Ex-Knicks Guard Jeremy Lin Documentary Scores HBO Release
It's not just TV, it's Linsanity.
HBO has acquired rights to "38 at the Garden,” a short documentary centered on former New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin's rise to glory during the 2011-12 NBA season. It is set to air on the premier cable network's linear channels and stream on HBO Max this fall following its debut at the Tribeca Film Festival.
As the title implies, the film will largely focus on Lin's 38-point showing at Madison Square Garden in a nationally televised February 2012 win over the Los Angeles Lakers. The performance against Kobe Bryant is often viewed as the height of "Linsanity,” when the undrafted Harvard alum became a mainstay in the New York starting lineup with prime offensive performances. In that performance, Lin became the first player in NBA history to earn at least 20 points and seven assists in his first five career starts.
Being the NBA's first American-born player of Taiwanese descent made him a cultural figure in the Asian-American community, which "38 at the Garden" will also explore.
"In a hostile time for Asian Americans, the revisiting of an unlikely athlete's story 10 years later gives hope and shatters stereotypes on sport's biggest stage," the official synopsis on TFF's site reads.
Injuries brought about an early end to Linsanity, though Lin managed to carve out a nine-year NBA career that also went through Golden State, Houston, Los Angeles, Charlotte, Brooklyn, Atlanta, and Toronto (winning a championship with the Raptors in 2019). Lin's most recent professional endeavors came with the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association, though his time there was cut short due to a bout with COVID-19.
Lin's New York teammates Tyson Chandler and Iman Shumpert will be among those interviewed in the documentary, which is directed by filmmaker and political media strategist Frank Chi. Travon Free and Samir Hernandez, two of the minds behind the Academy Award-winning short film "Two Distant Strangers" are on board as producers. Lin will partake in a post-screening discussion with Chi, Free, and Hernandez after a Monday night screening at Cineopolis in Manhattan.
