Subtitles downloaded from www.OpenSubtitles.org
[ kicking door ]
[ rhythmic music ]
Man: Hey!
Jeremy lin: So it was like my second or third home game,
And I hadn't even been in a game yet,
And I had tried to get in the gym,
And they stopped me.
And they were like,
"oh, sorry, this is the players' entrance."
I was like, "I know."
He looked at me confused,
And then so I was looking at him confused.
And then he was like,
"oh, I'm sorry. Are you a trainer?"
And I was just kind of just like standing there.
And then another security guard came over
And, like, whispered, "I think he plays on the team."
P.A. Announcer: At guard it's...
Number 17, jeremy lin!
[ crowd cheering ]
Shirley lin: Hey, jeremy.
Hi.
[ laughs ]
Commentator: Nobody thought he could play.
He had to fight for everything that he got.
Commentator 2: It's not often you think you've seen something
You couldn't possibly see in the nba.
Announcer: Lin puts it up!
Bang!
Dan patrick: Wait a minute. Who's this kid?
Wait. Where's he from?
Wait. Not drafted?
Wait. How many teams waived him?
Commentator 3: When this guy is playing,
And golden state doesn't know he's any good,
Houston doesn't know he's any good,
I got to imagine that something has to do with
He doesn't look the part.
Commentator 4: Jeremy lin came from nothing to greatness.
Hey, this kid is giving hope to all those kids
That think, "never could I have a chance."
I always told myself my progression is gonna be
Become a rotation player, become a starting point guard,
And then win an nba championship.
And people are definitely gonna laugh when they hear that.
You know, they're not gonna be laughing
If it actually happens.
[ drum cadence playing ]
Crowd: [ chanting ] de-fense!
De-fense!
[ arena organ playing ]
P.A. Announcer: New york foul is on shumpert, his second.
Color analyst: And now, he'll have to take a seat,
And, again, mike, look who's coming in.
Announcer: Jeremy lin, and you hear a pretty big ovation.
[ sound fades, heartbeat-like drum playing ]
Jeremy: I know god orchestrated this whole thing.
There's just too much out of my control.
And just the way it happened is just miraculous.
[ parents shouting ]
Coach: Jeremy!
[ clapping ]
Jeremy: It's actually true.
After, I think, age maybe 8 or 9,
We got rid of the tv,
And we would just get it during the playoffs.
We would watch it in the house
And then, in the backyard,
There's a glass door and a hoop outside,
So we would just watch through the window,
And then any time there was, like, a break or a time-out,
We'd go out, and we'd do the exact move
That just happened.
And it was pretty much all just copying michael jordan
And watching him win.
And so we loved watching basketball that way,
And it was always a dream of mine,
But I didn't actually think it would be a reality.
Paul shaffer: Where did you get this done?
Downtown. Oh, yeah? Down in the village?
Can you take a look? Look at this.
Let me see what you... This is the back of...
[ laughter and applause ]
What do you think?
Shaffer: Beautifully done.
Yeah. [ laughs ]
Lintastic.
Thank you.
Daniel dae kim: Every kid has a dream.
Some want to be a fireman, others an astronaut.
Most of the time, dreams are just dreams.
This dream starts in palo alto, california,
A suburb of san francisco,
Where a young man learns about faith,
Perseverance, and opportunity.
Cheese!
[ gieming lin speaking chinese dialect ]
Joshua lin: My dad was taking us to the ymca.
We were still, like, in elementary school.
There's like open gym Monday, Wednesday, fridays,
From like 7:30 to 9:30.
[ growling ]
Jeremy: And we would just come home from school,
And we would just all do our homework as fast as possible.
And then when someone couldn't finish their assignment,
Then we would go and help them,
So if I couldn't finish,
Josh would come over and help me.
If joe couldn't finish,
You know, we would go over and help joe.
That's everything we've always known is just, you know,
Having each other and being best friends with each other.
[ piano playing ]
I didn't want to play the piano,
And I was horrible at the piano.
Like, every year, the recital would come around,
And I'd be pretty much playing the same song.
[ piece concludes ]
[ applause ]
And they were just like, "this is not working.
"I'm wasting my money.
"all he does is play basketball,
So let's just let him play basketball."
As we grew to love the game,
My mom became a huge supporter.
I think she could just see that we loved basketball,
That we were passionate about it.
And she's passionate about us,
So whatever we wanted to do,
She always wanted to support us.
She always drove. She was always a team parent
For every njb, aau
That jeremy played for, that I played for.
She was always there.
She was always supporting us.
You know, not every mom, asian mom especially,
Is gonna support their child playing basketball.
Cheese!
[ shirley lin speaking chinese dialect ]
Hi!
Strong will.
Interviewer: Strong will?
Strong will.
If he wants something,
He will do anything to get that thing.
So he will knock his head on the ground.
He will just make himself fall.
He will do anything to get what he wants.
â™ª hark, the herald angels sing â™ª
â™ª glory to the newborn king â™ª
Jeremy: Growing up, my family always emphasized god first,
School second, athletics third.
In the beginning, they weren't sure
How long I could play basketball.
They were just gonna ride it out
And have fun with it as long as we could.
Jim sutter: I got invited to a y league game in palo alto.
And he's just this little kid.
You know, you wouldn't think it,
But he just scored the basketball so well.
The first tournament we played,
And he just starts just raining 3-pointers.
Yeah!
They will say I am so loud,
Because I will keep talking, "defense!"
You know, "get a rebound!"
Man: Yeah!
Sutter: Of course, mom's like,
"how many points did he score?"
She'd say, "I told you he was pretty good."
I go, "I know. I know he's pretty good."
Shirley: All the aau team, they never want jeremy,
Even though he's the best point guard at that time.
Only this particular aau,
Metro mirage, want him so bad.
Shirley: Yeah, jeremy!
Jeremy: I love being the underdog
Just because it's just what I'm used to.
You know, I would be good in this league,
And then people would say,
"oh, but he can't play well in this league."
Shirley: Every time jeremy play against somebody who people say is good,
If jeremy played better,
Then they start thinking, "that person's not good."
They don't give jeremy credit.
There's a $14 extra-large burrito
That's like this.
Oh, my gosh, you should totally get that.
Jeremy, you gonna get the big one?
Jeremy: Yeah.
Man versus food.
I'm about to beast this.
Jeremy: I don't know how I got so tall, dude.
I ate a lot.
I would hang from monkey bars.
Um, I would lie off the edge of my bed thinking
That gravity would pull me and make me taller.
When I was 5'3" as a freshman in high school,
I remember-- my mom remembers this, too--
I would get in the car every single day,
And they'd be like, "why aren't you taller?"
Like, "this is why I'm so short."
She always said, "blame your dad.
I'm not that short."
She's 5'6".
For an asian woman, that's pretty tall.
And my dad's also 5'6".
I think my biggest influence on him as a player,
The most constant dominant conversation we had
Was him creating for others.
In high school, he knew he could get by
And do well on his talent.
A lot of kids, and him especially,
It was all about scoring.
And my constant conversation,
My constant challenge with him was,
"jeremy, you're a creator.
"you could really be the man
If you just embraced who you are as a player."
During his junior year,
Jeremy emerged as the vikings' star.
With every game, his skills and confidence grew,
But so did his ego.
Jeremy: We were like 30 and 1 at one point.
We were killing everybody.
I was starting to get a big head,
Thinking I was sweet and everything,
And then I get hurt.
Jeremy had a tradition of shooting around
The night before his high school games.
But on the eve of the state semifinal game,
The high school gym was closed,
And jeremy played in a pick-up game at his local ymca.
That night, jeremy fractured his ankle,
And his faith would be tested.
I just pretty much broke down.
Um, I broke down crying.
Up until then, like, I'd never gone through any serious tragedy.
That was the worst thing that ever happened to me.
With jeremy on the bench,
The vikings' hopes for a state championship quickly faded.
You know, from a high schooler's perspective,
That's like everything.
I told him to take a step back
And to look at it from a bigger perspective.
I remember my brother sent me this really long letter.
He talks about how god gives and takes away.
