38 at the Garden (2022) Movie Script
1
This Garden crowd on its feet
is delirious right now.
His IQ for the game is off the chart.
Lin puts it up, puts it in!
While I'm watching this live
I'm like, this cannot be happening.
This cannot be happening.
And listen to this Garden crowd
on this 10-0 run.
I know Jeremy.
Type A, high-achieving, Kumon kid.
I know what his house smells like.
I know what his mom's
minivan smells like.
Like, I know you, Jeremy.
Pull-up jump shot.
Knocks it down!
I'm a Lakers fan, but I'm out here
cheering for the Knicks.
I think it just blew all of our minds
that we would see someone
that looked like my cousin
dominate on an NBA court.
It's the playground basketball court
where people like me,
as a kid, would be bullied.
Lin for three! Bang!
The reason this matters so much
is because if you are
an Asian American person
you have spent your entire life
identifying with people
who look nothing like you.
But now, I can just see someone
who actually looks like me,
and that's it?
I didn't know it could be this easy.
Linsanity continues here
at Madison Square Garden.
A career-high 38 points...
- An Asian guy dropping 38 on Kobe?
- It was incredible.
Thirty-eight points
in New-fucking-York City?
Hold up, hold up.
Before we get into any of this,
let's jump back to the beginning.
Because there's no way any of this
should have been possible.
No one's telling
little Asian immigrant girls
you should be a stand-up comedian.
I bet you no one's telling
little Asian American boys
you need to grow up
to be an NBA basketball star.
Oh, Mioko, what you think
of item for newspaper?
When most Americans
think about Asians
they think about dry cleaners.
They think about IT guy.
They think about emasculated,
no-dick-having
no-luck-with-women-having dudes.
They think of dragon lady,
sex workers.
They think of masseuses'
happy endings.
I could keep going.
Small, passive, diminutive,
unathletic and submissive.
If you are all of those five things,
that means you're definitely not
brave, courageous, covetable.
Desirable, or a leader.
For anyone to break outside
of these norms is strange.
People don't understand it.
People go, well, how harmful
are those stereotypes?
You're like, yeah, it's kind of
harmful if I have big dreams.
If my dreams are for
middle management, sure.
Being small, unathletic, diminutive,
passive... great. Great.
I'll send you the reports, Bob.
But if I'm trying to be the guy,
at work, at school...
in the NBA...
you cannot be any of those things.
It's this constant, like,
overwhelming sense of doubt
from the outside
that tempted me
to even not believe in myself.
That was one of the biggest obstacles
that I had to overcome.
Asian Americans
have just gotten beaten down
because the stereotyping,
the derision, the media portrayals
mischaracterizations of
Asian Americans are so rampant.
To people who ask what do I do,
I say I work for ESPN.
They say, oh, so like tech support?
Seriously.
From someone else
who worked in the business.
On top of all the stereotypes,
the racism going on on the outside.
I mean, inside the house,
Asian parents...
different set of priorities.
When I was a child,
there was a doctor named Dr. Ho
that was on the Time Magazine cover
for figuring out AIDS and shit.
He just studied, he just studied.
He kept studying.
I remember
my parents brought that up.
They're like, yo, Dr. Ho.
That's a good fucking Asian.
Okay?
And then eventually,
he studied so hard
that he cured AIDS.
That's almost
the Asian parents' dream
that you're gonna study a way
into success and prominence.
If you study hard enough
you're gonna become a rock star.
Our parents come to this country
and they basically see
a finite number of possibilities.
And to the best of their ability
they're preparing us
for a certain version of the world.
You're here. You came to America.
Your job is literally to get A's
and listen to your teacher.
That's what my parents told me.
All of a sudden,
the realm of possibility
becomes this narrow.
And everything that's cool
and relevant
is all in this... part.
All these Asian parents
supporting Jeremy Lin
like, love him to death.
Oh, my God, Jeremy Lin, what a hero.
How many of these parents
would have encouraged their kids
to do what Jeremy Lin was doing
when, you know,
the kids need that backing
at crucial moments
in their development?
What's different about my story
is that my dad
really loved basketball.
I mean, he was obsessed.
My mom's dream
was that I would be great at piano
and she bought a beautiful piano
and all this.
And then finally, I remember
after about five, six years
my mom was just like
you don't have
to play piano anymore.
I'm not gonna force you
to do it anymore.
And I'm saying that was, like,
one the best moments of my life.
That's when I knew, like, all right,
my mom's all in with this.
And from there it was just
competitive basketball.
Lin led Palo Alto High School
to an upset victory.
Also earned Northern California
Division II
Player of the Year honors.
It's the best feeling
to go out on top.
I mean, it is a dream come true.
Me and my dad, we had to cut together
our own highlight tape.
And we're sending them out,
just hoping and praying
that somebody will like it
and give us a response.
I mean, at the end of the day,
I won a state championship.
I was California Player of the Year,
and I had zero scholarship offers.
None.
I grew up in Northern California
when Jeremy Lin was playing
for Palo Alto High School.
When he played at one
of the state championship games
at ARCO Arena, I remember being like
who is that Asian kid
with spiky hair?
Oh, that's cool.
That's a cool little
high-school run. Dope.
Like, even my expectations of myself
and the community was capped.
I was like,
oh, he made a starting rotation.
Oh, he got to play on an NBA court.
That's pretty cool.
Let's see what he does after that.
Like, oh, he'll probably hard pivot
into, like, premed.
At the end, it came down
to Harvard and MIneither of which gave
athletic scholarships.
But Harvard was Division I.
MIT was Division III.
My parents loved MIT.
They loved the program.
But for me,
I was dead set on Harvard.
I gotta compete against the best
because it was Division I.
Lin goes through traffic.
Wow.
A pass around. A pass to Lin.
He rises, throws it down!
The pre-draft process
was so frustrating for me.
My agent was like,
you gotta be prepared.
You're not gonna get drafted.
But in my heart,
the reason why I had so much hope
was because I did those workouts.
I played in front of those people
and I competed against
those point guards
and I knew I killed it.
It always just felt like
they had their mind made
without watching what was going on.
What they would say on paper
was just what you would
probably say about any Asian.
And surprise, surprise,
I didn't get drafted.
The amazing thing about
the owner of the Warriors, Joe Lacob
was he just bought the team.
And he grew up watching me play
because I always played
against his son.
He made a gutsy decision
and was just like,
we're signing this guy.
And he signed me
even when the general manager
and the head coach
didn't even want me on that team.
But my stint with the Warriors...
man, as quick as it started,
that's how fast it ended.
I got sent
to the D-League three times
and then I got cut.
I get picked up by the Rockets.
I go there,
I'm the sixth-string point guard.
Can't even get reps in
during practice.
Cut again.
Then I'm taking a nap at home
while I'm on the waiver wire
and my agent calls, and he's like,
the New York Knicks picked you up.
And I'm like, what?
Yeah, it's funny
how I met Jeremy.
I'm walking out of my hotel room
and I see this little Asian kid
walking, like, by me.
Tyson's coming down the hallway,
and I'm like, yo, Tyson!
I honestly thought he was
about to ask for a picture.
It's Jeremy. He's like...
Cool.
Okay, how you doing, Jeremy?
I was like,
it's nice to meet you, my man.
He was so shocked and scared.
It was like,
who let this guy into our floor?
Like, why do we have fans
on our floor?
This is, like, a security breach.
Come back the next day
for shootaround
and I see him get on a bus.
I'm like, yo, what's up, Jeremy?
So I just showed up
the next morning, put a jersey on.
I don't even know
if the team knew who I was
but, hey, look,
I'm a New York Knick now.
You know, I'm in New York City
on a non-guarantee rookie salary.
I asked my brother and sister-in-law.
I was like, hey, can I just crash
on your couch for six weeks?
It was like sleeping
on your homie's couch
and you don't know if you gonna
have a job tomorrow.
And you still gotta smile.
Still gotta act
like you on the team.
Still gotta promote the team,
still gotta come to the meetings.
You know what I'm saying?
You still gotta get a ride
to practice
and you gotta be there early.
I would be walking into the arena,
and I'd be walking in pretty early
because I was gonna get
some extra work in
and security would be like,
hey, show me your badge.
And I'm like, I don't have a badge.
He's like, you're not allowed to...
then you're not allowed
to enter from this entrance.
And I'm like,
No... no. Like, I'm a player.
They're like, what?
Show me your badge.
I'm like, I don't have a badge.
Players don't have badges.
I'm like, dawg, you ever played
basketball against somebody
that's sleeping on the couch
and don't know when they gonna
see they family?
Like, playing against
a desperate man is totally different.
I remember after practice one day
one of the assistant coaches
came up to me
and he was like,
hey, Jeremy. Can I talk to you?
You know why you never play?
And I'm like, why?
And he's like,
Because you play basketball like...
like a Japanese cartoon character.
Like, you play like
you're in a video game.
And I'm like,
what does that even mean?
It doesn't feel like I belong.
And it doesn't feel like
I have a home
and it doesn't feel like
people believe in me.
But that was what was
really hard about that time.
I mean, there's nothing more symbolic
than sleeping on a couch
for six weeks.
We had a ton of injuries.
I'm talking to Coach, and he's like
I mean, I don't know what
to do at this point.
We're down players. We're down...
I mean, I'm thinking about
throwing him out there.
Jeremy? He's like, yeah.
I'm thinking
he has lost his damn mind.
I love Jeremy.
I loved him as a person
but we out here trying to win.
And I had never seen Jeremy
play before at this point.
My brother, you know, he's like
hey, man, my friends are coming
in town and they need the couch.
And they're like,
can you find a place to stay
for a night or two?
The only person
I was comfortable asking
to crash a night with was Landry.
And Landry was like,
yeah, of course you can crash.
He's like, come on over
but I gotta warn you,
the couch is small.
I was like, it's cool.
I've been on small couches.
I'll figure it out.
And I'm walking into his apartment
and I'm 6'3" and this couch is,
like, four feet long.
And so I'm like,
how am I gonna fit on this thing?
And I got my head
hanging off one end.
I'm already in the fetal
position, curled up.
I got my legs hanging off
the other end and I'm like
this is gonna be the worst
night's sleep ever.
And I woke up the next morning
and he's like,
man, hope you slept all right.
I was like, it's all good.
Don't worry about it.
Like, at least I had a place to stay.
And that was what it was leading up
to that New Jersey Nets game.
The New York Knicks get set
to take on the New Jersey Nets.
And I'm on the phone
with my agent, Roger Montgomery
and Roger's telling me, he's like
if you don't play well,
this is your last game in the NBA.
He said, promise me this one thing.
No matter what you do tonight
you gotta play
Jeremy Lin basketball.
Rog, I said, you're right.
Like, I gotta do it.
No matter what happens tonight,
if I touch that floor
it's gotta be Jeremy Lin basketball
all the way through.
And the result is the result.
Like, whatever happens, happens.
And then they finally turned...
J-Lin, get in there.
And then it starts.
When they subbed J-Lin in
he was looking people
dead in they eye.
You talking 'bout somebody
that's coming from
I don't know if I'll be
on the team tomorrow.
But, for tonight, fuck you.
My hopes
was that he could just score.
But then I saw that he started
to be able to have
a feel for the game
and he started to make some plays.
Jeremy Lin drives and finishes!
Nice play from Lin.
Jeremy Lin goes off.
He goes off.
This kid came out of nowhere
and started ballin',
like, for real.
That Nets game...
that first game of Linsanity.
When he lobs it up to Tyson Chandler
he throws it down and then
knocks that ball with his head.
I was like, oh, this is something
that we can work with.
Splits the defense again.
Gets to the rim, puts it in!
I made an and-one
and when I just wound up
and I screamed
and I let out that emotion, like
it felt like I was letting out
that year and a half
of, like, doubt.
Next thing you know, we win the game.
And I look up, and I'm like,
I have 25 points.
How the hell did that happen?
Jeremy Lin!
I didn't even catch it live.
I was watching SportsCenter.
And it was this, like,
oh, cool. What a lucky break.
And I remember getting to the shower
and I didn't know if, like,
it was water from the shower
or tears from my eyes.
And I was like,
they can't cut me now.
They can't cut me now.
They can't cut me now.
Then the second game.
Oh, he scores even more.
Oh, this is funny.
You start in New Jersey.
You go to Utah, right?
You go to Washington.
The big-dick energy
that he had was just like
oh, this is incredible.
Isolations, ball hogging
going into the lane, penetrating,
finishing with both hands.
Dunking?
I didn't know he could dunk.
He crosses up John Wall
and he sledgehammers it in.
I remember a teammate said
yo, I can't believe
J-Lin just went in and dunked it.
Dang, you kind of got up.
You don't think no Asian kid
that's this size
is going to be dunking.
It's stereotypical,
but it's what we're all thinking.
After the John Wall game happened,
I made a video.
He frickin' crossed and smashed
on John Wall today.
Step your game up.
You cannot get dunked on
by a guy who took Calculus BC.
The same way the world
was caught by surprise
us on the same team as him
was caught by surprise.
Jeremy Lin,
the New York Knicks point guard
that's caught the NBA world by storm.
Jeremy Lin is fantastic.
Lin, we gonna win.
One-seven,
we going to heaven. That's it.
Lin's number 17 jersey
sold out within 48 hours
of going on sale
at Madison Square Garden.
Husband, mom, sister, dad
and then he's working
on the kids' ones for my nephews.
I was getting random people
calling me
asking me for a Jeremy Lin autograph.
I'm playing with Melo.
I'm playing with Amar'e.
I don't feel like I'm no...
just... joke myself
and like, y'all calling for Jeremy?
It's a lot right now
but I think I'm getting used to it
a little more.
And suddenly,
it's Madison Square Garden.
It's his first real home game.
And of course,
he's playing the Lakers.
Kobe Bryant
and the Los Angeles Lakers
are coming to town. You know,
they just won two championships.
We saw Jeremy ball against the Jazz.
We saw him ball against the Nets.
But the Lakers?
I didn't know if it was gonna be
the same kind of game.
A sell-out crowd
at Madison Square Garden
and many to see
the Cinderella story of Jeremy Lin.
The pregame was like being
at a big fight in Vegas.
That ticket is hot!
That is the hottest ticket
since the Knicks
were in the Conference Finals
in the year 2000.
It was the crackling energy
of something might happen.
But you don't think
that Jeremy Lin's gonna be the guy
to knock out Kobe and the Lakers.
This is peak Lakers.
They still had Metta.
They still had Pau.
They still had Kobe.
The Lakers came in with the idea
that nah, like, not on our watch.
We gonna end this fairy tale,
and we gonna end it tonight.
Kobe in an interview gave Lin
some gas and said some shit.
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 don't... I have no idea
what you guys are talking about.
