He's not quite a local boy made good, but he'll do, NBA sensation Jeremy Lin, born and bred in the US, is inspiring a feverish following in his ancestral home, a region craving true heroes. 

Lin, born 23 years ago in the US, only speaks halting Mandarin, but his triumphs with the New York Knicks are being hailed.

"Lin-Sanity, Coming from Behind to Score Five Wins in a Row," United Daily News roared across its front page after another successful weekend for Lin, the first US-born NBA player of Chinese descent.

Both the print and electronic media have pulled out all the stops to add to the adulation of the 1.91-meter tall Harvard graduate, citing every new achievement with relish.

The joy knew no bounds after point guard Lin's career-high 38 points over the weekend led the Knicks to victory, outshining LA Lakers' superstar Kobe Bryant.

Sports journalists have gone into overdrive to unveil new tidbits of Lin, interviewing his relatives and excavating long-forgotten examples of academic work that got him into Harvard.

The Lin craze has also set off new interest in basketball in Taiwan, which has only a semi-professional league, with thousands of players now heading for the courts in their precious spare time.

"I couldn't sleep last night. I just couldn't wait to play basketball," said 29-year-old Winston Lin, a local resident who spent several years in France and has so far been a soccer devotee.

"The past record suggests it's nearly impossible for Chinese players to survive in the NBA, unless you're 2.29-meter tall Yao Ming," said Michael Lee, deputy secretary-general to the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association.

"It's dominated by Westerners, and especially African-Americans, but Lin has overcome his natural restrictions and played smart as a point guard."

'Big brother' 

Lin's exploits have been witnessed by tens of millions of Chinese fans on state-run sports channel and, as of Wednesday, Lin had more than one million fans on his sina microblogging account. 

Yao Ming became one of China's most popular public figures on the back of his exploits as a trailblazer in the NBA, topping the Forbes China celebrity list for six years from its inception in 2004 for both his influence and earnings.  

Lin, who has described Yao as a "big brother" figure and played in the Shanghai giant's charity game in Chinese Taipei in 2010, has a long way to go to match that kind of NBA success and those kind of earnings.

To do so, he will have to compete with NBA luminaries like Lebron James and Kobe Bryant both on and off the court as top American professionals are now fixtures in Chinese advertising campaigns and frequently visit the country for promotional tours. 

Yao is a Shanghai native and was a stalwart of the national basketball team but Lin's parentage might not be enough of a draw for some in the increasingly sophisticated China market.

East Asian credentials 

Walker, though, pointed to American golfers Tiger Woods, whose mother is Thai, and Michelle Wie, whose parents are South Korean, as examples of athletes whose Asian roots have garnered them a strong following in the most populous continent.    

"Ethnicity can be very, very important," a Chinese netizen said. "People like to see one of their own doing very well, no matter where you are from, no matter where you are born." 

In Hong Kong, however, some were less than convinced of Lin's star quality. "I think it's because he's Asian, that he's getting so much attention," said one young basketball player, practising at Hong Kong's Wanchai Sports Center. "He's not that special compared to the black players in the US."

Hong Kong resident Paul, a keen basketball player in his spare time, said, "I actually don't think it's that impressive. He can't compare to Yao Ming. It's only been several games so we don't know if his fame will continue, so you have to wait and see him play more. There's potential, but there's nothing special about him."

While some in the Chinese mainland are reluctant to accept Lin's East Asian credentials, Taiwan's media has shown no such reticence and his exploits have shared the front pages of most newspapers.  

The coverage, however, has been as much about the reaction to him in the US media rather than about the player himself, as the region basks in the reflected glory of his sudden fame. 

"It is awesome that Lin has been added to a list of ace Chinese athletes who have contributed to making our days and our weekends in particular," the United Evening News opined in its Sunday edition

Unbeaten US boxer Floyd Mayweather has the same idea with some Hong Kong fans, he said the attention surrounding Lin is based on his racial heritage rather than his basketball exploits.

Lin is the first US-born NBA player of  Chinese heritage. His parents moved to the US in the 1970s while one of his grandmothers remained in China.

Mayweather commented on the "Linsanity" buzz around the New York Knicks guard who came off the bench from obscurity a week ago to spark a five-game win streak in the absence of stars Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony.

"Jeremy Lin is a good player but all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise," Mayweather said in a posting on his Twitter microblogging website.

Lin's unlikely rise to fame has captivated NBA fans worldwide, the Harvard economics graduate going undrafted by NBA teams and being cut in December by Golden State and Houston before landing a spot with the Knicks.

Reuters - AFP