And so god took what I really cared about at that time
To show me that I can't do what I want to do,
I can't accomplish what I want to accomplish without him,
And that nothing in this world, in my life,
Will happen that's not according to his plan.
Pastor stephen chen: When david faced goliath,
He didn't know the outcome,
But he was zealous for the living god.
With jeremy, I know he puts the order, god first,
Family second, basketball third.
And he'll tell you this now at least.
Looking back, it's more of, god is in all those things.
And in high school, he was humbled.
He learned that he couldn't do everything himself.
Man: Amen.
And he could only put his faith in god.
Jeremy: I told myself,
I have one year left of guaranteed basketball.
I said I'm gonna do everything I can,
And I'm gonna go out fighting,
And I'm gonna make sure that we get back here.
Mitch stephens: He had unusual poise for a high school senior,
Unusual confidence.
There was something about him that I could see
Why he was a great leader on the court,
'cause you're just driven to him.
You can feel his heartbeat.
Every close game they had,
Jeremy lin was making a big play.
And it was every different way--
A 3-pointer, a steal at the end of the game.
But every one, he was in the middle of.
He was the guy doing it.
Announcer: Lin takes a jump shot right side.
Hits!
Oh, a nice jump shot.
Lin for 3. Buries it!
Nothing was going to stop jeremy
From getting his team back to the state championship,
And, soon enough, palo alto faced goliath.
Announcer: Inside arco arena, it's mater dei and palo alto.
It's the cif division ii state championship
Just moments away from tip-off.
[ mouthing words ]
Stephens: I think a lot of people just assumed
That getting to the state championship game,
Palo alto would be satisfied with.
Jeremy lin would be satisfied with it.
And it was just much more of a formality
When they played mater dei high school.
Southern california schools dominate the rankings.
They're the powers that be.
Palo alto, out in the suburbs, not so much.
Announcer: Everybody said mater dei was the team,
Mater dei is the big dog.
Mater dei, number 11 in the country.
Diepenbrock: The whole week leading up to the game,
It was just like, "how we gonna get a rebound?
How we gonna be able to play?"
Jeremy: I remember walking around campus,
And there are all these reporters.
And they'd be like, "oh, you think you can win?"
Like, "how you gonna beat 'em?"
And everyone's asking me, my friends were asking me.
By the end, they're like, "you think you can beat 'em?"
I was like, "man, just come to the game and watch."
Along with mater dei's
Decorated history and dominant reputation,
This varsity team had 8 players over 6'6".
Gary mcknight: I was kind of relieved that we were playing palo alto,
But the more I watched them on tape, I just had a feeling.
You know what?
These guys are better than I thought.
You know, you don't get to the state finals by not being good.
Announcer: Here's lin.
Needs something good, and he finally got it.
Diepenbrock: We were not intimidated at all
And really came out playing our game.
Announcer: Here's lin. Oh, there's that quick first step
That they talked about.
Palo alto on a 9-2 run, and that's over.
That kid can throw the triple.
Everybody on paper would say the size,
The athleticism, the quickness is with the monarchs,
But it's the heart that is with the vikings,
And their heart has been on display so far tonight.
Mcknight: At the end of the game,
He hit the big shots at the big moments.
Announcer: Here's lin.
Without that 7-footer, he can go to the rack!
Mcknight: When the game was on the line, yeah, he took over.
Announcer: Four seconds on the shot clock,
And lin is gonna have to launch a 25-footer.
Oh, it went in!
Did he call that? I think he called that.
[ horn sounds ]
It happened.
No one gave them a prayer to be on the floor
With the athletes and the thoroughbreds
That the monarchs have.
Jeremy: It's the best feeling to go out on top.
I mean, it is a dream come true.
Announcer: It's why we love high school basketball
Because of faces like that.
Diepenbrock: When I really looked at everything,
Everything a basketball player
Could do for himself individually
And for a team,
Jeremy lin was the best player here,
But yet colleges weren't clamoring for him.
He just didn't fit the mold.
Jeremy: After my senior year,
I was just dying to play in college,
And I felt like I deserved it.
I remember it was just a very long process,
Very frustrating, because I was going
From pac 10 school to pac 10 school.
I couldn't even get
Some division iii schools to look at me.
And I was dying to go to stanford.
Um, I would go there and play with them all the time.
I would always ask their coach, you know,
"what can I do to play for you?"
Yeah, I've always said, if I was black,
I would have gotten a d-1 scholarship,
But that's my personal opinion.
Diepenbrock: Well, he's an asian kid.
He's an asian kid, and he's not 7-foot tall.
And you don't see a lot of asian point guards
Making it in division I basketball.
Such a simple kind of thought, but that was the thinking.
Josh fan: I say... I say he's relatable.
He's one of the most down-to-earth guys I know.
We're always joking around.
We're always, you know, pranking on each other.
Jeremy: Um, did you see the blue accented stuff?
Fan: I did see it. You like that blue?
Yeah. I really like that blue,
'cause when I walk in,
I don't want it to be like black, white, black.
I want people to be like, "dang."
Oh, shoot, son.
Different walls need different accents.
These are clearance.
[ laughing ]
Yeah, dang, look at that.
Look at this. 10 bucks.
I think when people hang out with him,
They just realize he's just...
You know, he's human.
Sounds good. All right, see you later, bro.
Despite being named player of the year
And winning a state championship,
Jeremy's only offer
To play basketball on the collegiate level
Was from a small university
Called harvard.
Jeremy: My first day at class,
I was just super-intimidated.
I went and took my math placement test,
And they were like, "if you don't know how to do this,
Feel free to turn it in and leave."
I looked at it and I was, like,
"dude, I don't know what's going on here."
So I turned it in, and I was,
Like, maybe the second person who turned it in.
I was like, "man, I just, like,
Failed my first test at harvard."
The next day, we had the chinese placement test,
And they gave us the test, and they're like,
"if you can't read it, just turn it in."
I couldn't read it, so I turned it in again,
And that was back-to-back failed tests
Without even filling in an answer.
I called my mom, I was like, "man,
This is gonna be pretty tough, so just get ready."
[ laughs ]
Pablo torre: In a lot of ways, jeremy lin going to harvard
Was a very logical thing.
There were 23 asian-americans at harvard
Whose last name was lin.
And so for jeremy lin to show up at harvard,
Being this asian-american kid,
Who had a perfect math sat ii score was,
You know, nothing rare.
But the fact that he was amazing at this game,
The question was then how did he fit in at harvard?
Announcer: There is tommy amaker,
1987 graduate of duke, of course,
First year at harvard,
11th year overall as a head coach,
180 career wins.
With the hiring of former michigan coach tommy amaker,
Harvard was committed to a new era
In their basketball program.
Amaker was a star player at duke university,
Then spent nine years as an assistant coach
To the legendary mike krzyzewski.
The basketball landscape at harvard
Was about to be transformed,
And jeremy was leading the charge.
Tommy amaker: We knew we had something pretty interesting,
Especially with jeremy,
Because of how hard he worked, first of all,
And how important basketball was to him.
And then his talent.
I think he was very much underrated,
And I think he wanted to play in the style
And the system, you know,
That we were gonna implement,
Which is gonna be high octane.
And he's a hard-charging,
Aggressive, fearless player.
Announcer: A steal by jeremy lin.
He's gonna go in for the easy jam.
Announcer 2: Looking up ahead,
Lin splits defenders and lays it in!
Kenny blakeney: In my 15 years of coaching,
My four years at duke,
I've never seen anybody
Work as diligent and as hard as jeremy.
He came in every day and put the work in.
We watched film every day.
We did work before and after practice.
He busted his tail,
And he did all the things that we asked him to do.
Announcer: Top of the circle, deep 3, jeremy lin!
It seems the bigger the game, the better he played.
Announcer: It's big east basketball,
As the 13th ranked uconn huskies host the crimson of harvard.
Color analyst: Now, keep an eye on jeremy lin today.
This is the type of player
That can single-handedly help the crimson
Pull off a miraculous upset.
Amaker: He was the best player on the floor.
You know, that's saying a lot
When you're speaking of a team
That was the caliber of connecticut.
Color analyst: Wow!
Announcer: What a move on the runner off the glass.