Would you consider guarding him
if he's having one of those games?
Jesus Christ.
I'm on the way to the game,
and I see what Kobe said about me
and I'm like, tonight,
I'm just gonna be hella aggressive.
Like, no matter what happens,
50/50, like, if I have any space
like, and I don't know what to do,
I'm shooting it.
Though you're J-Lin
and we're rooting for you...
that's Kobe Bryant.
It's MJ, Kobe, and Bron.
Any time you have an opportunity
to play against these guys
it's a chance to measure yourself.
He the closest thing to Jordan.
Like, if you hate him, it's because
he actually hits the shots
Jordan hits and did the hand
and it pissed you off
'cause you couldn't do it.
Tonight, we get to look
the Mamba in the eye.
Jeremy Lin, what do you make
of the splash
- that he's made with the Knicks?
- I mean, it's great.
It is the worst job
of talent evaluation
that I've ever seen in my life
if this kid is this good.
When you get that opportunity,
you have to kick the door in.
Now he's not only kicked it in.
He blew it up.
But this, without question,
the toughest test for Jeremy Lin.
Jeremy, in that boxing analogy
comes out of his corner,
and he's swinging.
Lin shot.
Jeremy has nine, ten points
in the first three minutes
and the Garden is going apeshit!
I let my first few fly on me.
I have, like, four or five
field goal attempts
within the first,
like, couple minutes.
And I get hot.
Okay, here we go.
It's gonna be a long night for them.
Lin drives in and lays it in!
I just remember
how fast he was moving.
He's going to the rim,
and he's attacking the rim hard.
This guy was driving.
He was going past Kobe.
Jeremy just stepped up
to every moment
and he didn't back down.
He hitting and-ones. He's screaming.
He pumpin' his fists at the crowd.
Like, he's living in the moment.
Never relenting,
taking fall-away jumpers.
Confident stuff that a kid
who had never played
on this kind of a stage should have.
This kid was like a video game
'cause he's not supposed
to be doing these things
that he's doing.
You know the video game
where you, like
a player's, like, tired
and then you put somebody else in
that's not tired, and you like
"Oh, man, he don't even
run that fast. Like, what?"
Like, I just remember
seeing J-Lin do that
and I'm like,
I ain't never been part
of no video game experience.
He did that crazy, like,
spin move against Derek Fisher
and hit that perfect layup.
D-Fish is a tough guard, too.
Lin likes the open floor.
Spinning, puts it up,
and lays it in!
And I'm like, that's something new.
On the one hand, I'm like,
dude, I'm a frickin' problem.
Derek Fisher cannot guard me.
But on the other hand, I'm like,
yo, what just happened?
It felt like
an out-of-body experience.
I never did that move before that.
And that will end the first half.
Jeremy Lin was superb.
I like his game.
And he got that Garden buzzin'
right now with that 360 move.
- And right after that...
- So out of halftime
you figure, like, okay...
regression to the mean comes.
Because it's the Lakers.
It's Kobe, right?
These are guys
who have survived runs before.
They've won championships.
I think our whole team knew
in the second half
it was gonna be Kobe time.
Bryant spinning. Difficult shot...
For some. Yeah.
Kobe just started to get hot
and hit a lot of tough midrange
jumpers in that third quarter.
And we could see our lead
dwindle, and dwindle, and dwindle.
But what's crazy about
what happens in the second half
Jeremy Lin just keeps attacking.
I'm watching guys
get physical with him
and I'm waiting for him to back down
or his moment to be over.
But Jeremy just kept making shots.
Jeremy was cooking, okay?
He was cooking motherfuckers.
He caught the ball about 28 feet out
and he drilled it on Pau Gasol.
It was unbelievable.
Y'all wanna see a little Manu step?
Y'all want the reverse finish?
Y'all want the inside finish?
Y'all want the hook finish?
He was giving y'all floaters.
Man.
It was just surreal.
Is this the other plot of Space Jam?
Like, whose superpowers
did Jeremy Lin steal
to become the best
basketball player in the world?
My husband and I
were in my living room behind me
standing up the entire time.
And the guy just couldn't miss.
We were like, oh!
Like, I wanted to run around.
I might have taken a few laps.
I started tearing up.
And this is the part
that still gives me goosebumps.
He knew what stage he was on.
He knew that the cameras
were all there.
He knew that he had this chance
to say something
that would change this from
wow, cool little fluke
to this is going to be a legend
that parents
tell their kids one day.
All the hype's around you
'cause you're Jeremy Lin right now
and everybody's like,
I'm-a be the one to stop him.
And he gave all y'all
what y'all wanted to see.
There was a shot that I hit
that I knew was a dagger.
Tyson hits the ball back
and then Shump ends up with it
and he swings it to me in a corner.
And I got all the space in the world.
And as I shoot it, I'm like,
oh, that feels amazing.
And it goes swish,
right through the net.
It felt like we were hovering
'cause that's how loud
and energetic it was,
and it was this magical moment.
I've never experienced
something like that
before or after.
Linsanity continues here
at Madison Square Garden...
As the undrafted point guard
from Harvard
electrifies MSG once again.
Yo, this dude scored 38 points!
He made 38 points!
How is he doing that?
Thirty-eight points
at Madison Square Garden.
Are you fucking kidding me?
One of the more incredible stories
we've seen in the NBA
in quite some time.
It just happened against Kobe,
like, against Kobe Bryant.
Aw, man, it was like this awe
and, like, magical moment
of like, man,
like, you really did that
against, like, one of the greatest
to ever play the game.
For him to outscore Kobe,
rest in peace, Kobe...
but for him to outscore Kobe
the leading scorer
in the league in the Garden
like, that was crazy.
I didn't believe it till it was over
because I'm supposed to be
an impartial journalist.
But I get the box score,
and I say to myself
I'm going to keep this box score.
Yeah, that's when I officially
was secure
that this had happened.
And the fact that MSG,
but so much of this country
was having that moment
for an Asian American player.
I just kept having to, like,
look away and look again.
Like, is this really happening?
And it wasn't just Asian people
who were talking about it.
Everybody was talking about it!
There was a strain of weed
out in LA called Linsanity OG
that Rick Ross
Instagrammed himself picking up.
The Knicks did not have
the shirts to sell people.
Barack Obama was praising Jeremy Lin
to his staff on Marine One.
I've been on the Jeremy Lin
bandwagon for a while.
Are you taking credit for Linsanity?
It kind of feels like
you are a little bit.
I can't take credit for it.
I'm just saying, I was there early.
When Jeremy's going through
this whole Linsanity moment
he never changed from that kid
that was sleeping on the couch.
He's like the calmest,
best energy to be around.
He doesn't have a bad bone
in his body.
He's gonna encourage us all to pray
and go to church with him.
The Lakers game, that was wild.
But I'm trying to do everything I can
to tune it out.
But when we got to Toronto
that's when I knew.
What Jeremy Lin did at the end
of that Raptors game...
he has the ball,
and he has the opportunity
to pass the ball.
Jeremy waves them off.
And I remember I had to wave
'em off, like, multiple times
because they were like, what,
you're not running a pick-and-roll?
And I'm like,
no, like, get out the way.
He takes the last shot.
This is mine.
This opportunity
might never come along again
and so I'm just gonna say,
fuck it, and go.
We could feel it.
He's not gonna miss this shot.
Five, four...
Lin puts it up!
And the crowd went crazy
in Toronto, on the road!
