Add another chapter to the legend of Linsanity.
Jeremy Lin's fans can thank an unlikely source for his overnight stardom in the NBA. The Knicks guard has credited his father for getting him interested in playing hoops, but a new report out claims his grandmother should get the credit.
Lin Heng-cheng, a cousin of Lin's father who lives in central Taiwan, tells CNA News that Jeremy Lin first played basketball with his grandmother is California. Lin's paternal grandma helped take care of him as a baby until he turned three. He loved hoops even at that young age and would accompany his grandmother to a community court to play.
That grandmother now lives in Taipei and remains close with the Knicks guard, who visits her when he returns to Taiwan.
Lin's Knicks have won six in a row after his game-winning three-pointer beat the Raptors on Tuesday night. Toronto first-year coach Dwane Casey, who coached Jeremy Lin on the Mavericks summer-league team in 2010, said Lin informed him years ago about his faith-based career plans. "He told me he wanted to be a preacher. I don’t know if that's changed. I asked him, 'Why are you a basketball player?' He said it is his dream [to be an NBA player], and he’s living his dream,' Casey told the New York Post.
Media in China aren't as excited about the Lin story as they are in America. The Financial Times reports Chinese state-run media officials are facing a dilemma over Lin's Taiwanese background and his devout Christianity.
China's government believes that Taiwan is a breakaway province and doesn't want to show any public displays of Taiwanese independence, according to the Financial Times report. Considering Lin is a Taiwanese-American, this is causing a few headaches in the Communist country.
Chinese government censors have been working overtime to edit out all the religious references in Lin's post-game interviews.
For instance, CCTV ran a story about Lin picking up NBA player of the week honors and interviewed a New Yorker who said: "I love the fact that he gave praise to his team and to God." But this is what viewers saw in Chinese subtitles: "I love him for praising his team."
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