He's been knocked down, tripped up, busted open and, now, even kicked while he's down-and that's all been during the course of a year.
Jeremy Lin has certainly seen his fair share of roughhousing since he rose to stardom last season off the bench for New York during his incredible run for the Knicks in February. With the added attention that the Asian American NBA hoops superstar has seen since the "Linsanity" phenomenon began on Feb. 4, 2012--when Lin scored 25 points against the then-New Jersey Nets--there has also been an added level of physical defense that he has taken on, as a result.
The latest? Courtesy of one Ryan Hollins, the seven-foot L.A. Clippers center who tripped up Lin Wednesday night in the second quarter of a 106-96 Clippers win over Lin's Houston Rockets. After Lin-ranked fifth in the league in steals with 1.91 steals per game-swiped the ball from Hollins, as Lin ran midway down the court, Clippers big man Lamar Odom nudged Lin, which caused Lin to lose balance.
As Lin swerved into Hollins' path, the Clippers center, who apparently has a reputation for cheap shots, was seen kicking Lin in the side, which caused Lin to fall to the ground, visibly shaken up, though he managed to get up and continue to play.
Though to be safe, Lin would be taking an X-ray on his right wrist after the foul.
"I think it's fine. It just hurts," he said after the game.
What made Hollins' kick-which resulted in a flagrant foul against him-that much more dangerous was considering that Lin, prior to that, had taken a hard spill on a foul as he drove to the lane and was clobbered going in for a layup, landing on his back and visibly struggling afterwards.
Lin has already had issues with his ankle this season, having sustained three ankle sprains which have caused him to miss games, in some instances. And in the offseason, he had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.
However, as bad as Hollins' spill was, it was only the latest in the number of bumps, bruises and cuts that Lin has received in the last year.
This particular foul came courtesy of ex-Knicks teammate Tyson Chandler during Lin's Dec. 17 return to Madison Square Garden, where Lin dropped 22 points and eight assists on the Knicks to lead the Rockets to a 109-96 blowout win.
This next one came during the Linsanity craze last season during a Feb. 29 home game against Cleveland, when Omri Casspi, double teaming Lin, brought down his left forearm swiping down hard across Lin's face, giving Lin a bloody nose, but not stopping the sensational then-new star from finishing with 19 points and 13 assists in a 120-103 Knicks win.
And then there was this one. On a night where Lin finished with eight points and seven assists in a Rockets 115-101 win over the Milwaukee Bucks on the road, Lin suffered a scare when he collided head-first with Bucks’ center Larry Sanders and sustained a cut on the left side of his head that required five stitches to close.
The fouls have been coming hard at Lin, who admitted in an interview earlier this season that he feels like opposing teams have been targeting him more after his remarkable run in New York, trying to test out what he’s made of.
But if anything is evident from the way Lin has continued to stay in games despite taking such hits and shake off ankle scares to continue being the starting point guard on the second-highest scoring offense in the NBA--Houston scores 106.1 points per game, second only to Oklahoma City-it's this; Lin can take a lickin', but apparently, he keeps on tickin'.
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