He hit the game-winner in Toronto,
and the Toronto fans erupted for him.
We all know how rare it was
and we all know what it took
for him to get there
and that superseded
the color of your city's jersey.
Like, who cares about the color
of your clothing at this point?
Right? We're talking about
the color of his skin.
All my friends kept saying is like,
did you see the wave-off?
Did you see the wave-off?
Did you see the wave-off?
Do you know what that means?
Can you believe we have dignity?
Did you see the way he did that?
No... no, it's my game too.
I deserve to be here too.
It's not a mean thing.
It's not a I-hate-my-teammates thing.
It's... what if I had the same
audacity and confidence you had?
This is who I am.
This is what I prepared for.
And this is what I'm capable of.
All you guys need to do
is watch and see.
I remember after he hit that shot...
I thought to myself,
how many moments in my own life
did I pass up the ball
or hold myself small?
How many times
did I turn in that assignment...
or not audition for that thing...
or not put my name
as number one on the sheet?
How many times
did I not wave someone off?
That's what that moment meant to me.
That's not a thing
that Asian people get, man.
That's not how we're cast.
Now, I think the spectrum
of masculinity is important.
I think Asian men don't have
to prove themselves in that way
but it's nice when you can see
and point to a reference
like Jeremy Lin
as, like, an example
of being able to be athletic
right, and dominating a sport
like the NBA.
Even when I'm on stage
and I look into the eyes
of my audience
I see so many broken dreams.
They're like, wait a second.
I don't have to work at Deloitte?
Like, I can be a stand-up comedian?
It's just... it's this moment.
It broke the matrix for us.
I knew a little bit back then
why that shot was just bigger
than that shot in that game
but now I understand it even more so.
It was a heroic moment.
Like, it was a moment
that so many people
had not experienced,
but wanted to experience.
Hollywood, the world, like,
we didn't have these heroic moments
and it was always boxed into
the Asian stereotype.
But for it to happen that way,
on that platform, in that game
against people
who didn't look like me
in a game where people like me
don't really exist...
that's why, to this day,
this moment lives in the minds
and the hearts of so many people
because it was so much bigger
than basketball.
If you had described Linsanity
before it happened to someone
I think everyone would be like,
that's not possible.
It's the most impossible thing
I think I have ever witnessed
in my life.
It's so weird to revisit this moment
ten years later because...
it's like the worst time
to be an Asian American.
And so it's really hard...
to only appreciate
what happened ten years ago
when you're reminded
of where we're at right now.
That's what's really hard.
The weekend of March 15th
the first weekend of everyone
locking things down in 2020
when the pandemic just started
a white guy in a pickup truck
slowed down
when it was a green light for him
and stopped right in front of me
just to flip me off.
And then I felt my face get hot
and my stomach
getting queasy because
that was when I realized,
like, oh, shit.
Yeah, I've felt this before.
The feeling like
I'm about to get the hate
and the anger directed at me
for no reason other than just
walking around being Asian.
It gave me a sense
of what was to come.
Hate crimes
targeting Asian Americans
has skyrocketed.
Suni Lee said she was
recently pepper-sprayed.
The suspect lit
a 79-year-old man on fire
at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza.
Police say that Christina Yuna Lee
was stabbed more than 40 times
in the neck and torso.
An Asian man who was
the victim of a hate crime
just died of his injuries.
Asian hate crimes spiked
nation-wide...
She received very hateful messages...
Asian man viciously kicked
to the ground.
falsely blamed Asians
for the pandemic.
Communities on edge.
Anybody see my... my skin.
She said she doesn't want people
to see her skin color.
For every Asian American person
or anybody who comes
from any minority group
you're immediately told
even though your citizenship status
makes you a home jersey
the moment you start putting
yourself out in society
they tell you, no... no.
You're an away jersey.
Where are you from?
Oh, I'm from Sacramento.
No... no,
where are you from-from?
This face is always read
as being alien
a betrayer, a spy, weird.
In times of global catastrophe,
a scapegoat can be pretty helpful.
Sometimes I'll be walking
my daughter to school
and I'll see different kids.
Young white kids, white parents
they'll walk into school
without a mask.
Every single Asian kid
is double-masked
like they're in a goddamn hazmat suit
because the room for error...
it's this thin.
God forbid...
your Asian son or daughter
coughs or sneezes
and then all the kids are like,
yo, you got that Wuhan?
You got that kung flu?
And so anti-Asian violence coalesced
around all of those things
and, I think, around a fundamental
underlying issue
with how people see Asians
which is that...
you could take 'em.
They're not to be feared.
You wanna pick on somebody
that you could
probably go stuff into a locker?
Pick on the Asian kid.
If all we see are stories of
Asian people being submissive
and weak and being dominated on TV
and movies and in sports
then, of course, that translates
into real-world behavior.
Six of the eight people
he's now accused of killing
are Asian women.
There are a lot
of intense discussions here
about potential hate crimes.
The shooting in Atlanta, Georgia
because Asian women
have been stereotyped
as being, you know,
these dragon ladies
or overly sexualized and exoticized
that incident was just so horrifying
but also galvanizing.
And the last few years, I think
have been a wake-up call
to so many of us
in the Asian community
that we have to speak up.
Ten years later
I'm excited to talk
about Jeremy Lin right now
because, I think, beyond basketball
it's important for us to understand
that to be outstanding
as an Asian American
to represent who were are
beyond just stereotypes
is that much more important
because it's that kind
of lack of familiarity
with us as humans that
causes people to be willing
to fucking attack us.
When I think back
on those moments of Linsanity
everyone was talking about
this unknown Asian American player.
I long to feel those moments
of just, like, pure joy and unity.
It was really validating.
It was too short-lived
but it did really open a door.
The reason why Jeremy matters
and why we're talking about it is
it represents possibility
and an expansive worldview
at the highest possible level.
If this is possible,
what else is possible?
The biggest thing
Linsanity brought was hope.
It inspired people
and it showed that when
you chase your dreams
good things can happen.
And I think as we go into the reality
of where we are today as a society
we need to hold on to hope.
We need to believe
that things can be better
and we need to fight
for those things.
Maybe the most unifying aspect
of the Asian American experience
is this desire to be included.
It's to be seen as American
to be counted as one...
of you.
And what Jeremy Lin's story is...
is the most visceral example of...
getting to be a part of a world
that had never really had space
for you before.
Out of that crisis,
or I should say this crisis
because we're still in it
something really
extraordinary happened
which is that
the Asian American community
is unwilling to stand
on the sidelines anymore.
Like, we're all a bunch
of Jeremy Lins out there
just going for it
and exercising our voices
and being unwilling
to just remain on the bench.
Jeremy Lin showed that he belonged
and he gave
an entire generation the hope
that they can belong.
I really want
the next generation to grow up
to not be ashamed of being Asian.
To be proud of your culture,
your upbringing, your parents
your appearance,
your talents, your personality.
I want them to be proud
to be themselves
and to have an equal
and a fair chance
to be their fullest self
to not have to deal with everything
that the previous generations
had to deal with.
I love the fact that we get
an Asian American Marvel hero now.
That's awesome. I love that.
You could also just cue up YouTube
and watch what Jeremy Lin did
to the Lakers in 2012.
We're talking about it
like it's a myth or something.
We have tape, man! It happened.
You don't need to tell them anything.
Just show 'em the tape.
Play the tape.
Lin gets inside! Oh!
Lin puts up the two-pointer,
puts it in!
Drives and finishes!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Lin for three!
