Baron Davis and Draymond Green recall the 2012-13 Linsanity explosion with the Knicks, when Jeremy Lin's sudden stardom consumed every media outlet from CNN to the Weather Channel. Davis warned Kobe Bryant that Lin would "bust the Lakers a," while Green watched from the locker next to his as the hype took an emotional toll on the young guard.
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Mm-hmm.
And playing through that. First off, what was your point of view just on that whole thing? I went to Mike D'Antoni and I was like, yo, I need another week to come back. So that's how I started. 'Cause I couldn't, he was supposed to get cut. Remember he was supposed to get cut.
Yeah.
And I was supposed to get activated, but my back was messed up. And so it started with that. And then we lost to Houston and I was like, coach, you gotta play Jeremy Lin. He was like, you out your mind. He's the only guy that goes north and south in your offense. Tony Douglas this way, Iman Shumpert this way. And so if they go this way, nobody dives. So when Melo come up, Melo frustrated. I don't care who it is, you gotta find somebody to go north or south. You know what I mean?
Mm-hmm.
And he played Jeremy Lin in the Houston game. I think the fool had like 6 points, 4 rebounds, like in a steal, assist. But we got beat by 30.
Mm-hmm.
And I was like, see, Coach, like if you can get 4 in a reg— if you can get this just in a regular game while we're losing by 6 and 8, we'd be out, like we got enough. You know what I mean?
Mm-hmm.
And so Jeremy Lin locker was next to mine. So I got to witness the whole entire thing, bro. From the first game he balled to the next game he balled, like, It was like, we got his locker here, we had an empty locker here, and this my locker to where like I was getting dressed, bro, in like the damn near, in the bathroom. In the handicap stall, I had to hang my shit up. Bro, it was like 1,000 people in the locker room. I mean, you was hooping, right?
Yeah.
So you weren't, I don't know how y'all was looking at it, but he was on CNN, MSNBC. It was crazy. MTV, BET, the Weather Channel, VH1, they was all in there. 'Cause I kept having to move my seat out. I'm like, "Damn, what's the Weather Channel doing in here?" It's like, "Jeremy Lin, 'Make It Rain.'" Chinese, bro, so many China media, it was crazy. They had to move him to a booth press conference, like, granted. This is like maybe like 3 weeks before All-Star weekend. He is doing press conferences in a full room of people. Kobe came in town. Hey Kobe, don't let this dude bust your ass, he hot. You know what I mean? He hot, don't let him get you, bro. You know, Kobe like, "Psh, come on, BD." Not worried about none of that. I'm like, hey yo, he is going to kill you guys tomorrow. And I'm telling you this now, bro, just so when I come in here after the game, right, you not mad at me. So me and him at dinner, and this is all I'm talking about. No matter what Kobe is talking about, all I keep coming back to like, hey, Doc, he's going to bust y'all ass tomorrow and I'm going to show up in your locker room and I'm gonna be laughing. Bro, the Lakers come in town. Hey dude, he served the Lakers. And after the game, I went right down there. He was tight.
Hey dude.
Kobe was so tight. He was so tight. He was hot. 'Cause he didn't, you know what I mean? He didn't, you didn't know what to, like this kid had magic. It was just like, it was just some shit that you only see the greats have. You know what I mean? But you see people have these moments on 10-day contracts or like filling in for somebody. Like you see somebody have a great 1 or 2 weeks, but like, The attention and the level he was playing at was like ridiculous. And then we played Miami and LeBron and it was like, all right, we done with all this shit. It's over, they ended it. They ended it. Well, you being the veteran point guard on that team, what was y'all relationship? With Draymond Green?
Yeah.
Oh, we were super cool. Super cool. 'Cause remember, that was supposed to be my spot. I'm supposed to start, but now, He balling, so I'm like, "Oh shit, I'll come off the bench and lead." Me, JR, Shump, you know what I mean? No back. So we had a nice little bench mob that complimented it. So I was just, I was for him starting, 'cause I couldn't really, I didn't know how long I was gonna be able to make it through the season if my minutes were to increase.
Mm-hmm.
And so me playing 20 minutes a game right now, you know, for the second half of the season and get myself all the way right for the playoffs, that's all I was banking on. And so I needed him, you know what I mean? And we would work out together 'cause he was trying to get me right to come back to play.
Mm-hmm, yeah.
So I had a great relationship with him, you know. And you watch a lot of people see an opportunity.
Mm-hmm.
And a lot of people was trying to help him. And it was just like, I just think all that shit was just overwhelming. You know what I mean? It got real overwhelming. You know, for a dude who's never had media attention.
Yeah.
Like, bro, I don't think you could have handled it. Like, I couldn't have handled it. I definitely couldn't have handled it. You know what I mean? But like, you get a lot of media. I don't think you could have handled it. 'Cause it was just like, where are these people coming from?
Yeah.
You know what I mean? And it was like in the middle of the season and it was just, at some point this shit was gonna have to die out. But the media coverage wasn't dying out. You know what I mean? So it was a little dissension. 'Whose team is it?' You know what I mean? Like all the goofy shit. Like, fool, it's Melo, Amari, everybody team but Jeremy Lin. You know what I mean? Like we gonna rock with this Linsanity.
For sure.
You know, we gonna ride that way, but it definitely ain't his team. You know, and there was a little bit of confusion in that. I talked to Melo on About the Podcast, 'cause they had a, at a breakfast. All them fools, and we was in Milwaukee, and I passed by, I was like, "What y'all doing?" He was like, "Man, you know, we trying to figure it out." I was like, "Figure it out? Showtime, Showtime, Showtime. You, come over here with us. You balling, you balling, you about to get paid." But it's not Showtime. Bro, this is, you ain't built for what these dudes is built for. You know what I mean? But the type of year you having, we gonna rock with you. You know what I mean? Ain't gonna be no hate. We gonna love you. You know what I mean? We gonna protect you. We gonna learn. We gonna grow together. But these are your guys.
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