Toronto is a very international city. Golden State — an amalgam of Bay Area territory including San Francisco, Oakland and Silicon Valley — is also an international place. And new Toronto Raptors guard Jeremy Lin is the prototype of the NBA’s new breed of international player. Globally, perhaps only LeBron James is as famous a basketball player as Lin — and maybe not even. It’s interesting to note that Lin keeps showing up in cities with great international credibility — the aforementioned, plus New York, Brooklyn, Los Angeles.
Jeremy Lin #17 Toronto Raptors Jersey
But even big basketball fans mistakenly think the riotous adulation Lin receives from fans began when he went bonkers scoring for the Knicks in a period known as Linsanity. This isn’t true, though. Lin entered the NBA already drawing rapturous cheers from fans, beginning with his very first NBA game for the Golden State Warriors in 2010. As seen in the video below, Lin was cheered wildly when he entered the game late in the contest and fresh arena-wide cheers erupted each time Lin touched the ball. There was, in other words, Linsanity right from the start for the Harvard grad NBA rookie. Below is the video of Lin’s first NBA game with the Warriors along with the video showing the welcome he received in his first game with the Raptors nearly nine years later.
Linsanity has commenced @JLin7 | #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/gm6N0PDeuj
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) February 14, 2019
.jpg){kind=link}