This Garden crowd on its feet
is delirious right now.
His IQ for the game is off the chart.
Lin puts it up, puts it in!
While I'm watching this live
I'm like, this cannot be happening.
This cannot be happening.
And listen to this Garden crowd
on this 10-0 run.
I know Jeremy.
Type A, high-achieving, Kumon kid.
I know what his house smells like.
I know what his mom's
minivan smells like.
Like, I know you, Jeremy.
Pull-up jump shot.
Knocks it down!
I'm a Lakers fan, but I'm out here
cheering for the Knicks.
I think it just blew all of our minds
that we would see someone
that looked like my cousin
dominate on an NBA court.
It's the playground basketball court
where people like me,
as a kid, would be bullied.
Lin for three! Bang!
The reason this matters so much
is because if you are
an Asian American person
you have spent your entire life
identifying with people
who look nothing like you.
But now, I can just see someone
who actually looks like me,
and that's it?
I didn't know it could be this easy.
Linsanity continues here
at Madison Square Garden.
A career-high 38 points...
- An Asian guy dropping 38 on Kobe?
- It was incredible.
Thirty-eight points
in New-fucking-York City?
Hold up, hold up.
Before we get into any of this,
let's jump back to the beginning.
Because there's no way any of this
should have been possible.
No one's telling
little Asian immigrant girls
you should be a stand-up comedian.
I bet you no one's telling
little Asian American boys
you need to grow up
to be an NBA basketball star.
Oh, Mioko, what you think
of item for newspaper?
When most Americans
think about Asians
they think about dry cleaners.
They think about IT guy.
They think about emasculated,
no-dick-having
no-luck-with-women-having dudes.
They think of dragon lady,
sex workers.
They think of masseuses'
happy endings.
I could keep going.
Small, passive, diminutive,
unathletic and submissive.
If you are all of those five things,
that means you're definitely not
brave, courageous, covetable.
Desirable, or a leader.
For anyone to break outside
of these norms is strange.
People don't understand it.
People go, well, how harmful
are those stereotypes?
You're like, yeah, it's kind of
harmful if I have big dreams.
If my dreams are for
middle management, sure.
Being small, unathletic, diminutive,
passive... great. Great.
I'll send you the reports, Bob.
But if I'm trying to be the guy,
at work, at school...
in the NBA...
you cannot be any of those things.
It's this constant, like,
overwhelming sense of doubt
from the outside
that tempted me
to even not believe in myself.
That was one of the biggest obstacles
that I had to overcome.
Asian Americans
have just gotten beaten down
because the stereotyping,
the derision, the media portrayals
mischaracterizations of
Asian Americans are so rampant.
To people who ask what do I do,
I say I work for ESPN.
They say, oh, so like tech support?
Seriously.
From someone else
who worked in the business.
On top of all the stereotypes,
the racism going on on the outside.
I mean, inside the house,
Asian parents...
different set of priorities.
When I was a child,
there was a doctor named Dr. Ho
that was on the Time Magazine cover
for figuring out AIDS and shit.
He just studied, he just studied.
He kept studying.
I remember
my parents brought that up.
They're like, yo, Dr. Ho.
That's a good fucking Asian.
Okay?
And then eventually,
he studied so hard
that he cured AIDS.
That's almost
the Asian parents' dream
that you're gonna study a way
into success and prominence.
If you study hard enough
you're gonna become a rock star.
Our parents come to this country
and they basically see
a finite number of possibilities.
And to the best of their ability
they're preparing us
for a certain version of the world.
You're here. You came to America.
Your job is literally to get A's
and listen to your teacher.
That's what my parents told me.
All of a sudden,
the realm of possibility
becomes this narrow.
And everything that's cool
and relevant
is all in this... part.
All these Asian parents
supporting Jeremy Lin
like, love him to death.
Oh, my God, Jeremy Lin, what a hero.
How many of these parents
would have encouraged their kids
to do what Jeremy Lin was doing
when, you know,
the kids need that backing
at crucial moments
in their development?
What's different about my story
is that my dad
really loved basketball.
I mean, he was obsessed.
My mom's dream
was that I would be great at piano
and she bought a beautiful piano
and all this.
And then finally, I remember
after about five, six years
my mom was just like
you don't have
to play piano anymore.
I'm not gonna force you
to do it anymore.
And I'm saying that was, like,
one the best moments of my life.
That's when I knew, like, all right,
my mom's all in with this.
And from there it was just
competitive basketball.
Lin led Palo Alto High School
to an upset victory.
Also earned Northern California
Division II
Player of the Year honors.
It's the best feeling
to go out on top.
I mean, it is a dream come true.
Me and my dad, we had to cut together
our own highlight tape.
And we're sending them out,
just hoping and praying
that somebody will like it
and give us a response.
I mean, at the end of the day,
I won a state championship.
I was California Player of the Year,
and I had zero scholarship offers.
None.
I grew up in Northern California
when Jeremy Lin was playing
for Palo Alto High School.
When he played at one
of the state championship games
at ARCO Arena, I remember being like
who is that Asian kid
with spiky hair?
Oh, that's cool.
That's a cool little
high-school run. Dope.
Like, even my expectations of myself
and the community was capped.
I was like,
oh, he made a starting rotation.
Oh, he got to play on an NBA court.
That's pretty cool.
Let's see what he does after that.
Like, oh, he'll probably hard pivot
into, like, premed.
At the end, it came down
to Harvard and MIneither of which gave
athletic scholarships.
But Harvard was Division I.
MIT was Division III.
My parents loved MIT.
They loved the program.
But for me,
I was dead set on Harvard.
I gotta compete against the best
because it was Division I.
Lin goes through traffic.
Wow.
A pass around. A pass to Lin.
He rises, throws it down!
The pre-draft process
was so frustrating for me.
My agent was like,
you gotta be prepared.
You're not gonna get drafted.
But in my heart,
the reason why I had so much hope
was because I did those workouts.
I played in front of those people
and I competed against
those point guards
and I knew I killed it.
It always just felt like
they had their mind made
without watching what was going on.
What they would say on paper
was just what you would
probably say about any Asian.
And surprise, surprise,
I didn't get drafted.
The amazing thing about
the owner of the Warriors, Joe Lacob
was he just bought the team.
And he grew up watching me play
because I always played
against his son.
He made a gutsy decision
and was just like,
we're signing this guy.
And he signed me
even when the general manager
and the head coach
didn't even want me on that team.
But my stint with the Warriors...
man, as quick as it started,
that's how fast it ended.
I got sent
to the D-League three times
and then I got cut.
I get picked up by the Rockets.
I go there,
I'm the sixth-string point guard.
Can't even get reps in
during practice.
Cut again.
Then I'm taking a nap at home
while I'm on the waiver wire
and my agent calls, and he's like,
the New York Knicks picked you up.
And I'm like, what?
Yeah, it's funny
how I met Jeremy.
I'm walking out of my hotel room
and I see this little Asian kid
walking, like, by me.
Tyson's coming down the hallway,
and I'm like, yo, Tyson!
I honestly thought he was
about to ask for a picture.
It's Jeremy. He's like...
Cool.
Okay, how you doing, Jeremy?
I was like,
it's nice to meet you, my man.
He was so shocked and scared.
It was like,
who let this guy into our floor?
Like, why do we have fans
on our floor?
This is, like, a security breach.
Come back the next day
for shootaround
and I see him get on a bus.
I'm like, yo, what's up, Jeremy?
