从哈佛到NBA

The Knicks' four straight victories have all come since Jeremy Lin joined the rotation. He also had seven assists.

林书豪和易建联是姚明退役后NBA仅有的二位华裔球员。长在湾区的林书豪申请大学时，最想去的学校是斯坦福大学。他被斯坦福拒绝后只能在常春藤的哈佛或布朗中选哈佛去读书和打篮球。他前年从哈佛经济专业毕业入选NBA的时候就引起媒体关注，因为他是哈佛自1954年近六十年来入选NBA的首位毕业生。上次入选NBA的常春藤球员是2003年的耶鲁毕业生。哈佛为其校队的业绩也录用一定数量的具有篮球天赋的黑人学生球员，林能从他们中脱颍而出已属难能可贵。他的职业生涯始于旧金山的Warriors队，后又转队并尝试多次被裁的滋味，很长时间他都只是NBA的边缘球员。易建联也好不到那里去，都只有坐冷板凳的命。 

林书豪去年来纽约尼克斯的时候也只是临时合同，他也不敢在大苹菓安顿下来租房子，只能睡他在纽约读牙医的兄弟的沙发上。这对动辄数百万收入的球员来说只能是笑谈。从上月底开始林书豪终于迎来了属于他的时刻，他连续四场球得分超过20分，并以28和38他的职业最高得分带领尼克斯战胜犹他爵士和湖人等强队。美国主流媒体都以显著位置大量跟踪报道林的战绩。看来他不需要担心再睡沙发或到海外去打球了。林书豪的成功也对亚裔大学申请人将起到正面的作用。在多次反抗常春藤涉嫌歧视亚裔申请人的抗争中，哈佛总是以亚裔缺乏校友录取优惠或鲜有入选运动队为原因说明亚裔为何难被录取，前者由于我们来的晚而申请人中拥有几代校友祖辈的不多，后者则是在大众化的运动项目像美式足球或篮球中亚裔少得可怜。虽然現状还是难以改变，但有位明星总会起到一些示笵作用。

With 38 Points, the Legend Grows

By HOWARD BECK, New York Times, February 10, 2012. 

The tension got higher, the stage a little brighter and the competition significantly stiffer. Expectations ticked ever upward. If the moment when Jeremy Lin ran out of magic and gusto was going to arrive, it probably should have been this one. 

Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers were in the building. The national television cameras were rolling. But the sensation could not be snuffed Friday night, and Lin's joyride rolled ever onward as the Knicks took down the Lakers, 92-85, at Madison Square Garden. 

The Knicks absorbed a 24-point second half from Bryant, turned back every Lakers rally and let Lin's mystique carry them to their fourth straight victory, a streak that began when Lin joined the rotation. 

Lin scored 38 points — his fourth straight game with at least 20 — and set a career high for the third time in a week while fans bathed him in chants of “M.V.P.” 

There are, apparently, no boundaries to the N.B.A.'s most unlikely and compelling story. 

“You don’t see many guys play like that, even in their 30th opportunity, their whole career,” Coach Mike D’Antoni said with a mix of excitement and disbelief. “What he’s doing is amazing.”

A reminder is needed: A week ago, Lin had never started an N.B.A. game, or scored more than 13 points. He has now started three straight games, scoring 89 points, the most by an N.B.A. player in his first three starts since 1976-77, according to ESPN's research department. He is the first to average at least 20 points and seven assists in his first three starts since 1991.

Even Bryant, a five-time N.B.A. champion and the league's fifth all-time leading scorer, left impressed. 

“I think it's a great story,” Bryant said. “It's a testament to perseverance and hard work, and I think a good example for kids everywhere.”

The winning streak matches the Knicks' longest this season, and it is all the more impressive because Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire have missed the last three games. Stoudemire will return Monday after attending his brother's funeral. Anthony, who has a strained groin, is still several days from playing. 

So the spotlight belongs solely to Lin. The news media onslaught was so great Friday that the Knicks put Lin on a podium for his postgame interview — and removed a temporary wall to double the size of the room. 

With every outlandish performance, Lin's legend grows and the doubts fade. But he refused to define the game in personal terms. 