Oliver mcnally: I think that's when everybody was like,
"all right, he's more than just, like, a good college player.
Like, he just made a very good team look bad."
Announcer: Casey had it knocked away, and a steal by dyson.
Takes lin to the basket,
And lin blocks him at the rim!
Color analyst: What a block.
Amaker: Scoring 30 points there,
Being a force to deal with in every way.
Announcer: Back to lin top of the key, pump fake, drives
And throws it down with both hands!
Oh, what a dunk by jeremy lin!
Amaker: He kept us believing all the way through
That we have a chance.
This guy's leading this team in every category, not just one.
I mean, it wasn't like he was just a scorer.
He was the best defensive player,
He was the best rebounder, the best passer.
You know, he pretty much could do it all.
Blakeney: It was just kind of like those moments
Where it was crunch time and winning time,
You know, who's gonna step up?
Announcer: Back the other way, comes to gurdy,
Into the frontcourt.
Drives down the right lane line,
Goes up with the right hand! Lays it in!
Three seconds left! Harvard back the other way!
Down by a point, jeremy lin!
Bumped at midcourt!
He's fouled, but got it to go!
Harvard wins it! Harvard wins it!
Unbelievable!
Jeremy lin on an unbelievable shot,
And harvard has won
In the most improbable fashion!
I don't believe it!
Jeremy: When I was growing up,
I was playing in the aau tournaments.
We would play in games,
And a couple of times, people would be like,
"yo, take your ass back to china,"
Or like, "you're a chinese import," or whatever.
When I got to college, it just, like, got crazy.
It was just like, "you chink!"
You know, "can you even open your eyes?
Can you see the scoreboard?"
You know, just like crazy stuff.
And I'd just be like, "dude, like, what is going on?"
Being in the spotlight
Brought jeremy an inevitable byproduct:
Attention, both positive and negative.
I mean, people look at basketball players in terms of...
Of race a lot of times.
Basketball is not considered
An asian sport here in america.
We'd be playing on the road,
Specific gyms in the ivy league,
And they would yell racial slurs to him.
Torre: It was shocking to me to see racial taunts
In the ivy league,
Because you think that at that level,
Certainly in the supposed, you know,
Very academically progressively oriented
Group of schools full of asian students on their campuses
That that would be something that was unthinkable,
But it wasn't.
Blakeney: I just told him, it's a sign of respect.
Yeah, they're ignorant,
But at the end of the day,
They're trying to get in your head.
You're thinking about what they saying
And not thinking about the game.
Blakeney: I think we were just working out,
And kind of was like, you know
"j, can I speak to you for a moment?"
Jeremy: He sat me down,
Like, right outside the gym on the stairs,
And he was like...
"I don't know if anybody's ever told you this,
But I think you can be an nba player."
And he kind of looked at me like, you know,
He just saw santa claus or something.
You know, I was just like, "you're crazy," you know.
I was like, "dude, you are crazy."
My mom, you know, would be like,
"you can make it to the nba."
"all right. Um, okay, mom."
Shirley: Is this possible?
I thought maybe he really...
Really have a chance.
When the question was broached,
Is jeremy lin good enough to make the nba,
That's when I think a lot of the interest started surging.
Man: Can you tell me the history of this blanket?
Oh, this blanket is legendary.
Yeah?
It's all about lion king.
We have nala right here,
Baby simba, timon and pumbaa.
This is one of my favorite blankets of all time.
What about the sesame street blanket?
No. My second favorite is the garfield,
And then sesame street.
[ laughs ] oh, man. All right, fans.
Good evening, and welcome to the 2010 draft
At madison square garden in new york city.
The first round, we weren't expecting really much of anything.
Tonight marks the realization of a dream
For the best young players in the world.
We were just all real nervous,
Just 'cause there were so many odds to overcome for him.
And with the first pick, the washington wizards
Select john wall from the university of kentucky.
[ cheering and applause ]
I was hopeful, but to be completely honest,
I was like, "let's just wait and see what happens."
The thing that I'm always interested in is race
And the way discrimination, you know, rears its ugly head.
I was really interested in seeing if a team would take the plunge
And take this asian-american player.
You know, it was funny.
Like, the team that I had the highest chance
To get drafted by was the knicks,
'cause I crushed that workout.
With the 39th pick in the 2010 nba draft...
I was like, "if I don't get drafted here,
I probably won't get drafted."
The new york knicks select...
I'm thinking like, "oh, if I get drafted, what's gonna happen?
"I'm just gonna run around, like, hugging everyone.
I'm gonna fly to new york tomorrow."
Landry fields from stanford university.
[ crowd booing and shouting ]
10 minutes after the draft ended,
Donny nelson, the general manager
Of the dallas mavericks, personally called jeremy
And asked him to play on his summer league team.
I think everyone who goes undrafted, you know,
Feels like they have to prove themselves, because they do.
And so, you know, this is a chance
Where you get to play against people
Who are drafted every single night,
And you get to compete with them in practice.
And this is the best opportunity to, you know,
Prove to all the other teams
That you deserved to be drafted
And you deserved to have that contract.
Joel meyers: Lin, surprise attack.
Oh, this is gonna be interesting.
Sanders there, lin protected it home!
Wow! Nice play.
I hoped that jeremy would make it,
Because I had confidence in his ability,
But I was skeptical
In terms of him getting a real shot anywhere.
P.A. Announcer: Jeremy lin!
And then I watched him play
In the summer league against john wall.
Meyers: I think we got a primetime match-up.
John wall, the number one overall selection.
Wall, creative! On the reverse.
How fast was that?
Sutter: I talked to him the day before
He was gonna play against john wall,
And I told him, "it's your one shot.
There's no doubt that you can play against the guy."
Meyers: Lin. Lin gettin' up there!
Chris webber: He's gonna be an nba crowd favorite.
Meyers: Gotta work on the d.
Lin went right around him on his strong side.
Torre: The fact that he could do that
Against the number-one player in the nba draft was tremendous.
Meyers: Assessing, constructive criticism.
Webber: No way. Man!
If you explode on him, you'll have something.
You're gonna get your opportunity.
Webber: As he splits, spins...
Oh, no, ref! Don't you do that!
Meyers: They're on their feet!
Oh, my god. This is about to be a melee here.
Hold 'em back, hold 'em back!
[ laughing ]
Oh, lookit, the crowd is going crazy!
Commentator: He's opened some eyes,
And if lin doesn't stick with the mavs,
There are teams out there that are looking at him saying,
"boy, he beats their system very nicely."
Webber: Whether he's in the league this year or not...
Meyers: He'll have some options.
Oh, he will have some options.
Jeremy: I'm just trying to play,
And if someone's interested, you know,
I'd love to talk about an opportunity.
Joe lacob: My son and he both were point guards,
And they were on different aau teams,
And so I remember watching them play
These aau games in these local gyms.
But I just happened to buy the team at that time with my partners.
One of the first things I told our gm was,
"look, I know this kid. My son knows this kid.
He's really talented. We ought to give him a shot."
I think they thought we were a little crazy,
But we did, and, you know, when you're the owner,
You get to do things like that.
[ rock music ]
Announcer: The warriors' iq and basketball iq
Just went up a few points.
They signed harvard guard jeremy lin.
I called jeremy to tell him.
He didn't believe me.
He was like, "stop playing, man. Are you serious?"
I said, "man, it's for real.
"go down to the practice facility tomorrow
And sign the contract. It's good."
And he was like, "man! I'll call you back."
I was like, "aah!" you know.
I picked my little brother up,
I'm like, "I'm signing with golden state!"
And I ran into the next room,
I picked my other brother up.
"I'm signing with golden state!"
I can't even really describe it,
'cause we, like, grew up, like, fantasizing about the nba,
And, like, the fact that we grew up rooting for the warriors
Made it even that much crazier.
Lin has a chance to make history
As the first asian-american nba player in the modern era.
When he got picked up by warriors,
That moment, we think,
"this is what I want him to do."
My dream was to play in the nba,
And now I get to do it for the warriors,
The team that I grew up watching.
It's more than a dream come true.
[ cheering ]
Announcer: We know what that's about.
