‘I used to run from it’: Post-Linsanity, new Raptor Jeremy Lin has finally found NBA serenity

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Jeremy Lin is proud of his Asian heritage, and it was a large part of the reason why he captured the imagination of basketball fans the world over when he went on a memorable tear for the New York Knicks during the 2011-12 season.

The phenomenon became known as Linsanity.

While the newest member of the Toronto Raptors was gratified by the sudden impact he made as the first American of Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA, it soon became a bit of a burden, a bit of a grind.

It almost became a cliché, getting peppered about his background time and time again as he went from NBA city to NBA city. It wasn’t a bad thing, but he also wanted people to also focus on Jeremy Lin, the basketball player.

Read more: Pascal Siakam scores career-high 44 points to lead Raptors over Wizards in Linsanity’s home debut

“I used to run from it,” Lin said Wednesday night following his first game in the uniform of the Raptors, who beat the Washington Wizards 129-120 at Scotiabank Arena. “Because that’s all anybody’s ever wanted to look for, like – oh, he’s Asian, he’s Asian. And I was like, talk about my basketball.

“But now people can see I can play, I belong in the NBA, and I’ve really embraced just being able to represent Asians, and do it the right way, hopefully.”

But it took some growing pains to get to the comfortable spot he is in now, a 30-year-old Harvard-educated athlete who now counts the Raptors as the eighth NBA team he has played for over a nine-year career.

While Lin has developed into a steady NBA guard, he never could match the offensive numbers he put up when he first was given a chance to play regular minutes with the Knicks back in 2011-2012. He became the talk of the town after he became the first player in NBA history to record at least 20 points and seven assists in his first five starts – an accomplishment not even Michael Jordan can claim.

Everybody wanted a piece of Lin wherever he went, and it eventually started to wear on him.

“I think I was really jaded after the New York stretch,” Lin said. “I think there was a lot of things that happened that made me give up a little bit on people, per se. And that was a huge part of the story, and that was a huge point of contention for a lot of people as to why I was getting the publicity, or why things were the way they were. So I kind of wanted to run from that a little bit.

“I would probably say three years down the road, I kind of turned a corner, and I would say being hurt for two straight years, and seeing that my Asian fan base, I don’t feel like it dropped off one bit. And I haven’t even touched the court. Like, every year I go over to Asia, and I can’t even walk through the airport, it’s insane. So to see them do that after all the highs and lows, but really going through the lows post-Linsanity, which culminated in those injuries, for me, I’m still blown away.”

In his first game with the Raptors, without the benefit of a single practice, Lin came off the bench and struggled to find his way, which was understandable. Even still, he was gratified when given a standing ovation by many in the jam-packed Scotiabank Arena when he first subbed into the game late in the first quarter.

“Every time I come to Toronto, it’s always felt like a home game, the fans always show up no matter what team I played for,” Lin said. “But to come out here tonight, to get that type of reception, even though I was trying to be stoic and figure out what we were going to do on the defensive end, it was very heartwarming for sure.”

Lin said it almost “felt like I’m cheating” jumping to a team that has now won 43 games and has legitimate designs on getting to the NBA Finals this season.

Although he only contributed eight points, five assists and five rebounds to the Raptors cause, Lin was much in demand after the game, including among several Asian journalists who interviewed him in Mandarin.

And he was happy to do it.