“The only thing we established tonight was getting four in a row,” he said, adding: “I'm not really too worried right now about proving anything to anybody. I think as a team we're just growing and we’re trying to build on this momentum.” 

Lin, ever the point guard, kept deferring credit, praising Jared Jeffries, Landry Fields and D’Antoni, whom he called “an absolute offensive genius.”

Bryant finished with 34 points and 10 rebounds, but for once was not the flashiest guard in the arena. Pau Gasol had 16 points and 10 rebounds. 

Lin also had seven assists and was steady down the stretch, scoring on a driving layup and hitting three critical free throws as the Knicks (12-15) beat the Lakers for the first time since February 2007. Lin also hit a key 3-pointer late in the game and repeatedly found ways to beat a Lakers defense designed to stop him. 

When the Lakers sagged off, Lin hit the jump shot. When they crowded him, he found the open man. 

“We came up with a strategy that we thought would be effective,” Bryant said, “but he was knocking down his jump shot and penetrating and getting around our guards and getting into the paint.” 

D’Antoni said, “He answered all the questions tonight.” 

In his exuberance, D’Antoni tried to inject perspective, saying, “Again, still early,” but he smiled and rolled his eyes, an admission that this phenomenon knows no bounds. 

“The surprising factor is gone,” said Fields, Lin's closest friend on the team. “Now it's just — it's incredible. I really can't describe it. I hope he does this the rest of his career.” 

The Lakers (15-12) were playing the fifth game of a six-game trip, and their second in two nights, following an overtime victory in Boston. They played like a fatigued bunch. 

Bryant and Andrew Bynum combined to miss 15 of their first 17 shots. Gasol was the only starter to show any rhythm, and he was limited by foul trouble as the Knicks built a 12-point lead in the third quarter. 

That lead proved somewhat illusory, because of an incorrect call that gave the Knicks 2 extra points on free throws. Minutes later, when officials realized the error — an offensive foul that had been mistakenly counted as a team foul — the points were taken off the board, dropping the Knicks’ lead to 56-48. 

That ruling, and a scoring surge from Bryant, sparked a Lakers rally that cut the Knicks’ lead to 3 points early in the fourth quarter. The Knicks answered with 6 straight points, two baskets from Iman Shumpert and a 22-footer from Lin. 

Afterward, a reporter from Taiwan informed Lin that Taiwanese fans were concerned about his “lodging” situation; Lin has been sleeping on his brother's couch on the Lower East Side. Lin smiled and said he was working on a solution. Lin has been offered the apartment of David Lee, the former Knicks center and a good friend, according to Alan Hahn of the MSG Network. 

The cheers for Lin started before tip-off, before introductions and before many fans had even found their seats. The scoreboard flashed Lin's face. That was enough. 

Fans wore homemade Lin masks, held signs reading “Madison Square Guard-Lin” and “Linternational Love” and wore freshly minted No. 17 jerseys and T-shirts. Those jerseys just arrived Friday afternoon, and they were selling quickly: One Modell's store sold 62 Lin jerseys in a two-hour span, according to Darren Rovell of CNBC. 

Lin did not disappoint his growing legion of fans. He scored the Knicks’first basket (a 3-pointer), passed to Tyson Chandler for a layup and a dunk and scored 9 of the Knicks’ first 13 points. The Knicks led by 14 in the second quarter. 

When the Lakers pulled within 5 points, Lin stopped the rally, hitting Chandler for a layup, then scoring twice himself. His spinning drive around Derek Fisher in the lane brought a huge roar and brought the Knicks bench to its feet. Half the roster greeted Lin with a shoulder bumps as he came off the court. 

The Knicks have been all smiles and high-fives for a week now, their mood brightened by an overdue winning streak and by the good vibes generated by Lin. 

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” D'Antoni said, trying to explain it all. “I don’t know what to tell you. I’ve never seen it.” 

REBOUNDS 

Carmelo Anthony is reporting improvement in his strained groin but is unlikely to return in time for Tuesday night’s game in Toronto, Mike D'Antoni said. He is scheduled to be reevaluated on Sunday. “He said it feels a lot better,” D'Antoni said. “He walks without pain now. It's getting closer.” ... Baron Davis worked out individually on the court on Thursday and Friday but has not yet been cleared for contact. “There's some positive signs,” D'Antoni said.