Color analyst: Jeremy lin. Palo alto high school's own.
Warrior rookie out of harvard.
It got pretty loud,
And people were standing up and clapping,
And I just remember looking around.
Announcer: Grew up a warrior fan,
Signed by his hometown team.
It's a great story.
Color analyst: It really is.
It was so emotional for me to finally get there,
For me to finally be there,
And I couldn't envision myself there even a year ago.
When I saw him guarding kobe, I was like, "wow."
We've been watching this guy ever since we were little.
He's actually... He's there.
Announcer: Missing, lee with the rebound.
Color analyst: I love what lin did. Didn't foul him.
Ohh!
Ready to return for the grizzlies. Williams.
Lin's got an open look,
And then threw it to battier inexplicably.
Announcer 2: Welcome to the nba.
Jeremy: I hate when everyone's looking at me.
I hate the spotlight.
How am I gonna be myself
When every time I touch the ball,
Everyone's expecting me to do
Some crazy, miraculous play?
Announcer: He scores!
People could see it on my face.
Like, I was out there playing,
But I wasn't playing my brand of basketball.
I was scared, nervous,
And just, like, a lot of questions
And a lot of stress
And a lot of uncertainty floating around.
Larry riley: The ingredient that's missing
Is the fact there was a player named monta ellis
And steph curry ahead of him.
[ laughs ]
You know, coaches need to win, at the nba level,
And so keith smart, who was our coach at the time,
Really didn't play him a lot,
And this is how these things happen.
Jeremy: At first, I was like,
"he knows I can play, he knows I can play."
And then I wasn't playing at all,
And then I was, like, reading all these articles like,
"oh, he's just here to sell jerseys
And increase revenue."
I was like, "maybe that's all it is.
Maybe that's all I'm good for," you know.
Yu: I think we have to be honest with ourselves.
There was definitely a marketing element to it.
I mean, he's a hometown guy.
The area has a significant asian-american population.
And the way it played out,
You know, people went bonkers for that.
[ cheering ]
A lot of what america perceives as asian is very foreign.
Yao ming was kind of a quintessential example of that.
He's from china, he's from the east,
And he's coming to our shores.
Whereas, jeremy is like homegrown.
He's a homegrown asian-american kid from the suburbs.
He grew up with hoop dreams just like the rest of us.
Seeing a kid like jeremy on the court
In a warriors uniform,
You know, that's a huge impact.
You know, he was happy to be playing for his hometown team,
But we weren't satisfied with just being in the nba.
Announcer: Fans want jeremy lin to go all the way to the rim,
And he has it taken away.
The warriors' management
Sent jeremy down to the d-league,
The nba's version of a minor league farm system.
He was faced with a harsh reality.
The d-league is one of the toughest things
When it comes to a basketball career.
The d-league, you know, it's a showcase.
People don't care how many wins you have.
All they care about is your stats.
It's all about you, and you have teammates,
But they're not really on your team.
You know, they'll take your job if they can.
You cut off?
You the point guard? Yeah.
You pass it to me... Okay.
And then just wait out there.
What I told him when he went to the d-league was simple.
Go kill it.
Go and crush the d-league, and let's get called up.
Because it's a battle, you know.
It's a battle right here.
Jeremy: I was like, "man, like, if I play bad,
This may be it."
Announcer: Jeremy lin drives against squeaky,
Tries to get to the rack, throws it away!
Jeremy: I couldn't really sleep, 'cause I was so stressed.
I called my brother.
I was like, "I'm trippin' right now,
Like, I don't know what's going on."
I think, for him, it was just like the journey
Was kind of wearing on him.
'cause, like, at every step of the way,
You have to, like, overcome all these odds,
And, like, I think at a certain point,
It felt insurmountable for him.
So he was not in a good place.
Color analyst: Lin needs to settle down.
Announcer: Yeah, he's running out of gas.
Jeremy desperately wanted to prove
That he belonged, but in his rookie year,
He was sent to the d-league three times.
Chen: I think getting sent back and forth
And the constant yo-yo effect
Of being taken up by the warriors,
Sent back down,
The cumulative effect of it weighed heavily on him.
You know, I've always had that desire,
And I've always had that within me
Where I want to prove that I could play in the nba.
But, you know, I'm here right now for a reason,
And, you know, god works in very different ways.
Stay up! Stay up! Come here!
Eric musselman: You know, I thought with each game,
His confidence grew, and you could see it
Almost with each possession up the floor.
And after his 20-game stint,
I think he came out of that d-league experience
Really believing that he could have an impact in the nba.
It was tough, because we knew he could play.
It was just frustrating because so many people
Were so ready to just bury him and give up on him.
Jeremy: It's hard for me,
Because I really love basketball.
Like, I love my dream.
My dream is to play in the nba,
And I wanted it so bad that I couldn't imagine
Finally getting it, and then losing it right away.
Does anyone in here think lebron is not as good as kobe right now?
Man: I think lebron is definitely not better,
Just bigger.
Well, it's kind of hard to say.
You'd know better than us, so...
No, I don't know.
I just had closer seats.
[ laughter ]
Older kids?
Hey, you guys are in here. In here.
Coach: Nice, perfect.
And then left, left, or a right, right. Perfect.
Jeremy: Yeah, I like that.
This is a good group right here!
Hey! Don't move, don't move, don't move, don't move!
Stay out there.
All these asian kids are, like, intimidated by me.
I like talk to them, they're like, "uh..."
I'm like, "dude, I'm not, like, frankenstein."
If they're really tall, you're gonna get stuck,
And then you'll get called for a travel.
Man: Right here.
Ricky has something to say.
Boy: Thank you.
No problem. Thanks for coming.
I remember in the d-league, I kept a little diary.
I know that's a little girlie to some of you guys,
But I like to write down some of my thoughts
Every once in a while
So I can look back and remember.
And I remember on December 29th,
I wrote about how I actually wish
I had never signed with the warriors.
I wish I could quit basketball, because I wasn't having fun.
And what got me through those times--
Obviously, I don't feel that way now.
But what got me through that time
Was the number one reason
Why all the leaders are here today.
And that's because we want to let you guys know
That god loves me and that he has a perfect plan for me,
And that his plan will take you
Through a lot of ups and downs,
But if I stay faithful to him,
In the end, I know that he's gonna work
Everything for my good.
Now when I play basketball,
I don't play for anybody else anymore.
I only play for god.
And that's the type of purpose that he gave me,
And once he gave me that purpose,
Then that's when I had my peace.
And once I got my peace, that's when I got my joy.
Sometimes a change of scenery
Can shift a perspective on life.
Jeremy: My roots is important for me to know,
Because it's who I am.
It's a huge part of my identity.
I understand where my parents came from,
How they grew up in the culture.
Oh! Oh! You dropped it!
Jeremy: So that's why I come back every summer
Just to get a good feel for that.
I'm very proud to be, you know, who I am.
Back on the farm.
Oh, I'm gonna back up a little bit now.
[ speaking chinese dialect ]
[ rooster crows ]
Seeing where my dad grew up,
So 40 years makes a huge difference,
You know, from him growing up here
To how we grew up in the u.S.
It's definitely humble beginnings.
[ translator speaking chinese dialect ]
[ repeating after translator in chinese dialect ]
Man: Hey, man, you see this shrimp?
Oh, hey, hey. Watch yourself.
Jeremy: My grandparents are born and raised in china.
My parents are born and raised in taiwan,
And I was born and raised in the u.S.,
And so there's a lot of history
And a lot of culture behind who I am.
[ man speaking chinese dialect ]
[ singing with karaoke machine ] â™ª splendid
â™ª tell me, princess
â™ª now when did you last let your heart decide? â™ª
[ laughter ]
â™ª I can open your eyes
â™ª take you wonder by wonder â™ª
â™ª over, sideways, and under â™ª
â™ª on a magic carpet ride
â™ª a whole new world
[ new song playing, singing indistinctly ]
Man: What are you about to do right now?
I'm about to go out here
And judge this dunk contest.
This is the finale, the championship game,
For the nike summer league,
So I'm about to get into this right now.
