Jeremy Lin
Jeremy Lin is a basketball player for the Houston Rockets in the NBA, after being the starting point guard for the New York Knicks during the 2011-2012 season. A Christian and Taiwanese-American, Lin was repeatedly overlooked by college and pro teams, but excelled when he finally had a chance to start and in a matter of days became one of the most popular players in the NBA.[1] Lin wears a Christian wristband to emphasize his strong faith, and is an outspoken supporter of Tim Tebow.
Growing up in Palo Alto, California, Lin excelled at basketball (as well as academics) in high school, but was not offered an athletic scholarship for college and wound up attending Harvard. Lin was named to the All-Ivy League First Team his Junior and Senior seasons.[2] After being again passed up by the NBA draft, and after being signed and cut by both the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, Lin ended up on the New York Knicks.
On February 4, 2012, outspoken Lin came off the bench [2] but ended up playing nearly 36 minutes (of a 48-minute game) and leading the Knicks to victory, beginning what became a seven-game winning streak for the then 8-17 squad. The next day he made his first career start, and led his team in scoring and assists as they won again despite the loss of star player Carmelo Anthony to injury. Lin has continued to excel and his team has continued to win, while his team has at times been without both Anthony and Amare Stoudemire, their other highly paid star player.
Jeremy Lin's "clutch free throw with 4.9 seconds remaining punctuated another 20-point performance and secured a 100-98 victory against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center, where the team's largest crowd in eight years" watched the Knicks' 5th straight win after the undrafted evangelical Lin took over the 8-15 team.[3]
Widely acknowledged to be a hard working player, Lin credited his Christian faith with his attitude, telling Patheos reporter Timothy Dalrymple:
"Slowly, God revealed more to me. I started learning how to trust in Him, not to focus so much on whether I win or lose but to have faith that God has a perfect plan. For me to put more of an emphasis on my attitude and the way that I play, rather than my stats or whether we win a championship. I learned more about a godly work ethic and a godly attitude, in terms of being humble, putting others above yourself, being respectful to refs and opponents. There are really so many ways you can apply your faith to basketball."[3]
