Lin’s big week even gets attention of NBA non-fans

Upon entering the Stan Sheriff Center the other night, I did something I can’t remember having done before.

I asked somebody who won an NBA regular-season game.

Specifically: Did the Knicks beat the Timberwolves?

And then, the follow-up. The reason in the first place for my interest in the Knicks: How many points did Jeremy Lin score?

Between the end of football and the first round of the playoffs you’ll catch me watching college hoops, or at a University of Hawaii baseball or softball game. I’ll follow spring training and watch the Masters intently.

But not much NBA. Parts of games and highlights, hoping to get a glimpse at the latest wild dunk or great pass.

That changed last week with Lin’s breakout performances — four games in which he went from an irrelevant free-agent, clinging-to-the-roster bench jockey to the talk of the NBA, and beyond. This guy’s fun to watch, and I’ll keep watching.

Yes, it’s just one week. Just four games. But four games in which he averaged 27.3 points, including 38 in that win over the Lakers on Friday.

It’s hard to find players in NBA history who exploded like that in their first four starts — much less an undrafted free agent from the Ivy League, a guy let go by three other teams, including his hometown Golden State Warriors. Actually, there aren’t any — he’s got the record for most points in a player’s first four starts since the NBA and ABA merged.

In the second half at Minnesota on Saturday, Lin seemed to wear down as he missed all but one of 13 shots from the field and turned the ball over four times. But then he made the winning free throw in overtime, and the legend continued.

Experts as astute as Magic Johnson say Lin is for real. His game is most often compared to that of two-time MVP Steve Nash. I think he plays a little more defense than Nash (which isn’t saying much, but it’s something).

The unconvinced are already pointing at that one poor half on Saturday as the beginning of the end for Lin. The latest greatest is always going to get torn down by some, sometimes before they even get as high as they’re going to climb.

And it will be interesting to see what his role evolves into as Knicks stars Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudamire return to the lineup. Lin and Tyson Chandler had kind of a John Stockton-Karl Malone pick-and-roll thing going last week, which might not flow as well with others who need the ball.

As for ethnicity, he’d still be a great story if his name were Jeremy Lynn instead of Jeremy Lin and his ancestors were from Podunk, Iowa, rather than Taiwan.

But, yes, he’s breaking ground. Lin’s got no Hawaii connection of which I’m aware, but he is an inspiration for lots of kids here of Asian descent who never before had a significant racial role model in the NBA. (Unless you count Yao Ming … but how many kids are gonna grow to be 7 feet?)

My friend Paul Honda snapped up Lin for his fantasy team, and adds that, "The Lin jersey is in the mail."

I imagine we’ll see quite a few around the islands in the coming weeks, whether Jeremy Lin is still scoring 20 points a game or not.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.co or 529-4783.