The NBA watched the viral video of Jeremy Lin getting pummeled time after time in the lane and it yawned. Look, that’s what happens, was the NBA response, and we can prove it. “After reviewing our extensive officiating database, we have found no data that suggests Jeremy Lin is disadvantaged by our officiating staff,” the NBA statement read in part, citing other hard-driving guards (Lin is a great penetrator) who also haven’t drawn flagrant fouls, like Tony Parker and Kyrie Irving.
But Lin, who majored in the data-reliant science of Economics at Harvard, seems to believe this is one instance where the NBA’s data are misleading. The numbers lack nuance — and the nuance is where the real story lies. Lin said: “To me, not everybody drives the same way, not everybody goes to the basket the same way, not everybody takes contact the same way. I mean, it is what it is. They made their statement. All I know is, you’ve just got to watch the film.”
