Linsanity is gripping Greater Boston’s Chinese community less than a week before the sold-out Knicks-Celtics [team stats] showdown at the Garden, where Jeremy Lin will make his Boston debut as a newly minted NBA superstar.
“Everybody’s talking about it,” said Lewis Lai, 35, of Quincy, from his cellphone shop in Chinatown. “I know a lot of people, especially girls, who were never into basketball, but they watch it now just for him.”
“He’s handsome,” said Joyce Cheung, 24, of Quincy.
“I don’t get much excited by Yao Ming. I don’t know why. But I like this guy, Lin,” said Frank Wan, 78, of Waltham, who said the only basketball he used to watch on TV was Celtics games until Knicks starter Lin shot to stardom earlier this month. “Every time he shoots, he never misses. I am very proud.”
“We all support him,” said Yi Hu, 17, an exchange student from China.
Some parents are praising Lin, a Harvard University graduate, as a role model.
Jie Li, 39, of Melrose said about his sports-crazed 6-year-old boy, “I think he’s inspired. He really follows Jeremy Lin.”
“My 5-year-old (son) is even asking if can we move to New York to be Jeremy Lin’s neighbor,” said Chaoming Ying, 39, of Acton. “I said we can try.”
Some are skeptical of the sudden hype, however. Terry Chin, an eye doctor in Chinatown, predicts Lin’s success will be “short-lived.”
“It’s more media-driven than anything else,” Chin said. Of Lin’s potential to be a role model, Chin added, “If you canvas most Asian parents and ask they’d probably say no. … Their role models should be the doctors, the teachers, the social workers, the policemen.”
Still, there’s no ignoring Lin’s influence. Teresa Cheong, 24, who works at the Asian American Civic Association in Chinatown, was a casual Celtics fan who swayed over to the Knicks after Lin’s wins.
“It kind of reminded me of Yao Ming when he went up against Shaq,” said Cheong of Newton. “Definitely Asian-American athletes are coming up.”
Ticket prices to Sunday’s game on a popular scalping website ranged from $155 to $5,000 late last week.
Adam Smith contributed to this report.