But here's the unusual twist in Lin's story: His success has little to do with smarts.
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He has started the last three games in Lin's absence but has recently been hampered by a string of injuries himself.
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Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey shared in Lin's excitement about the news.
The injury came in the midst of a slump for Anthony, who made just three of his 15 shot attempts the night before against New Jersey in Lin's coming-out party.
The Linsanity of the last week has overshadowed the absences of Stoudemire and Anthony, who were once thought of as the backbone of the team but now are at least temporarily seen as potential wrenches in Lin's plan for world domination.
After Monday's ugly loss to New Jersey, the Knicks are 7-2 in games Lin has started, and he's averaged 24.6 points and 9.4 assists in that span.
Amid the mania, Payton is measured in assessing Lin's long-term potential.
To be sure, the NBA has enjoyed growth in social media and is benefitting from a wave of interest in Jeremy Lin, who has been signed by Nike.
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Though he himself could only afford roadside chicken at a tenth of the cost of the menu items in those restaurants, Lin saw opportunity in their appetite for Chinese cuisine.
In 1991, Lin founded the Hua Shan Forum, a private educational institute offering free classes in the Chinese classics, Taoism, and Buddhism.
Undrafted out of Harvard in 2010, Mr. Lin played only scattered minutes in his first National Basketball Association campaign last season with the Golden State Warriors, as well as the early part of this season with New York.
More important, storage has several potential value streams, said Lin in a presentation at Intersolar.
The first victim, in 1998, was a computer programmer in Shanghai called Lin Hai.
And while being a dribbling expert sounds as exciting as being a chef who specializes in porridge, Lin has made it a devastating art.
WSJ: Jeremy Lin's Success Provides Spark For New York Knicks
Some see a natural fit for Lin in Houston.
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"I will perform my duty in accordance with fellow villagers' wishes and law, " Mr. Lin said in an interview with the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Claire's father, Cliff Tiltman, died in September and her mother Lin died at the age of 56 in 2008.
Last month, in conjunction with Shawn-Yu Lin of the Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, the group showed that photonic crystals can guide light on a far smaller scale than was previously possible.
After that comes the U.S. "We went on seven foreign tours in 1998, " Lin says.
He emphasized how well Lin played in three nonconference games against big schools: Connecticut, Boston College and Georgetown.
It's old-school because it's rooted in actual accomplishment: Lin is playing great basketball.
While the media spotlight isn't as intense in Houston as it was in New York, Lin still enjoys worldwide popularity.
When their first training session was over, Payton and Lin sat in Payton's living room and watched tape from Harvard games.
But among states, California is perhaps the leader in storage, said Lin.
In fact, it might be time to safely say that Jeremy Lin mania is out in full force on the streets of Manhattan.
China is expected to place an even greater emphasis on fighting poverty in 2011, said Lin Jialai, executive vice-president of the China Association of Poverty Alleviation and Development.
In one sequence early in the fourth, Lin missed a point-blank layup and then a few plays later, he had the ball literally ripped away from him by Sundiata Gaines.
Just 15% of Lin's assists have been for shots from Anthony's preferred distance while 45% are near the rim (mostly to Chandler) and 33% go towards 3-pointers, where the slow-footed Novak has feasted on open shots, scoring at least 15 points in three of four Lin starts.
Their passes often seemed forced, like the final, fitting symbol of the night's frustrations, one the Knicks offered with 4:30 to go in the game: Lin threw a pass to Anthony, who was just inches away, out of bounds, leading to glum faces and hands on knees.
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