So I just showed up
the next morning, put a jersey on.
I don't even know
if the team knew who I was
but, hey, look,
I'm a New York Knick now.
You know, I'm in New York City
on a non-guarantee rookie salary.
I asked my brother and sister-in-law.
I was like, hey, can I just crash
on your couch for six weeks?
It was like sleeping
on your homie's couch
and you don't know if you gonna
have a job tomorrow.
And you still gotta smile.
Still gotta act
like you on the team.
Still gotta promote the team,
still gotta come to the meetings.
You know what I'm saying?
You still gotta get a ride
to practice
and you gotta be there early.
I would be walking into the arena,
and I'd be walking in pretty early
because I was gonna get
some extra work in
and security would be like,
hey, show me your badge.
And I'm like, I don't have a badge.
He's like, you're not allowed to...
then you're not allowed
to enter from this entrance.
And I'm like,
No... no. Like, I'm a player.
They're like, what?
Show me your badge.
I'm like, I don't have a badge.
Players don't have badges.
I'm like, dawg, you ever played
basketball against somebody
that's sleeping on the couch
and don't know when they gonna
see they family?
Like, playing against
a desperate man is totally different.
I remember after practice one day
one of the assistant coaches
came up to me
and he was like,
hey, Jeremy. Can I talk to you?
You know why you never play?
And I'm like, why?
And he's like,
Because you play basketball like...
like a Japanese cartoon character.
Like, you play like
you're in a video game.
And I'm like,
what does that even mean?
It doesn't feel like I belong.
And it doesn't feel like
I have a home
and it doesn't feel like
people believe in me.
But that was what was
really hard about that time.
I mean, there's nothing more symbolic
than sleeping on a couch
for six weeks.
We had a ton of injuries.
I'm talking to Coach, and he's like
I mean, I don't know what
to do at this point.
We're down players. We're down...
I mean, I'm thinking about
throwing him out there.
Jeremy? He's like, yeah.
I'm thinking
he has lost his damn mind.
I love Jeremy.
I loved him as a person
but we out here trying to win.
And I had never seen Jeremy
play before at this point.
My brother, you know, he's like
hey, man, my friends are coming
in town and they need the couch.
And they're like,
can you find a place to stay
for a night or two?
The only person
I was comfortable asking
to crash a night with was Landry.
And Landry was like,
yeah, of course you can crash.
He's like, come on over
but I gotta warn you,
the couch is small.
I was like, it's cool.
I've been on small couches.
I'll figure it out.
And I'm walking into his apartment
and I'm 6'3" and this couch is,
like, four feet long.
And so I'm like,
how am I gonna fit on this thing?
And I got my head
hanging off one end.
I'm already in the fetal
position, curled up.
I got my legs hanging off
the other end and I'm like
this is gonna be the worst
night's sleep ever.
And I woke up the next morning
and he's like,
man, hope you slept all right.
I was like, it's all good.
Don't worry about it.
Like, at least I had a place to stay.
And that was what it was leading up
to that New Jersey Nets game.
The New York Knicks get set
to take on the New Jersey Nets.
And I'm on the phone
with my agent, Roger Montgomery
and Roger's telling me, he's like
if you don't play well,
this is your last game in the NBA.
He said, promise me this one thing.
No matter what you do tonight
you gotta play
Jeremy Lin basketball.
Rog, I said, you're right.
Like, I gotta do it.
No matter what happens tonight,
if I touch that floor
it's gotta be Jeremy Lin basketball
all the way through.
And the result is the result.
Like, whatever happens, happens.
And then they finally turned...
J-Lin, get in there.
And then it starts.
When they subbed J-Lin in
he was looking people
dead in they eye.
You talking 'bout somebody
that's coming from
I don't know if I'll be
on the team tomorrow.
But, for tonight, fuck you.
My hopes
was that he could just score.
But then I saw that he started
to be able to have
a feel for the game
and he started to make some plays.
Jeremy Lin drives and finishes!
Nice play from Lin.
Jeremy Lin goes off.
He goes off.
This kid came out of nowhere
and started ballin',
like, for real.
That Nets game...
that first game of Linsanity.
When he lobs it up to Tyson Chandler
he throws it down and then
knocks that ball with his head.
I was like, oh, this is something
that we can work with.
Splits the defense again.
Gets to the rim, puts it in!
I made an and-one
and when I just wound up
and I screamed
and I let out that emotion, like
it felt like I was letting out
that year and a half
of, like, doubt.
Next thing you know, we win the game.
And I look up, and I'm like,
I have 25 points.
How the hell did that happen?
Jeremy Lin!
I didn't even catch it live.
I was watching SportsCenter.
And it was this, like,
oh, cool. What a lucky break.
And I remember getting to the shower
and I didn't know if, like,
it was water from the shower
or tears from my eyes.
And I was like,
they can't cut me now.
They can't cut me now.
They can't cut me now.
Then the second game.
Oh, he scores even more.
Oh, this is funny.
You start in New Jersey.
You go to Utah, right?
You go to Washington.
The big-dick energy
that he had was just like
oh, this is incredible.
Isolations, ball hogging
going into the lane, penetrating,
finishing with both hands.
Dunking?
I didn't know he could dunk.
He crosses up John Wall
and he sledgehammers it in.
I remember a teammate said
yo, I can't believe
J-Lin just went in and dunked it.
Dang, you kind of got up.
You don't think no Asian kid
that's this size
is going to be dunking.
It's stereotypical,
but it's what we're all thinking.
After the John Wall game happened,
I made a video.
He frickin' crossed and smashed
on John Wall today.
Step your game up.
You cannot get dunked on
by a guy who took Calculus BC.
The same way the world
was caught by surprise
us on the same team as him
was caught by surprise.
Jeremy Lin,
the New York Knicks point guard
that's caught the NBA world by storm.
Jeremy Lin is fantastic.
Lin, we gonna win.
One-seven,
we going to heaven. That's it.
Lin's number 17 jersey
sold out within 48 hours
of going on sale
at Madison Square Garden.
Husband, mom, sister, dad
and then he's working
on the kids' ones for my nephews.
I was getting random people
calling me
asking me for a Jeremy Lin autograph.
I'm playing with Melo.
I'm playing with Amar'e.
I don't feel like I'm no...
just... joke myself
and like, y'all calling for Jeremy?
It's a lot right now
but I think I'm getting used to it
a little more.
And suddenly,
it's Madison Square Garden.
It's his first real home game.
And of course,
he's playing the Lakers.
Kobe Bryant
and the Los Angeles Lakers
are coming to town. You know,
they just won two championships.
We saw Jeremy ball against the Jazz.
We saw him ball against the Nets.
But the Lakers?
I didn't know if it was gonna be
the same kind of game.
A sell-out crowd
at Madison Square Garden
and many to see
the Cinderella story of Jeremy Lin.
The pregame was like being
at a big fight in Vegas.
That ticket is hot!
That is the hottest ticket
since the Knicks
were in the Conference Finals
in the year 2000.
It was the crackling energy
of something might happen.
But you don't think
that Jeremy Lin's gonna be the guy
to knock out Kobe and the Lakers.
This is peak Lakers.
They still had Metta.
They still had Pau.
They still had Kobe.
The Lakers came in with the idea
that nah, like, not on our watch.
We gonna end this fairy tale,
and we gonna end it tonight.
Kobe in an interview gave Lin
some gas and said some shit.
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 don't... I have no idea
what you guys are talking about.
Would you consider guarding him
if he's having one of those games?
