New HBO Documentary Chronicles Jeremy Lin’s Landmark 2012 NBA Season

It has been over a decade since Jeremy Lin blew up the basketball world with one of the most phenomenal performance streaks in NBA history. But we here at RADII have not forgotten, nor have his fans, teammates, or, indeed, HBO.

On October 11, the subscription network that brought the world hit series like Game of Thrones, The Wire, and Curb Your Enthusiasm dove into the Jeremy Lin saga of the 2011-2012 New York Knicks season that came to be known as ‘Linsanity’ with a short film titled 38 At The Garden.

Directed by filmmaker Frank Chi (RBG, 2018), the appropriately timed 38-minute film features Lin’s former Knicks teammates Tyson Chandler and Iman Shumpert, as well as several Asian-American actors and media personalities, including Hasan Minaj, Ronnie Chieng, Lisa Ling, and Jenny Yang.

38 At The Garden examines not only the phenomenon of Linsanity but also the cultural impact of Jeremy Lin 10 years later, against the backdrop of a nation plagued by a rise in anti-Asian violence amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The short documentary, named after one of Lin’s most memorable performances — a 38-point night against Kobe Bryant’s Lakers at Madison Square Garden, initially premiered at New York City’s 2022 Tribeca Film Festival in June.

On the red carpet for the event, Lin said he was “blown away,” adding that the film is “about different groups of people coming together, uniting and moving forward.”

Lin defies the inaccurate and baseless stereotypes applied to Asians in America, and his performance inspired the Asian community in a way that goes beyond athletics.

Or, as Minaj puts it in the documentary trailer: “This moment, it broke the matrix for us.”

Lin led his Palo Alto high school basketball team to a state championship and went unrecruited for college ball. He broke Ivy League basketball records as a Harvard athlete and went undrafted by the NBA. He was passed from team to team and nearly cut from the league before the streak changed everything.

The Jeremy Lin story is one of transcending adversity and boundaries around every corner, and Lin’s legacy on and off the court remains impactful even a decade later.

“On February 10, 2012, in the middle of a miraculous two-week stretch of basketball, the whole world watched as an undrafted point guard from Harvard University broke cultural barriers, played the game at the most elite level, and inspired fans and nonfans alike,” said producer Samir Hernandez.

“38 At The Garden tells the story of Jeremy’s ascent from anonymity to global superstardom and the cultural significance that he had, and it continues to have for both Asian Americans and Asians globally.”

But the celebrated athlete’s story is not over yet: Lin announced back in September that he would be joining the Guangzhou Loong Lions (广州龙狮) of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) in the upcoming season.

Cover image: screengrab via YouTube