[ man making announcement in chinese dialect ]
They said I could speak chinese.
Tricked 'em!
[ rock music ]
Announcer: Jeremy lin!
[ cheering ]
Jeremy: Basketball culture here is crazy.
The fans, they love basketball.
There's people playing basketball
All the time on all the courts.
The level of competition is definitely growing.
Got a chance to see some games.
So, you know, it's definitely awesome coming back
And seeing how much the sport has grown in the country.
Ready, set, go!
Jeremy: I just think coming here,
I'm seeing a lot of really diligent, hard workers.
I feel like everybody works very hard,
And they do everything they can
To support themselves and their families,
And for me, that way is basketball.
And I think hard work is definitely ingrained
In taiwanese culture, in chinese culture.
And so, for me, that's something
I try to pick up on and really embrace.
Yo, man, we gotta go.
Jeremy?
Reporter: At 12:01 Friday morning,
The nba locked out its players
After failing to reach a new collective bargaining agreement.
The lockout has a very large impact on a lot of people.
The current offer that is on the table
Is not one that we can accept.
It could be a couple weeks,
Could be a couple months.
Reporter: We're already hearing
This is gonna be a very long lockout.
We're about to go into the nuclear winter of the nba.
The collective bargaining process
Has completely broken down.
Derek fisher: We're all in this together.
And if these players don't give them
What they want, they're not going to play.
David stern: I don't think it's resolved.
I think it's bad advice.
Jeremy: I actually secretly
Wanted the lockout to continue,
Because it gave me extra time to get better.
Fisher: We are willing to continue discussions
On a potential compromise.
Commentator: There are some owners
Who are willing to forego the season.
Fisher: We want to play basketball.
That's what we do,
And right now, we don't have an opportunity
To go out and do what we do best.
Man: If we need to lose an entire season,
We should go ahead and do it.
I got all my sweaty t-shirts in here, man.
Man: That's disgusting.
Jeremy: So I knew the longer the lockout went,
The better player I would become.
Doc scheppler: We're warming up.
We're just warming up.
Boom. That's it. That one was perfect.
Feel good? Feels good.
Scheppler: As he gets better as a shooter,
Over time it's gonna be like money, money, money.
He's only gonna get better,
And he's awfully good now, don't you think?
That's the other part, getting into this cranium
To get him to believe like I believe in him.
Sports anchor: Merry christmas, basketball fans.
The nba is coming back.
Fans are getting what they want.
Owners and players reached a tentative agreement
To end the 149-day lockout.
Jeremy: Going into my second year,
I'm not really, like,
Thinking about anything I'm afraid of.
You know, I feel like through my first year,
At least in my own eyes,
Like, I proved to myself that I can play at this level.
And I think mentally, I'm at a much better place
Where I'm just going in, and I'm just gonna be myself
And play my own game,
And from that standpoint, I'm really not afraid
Of anything going into training camp.
I feel like I have nothing to lose.
Riley: We didn't have a center that we felt good about,
And we needed to create enough salary cap space
To go make an offer,
And in order to do so, we had to cut somebody.
It was one of the hardest decisions
That we could have had to make.
Jeremy: They called me up midway through
In the middle of a drill.
They're like, "hey, you got to go upstairs."
I went in there, and the general manager
And assistant general manager were like,
"we gotta let you go.
We're trying to get deandre jordan."
Montgomery: He had worked tremendously hard pre-season,
So I was like, "man, this is a blow.
I mean, this is a kick in the stomach right here."
Jeremy: They were like,
"oh, we wish you the best of luck."
I was like, "thanks."
Within 48 hours,
He was picked up by the houston rockets.
Daryl morey: Yeah, we were hoping
That no one else picked him up.
We were interested in him for quite a long time.
Had been to his games at harvard.
At the time, we just added him and said,
"hey, let's bring him in and see what happens."
Jeremy: I went to houston.
There were six point guards there.
I couldn't even get reps in practice.
I don't understand.
I was backup point guard at golden state,
And now they're gonna bring me here,
And I'm sixth string?
Announcer: Jeremy lin on the drive.
Take it to the rim, lays it up.
Color analyst: Good shot with the spurs' bigs right in his face.
Chen: When the rockets picked him up,
That was probably the bottom of the barrel for him.
Sunday night, we were in fellowship,
And I remember jeremy said, "hey, I gotta go.
I gotta catch my flight to houston."
He was standing at the door,
And he had tears in his eyes, because, um...
Because the pressure was really getting to him.
He just didn't know what his future was gonna hold.
And I remember he turned to me and he says,
"I don't know if I can keep doing this."
After only 12 days with the rockets,
He was cut again.
It was christmas day.
Interviewer: So obviously a lot has been happening
The last couple of weeks.
What's going through your mind,
And how you feeling today?
Jeremy: Christmas morning, I was waived.
Flew back home on christmas night,
And within two weeks, I had been waived twice
By two teams who said they still wanted me.
10 a.M. This morning,
Um, found out the knicks had picked me up.
And that's gonna be my first game with the knicks.
It's gonna be at oracle arena.
You know, I'm literally going into this game tomorrow night,
I have no idea who my teammates are.
I've never played with them one time.
I have no idea what plays we run.
I don't know a single play,
And, you know, I haven't even talked to the coach yet,
So it's gonna be interesting.
Announcer: I see jeremy lin coming in.
They just signed him today.
[ crowd cheering ]
Went through a walk-through, at shoot-around today.
Lin, who played with golden state last year sparingly,
Played in the d-league,
Gets a nice ovation.
Jeremy: It's a great opportunity for me
To be able to just play,
And I think, for me right now,
The one thing I really care about
Is just an opportunity to play.
I'm gonna give my best effort,
And, you know, if I go down,
I'm gonna make sure I go down doing it my way,
Which is god's way.
So it's the night before,
And, you know, I gotta get my bags ready,
And after the game tomorrow, we head to l.A.,
Sacramento, and then I'm off to new york for good.
Five games go by, and I'm not playing at all.
Nothing was really making sense to me.
If you bring me in,
And you don't let me play in practice,
Let alone the games, then why am I here?
I felt like, you know, I could help you,
And I was watching us lose.
Reporter: The knicks have lost four straight games.
Announcer: And the losing streak continues.
Knicks have now lost six in a row.
Commentator: There's a chemistry problem there on the floor.
They need a point guard to distribute the ball.
Jeremy's original two-year contract
Was about to expire,
Which meant that, if the knicks let him go,
He'd be dropped with no pay, and, this time, for good.
During practice, jeremy was standing right beside me
On the side of the court
And not really get in even in practice.
He was just there in case one of these guys got hurt.
I pretty much saw the writing on the wall.
I was like, "I'm pretty much done,"
And, like, I was resigned to the fact
That I was gonna get let go.
Standing on the side of the court, he comes up to me,
And he goes, "hey, coach, I've got a question."
I go, "what is it, jeremy?"
"I'm taking a taxi everywhere.
Should I ship my car out here?"
And he was like, "uh, you know, probably not."
I was like, "oh, hell, I'm gonna get waived."
D'antoni: And so I went and talked to glen.
I said, "glen, what do you think?"
And he goes, "well, we haven't really seen him.
We don't know."
And I said, "you know what? Let me try to see
"if we can get him in a couple games
Before Tuesday and just see what happens."
They're like, "look, you're gonna play tonight.
"I want you to go out there.
I don't want you to do too much."
I was like, "okay, I won't."
Announcer: 8 points for garnett.
Lin coughs it up, bradley to the rim.
Jeremy: I didn't do too much.
I pretty much did nothing, and I played horrible.
You know, I missed shots,
I had turnovers, I had bad fouls.
[ whistle blows ]
Announcer: Lin reached in.
Jeremy: I thought, at most,
I had one more chance the next game.
I was like, "okay, I just screwed the boston game.
"I probably will get cut,
But they may give me one more chance tomorrow."
Landry fields: I think at the time,
Jeremy was actually staying with his brother in new york,
And he was talking to me on the plane.
He's like, "you know, my brother,
"he's got some people over,
"um, so, you know, is it cool
If I crash at your place instead?"
You know, I was like, "yeah, sure, man, you can come."
