Los Angeles Lakers: Jeremy Lin’s six degrees of separation from the Lakers

Yes, the Los Angeles Lakers had a part in the birth of Linsanity. He destroyed them in the Madison Square Garden. 

This was the NBA’s dream when Jeremy Lin, who was basically living on his brother’s couch took the league by storm back in 2012. Think about it. The NBA at the time was always trying to find new ways to market the league globally and Lin was pure gold when he went on a run famously known as “Linsanity”.

One Friday on ESPN, the Los Angeles Lakers were introduced to the craze along with the NBA world in a nationally televised game.

Jeremy Lin put on a show in Madison Square Garden dropping 38 points, seven assists and four rebounds in a 92-85 win. Most fans probably didn’t even know that Lin was from Harvard at that point. But leave it to Spike Lee to start rocking a Harvard jersey to let everyone know.

If you took the time to watch the highlights, there was a player that was missing on the court for the Knicks. That player would be Carmelo Anthony.

While he was out, Jeremy Lin became a media darling for the NBA and the Knicks fans ate him up. There were fans literally calling for Jeremy Lin to be in the All-Star game that year. Lin may have been the last Knicks player in recent memory (Melo included) to cause that type of excitement in New York. The New York Times at the time called Lin the “Most popular player in a decade”.

All of this for 26 games in Knicks uniform. Soon after this game versus the Lakers, Jeremy Lin tore his meniscus in his knee and could not play in the postseason. Without him, the Knicks lost to the eventual champs, the Miami Heat. Jeremy Lin never played for the Knicks again after the injury.

The Houston Rockets signed him to a three-year deal and the Knicks did not match it. There were rumors that Carmelo Anthony was not fond of the attention that Jeremy Lin was receiving from the media, as well as, then head coach, Mike D’Antoni making him a priority in the offense.

So as history shows, Lin was gone and D’Antoni resigned soon after (Makes you wonder what Carmelo Anthony was thinking signing last year with Houston right?).

Now just because Lin did not square off against the Heat doesn’t mean that he didn’t match up against them during his “Linsanity” run.