Lin: Asian spirit

The New York Knicks were groping for form in the season, hardly playing .500 ball. Their game was devoid of passion, an ingredient so vital to the high-octane strategy that coach Mike D’Antoni likes to play.
Then came Jeremy Lin.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound guard from Harvard was not your usual high-profile draft pick. He was in fact cut by Golden State and Houston and was picked up by the Knicks only last December.
Then D’Antoni gets lucky.
The American-Taiwanese lights the fire he needs to inspire his team. With Lin playing huge minutes and scoring in double digits in their last six games, the Knicks have won six straight. The Knicks are still playing at less than .500 but are now all buoyed up by Lin’s energy.
“Linsanity” is the name given to the mania now gripping Madison Square Garden, home of the Knicks, and they’re hoping it doesn’t end soon. Or that at best, the Lin show can be unfurled every time they need to score more wins in the season.
Here in the Philippines, we get a kick over fellow Asians doing well in the international sports field. We cheered for Michael Chang and Li Na in tennis, a bit for Tiger Woods because of his Thai roots and South Korea in the 2002 World Cup in football.
You could almost sense other Asians cheer for Manny Pacquiao when he fights and conquers the boxing world.
The Lin phenomenon is an even bigger kick since he is an NBA player, performing in the game that is so ingrained in our culture. We want him to succeed in the same way we wished Yao Ming well in the NBA, even if we cheered against him every time China snuffed out another Philippine hoop dream.
Since there is no Filipino player in sight today qualified for the NBA, Lin gives us the next best thing of rooting for a kindred spirit. With the bulk of the tough Eastern conference still ahead for the Knicks, it should be intriguing to see if Linsanity continues.
The field will inevitably find a way to stop Lin, with bigger guards or with quicker ones who can pounce on Lin’s tendency to commit too many turnovers.
I wouldn’t be surprised if more muscle were also used not because they want to hurt Lin intentionally but to make him think twice about driving hard to the basket.
Lin does have some fine spin moves, though, like the one he unspooled against veteran Derek Fisher in the Knicks’ big win over the Lakers. And by the way, he can nail the rainbow shot like the game-winner he uncorked against the Raptors.
But enjoy the show for now.  Lin’s stellar showing gives us an inkling of how much more international the NBA game will get.
The Europeans are already well-entrenched in the league and perhaps the time will come when the doors will open for more Asians to get chances to play.
Can you imagine if a Filipino does make it to the NBA and shines? He could be a Raptor, Bobcat or Thunder and it wouldn’t really matter because we’d all cheer for his team.