I was giving him forewarning, though,
That my couch wasn't huge.
It was actually a rental couch at the time.
It might have been maybe six feet long.
We get in at, like, 2:00 in the morning.
I go over to landry's place.
He's like, "this is my couch,"
And his couch is like this big.
I'm like, "dude."
I have my head hanging off of one end
And my legs hanging off the other.
I'm like, "oh, my gosh, how am I gonna get a good night's rest?"
Like, "I might play tomorrow.
This might be my last chance."
Montgomery: I remember thinking to myself,
One, I hope he gets in,
Because he really didn't do enough in the boston game
To warrant getting big minutes.
And, two, if he gets in, he's gotta play well,
Or they're gonna release him after the game.
Jeremy: It's funny.
This season was the only season
In the last, like, 11, 12 years
Since the last lockout
Where people have played back-to-back-to-back games.
And new york only had one stretch
Of back-to-back-to-back games.
And if we had more days to rest,
I'm not sure if I would have been able to play in that game.
Shirley: I prayed that day,
And my prayer is,
"god, if this is your will for him to play nba,
You need to show it."
[ crowd cheering ]
Announcer: There's morrow. Morrow knocks it down.
Williams sets himself,
Puts up the 3, and knocks that one down.
The knicks find themselves down by 10 already.
P.A. Announcer: New york foul is on shumpert, his second.
Color analyst: Again, mike, look who's coming in.
Announcer: Jeremy lin, and you hear a pretty big ovation.
[ sound fades, heartbeat-like drum playing ]
Montgomery: He didn't look tentative,
He didn't look overly concerned.
He looked like, "dude, I'm about to go do it.
"if they cut me, they cut me.
"if I don't never play another nba game, so be it.
I'm going to play like jeremy lin can play."
Announcer: Jeremy lin drives and finishes.
Nice play from lin.
There's a strip of it.
Lin throws it ahead to toney douglas.
Up for the layup! Banks it in!
Here comes shumpert to lin.
Lin flips it up and puts it in.
Jeremy lin once again!
Joshua: He finished the half with like 10, 4, and 4,
Like, good numbers for a half.
That was such a higher high
Than, like, anything he's, like, done.
So I was, like, ecstatic at that point.
The second half, he just went...
He just went nuts.
Announcer: Driving to the basket, does it again.
He's got a chance for a 3-point play as he got hit.
Bumped by petro, gets to the rim.
Count it and a foul!
P.A. Announcer: Jeremy lin!
Announcer: He has in one special night
Become a garden favorite.
Color analyst: Will it be remembered?
He was stringing together,
Like, three crossover moves in a row.
Like, things he's never done before.
Announcer: Splits the defense again!
Gets to the rim! Pops it in!
And a foul! Wow!
[ wild cheering ]
Color analyst: And the crowd on their feet
Paying homage to this man.
Clyde, even it looks like his teammates
Don't believe what they're seeing.
Jeremy: I was just so emotional.
There's no way they can cut me now.
I just had the game of my life.
Announcer: Again, the crossover, the basket.
Puts it up, pops it in!
Jeremy lin with 25!
And this crowd is going crazy!
Color analyst: Penetrating, manipulating,
Devastating the nets!
Announcer: He's the hero from harvard,
As the knicks [ buzzer sounds ]
Get a much-needed victory on the game of his life.
And he is swarmed by his ecstatic teammates
And a jubilant crowd here at madison square garden.
Jeremy: [ on p.A. ] I'm just thankful to god
For this opportunity to be able to come out here
And play with this team and this organization.
[ crowd cheering ]
Jeremy: Man, I was taking a shower,
And I was like... I didn't even know.
I was like, "is this water, like, from the shower,
Or am I actually crying, like, tears of joy?"
Oh, I was just, like, so high on emotion.
I was so happy. I was sitting in the shower,
Replaying all the times in the d-league,
All these flashbacks of these tough times
I had to go through.
And I remember I got out,
I saw my family, and they were all smiling.
I called my agent,
And he was yelling at me on the phone, you know, like,
"I'm so proud of you. I knew you could do it."
That was kind of like the much-needed breakthrough
That I was hoping for.
Commentator: [ on radio ] before jeremy lin's
First big game against new jersey,
He really wasn't in the knicks' plans at that point,
And I'm told they had begun
To look seriously at replacements.
Announcer: Clyde, Saturday night, madison square garden
Sounded as loud as we've heard it all season.
He was magnificent.
You just hope from a knicks standpoint
That he can run the offense
As well as he ran it on Saturday.
Jeremy: I just really wasn't nervous for my first start.
And, you know, usually, I would be,
But I don't know why I just felt really comfortable,
And it was just a supernatural peace,
And it's one of those things that,
You know, I can't really explain.
For jeremy's first nba start,
Amar'e stoudemire was out for personal reasons,
And carmelo anthony suffered an injury in the first half.
Announcer: Carmelo anthony comes up hobbling.
He's in a lot of discomfort.
He can't move right now.
The knicks desperately needed a leader,
And jeremy would answer the call.
Announcer: Lin gets around jefferson,
Looking, and backs it in.
He had a couple of those the other night.
Jeremy: We were running pick and roll
After pick and roll after pick and roll.
Announcer: Lin inside to jeffries!
Joshua: I didn't know how he would follow up
That new jersey game, 'cause it was such a high,
But he just kept making ridiculous layups,
He was hitting jumpers.
Jeremy: They didn't know my tendencies,
They didn't know my weak spots,
My strong spots, my sweet spots.
Announcer: Lin on the drive,
Flips it up, drops it in!
And a foul! Reverse layup!
Jeremy: They had never seen me play.
Announcer: Pushing it, ahead to shumpert, back to lin.
Lin gets hit, puts it in, and a foul!
Lays it up, puts it up,
Chandler keeps it alive.
[ buzzer ] lin has to put it up.
A 3-pointer as the shot clock expired!
I'm riding him like friggin' secretariat.
[ laughter ]
Announcer: Jeremy lin
With his second consecutive career night.
He is the new starting point guard of the knicks.
[ buzzer ]
And the knicks win again.
A standing ovation for jeremy lin.
Jeremy: You know, there's so many little variables
With every step of the way being something I can't control.
You know, houston waives me a day late.
If they waive me a day earlier,
I would have been past the waiver wire.
Shumpert gets hurt that morning.
The knicks pick me up,
Because they had worked me out the year before.
You know, it happens to be d'antoni who's coaching here
Whose offense is tailor-made for me.
And all of a sudden, things just go crazy.
He's averaging 26 1/2 points a game the last two games.
I don't think that's gonna continue.
Commentator: Obviously, that's not gonna continue.
Then we hit the road and go to washington,
And it's like john wall again, you know.
Like, I played against john wall in the summer league,
And now it's, like, a rematch.
Now I'm playing against him again.
Announcer: Ooh! [ whistle blows ]
Announcer: Lin on the drive, gets inside.
Reverse layup. Great play by jeremy lin.
Here comes wall. Look at wall.
Breaks the press,
And throws it down with the left hand!
Jeremy: I was like, "dang, he kinda dunked on my head."
I was like, "I'm gonna try to get him back."
Couple possessions later, they messed up their coverage,
I had a free lane,
And I just tried to take the rim down.
Announcer: Lin drives!
There's the dunk you're talking about, clyde.
Jeremy lin fires up the crowd.
Jeremy: When I saw that opening,
I just tried to dunk it as hard as I could.
I don't know. There's just...
There's been so much pain and so many trying times,
And now that I get to play,
I'm just letting it all out, man.
I'm just letting it all out on the floor.
After the game, I just look back,
And I'm like, "man, that was so fun."
Commentator: The great story
That's brewing is jeremy lin,
And this week, contracts are guaranteed
For the rest of the year.
He's been balling out, saying,
"show that man his money."
D'antoni: The things that's for real is his vision,
Which won't change,
His speed, which won't change,
His knowledge of the game, which won't change.
I just don't see it changing.
Now, again, please don't quote me on that one.
Kenny smith: Now he's on the scouting report.
Shaquille o'neal: Yeah, he is now.
