Jeremy Lin is a real-life Akira Sendoh!

The buzz surrounding Jeremy Lin Shu-How (林书豪) is making me excited about NBA matches again. I have not followed NBA games since the heydays of the Chicago Bulls, led by Michael Jordan at his prime.

For Japanese manga and anime fans of Slamdunk, do you find that Jeremy Lin is like a real-life version of Akira Sendoh (仙道)?

In case you are a Chinese living in Mars for the past days, Jeremy Lin is an American professional basketball player with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Lin is one of the few Asian Americans in NBA history, and the first American player in the league to be of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.

He was never offered an athletic scholarship, never drafted by the NBA. He was waived, dismissed, overlooked and undervalued. He went to Ivy League Harvard University instead and played basketball for them.

Yes, he is a Harvard graduate AND professional NBA player. Such people do exist.

Currently, he had 114 points in his short NBA career. He scored 134 in his last five games, including 109 in his first four starts—the most since the NBA-ABA merger of 1976-77.

When up against Kobe Bryant two days ago, Lin put up the best performance to date and guided the Knicks to an important 92-85 win over the mighty Los Angeles Lakers.

[youtube url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iWWFk6TX18″]

Linsanity was born.