Jeremy Lin’s rise to stardom over his career is well documented — Lin, nearly unheard of, shocked the world by absolutely dominating the competition for the Knicks in 2012, quickly becoming one of the team’s premier players.
His sudden scoring bursts, which included dropping 28 points against the Jazz and 38 points against Kobe Bryant’s Lakers, certainly pleased the scores of Knicks fans every night.
While pretty much everyone accepted Lin’s new status, his new feared scoring ability for a team looking to contend in the East, one person in particular has been questioned on this front for years: Carmelo Anthony.
Anthony, who was the Knicks’ leading scorer at the time, is thought of my many to despise Lin. Some point to jealousy, and others point to simple bad chemistry between the two — Nonetheless, the popular thought has Carmelo Anthony just not liking his former teammate Jeremy Lin.
With the Knicks scheduled to square off against the Nets in a preseason game this past weekend, naturally, Anthony was asked to share his thoughts on Lin and the new-look Brooklyn Nets:
“What do I think about it? … He is the face of that franchise, believe it or not. He came up, they paid him and now the ball is in his hands,” Anthony said (via ESPN’s Ian Begley). “So now he’s one of the franchise players over there. What do you want me to say about that? I’m happy for him, excited for him to see how it’s going to work out, turn out over there.”
Anthony, whether or not you believe aimed to disrespect Lin, gave his honest thoughts on the situation. Yes, Lin is one of Brooklyn’s franchise players: That much is clear. Does Carmelo take that thought seriously? At all? That’s up for your interpretation.
Lin, upon hearing the comments made by Anthony, responded over the weekend (via Brian Lewis of the New York Post):
“I didn’t hear anything about it [Friday], nobody texted me about it [Friday], so I don’t think it’s a big deal, to be honest. I don’t really know what he said. Again, five years ago, I’m not really too worried about anything,’’ said Lin, who said Anthony has always been cordial, at least face to face. “When I see him I’ll say what’s up. I said this literally since Day 1: Every time I’ve run into him or had personal interaction with him, he’d been really nice to me and really cordial to me.
“I’ve never had any personal issues with him. We’ve never gotten into a fight or argument or anything, in person or through text or anything. I’ve never had anything remotely hostile with him. So whatever he says, I don’t know. … You guys can ask him. In terms of my personal interaction with him, we’ve never bumped heads or anything.”
For Jeremy Lin and Carmelo Anthony, two former teammates who once shined on the court donning the same jersey, the off-the-court “issues” between the two are now being viewed under a microscope. Last night felt like a highly anticipated regular season game to some, where for the first time, New York’s Basketball teams were set to square off sporting two former star allies, now turned enemies.
Unfortunately for fans, Jeremy Lin sat out the game to rest. Carmelo, on the other hand, went on a tear, scoring 16 points in 19 minutes.
They’ll meet again on October 20th, only this time, at the Barclays center. Fans remain hopeful both stars will play this time.