Let's see if he's in the scouting report for the lakers
Oh, yeah, he is. On Friday night at the garden.
Jeremy: This is basically where I lived the last two weeks
And so it's the couch I slept on.
Uh, my brother and sister-in-law,
Uh, did a good job of hosting me.
Had a lot of fun.
[ laughing ]
And now their little kid might have to move out.
[ laughing ]
If I don't do laundry now,
I won't do laundry when I'm married. Fact.
Sister-in-law: You guys are brats.
So? We do other things.
[ shirley speaking indistinctly ]
Sister-in-law: Like what?
Like...
What do you mean, like what?
Like, what don't we do, is the question.
Sister-in-law: What do you do?
Shirley: What do you do?
I take a nap every day.
Shirley: Yeah, that I know.
Who does that? Not many people can.
And you eat a lot,
Nonstop all day long. Yeah.
Yesterday, the general manager was like,
"hey, jeremy, by the way, you're guaranteed now,
So get off the couch."
I was like...
Shirley: This guy has a place to stay,
But he doesn't want to stay there.
He want to crash in here.
They don't want this to be on the news, jeremy,
[ laughing ] sleeping on the couch at his brother's.
Why?
Jeremy: It's crazy.
It's just crazy to...
I'm telling you, social media,
Twitter, facebook, my phone, it's just...
I don't know if it could get crazier than this.
Like, I really don't.
Reporter: Jeremy lin?
Are you following that story at all?
No idea. I know who he is,
But I don't really know what's going on too much with that.
Reporter 2: Are you surprised at the production
That lin's had over the past week?
I don't even know what he's done.
Like, I have no idea what you guys are talking about.
[ cheering ]
Jeremy: I'm reading all these quotes
About what he's saying.
"kobe bryant has no idea who jeremy lin is."
I'm like, "what?"
I'm like, "why would you do that?
"I didn't say anything about you.
I never talked bad about you."
So when I heard that, I was like...
[ exhales ]
"here we go."
Reporter: Would you consider guarding him
If he's having one of those games?
[ chuckles ]
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here.
Let's go!
Reporter: There is a new man in town.
"may the best man lin."
Host: Over-under, 23 points for lin tonight, bomani.
Against the lakers with those trees they've got inside?
It won't be so linsane tonight.
Host: Kobe or lin? Who scores more tonight?
I'm going with my guy, jeremy lin, my hero.
[ host laughing ]
Because all he does is lin, baby!
Announcer: Jeremy lin in just one week
Has turned things around
For his career and for the new york knicks.
I love it! It's awesome, man!
This is like the greatest thing that's happened to new york ever.
Commentator: It's one of those nights,
And it's one of those stories
Where it really is why we love sports.
I didn't know how it was gonna turn out,
But I was like,
"I'm just gonna be really, really aggressive."
Everything was going well, everything was going down.
Announcer: Lin puts it up, puts it in!
Terrific start!
And listen to this garden crowd.
I think the one thing where I kind of lost it a little bit,
He'd come down,
He kind of like stutter-stepped,
And spun and finger-rolled it.
Announcer: Lin likes the open floor.
Spinning, puts it up and puts it in!
Sensational play for jeremy lin!
The garden erupted, and to do it on the national stage,
Anybody who saw that moment will never forget.
Announcer: Electrifying the garden again!
He's got 18 points.
Welcome to our studios for the jeremy lin toyota halftime show.
Announcer: Jeremy lin was superb,
7 of 12 from the field,
18 points, 5 assists.
Kobe bryant and the lakers struggling shooting the ball,
But they're only down by 8.
Bryant, a couple of fakes,
Gonna put it up, and knocks it down.
Stripped by lin, stolen by lin.
Left side, shumpert, left-handed layup!
Bryant spinning, difficult shot.
Color analyst: For some, yeah.
Kobe bryant again.
He is starting to get in one of those zones right now.
Gasol is on lin.
Puts up the 2-pointer. Puts it in!
Jeremy lin with 31!
And the rebound by jeffries.
Lin for 3.
Bang!
P.A. Announcer: 3-pointer!
Jeremy lin!
And my favorite play of this whole year
Was when I hit that 3 in the corner
Just because that game had so much hype,
And that shot was kind of the dagger
That put the game out of reach for them.
Reporter: Already cut twice this season,
Sleeping on a teammate's couch,
Because he had nowhere else to go,
And, suddenly, jeremy lin is the toast of manhattan.
This is it right here.
This is my dream, and, uh,
I'm just thankful to god, man,
Because this is my dream being lived out,
And I'm so thankful for that.
Announcer: Jeremy lin, 38 points.
It's the most by a knick this season.
Linsanity continues here in madison square garden.
It's indescribable, really.
It's something I've never seen before.
I didn't foresee this coming.
You know, it's unbelievable.
This is, like, how weird I am.
I was like, "I'm gonna go off this game,"
And at the end of the interview, they're gonna be like,
"oh, so do you think kobe knows who you are now?"
Reporter: Jeremy, you knew somebody was gonna ask you this,
But do you think kobe knows who you are now?
Jeremy: If they ask me that question,
I'm gonna be like, "who the hell is kobe?"
That's what I was gonna say.
And then I, like, thought about it,
And I prayed about it,
I was like, you know, "what would jesus do?"
And I'm like, "jesus probably wouldn't say that,"
So I was like, "I'm gonna change my answer."
Aw, well, you guys have to ask kobe.
I don't know.
Let's get to what matters in sports today, jeremy lin.
Man: Right now, the biggest star in new york is jeremy lin.
I don't even think you have to be a sports fan
To hear about this story.
New york has a raging case of linsanity.
That's what it is right now. It's madness right now.
Jeremy lin! [ upbeat music ]
All I do is lin, lin, lin.
Reporter: What do you think?
What do you think about all this?
Um, it's crazy. It's just crazy.
Whoopi goldberg: One of the biggest headlines
In sports right now is linsanity.
Reporter: If you haven't caught it yet, you will.
Linsanity takes new york by storm.
Dan patrick: He was a last-ditch effort for the knicks.
They sort of said, "all right, who wants to play?"
And he raised his hand and, "all right, get in there."
Stephen a. Smith: I have never seen anything like this
In all my years of covering sports.
I've never seen somebody go from a no-name
To an absolute phenomenon inside of two weeks.
It's unbelievable.
He's doing it with charisma, with style, with flair,
And he's having fun.
It's crazy. It's catching fire.
Linsanity, I think it'll probably be
In the dictionary in the next version.
Linsanity? I love it.
I love linsanity. I'm so happy for him.
Reporter: Jeremy lin's 89 points,
The most by any player
In his first three pro starts since the aba-nba merger.
Announcer: Outside to lin, crosses over ridnour,
And hits.
Jeremy lin up top to fields.
Lin a whirling dervish right to the rim,
Zigzagging to the cup.
The knicks have stolen one.
It's their fifth straight win, their longest of the season.
You have been surpassed as the most famous person
Who is a harvard graduate.
I knew about jeremy before you did.
Are you taking credit for linsanity?
It kind of feels like you are a little bit.
I can't take credit for it,
But I'm just saying I was there early.
Reporter: As you said, it's a great story.
What's the greatest part in it for you?
That we've won five in a row.
[ laughs ]
That's it for me.
Uh, just everything,
Just here's just what's right with sports.
He's an underdog that came up.
He does it the right way.
Can he play in the nba? Yeah, of course.
He's got all the tools, and he's playing really well.
That's not a fluke, how he's playing.
I had this one dude courtside
Who was just yelling at me the whole game.
He's like, "you're a one-week wonder."
You know, "you're not gonna win this game. You suck."
We were playing bad.
We were tired, and I was like,
"man, this is gonna be a tough one to pull out."
We were down 5 with a minute left.
You know, we got this huge steal,
Layup, down 3.
They're coming down, we get a stop.
Commentator: The and-1 at amir johnson,
Who I believe had 5 blocks to that point,
Ties the game.
Announcer: Lin fakes the 3, drives,
Goes in for the layup,
It's good, and a foul!
Lin can tie it with a free throw.
They come down, missed shot,
And now we got the ball with, like, 20 seconds left.
