On Friday, December 13th, 2013, Jeremy Lin and the Houston Rockets returned to the Oracle Arena to play against the Golden State Warriors. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, it was my first time attending a game since the playoffs earlier in the Spring as well as the first time since I last saw Lin play at Oracle Arena (where I was mistaken for Lin’s dad). Unfortunately, I only made it for the 4th period since I had a prior engagement elsewhere and traffic was just HELL.
The Rockets defeated the Warriors, 116 to 112. This was Lin’s second game after a 2 week break due to a knee injury, and he played a total of 20:37 minutes, scoring 8 points. Definitely not Lin’s best night this season, given the fact that so far, he’s been averaging 14.3 points per game thus far. But Lin’s back was injured during the game when he banged into Golden State Warriors’ Andrew Bogut on a screen, and has been dealing with back spasms since (and did not play in Sunday’s game against the Sacramento Kings, where the Rockets lost).
Jeremy Lin running down the court. Click image to expand to full-size.
Copyright 8Asians.com.
In the after game locker room interviews, Lin didn’t really make himself available. One reporter had spoken with the media coordinator, and was briefly allowed to ask Lin two quick questions: how it was to be playing at the Oracle Arena [great to see friends and family], and whether or not Lin was restricted in the minutes due to his knee injury, which he had sat out the past two weeks for [no restrictions].
But I guess the Oracle Arena magic is gone (or at least not crazy), in this interview, Lin said:
“Now that he has returned, he said he still does not consider the location of the game “all that special,” though large numbers of family and friends were in attendance. “I guess it’s a little less crazy than last year because last year was the first time since the New York stuff,” Lin said. “I’ve played there a couple times already and will play there again later this season, so I guess it’s not that special.””
On my way out back to the stadium and to the parking lot, I did happen to see Lin’s cousin, who is a producer for the documentary, LINSANITY, as well as spot his parents in what appeared to be a special VIP after-game meet-and-greet for Lin. Since I had to get up early the next day for a volunteer event and that particular event wasn’t necessarily open to the media, I didn’t stick around (as my drive home was going to be about 45 minutes, as I live over 30 miles from Oakland, CA).
Ideally, Lin will do some more post-game speaking to the press the next time the Houston Rockets are in town, which will be Thursday, February 20th, 2014, which does not coincide with Asian Heritage Night this time around (which is January 28th, 2014), like it did last year.
