We are, as Kevin Costner, as Jim Garrison, says in “JFK,” through the looking glass, people. White is black. Up is down. Upside-down is rightside up. Digital is analog. Fire is ice. Day is night.
Jeremy Lin is an NBA phenomenon.
More, he is a pop culture marvel. A reporter walked through the Garden stands Friday night solely to compute the percentage of Asians among the 19,783 there for the Knicks-Lakers game (His guess: 3-4 percent). Orders for No. 17 jerseys are threatening to tie up phone lines and snarl Internet connections.
Here’s something for you: Jeremy Lin was born in 1988, which was the Year of the Dragon. It is now 2012 — yes, the Year of the Dragon and, better, he was recalled from the D-League on Jan. 23 — Chinese New Year.
According to ChineseZodiac.com, children born under this fifth position in the Chinese zodiac are “driven, unafraid of challenges, and willing to take risks. They’re passionate in all they do and they do things in grand fashion.” Check. Check. Check. Check.
“Unfortunately, this passion and enthusiasm can leave Dragons feeling exhausted,” and if you’ve seen Lin in the third and fourth quarters of games, he’s like a basketball Jim Brown, looking on the verge of collapse before driving to the basket again, preferably with bookend 7-footers ready to do the Malachi Crunch on him.
All of this is endlessly fascinating and fun.
Soon enough, we will be forced to ponder the larger matters at hand: What happens when the varsity comes back?
You have heard plenty of folks get carried away by what Lin did in his first week as a Knicks regular, by the fact he did almost all of this without the looming presence of two-thirds of the Knicks’ Big Three. Amar’e Stoudemire has missed all four of Lin’s starts, mourning the death of his brother. Carmelo Anthony missed all but six minutes of those victories over the Jazz, Wizards, Lakers and Timberwolves, tending to his balky groin. There are some, caught up in this giddy moment, the Knicks on a five-game win streak after last night’s frantic 100-98 comeback win in Minnesota, who think: why not leave well enough alone?
That’s absurd, of course. But the elephant in the room is this: How will Melo-Mare adjust to having this shiny new co-star?
Stoudemire will benefit immediately because, even if it’s premature to draft those Lin-as-Steve Nash comps just yet, he definitely does mimic Nash’s skill sets. And those talents all but ushered Stoudemire into the NBA and elevated him to one of its most dangerous offensive weapons. Two born pick-and-rollers running the pick-and-roll? When the lab opens Tuesday in Toronto, it ought to be fascinating to watch.
It’s Anthony that folks worry about, and maybe that’s fair because the offense has stalled often this year with the ball in his hands, and maybe that’s unfair because so many of those possessions featured Toney Douglas (and no piling on him; he’s not a natural point guard) dribbling aimlessly for 15 seconds before starting the offense — which too often meant tossing the ball to Anthony and getting out of the way.
With Lin, Anthony doesn’t have to worry about setting anyone else up. He only has to worry about his role in the offense. It’s a much better fit.
“It’s like when we had Chauncey [Billups],” Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni said Friday. “Chauncey had the ball in his hands a lot. Melo had it a lot. Melo is one of the best pick-and-roll guys. … Hopefully now we have two of the best. I only see it helping. I don’t see it as a problem. There will be some adjustments on both parts, but I think it’ll work.”
Those who dismiss Anthony as an irredeemable gunner have short memories, they forget he elevated every one of his teammates during Syracuse’s run to the 2003 NCAA title, conveniently omit he was an indispensable — and unselfish — element in Redeem Team’s dash to gold at the Beijing Olympics three years ago.
If anything, his track record screams that he, as much as anyone, will embrace having Lin as a teammate. To which he undoubtedly will hear a righteous roar of rebuttal:
You better.
mike.vaccaro@nypost.com
HIDDEN DRAGON
Maybe a higher power is orchestrating the meteoric rise of Jeremy Lin, who is of Chinese descent.
* Lin was born in 1998, the Year of the Dragon.
* Chinese “dragon” babies are said to be destined for success.
* Lin was recalled by the Knicks from the Erie BayHawks on Jan. 23, 2012 — the Chinese New Year
* 2012 is a Year of the Dragon