Jesus Christ.
I'm on the way to the game,
and I see what Kobe said about me
and I'm like, tonight,
I'm just gonna be hella aggressive.
Like, no matter what happens,
50/50, like, if I have any space
like, and I don't know what to do,
I'm shooting it.
Though you're J-Lin
and we're rooting for you...
that's Kobe Bryant.
It's MJ, Kobe, and Bron.
Any time you have an opportunity
to play against these guys
it's a chance to measure yourself.
He the closest thing to Jordan.
Like, if you hate him, it's because
he actually hits the shots
Jordan hits and did the hand
and it pissed you off
'cause you couldn't do it.
Tonight, we get to look
the Mamba in the eye.
Jeremy Lin, what do you make
of the splash
- that he's made with the Knicks?
- I mean, it's great.
It is the worst job
of talent evaluation
that I've ever seen in my life
if this kid is this good.
When you get that opportunity,
you have to kick the door in.
Now he's not only kicked it in.
He blew it up.
But this, without question,
the toughest test for Jeremy Lin.
Jeremy, in that boxing analogy
comes out of his corner,
and he's swinging.
Lin shot.
Jeremy has nine, ten points
in the first three minutes
and the Garden is going apeshit!
I let my first few fly on me.
I have, like, four or five
field goal attempts
within the first,
like, couple minutes.
And I get hot.
Okay, here we go.
It's gonna be a long night for them.
Lin drives in and lays it in!
I just remember
how fast he was moving.
He's going to the rim,
and he's attacking the rim hard.
This guy was driving.
He was going past Kobe.
Jeremy just stepped up
to every moment
and he didn't back down.
He hitting and-ones. He's screaming.
He pumpin' his fists at the crowd.
Like, he's living in the moment.
Never relenting,
taking fall-away jumpers.
Confident stuff that a kid
who had never played
on this kind of a stage should have.
This kid was like a video game
'cause he's not supposed
to be doing these things
that he's doing.
You know the video game
where you, like
a player's, like, tired
and then you put somebody else in
that's not tired, and you like
"Oh, man, he don't even
run that fast. Like, what?"
Like, I just remember
seeing J-Lin do that
and I'm like,
I ain't never been part
of no video game experience.
He did that crazy, like,
spin move against Derek Fisher
and hit that perfect layup.
D-Fish is a tough guard, too.
Lin likes the open floor.
Spinning, puts it up,
and lays it in!
And I'm like, that's something new.
On the one hand, I'm like,
dude, I'm a frickin' problem.
Derek Fisher cannot guard me.
But on the other hand, I'm like,
yo, what just happened?
It felt like
an out-of-body experience.
I never did that move before that.
And that will end the first half.
Jeremy Lin was superb.
I like his game.
And he got that Garden buzzin'
right now with that 360 move.
- And right after that...
- So out of halftime
you figure, like, okay...
regression to the mean comes.
Because it's the Lakers.
It's Kobe, right?
These are guys
who have survived runs before.
They've won championships.
I think our whole team knew
in the second half
it was gonna be Kobe time.
Bryant spinning. Difficult shot...
For some. Yeah.
Kobe just started to get hot
and hit a lot of tough midrange
jumpers in that third quarter.
And we could see our lead
dwindle, and dwindle, and dwindle.
But what's crazy about
what happens in the second half
Jeremy Lin just keeps attacking.
I'm watching guys
get physical with him
and I'm waiting for him to back down
or his moment to be over.
But Jeremy just kept making shots.
Jeremy was cooking, okay?
He was cooking motherfuckers.
He caught the ball about 28 feet out
and he drilled it on Pau Gasol.
It was unbelievable.
Y'all wanna see a little Manu step?
Y'all want the reverse finish?
Y'all want the inside finish?
Y'all want the hook finish?
He was giving y'all floaters.
Man.
It was just surreal.
Is this the other plot of Space Jam?
Like, whose superpowers
did Jeremy Lin steal
to become the best
basketball player in the world?
My husband and I
were in my living room behind me
standing up the entire time.
And the guy just couldn't miss.
We were like, oh!
Like, I wanted to run around.
I might have taken a few laps.
I started tearing up.
And this is the part
that still gives me goosebumps.
He knew what stage he was on.
He knew that the cameras
were all there.
He knew that he had this chance
to say something
that would change this from
wow, cool little fluke
to this is going to be a legend
that parents
tell their kids one day.
All the hype's around you
'cause you're Jeremy Lin right now
and everybody's like,
I'm-a be the one to stop him.
And he gave all y'all
what y'all wanted to see.
There was a shot that I hit
that I knew was a dagger.
Tyson hits the ball back
and then Shump ends up with it
and he swings it to me in a corner.
And I got all the space in the world.
And as I shoot it, I'm like,
oh, that feels amazing.
And it goes swish,
right through the net.
It felt like we were hovering
'cause that's how loud
and energetic it was,
and it was this magical moment.
I've never experienced
something like that
before or after.
Linsanity continues here
at Madison Square Garden...
As the undrafted point guard
from Harvard
electrifies MSG once again.
Yo, this dude scored 38 points!
He made 38 points!
How is he doing that?
Thirty-eight points
at Madison Square Garden.
Are you fucking kidding me?
One of the more incredible stories
we've seen in the NBA
in quite some time.
It just happened against Kobe,
like, against Kobe Bryant.
Aw, man, it was like this awe
and, like, magical moment
of like, man,
like, you really did that
against, like, one of the greatest
to ever play the game.
For him to outscore Kobe,
rest in peace, Kobe...
but for him to outscore Kobe
the leading scorer
in the league in the Garden
like, that was crazy.
I didn't believe it till it was over
because I'm supposed to be
an impartial journalist.
But I get the box score,
and I say to myself
I'm going to keep this box score.
Yeah, that's when I officially
was secure
that this had happened.
And the fact that MSG,
but so much of this country
was having that moment
for an Asian American player.
I just kept having to, like,
look away and look again.
Like, is this really happening?
And it wasn't just Asian people
who were talking about it.
Everybody was talking about it!
There was a strain of weed
out in LA called Linsanity OG
that Rick Ross
Instagrammed himself picking up.
The Knicks did not have
the shirts to sell people.
Barack Obama was praising Jeremy Lin
to his staff on Marine One.
I've been on the Jeremy Lin
bandwagon for a while.
Are you taking credit for Linsanity?
It kind of feels like
you are a little bit.
I can't take credit for it.
I'm just saying, I was there early.
When Jeremy's going through
this whole Linsanity moment
he never changed from that kid
that was sleeping on the couch.
He's like the calmest,
best energy to be around.
He doesn't have a bad bone
in his body.
He's gonna encourage us all to pray
and go to church with him.
The Lakers game, that was wild.
But I'm trying to do everything I can
to tune it out.
But when we got to Toronto
that's when I knew.
What Jeremy Lin did at the end
of that Raptors game...
he has the ball,
and he has the opportunity
to pass the ball.
Jeremy waves them off.
And I remember I had to wave
'em off, like, multiple times
because they were like, what,
you're not running a pick-and-roll?
And I'm like,
no, like, get out the way.
He takes the last shot.
This is mine.
This opportunity
might never come along again
and so I'm just gonna say,
fuck it, and go.
We could feel it.
He's not gonna miss this shot.
Five, four...
Lin puts it up!
And the crowd went crazy
in Toronto, on the road!
He hit the game-winner in Toronto,
and the Toronto fans erupted for him.
