The lasting impact of 'Linsanity' on display in Jeremy Lin documentary '38 at the Garden'
The Knicks' Jeremy Lin reacts after making a 3-point basket against the Los Angeles Lakers at MSG on Feb. 10, 2012. Credit: AP/Frank Franklin II
Jeremy Lin has fond memories of "Linsanity," just as every Knicks fan does. How could anyone forget that wild stretch in the winter of 2012, when Lin came out of nowhere to lead an improbable Knicks run?
But if Frank Chi, the director of “38 at the Garden,” a new HBO documentary about the events of a decade ago, had planned a narrow focus on basketball, there would have been no documentary at all.
“When I was first pitched with the idea, I said, ‘If this documentary is just going to be about me and "Linsanity," then I don't want to do it,' ” Lin said in a recent interview with Newsday.
“I'm kind of at a place in my life and in my career where it's not really about trying to retell my story for myself, or my own anything, really. I'm at a place where I'm focused on the next generation, and if we have to go back in time to create a better future going forward, then that was one thing that we felt like we could do with this documentary.”
While the brief, 38-minute film covers the relevant basketball moments — including the 38 points that Lin scored against Kobe Bryant’s Lakers at Madison Square Garden — it also focuses heavily on the impact Lin made on countering stereotypes of Asian-Americans and on individual Asian-Americans’ pride.
That includes the continuing discrimination against Asian-Americans, which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lin, now 34, was born and raised in California, the son of immigrants from Taiwan.
Even as “Linsanity” was unfolding, he was aware of the impact he was having on fellow Asians and Asian-Americans by playing and excelling in the NBA.
But watching the film drove home that point. A screening he attended at the Tribeca Film Festival in June moved him to tears.
Why?
“What really got me was when I was able to see some of the interviews from other people and to just reflect on where we are as a society,” Lin said.
He added, “One thing that I always felt continually surprised by is that two years down the road, four, six years after, people are still talking about it, and now we're 10 years removed, and people are recounting these moments like they happened yesterday. It’s pretty incredible.”
Lin, a star at Harvard, was a Knicks afterthought when he got his first extended playing time in a win over the Nets the night before the Giants won Super Bowl XLVI.
Suddenly, he was a starter, and the Knicks were on a seven-game winning streak.
Over 12 games leading into the All-Star break, he went 9-3 as a starter, averaged 22.5 points and 8.7 assists, outscored Bryant in that win at the Garden, beat the Raptors at the buzzer and widely was praised for orchestrating a team-oriented Knicks offense that was something out of 1970.
That season went awry for Lin when Mike Woodson replaced Mike D’Antoni as coach and changed the system, Carmelo Anthony returned from injury and Lin himself suffered a knee injury that cut short his season and eventually his time with the Knicks.
Lin’s career was uneven from there, derailed by injuries and other circumstances in addition to his own inconsistent performance.
Asked what he makes of his NBA career overall, he said, “People might laugh or call me crazy when I say this, but to me I feel like I achieved maybe six out of 10 out of what I felt like could have been, or seven out of 10 maybe at the most.
“I feel like there was so much more that was out there . . . When I reflect back, I am extremely proud of the six out of 10 that I've accomplished because it is historic, but there is that other four out of 10 now where I always wonder ‘what if.’ ”
Among the what-ifs, he said, is what he believed was a good situation for him with the Nets from 2016-18 that again was mostly lost to injury.
“There's so many things,” he said. “I mean, we're talking about multiple seasons worth of games that I feel like I didn't even get a chance to play.”
Lin won a championship with the Raptors in 2019 and played in Beijing, China, last season. He is slated to play in China again this season, in Guangzhou.
He also has plenty to do outside of basketball, including philanthropic efforts through his foundation, for-profit investment endeavors and storytelling such as speaking, writing books and the HBO documentary, which premieres on Oct. 11.
In both the film and one-on-one, Lin comes across as a more relaxed, open person than he was during the height of “Linsanity.”
“More than anything,” he said, “I think I've really focused on learning how to enjoy the journey, and how to be present. I think that's one of the biggest areas of growth that I really needed to make throughout my last 10 years.”
Lin said that when he is in New York, he frequently hears from nostalgic fans.
“Everyone talks about where they were during one of the games or what that moment meant to them, or I hear a lot of, ‘I'm a lifelong Knicks fan, and the best time to be a Knicks fan was during that stretch.’ That's probably the most-heard line that I hear when I'm in New York.
“So definitely a lot of appreciation for just how much the fans meant. If there was not that fanfare, ‘Linsanity’ is not anything close to what it was.”
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