Announcer: Lin to shumpert,
Shumpert, pull-up jump shot.
Won't go, chandler the rebound.
And the knicks will hold it for the final shot
As the 24-second clock is shut off.
Mike d'antoni won't call time out
And let the raptors set up their d.
The crowd on its feet here at the air canada centre.
Lin puts it up.
Bang!
Jeremy lin from downtown,
And the knicks take the lead!
Amazing here at the air canada centre!
Announcer 2: 10 seconds, everyone standing,
20,000 in toronto.
Color analyst: Get out of his way!
Let him just take calderon himself!
Announcer 2: Three seconds, lin sizes him up,
Straightaway 3, buries it!
.5 remaining!
Linsanity continues!
I'm just glad it went like this,
So we can calm the linsanity down a little bit.
[ laughter ]
Where we couldn't get a stop...
Mwah!
Jeremy: That's all I dream about is hitting the game winner,
And then doing some cool little dorky pose
And then walking off.
You know, that's, like, all I did growing up.
I always wanted to do that.
I wanted to know what that felt like.
Michael wilbon: He's got the game,
He's got the attitude, he's got the swag.
He's got all of that.
[ beep ]
Okay. "thank you for being..."
Or do I just do the first part?
Woman: Yeah. Okay.
"hey, jeremy..." I mean...Whoops.
â™ª it's driving me out of my mind â™ª
"just dial star-star-knicks
On your iphone or android phone..."
Woman: Or go to nyknicks.
â™ª can't get it outta my head â™ª
â™ª head
â™ª that girl is poison
[ laughs ]
Oh, man.
Man: Perfect.
"to all my friends in indonesia..."
"to all my fans in singapore..."
"to all my fans around the world,
Thank you for all your support."
[ psy's gangnam style playing ]
Reporter: Linsanity is catching on
Even halfway around the world in taiwan,
Igniting a crowd in taipei that went to a bar
At 8:00 in the morning to watch him on tv.
[ speaking portuguese ]
[ woman speaking japanese ]
[ man speaking spanish ]
[ gangnam style continues ]
â™ª hey, sexy lady
â™ª hey-ey-ey-ey-ey-ey-ey
â™ª hey, sexy lady
â™ª op, op, op, op
â™ª hey-ey-ey-ey-ey-ey
â™ª oppa gangnam style
[ song ends ]
Commentator: He's handled everything very well,
As you said, unflappable,
But if there is a chink in the armor,
Where can lin improve his game?
[ rewinding ]
Chink in the armor...
[ plays in slow motion ] a chink in the armor...
Nice build, he's got long arms.
That's what you need as a point guard.
And he's really, I mean...
Anchorman: What about his eyes?
Dreamy.
He has great court vision.
Take away the lin puns... Mm-hmm.
This is what you end up with.
"amasian." now is that even...
[ laughter ]
Is that even legal?
Conan o'brien: Jeremy lin. Yes, that's real.
Jeremy lin coming out of a fortune cookie.
Commentator: This whole thing has shown how unprepared
We were to deal with this culture in this context.
Host: Floyd mayweather on jeremy lin tweets...
"all the hype is because he's asian.
"black players do what he does every night
And don't get the same praise."
First of all, what he said I think is racist.
Not only can he compete and make it in the nba,
The guy's tearing it up and is breaking records, you knucklehead.
O'brien: Check it out. "he does the math to win."
[ laughter ] yeah.
Commentator: For many years, we've had many stereotypes
About asian-americans,
And now they're all kind of coming out
Like they're no big deal.
They are a big deal.
Announcer: And that'll do it.
The winning streak comes to an end
In disappointing fashion,
As the new orleans hornets
Hand jeremy lin and the knicks
Their first loss in the jeremy lin era.
Jeremy: Now it's easier for me, you know.
Someone will say something racist,
And I'll laugh, and I'll think it's funny.
Everything I get now, like, all the negative stuff,
I'll just put it in one place
And turn it into positive stuff
So that I could use it the right way,
And when I play out of anger, I play horrible.
And so I had to learn how to control my emotions
And then just, like, let it go.
[ yao ming speaking chinese dialect ]
[ video game sound effects ]
Joshua: Don't break your hand.
[ laughing ]
Oh!
[ laughing ]
[ yao ming speaking chinese dialect ]
Huh! Huh!
[ laughing ]
Sweet.
So did you know that new knicks sensation, jeremy lin,
Has a brother who's a freshman point guard
For hamilton college?
We did, though even we didn't know
That today's continental home finale
Would bring out the entire lin clan,
Including the linsational jeremy himself.
Joseph: I did not know he was coming to my game,
And I actually heard from a couple people on campus like,
"hey, your brother's coming."
I was like, "no, he's not."
I've never really had that before,
Had that kind of hype around one of my games.
But I didn't see it as that big of a difference.
It was just my family watching my game, so...
I mean, he did come down before linsanity happened.
He had come down to watch my games before that,
And no one really cared.
Joshua: For the last, like, two years,
He was never enjoying himself out there.
But that new jersey game, when things were rolling,
For the first time, he was just, like, having fun,
Living his dream.
I think that was, like, the best thing from linsanity.
Host: The big question now is, can linsanity continue?
Commentator: I don't know how long it's gonna last,
But right now, I don't care.
Announcer: Lin out of the corner for 3.
Count 'em all!
Commentator: Anyone who said they saw this coming is lying!
Commentator: There's a lot more that he can do
Than anybody knew, and it comes down to confidence.
Announcer: Jeremy on the drive.
And-1 for jeremy lin!
He got the bang and the bucket.
Commentator: He's got that swagger.
He has that "it" right now.
This transcends sports. It really does.
Commentator 2: He has shined and evolved
Into the best story in sports today.
Announcer: Pressure in the backcourt.
Oh, and lin the steal! To the basket!
Lin, over dirk.
Ohh!
Color analyst: How good is this?
Jeremy: I'm just out there having fun
And playing a game.
I can have bad games, and, you know,
They may not like me, or they may boo me.
There's a lot more important things
In life than just basketball,
'cause at the end of the day, basketball's just a game.
Announcer: The show continues on broadway.
It's a story with many spokes.
An ivy leaguer, asian-american athlete,
Guy off the end of the bench.
Speaks for everyone who didn't get their chance.
It's only a couple of weeks, but in new york city,
And on basketball's big stage,
This guy has hit it out of the park.
What happened to me, the story that happened to me,
I mean, it wasn't like I knew
I could just come off the bench and do that.
I really didn't.
Um, I thought I could play at this level,
And I thought I could be a good player,
But I didn't feel like that would happen.
And some of those experiences out there
When I was on the court,
I felt like I was being controlled by something else.
I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience.
Some of the plays that I made,
Some of the wins that we had,
Were just so out of this world
That I still have to pinch myself
To really believe it.
[ soundtrack piano music ]
As jeremy ends one chapter and begins another,
The road ahead will continue to test his perseverance.
But his faith will forever guide him.
Jeremy: The thing I had to learn last year
Is a perfect plan doesn't mean
That it ends up the way you want it to end up.
In the past, if you asked me what's a perfect plan,
I'd be like, "I get what I want,
I get my dream, I play well."
Now I have a different perspective
On what a perfect plan is.
You don't get better if you win all the time.
You know, you get better when you lose.
You improve when you lose.
You look at yourself more when you lose.
So if you learn a lot or if I learn a lot,
If I grow a lot,
If I become a better person through tough times,
That's part of his perfect plan.
That's part of his perfect will.
When I was going through all my insecurities
And uncertainty and lack of confidence,
I was losing focus on god.
I was focusing on all these other things,
Like my job and what other people thought of me
And what the reporters were writing.
You know, over time, I was able to check myself
And kind of get my focus back.
And I think god did something supernatural in me,
Something that I couldn't do on my own,
Something that I may never be able to recreate.
So I think, in that instance,
I was just learning to fight
To constantly live and play for god.
And when I do that, I'll be able to walk on water.
[ piano playing can you feel the love tonight? ]
Jeremy: It's all about lion king.
We have nala right here,
Baby simba, timon and pumbaa.
[ soundtrack music ]
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