We all know how rare it was
and we all know what it took
for him to get there
and that superseded
the color of your city's jersey.
Like, who cares about the color
of your clothing at this point?
Right? We're talking about
the color of his skin.
All my friends kept saying is like,
did you see the wave-off?
Did you see the wave-off?
Did you see the wave-off?
Do you know what that means?
Can you believe we have dignity?
Did you see the way he did that?
No... no, it's my game too.
I deserve to be here too.
It's not a mean thing.
It's not a I-hate-my-teammates thing.
It's... what if I had the same
audacity and confidence you had?
This is who I am.
This is what I prepared for.
And this is what I'm capable of.
All you guys need to do
is watch and see.
I remember after he hit that shot...
I thought to myself,
how many moments in my own life
did I pass up the ball
or hold myself small?
How many times
did I turn in that assignment...
or not audition for that thing...
or not put my name
as number one on the sheet?
How many times
did I not wave someone off?
That's what that moment meant to me.
That's not a thing
that Asian people get, man.
That's not how we're cast.
Now, I think the spectrum
of masculinity is important.
I think Asian men don't have
to prove themselves in that way
but it's nice when you can see
and point to a reference
like Jeremy Lin
as, like, an example
of being able to be athletic
right, and dominating a sport
like the NBA.
Even when I'm on stage
and I look into the eyes
of my audience
I see so many broken dreams.
They're like, wait a second.
I don't have to work at Deloitte?
Like, I can be a stand-up comedian?
It's just... it's this moment.
It broke the matrix for us.
I knew a little bit back then
why that shot was just bigger
than that shot in that game
but now I understand it even more so.
It was a heroic moment.
Like, it was a moment
that so many people
had not experienced,
but wanted to experience.
Hollywood, the world, like,
we didn't have these heroic moments
and it was always boxed into
the Asian stereotype.
But for it to happen that way,
on that platform, in that game
against people
who didn't look like me
in a game where people like me
don't really exist...
that's why, to this day,
this moment lives in the minds
and the hearts of so many people
because it was so much bigger
than basketball.
If you had described Linsanity
before it happened to someone
I think everyone would be like,
that's not possible.
It's the most impossible thing
I think I have ever witnessed
in my life.
It's so weird to revisit this moment
ten years later because...
it's like the worst time
to be an Asian American.
And so it's really hard...
to only appreciate
what happened ten years ago
when you're reminded
of where we're at right now.
That's what's really hard.
The weekend of March 15th
the first weekend of everyone
locking things down in 2020
when the pandemic just started
a white guy in a pickup truck
slowed down
when it was a green light for him
and stopped right in front of me
just to flip me off.
And then I felt my face get hot
and my stomach
getting queasy because
that was when I realized,
like, oh, shit.
Yeah, I've felt this before.
The feeling like
I'm about to get the hate
and the anger directed at me
for no reason other than just
walking around being Asian.
It gave me a sense
of what was to come.
Hate crimes
targeting Asian Americans
has skyrocketed.
Suni Lee said she was
recently pepper-sprayed.
The suspect lit
a 79-year-old man on fire
at the Chinatown Cultural Plaza.
Police say that Christina Yuna Lee
was stabbed more than 40 times
in the neck and torso.
An Asian man who was
the victim of a hate crime
just died of his injuries.
Asian hate crimes spiked
nation-wide...
She received very hateful messages...
Asian man viciously kicked
to the ground.
falsely blamed Asians
for the pandemic.
Communities on edge.
Anybody see my... my skin.
She said she doesn't want people
to see her skin color.
For every Asian American person
or anybody who comes
from any minority group
you're immediately told
even though your citizenship status
makes you a home jersey
the moment you start putting
yourself out in society
they tell you, no... no.
You're an away jersey.
Where are you from?
Oh, I'm from Sacramento.
No... no,
where are you from-from?
This face is always read
as being alien
a betrayer, a spy, weird.
In times of global catastrophe,
a scapegoat can be pretty helpful.
Sometimes I'll be walking
my daughter to school
and I'll see different kids.
Young white kids, white parents
they'll walk into school
without a mask.
Every single Asian kid
is double-masked
like they're in a goddamn hazmat suit
because the room for error...
it's this thin.
God forbid...
your Asian son or daughter
coughs or sneezes
and then all the kids are like,
yo, you got that Wuhan?
You got that kung flu?
And so anti-Asian violence coalesced
around all of those things
and, I think, around a fundamental
underlying issue
with how people see Asians
which is that...
you could take 'em.
They're not to be feared.
You wanna pick on somebody
that you could
probably go stuff into a locker?
Pick on the Asian kid.
If all we see are stories of
Asian people being submissive
and weak and being dominated on TV
and movies and in sports
then, of course, that translates
into real-world behavior.
Six of the eight people
he's now accused of killing
are Asian women.
There are a lot
of intense discussions here
about potential hate crimes.
The shooting in Atlanta, Georgia
because Asian women
have been stereotyped
as being, you know,
these dragon ladies
or overly sexualized and exoticized
that incident was just so horrifying
but also galvanizing.
And the last few years, I think
have been a wake-up call
to so many of us
in the Asian community
that we have to speak up.
Ten years later
I'm excited to talk
about Jeremy Lin right now
because, I think, beyond basketball
it's important for us to understand
that to be outstanding
as an Asian American
to represent who were are
beyond just stereotypes
is that much more important
because it's that kind
of lack of familiarity
with us as humans that
causes people to be willing
to fucking attack us.
When I think back
on those moments of Linsanity
everyone was talking about
this unknown Asian American player.
I long to feel those moments
of just, like, pure joy and unity.
It was really validating.
It was too short-lived
but it did really open a door.
The reason why Jeremy matters
and why we're talking about it is
it represents possibility
and an expansive worldview
at the highest possible level.
If this is possible,
what else is possible?
The biggest thing
Linsanity brought was hope.
It inspired people
and it showed that when
you chase your dreams
good things can happen.
And I think as we go into the reality
of where we are today as a society
we need to hold on to hope.
We need to believe
that things can be better
and we need to fight
for those things.
Maybe the most unifying aspect
of the Asian American experience
is this desire to be included.
It's to be seen as American
to be counted as one...
of you.
And what Jeremy Lin's story is...
is the most visceral example of...
getting to be a part of a world
that had never really had space
for you before.
Out of that crisis,
or I should say this crisis
because we're still in it
something really
extraordinary happened
which is that
the Asian American community
is unwilling to stand
on the sidelines anymore.
Like, we're all a bunch
of Jeremy Lins out there
just going for it
and exercising our voices
and being unwilling
to just remain on the bench.
Jeremy Lin showed that he belonged
and he gave
an entire generation the hope
that they can belong.
I really want
the next generation to grow up
to not be ashamed of being Asian.
To be proud of your culture,
your upbringing, your parents
your appearance,
your talents, your personality.
I want them to be proud
to be themselves
and to have an equal
and a fair chance
to be their fullest self
to not have to deal with everything
that the previous generations
had to deal with.
I love the fact that we get
an Asian American Marvel hero now.
That's awesome. I love that.
You could also just cue up YouTube
and watch what Jeremy Lin did
to the Lakers in 2012.
We're talking about it
like it's a myth or something.
We have tape, man! It happened.
You don't need to tell them anything.
Just show 'em the tape.
Play the tape.
Lin gets inside! Oh!
Lin puts up the two-pointer,
puts it in!
Drives and finishes!
Yeah!
Yeah!
Lin for three!