Lin-sanity hits home because so many can relate

Jeremy Lin's spectacular arrival and meteoric rise is a great story just the way it is.

It requires no embellishment because Lin's narrative already contains all the elements of a Disney movie.

And like most Disney productions, Lin's saga is meant for a general audience. For all who have hoped to take advantage of that one big break in life. Or those who live with regrets that they never got one.

The story's attraction is undeniable because it's universal.

A young man knocks on doors hoping to find the job of his dreams. He's let go by two employers and is about to be cut loose by a third when fortune intervenes.

In Lin's case, the break comes when the Knicks' point guard position is decimated by injury. Out of options, the team thrusts the new, untested kid into the lineup.

The result has been Lin-sanity.

The previously struggling Knicks have won all five games with Lin directing the offense. The first American-born NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent, he has scored 25, 28, 23, 38 and 20 points and had at least seven assists in each game.

On Friday night, Lin's clutch baskets helped the Knicks beat the Lakers on national TV. Even with Kobe Bryant in the building, it was impossible to take your eyes off Lin. Then on Saturday night, he hit the game-winning free throw in the Knicks' 100-98 victory over the Timberwolves.

Within a week, Lin has re-energized the team and created ripples of excitement extending from Lower Manhattan to the Far East.

"He got lucky because we were playing so bad," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "You have to have luck in this league and he got a bunch of luck."

For young athletes, Lin should serve as inspiration. "Coach says I'm not good enough; I'll show him."

For former jocks, wistful over memories of unfulfilled glory, he's a melancholy reminder that they could have been their team's Jeremy Lin had the coach been smart enough to give them a shot.

But Lin's story applies to all walks of life and every profession. It hits home with anybody who understands that luck is the crossroad where preparation and opportunity meet.

Now people are comparing Lin with Tim Tebow, which is so far off the mark it's funny.

After leaving Florida as a Heisman Trophy winner and national icon, Tebow was taken in the first round of the NFL draft, and never left the spotlight even when he was holding a clipboard.

Regardless of how good you think Tebow will turn out to be as a pro, because of his earlier success and image, there's always been a sense of entitlement associated with his career.

But nobody knew or cared about Lin when he left Harvard, a school that sends many more people to the White House than Madison Square Garden. He went undrafted after playing in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. He toiled in the NBA's D-League.

In a touch almost too improbable for Disney, after joining the Knicks, Lin crashed on his brother's couch in the city.

His play has been nothing short of a revelation, but if it weren't for circumstances beyond anyone's control - what some would call luck - Lin might still be with the Erie Bayhawks.

The Knicks didn't know what they had when they picked up the player who had already been cut by the Warriors and waived by the Rockets.

Signed after Knicks rookie Iman Shumpert sprained his knee, Lin was never expected to be more than practice fodder. The job was waiting for veteran Baron Davis. Only after Davis was slow to return from his own physical ailments and the Knicks reached the desperation stage did D'Antoni turn to the untested Harvard man.

"He wouldn't have gotten the chance probably," D'Antoni said of Lin. "I like to think if someone is true to his profession and works hard, he'll get his chance, but I don't think it always works out that way."

It doesn't. Not in sports. Not in life.

But sometimes a story comes along that looks like it was created on a movie set. For now, Lin is starring in his own real-life Disney dream.

Bob Molinaro, 757-446-2372, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com;  Twitter@BobMolinaro