The HBO documentary “38 at the Garden” chronicles the meteoric rise to fame of former NBA player Jeremy Lin in February 2012 after scoring 38 points against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers at Madison Square Garden.
It was the fourth game in a 10-game hot streak that saw the New York Knicks point guard go from bench player to leading scorer. Lin graced the covers of Time and Sports Illustrated, she was named Breakthrough Athlete of the Year at the ESPY Awards and won the adoration of millions. The overwhelming attention from the public and media was dubbed “Linsanity,” and at the center of it was a 23-year-old Asian-American boy who just wanted to get the best game out of him.
“I had this love/hate, but mostly hate, relationship with Linsanity for quite a few years,” Lin said at a recent FYC event for “38 at the Garden,” which is shortlisted for the Oscars for Documentary Short. “Because of the things that happened off the field, many times, [pitches] I’d be like, ‘Oh, you want to talk about Linsanity?’ It would be like, ‘I’m not even going to attend a meeting. Not immediately, thank you.”
Asked to elaborate further by moderator Scott Fienberg, Lin revealed the dark side of sudden fame. “The craziest, creepiest, scariest things happened to me and my family,” the now 34-year-old recalled. “People I trusted were trying to monetize me and steal from me. Like, people I grew up with.”
“Suddenly there are paparazzi and everyone has something to say. Whatever you do, they criticize you,” Lin continued. “I’m just more of a sensitive soul. If I have 100 people and 99 fans say something good and one fan says something bad, I will remember the bad. So I also had to grow up. A lot of it was my own development that had to happen.”
“And no matter how well I played, I would never be able to live up to the shadow that Linsanity would cast on me and my career. And that’s why I ran from it,” she explained.
Lin’s final years in the NBA were plagued with injuries and he ultimately ended up playing for the Beijing Ducks (part of the Chinese Basketball Association) in 2019. Then in 2020, his career, like so many others, was put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.
“We were on the Chinese New Year holiday when COVID first hit and [the CBA] we are going to postpone the season for days. And then all of a sudden it was like going home indefinitely,” Lin recalled. “So I went home, my home was Palo Alto in the Bay Area, and that’s when I realized that everything was different. And fast forward a little longer. Suddenly, I have friends and family who are afraid to go to the supermarket. My friends and I say, ‘Shall we let their parents just walk? Or do we always try to be there for them and accompany them? For example, do we let them go to the grocery store themselves? And that’s when I thought, it’s getting pretty scary.” (Editor’s note: In the first year of COVID, 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents were reported to Stop AAPI Hate, a reporting center that tracks hate, violence, harassment and discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders).
Patricia Sun, who runs Lin’s off-court company (and would later become an executive producer on “38 at the Garden”), urged Lin to take a call from the filmmakers, which included writer-director Frank Chi.
Lin explained what felt different in all the previous releases. “After we answered the call, the one thing we all agreed on was that this is not going to be nostalgic. [piece] where we’re just going to relive that Linsanity and talk about how great the game was. It’s much, much bigger than that. And that’s when I thought I really wanted to do this, and I never want to do anything related to Linsanity for the last 10 years, or at that point, eight years.”
“We’re going to take all the fat out of this,” Chi said at the event about structuring her story. “We’re going to break it into three parts, and that’s how I describe ’38 in the Garden without any basketball. The first part deals with stereotypes. The second part is about what happens when someone breaks those stereotypes without anyone expecting it. And then the third part is what it is today when those stereotypes have been weaponized. And when they are armed, they become Asian violence.”
The 38-minute documentary does exactly that, showing how the son of Taiwanese immigrants broke stereotypes about Asian men to dominate against the best in the league. And how, despite their incredible success story, the epitome of the American dream, Asian Americans are still, a decade later, vilified as the perpetual foreigner and, in recent years, physically attacked by mistaken notions that They are responsible for the pandemic.
Lin revealed that she was emotional at the first screening of the documentary, ironically in New York City, the site of her historic night. “It was amazing. because I felt the whole spectrum of emotions from joy and excitement to pride [from] all the different things on the basketball side and the success side,” he recalled.
“I have never cried watching anything,” he continued. “The closest thing to crying was when I saw the girl [being interviewed at the height of Asian hate] saying, ‘Basically, I don’t want people to see the color of my skin. As if he was still young. And she’s already so aware and ashamed of it. And I’m like, ‘Man, I don’t have kids. But like, if that was my son, what would that do to me as a parent?
Ultimately, Lin thinks he could be the biggest beneficiary of “38 at the Garden,” because he’s able to recast “Linsanity” after all these years.
“Often, I attend philanthropic events thinking that I am going to impact or help someone else,” Lin explained. “I see how these seven-year-olds, 10-year-olds, how much they enjoy life and basic things. I am learning from them more than they are learning from me. And with this movie, you know, I came in trying to say, ‘Okay, this is about community. But the community returned the favor and I’m looking at it in a different way.”
You can watch the entire “38 at the Garden” event with Jeremy Lin, Frank Chi, producers Travon Free and Samir Hernandez. here. “38 at the Garden” is currently streaming on HBO Max as is on the List of nominees for the 95th Oscars.
Watch the trailer below: