Linsanity Page #7

of the barrel for him.

Sunday night,

we were in fellowship,

And I remember Jeremy said,

"hey, I gotta go.

I gotta catch

my flight to Houston. "

He was standing

at the door,

And he had tears in his eyes,

because, um...

Because the pressure

was really getting to him.

He just didn't know what

his future was gonna hold.

And I remember

he turned to me and he says,

"I don't know

if I can keep doing this. "

After only 12 days

with the rockets,

He was cut again.

It was Christmas day.

Interviewer:
So obviously

a lot has been happening

The last couple

of weeks.

What's going

through your mind,

And how

you feeling today?

Jeremy:
Christmas morning,

I was waived.

Flew back home

on Christmas night,

And within two weeks,

I had been waived twice

By two teams who said

they still wanted me.

10 a. m. This morning,

Um, found out the Knicks

had picked me up.

And that's gonna be

my first game with the Knicks.

It's gonna be

at oracle arena.

You know, I'm literally going

into this game tomorrow night,

I have no idea

who my teammates are.

I've never played

with them one time.

I have no idea

what plays we run.

I don't know

a single play,

And, you know, I haven't

even talked to the coach yet,

So it's gonna be

interesting.

Announcer:

I see Jeremy Lin coming in.

They just

signed him today.

[ crowd cheering ]

Went through a walk-through,

at shoot-around today.

Lin, who played with golden

state last year sparingly,

Played in the d-league,

Gets a nice ovation.

Jeremy:
It's

a great opportunity for me

To be able to just play,

And I think,

for me right now,

The one thing

I really care about

Is just an opportunity

to play.

I'm gonna

give my best effort,

And, you know, if I go down,

I'm gonna make sure

I go down doing it my way,

Which is god's way.

So it's the night before,

And, you know,

I gotta get my bags ready,

And after the game tomorrow,

we head to L.A.,

Sacramento, and then

I'm off to new York for good.

Five games go by,

and I'm not playing at all.

Nothing was

really making sense to me.

If you bring me in,

And you don't let me

play in practice,

Let alone the games,

then why am I here?

I felt like, you know,

I could help you,

And I was watching us lose.

Reporter:
The Knicks have

lost four straight games.

Announcer:
And

the losing streak continues.

Knicks have now lost

six in a row.

Commentator:
There's a chemistry

problem there on the floor.

They need a point guard

to distribute the ball.

Jeremy's original

two-year contract

Was about to expire,

Which meant that,

if the Knicks let him go,

He'd be dropped with no pay,

and, this time, for good.

During practice, Jeremy

was standing right beside me

On the side

of the court

And not really get in

even in practice.

He was just there in case

one of these guys got hurt.

I pretty much saw

the writing on the wall.

I was like,

"I'm pretty much done,"

And, like, I was resigned

to the fact

That I was

gonna get let go.

Standing on the side of the

court, he comes up to me,

And he goes, "hey, coach,

I've got a question. "

I go, "what is it,

Jeremy?"

"I'm taking

a taxi everywhere.

Should I ship

my car out here?"

And he was like,

"uh, you know, probably not. "

I was like, "oh, hell,

I'm gonna get waived. "

D'antoni:
And so I went

and talked to glen.

I said, "glen,

what do you think?"

And he goes, "well, we

haven't really seen him.

We don't know. "

And I said, "you know

what? Let me try to see

"if we can get him

in a couple games

Before Tuesday and just

see what happens. "

They're like, "look,

you're gonna play tonight.

"I want you to go out there.

I don't want you

to do too much. "

I was like,

"okay, I won't. "

Announcer:

8 points for Garnett.

Lin coughs it up,

Bradley to the rim.

Jeremy:

I didn't do too much.

I pretty much did nothing,

and I played horrible.

You know, I missed shots,

I had turnovers,

I had bad fouls.

[ whistle blows ]

Announcer:

Lin reached in.

Jeremy:

I thought, at most,

I had one more chance

the next game.

I was like, "okay, I just

screwed the Boston game.

"I probably will get cut,

But they may give me

one more chance tomorrow. "

Landry fields:

I think at the time,

Jeremy was actually staying

with his brother in new York,

And he was talking

to me on the plane.

He's like,

"you know, my brother,

"he's got some people over,

"um, so, you know,

is it cool

If I crash

at your place instead?"

You know, I was like,

"yeah, sure, man, you can come. "

I was giving him

forewarning, though,

That my couch wasn't huge.

It was actually

a rental couch at the time.

It might have been

maybe six feet long.

We get in at, like,

2:
00 in the morning.

I go over to Landrys place.

He's like,

"this is my couch,"

And his couch

is like this big.

I'm like, "dude. "

I have my head

hanging off of one end

And my legs

hanging off the other.

I'm like, "oh, my gosh, how am I

gonna get a good night's rest?"

Like, "I might play tomorrow.

This might be

my last chance. "

Montgomery:
I remember

thinking to myself,

One, I hope he gets in,

Because he really didn't do

enough in the Boston game

To warrant

getting big minutes.

And, two, if he gets in,

he's gotta play well,

Or they're gonna release him

after the game.

Jeremy:
It's funny.

This season was

the only season

In the last,

like, 11, 12 years

Since the last lockout

Where people have played

back-to-back-to-back games.

And new York only

had one stretch

Of back-to-back-to-back

games.

And if we had

more days to rest,

I'm not sure if I would have

been able to play in that game.

Shirley:

I prayed that day,

And my prayer is,

"god, if this is your will

for him to play NBA,

You need to show it. "

[ crowd cheering ]

Announcer:
There's morrow.

Morrow knocks it down.

Williams sets himself,

Puts up the 3,

and knocks that one down.

The Knicks find themselves

down by 10 already.

P.A. Announcer:
New York foul

is on Shumpert, his second.

Color analyst:
Again, mike,

look who's coming in.

Announcer:
Jeremy Lin, and

you hear a pretty big ovation.

[ sound fades,

heartbeat-like drum playing ]

Montgomery:

He didn't look tentative,

He didn't look

overly concerned.

He looked like,

"dude, I'm about to go do it.

"if they cut me,

they cut me.

"if I don't never play

another NBA game, so be it.

I'm going to play

like Jeremy Lin can play. "

Announcer:
Jeremy Lin

drives and finishes.

Nice play from lin.

There's a strip

of it.

Lin throws it ahead

to Toney Douglas.

Up for the layup!

Banks it in!

Here comes Shumpert

to lin.

Lin flips it up

and puts it in.

Jeremy Lin once again!

Joshua:
He finished the half

with like 10, 4, and 4,

Like, good numbers

for a half.

That was such a higher high

Than, like,

anything he's, like, done.

So I was, like, ecstatic

at that point.

The second half,

he just went...

He just went nuts.

Announcer:
Driving to

the basket, does it again.

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