Irving was named most valuable player of the game.
Greg Monroe had 19 points and 10 rebounds and Tristan Thompson added 20 points to lead Team Shaq at Amway Center arena.
However, even with all the star power in the game, Lin was getting the lion’s share of attention.
“I’m definitely surprised that people are talking about Linsanity or whatever,” Lin said. “I think hopefully as the season progresses, it will go from that to the New York Knicks and hopefully the Knicks can win basketball games. Hopefully we can make a good push after the all-star break and people will start talking about the Knicks and not necessarily me.”
Lin, a Taiwanese-American, helped the Knicks to a seven-game win streak, but is coming off a modest performance in a 102-88 loss to Miami on Thursday. Miami’s smothering defense held Lin to just one-of-11 shooting.
Lin’s underdog story has touched basketball fans around the globe. Undrafted out of Harvard, he was cut by two clubs late last year before he caught on with the Knicks, signing two days after Christmas.
He saw limited action in his first nine appearances in New York, averaging just six minutes a game.
Then he scored 25 points off the bench against New Jersey, 28 against Utah, 23 against Washington and went off for 38 points against Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers and the legend was born as the Knicks won nine of 10 games with Lin leading the charge.
Lin said his ethnicity might have had something to do with him going unnoticed by NBA teams for so long.
“I think it has something to do with it, but I think just being Asian-American, obviously when you look at me, I’m gong to have to prove myself more so, again and again and again, and some people may not believe it,” he said. “I know a lot of people say I’m ‘deceptively athletic’ and ‘deceptively quick,’ and I’m not sure what’s deceptive, but it could be the fact that I’m Asian-American. But I think that’s fine. It’s something that I embrace, and it gives me a chip on my shoulder. But I’m very proud to be Asian-American and I love it.”
The all-star weekend continued with the Slam Dunk Contest yesterday and then the 61st All-Star Game today.
Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday fought through a second-set slump to post a roller-coaster 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Damir Dzumhur in his opening match at the Cincinnati Open. The Spaniard, playing his first tournament since losing to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final, raced through the first set, but completely lost his way in the second, dropping his serve twice against the 33-year-old Bosnian. Alcaraz regained his intensity and cut down his errors in the third set as a seventh ace took him to a match point that was converted when Dzumhur fired wide. “It was just a roller coaster,” said the second
Taiwan’s men’s basketball team on Monday clinched a spot in the FIBA Asia Cup quarter-finals with a 78-64 win over Jordan in Saudi Arabia, securing their best finish in the tournament since placing fourth in 2013. The win was sweet revenge for Taiwan, who were denied a quarter-final spot by Jordan at the same stage of the previous Asia Cup in 2022 after blowing a nine-point lead in the final minute and losing 97-96 on a half-court buzzer-beater. “History is part of the journey,” Taiwan head coach Gianluca Tucci said when asked about the 2022 collapse of the team, who he did
Defending champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday led the way into the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals, with Carlos Alcaraz hot on their heels after a straight-sets victory of his own. Sinner shrugged off a mid-match weather delay lasting nearly three hours as he advanced 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) over Adrian Mannarino. Alcaraz, the second seed who has reached the final in his past six tournaments, hammered Italian lucky loser Luca Nardi 6-1, 6-4. After sweeping the opening set in 28 minutes, Alcaraz hit a speed bump, dropping his serve to trail 2-4. He promptly regained the break, then fought through a marathon ninth game
NEXT ROUND: World No. 1s Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka opened their title defenses with straight-sets wins, while Iga Swiatek and Taylor Fritz also advanced Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka got their title defenses off to smooth starts as they powered into the third round of the ATP-WTA Cincinnati Open on Saturday. The men’s and women’s top seeds, each ranked No. 1 in the world, were both competing for the first time since Wimbledon, where Sinner lifted the title and Sabalenka bowed out in the women’s semi-finals. Sinner crushed Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan 6-1, 6-1 in steamy afternoon weather, while Sabalenka beat 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-5, 6-1 under the lights of the night session. Sabalenka needed 54 minutes and a service break in the final game
RSS