Linsanity comes full circle with Rising Stars

Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

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ORLANDO, Fla. — There was a moment during the first half of Friday night's Rising Stars Challenge when Jeremy Lin's whirlwind February truly came full circle.

His parents were featured on the Amway Center kiss cam.

A month ago, Lin, the Knicks phenom who has become the biggest story in basketball seemingly overnight, had been demoted — again — to the D-League, and the Harvard economics grad was giving serious thought to giving up on basketball altogether and moving onto the next chapter of his life.

His All-Star weekend plans were certainly the farthest thing from his mind.

But one golden opportunity, a tailor-made system, 12 games, 11 starts, nine wins and millions of new fans later, Lin had been added to the All-Star weekend lineup. An insatiable global thirst for his involvement wouldn't allow the NBA to keep him out of it. From the moment he landed in Orlando, there were throngs of fans and media hoping for a moment of his time.

At Friday afternoon's media session, reporters peppered the Eastern and Western Conference All-Stars with as many questions about Lin as they could fit into the allotted time. Lin jerseys and shirts could be spotted all over Church Street in downtown Orlando in the hours leading up to tipoff. There was a nationally televised pregame interview and the palpable buzz that followed in the arena as fans waited for the Rising Stars game to get going.

Then there they were, during a timeout with 7:24 left in the first half. Gie-Ming and Shirley Lin, staring at their cell phones on the league's largest video board while an overeager emcee urged them to smooch on screen — a painfully awkward sign that Linsanity had truly reached a point of no return.

It's a story that not even Walt Disney could have dreamt up.

"I really didn't have a plan B, to be honest," Lin said of the uncertainty surrounding his future before he blossomed under Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni. "I wasn't sure. Obviously, I was thinking about three main options: Overseas, D-League or to just take a break or give up basketball for a while, and I just didn't know. I was just trying not to think about it.

"I just said, 'If I get cut by the Knicks, I'll take a look at all that, but until then, I want to make sure I try to stay focused and not think about negativity.'"

But Lin doesn't need a plan B anymore, and it doesn't seem he'll ever need one again.

The negativity? That's long gone. Since he checked into New York's Feb. 4 game against New Jersey and scored 25 points off the bench, Lin has averaged 22.6 points and 8.7 assists per game, leading New York to a 9-3 record and solidifying his spot in the Knicks' starting lineup. Any past failures had been absolved and long forgotten.

Lin played just nine minutes Friday night in the Rising Stars Challenge, and was held to two points and just a single assist, an alley-oop lob from the top of the key to a cutting Blake Griffin, which drew one of the loudest cheers of the night. From a practical standpoint, however, it was probably best that Lin hardly played. He had just come off of back-to-back games on Wednesday and Thursday and neither performance was particularly inspiring.

Thursday's showing, just eight points on 1-of-11 shooting in a 102-88 loss at Miami, showed that Lin is human, and suggested that maybe the rigors of a grueling NBA schedule were getting to the undrafted second-year player who has already played 222 more minutes this season than he did in his entire rookie year.

But even as Lin sat cheering from the bench, it was clear that Friday night wasn't really about the game — if you even want to call it a game — which Team Chuck won 146-133.

Friday night wasn't about Kyrie Irving's 34 points on 8-of-8 shooting from 3-point range and 12-of-13 shooting overall or his team-high nine assists.

"It's never occurred in my career," said Irving, referring to his perfect 3-point performance. "It's kind of unfortunate it happened in the All-Star Game."

Friday night wasn’t about Blake Griffin, who spent more time in the air than he did on the ground as he made amends for not participating in the Dunk Contest. It wasn’t about Minnesota’s Ricky Rubio, who showed — against little to no defense — why he's the best passer in the game.

It wasn't about the nine players on Team Shaq who finished in double figures.

Despite being the only player on Team Shaq not to score in double figures, Friday night was about Lin and the fact that he was even in Orlando in the first place. During the start of the All-Star Weekend, the NBA had to hold Lin’s news conference in a separate room because the number of media members wanting to ask Lin questions was too large.

"(It's surreal) just (to have) any press conference of my own, let alone All-Star Weekend," Lin beamed before the game. "Just to be here and to see the company and all the players that are here is just — it's been unbelievable, and I'm trying to take it all in and embrace it and enjoy it every step of the way."

Lin wasn't the most talented player in Friday night's game. He wasn't even the best point guard on his own roster. Other stars from the game will go on to find greater on-court success down the line.

But none will do what Lin has done. None of them will unexpectedly breathe life into a city and a game and rejuvenate a middling fanbase the way Lin has in just 12 games.

"What I'm most impressed with Jeremy is when he got his opportunity, he didn't just grab it — he choked it by the neck," Team Shaq assistant coach Steve Kerr said. "He basically just took over that whole franchise, which is stunning because it's New York and it's 'Melo and Amar'e. You've got stars, you've got the media capital of the world, and he just seized it and grabbed it and he's not letting it go."

Lin needed a physical breather, and he received one Friday night, but he did it the way only Lin knows how — with rabid, unwanted fanfare and while unselfishly putting his team first.

"I'm definitely surprised that people are still talking about Linsanity or whatever," Lin said. "I think hopefully as the season progresses, it will go from that to New York Knicks.

“Hopefully the Knicks can win basketball games, we can make a good push after the All-Star break and people will start talking about the Knicks and not necessarily me."

But even though he'd rather it wasn't, Linsanity will continue to be the story, even when Lin's play isn't. People are hungry for Lin, and they'll take whatever they can get — even if it's just the sight of his parents on the kiss cam.

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