By Larry Fine
(Reuters) - His university classmates may be thriving in law school, at brokerage houses and on the early rungs up the corporate ladder, but Jeremy Lin is blazing a trail as the sudden savior of the New York Knicks.
The point guard from Harvard, an elite college better known as a springboard to the U.S. presidency than to basketball success, has galvanized a struggling Knicks team and launched a craze dubbed "Linsanity" by New York's tabloids.
Lin, the first Taiwanese-American to play in the NBA, rose from obscurity to sublime winner by averaging 25.3 points and 8.3 assists in three victories that have captivated the city and
Asian-Americans.
Undrafted and cut by two other teams this season before signing with the Knicks, Lin got his chance because of injuries and admitted he was overwhelmed by all the attention.
"Things are changing so much and everyone wants to talk to me and my family, and we're very low-key people and private people so sometimes it's a little tough," the 23-year-old told reporters after practice on Friday.
Success has come so quickly to the NBA's latest rage, whose exploits have been called "Linsane" and the victory skein he directed a "Lin-ing Streak", that he does not yet have his own apartment, sleeping on the sofa of his brother, a graduate dental student at New York University.
Basketball experts have underestimated how talented Lin is.
The 6 ft 3in (1.91m) Lin was not recruited by any of the major U.S. college basketball powers despite leading Palo Alto High School (California) to a 33-1 record and the state championship.
He was twice named to the all-Ivy League team but went undrafted in 2010 by NBA teams.
"I've loved basketball ever since I was young," Lin said after a question in Chinese from an NBA China TV reporter. "That's all I really wanted to do was play basketball. That was the path. I just wanted to play as long as I could."
A groin strain to Carmelo Anthony and a leave granted to Amar'e Stoudemire after his brother was killed in a car crash, left the Knicks shorthanded and coach Mike D'Antoni decided to give Lin a look on the court.
With Lin in action, the Knicks came alive.
Using his cross-over dribble, court vision, passing skills and ability to drive to the hoop, the young guard was able to get his team mates involved and thrill the crowds.
"I always told myself coming into this year I wanted to be able to establish myself in the rotation, and not be a 12th or 15th guy on the team," Lin said. "That's what I felt I could do."
But D'Antoni said the jury was still out on how good Lin would be in the long run.
"We liked what we saw but weren't ready to give him the keys to the car," the coach said about his prospects.
"Three games is three games. But he has proven he has the ability to do be able to do those things.
"Not many people in the world can do it one time, and he's done it three times in a row. He can play. At what level we'll find out."
Lin said he was aware of all the buzz he has created, but was just trying to focus on playing the game.
Lin has won the respect of his team mates.
Fields, who also attended a top-ranked academic college, Stanford, said he had also been swept up by "Linsanity".
Center Tyson Chandler, who scored a season-high 25 points against Washington thanks to some deft passing from Lin, said Lin could take the acclaim in stride.
"Lin is a smart player. He's been in there watching a lot of film. I come in there and catch some film with him. We discuss different things, pick-and-rolls, options we see.
"The way he goes about things you would never know all of this is going on. He's just a solid guy. His mentality hasn't changed. He is the same guy that was coming here early fighting for a 10-day contract."
(Editing by Julian Linden)
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