Editorial: Fil-Lin’ in the blanks on Jeremy Lin

Scoring 136 points in five games is not anything to go unnoticed. As a matter of fact, the U.S., as well as China, has been dazzled by the play of New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin.

But are they more excited because of his skill level or that he is from a different race? Websites such as ESPN, CNN and Yahoo have all talked about his Chinese and Taiwanese heritage or Christian faith at some point of time, but what really seems to be lost in the details is the actual story of Jeremy Lin.

After a game against the Lakers featured on ESPN, Lin scored career high 38 points in a victory for the Knicks. After the game, Kobe Bryant was amazed about the way Lin plays the game.

“Players playing that well don’t usually come out of nowhere, but if you go back and take a look, his skill level was probably there from the beginning. It probably just went unnoticed,” Bryant said.

This talent went unnoticed by two previous NBA teams. This talent went unnoticed in the 2010 NBA draft where Lin went undrafted. This talent went unnoticed to colleges around the U.S. when he did not receive a single Division I scholarship.

Everyone seemed to miss out on this Palo Alto, Calif. native.

How Lin flew under the radar during his basketball career is still unclear, but one thing is clear. He found his home as the Knicks starting point guard. During his first eight starts the Knicks went 7-1, giving new hope to fans that enter into the Mecca of basketball, Madison Square Garden.

Before Lin, the Knicks shuffled guards such as the inconsistent Tony Douglass, an aging Mike Bibby and the rookie black hole, Iman Shumpert.

Now given a chance to prove himself, Lin has not disappointed.

During the month of February, Lin has averaged 22 points, eight assists, two steals and shot around 50 percent from the field per game, with only one flaw to his game — turnovers.

In his first eight games, Lin had 46 turnovers — the most ever by a player with less then 10 starts — perhaps due to the load of star forwards Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire being inactive during that stretch.

Is Linsanity a fad? Not at all. Just like Tim Tebow, Lin has become a media favorite and his face will be seen everywhere for quite a while.

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