38 at the Garden, a documentary about Jeremy Lin and the “Linsanity” era premiers tonight on HBO.
The title of the documentary is a reference to Lin’s 38 points during a game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Madison Square Garden in 2012. The performance came after Lakers legend Kobe Bryant claimed he did not know who Lin was.
According to HBO’s website, Frank Chi and produced by Travon Free and Samir Hernandez. It “chronicles the extraordinary ascendance of point guard Jeremy Lin during his landmark 2012 season with the New York Knicks.”
The documentary is not just about Lin’s success in the NBA. Chi made sure the film focused on how important Lin’s story was to the Asian American community. Comedian, writer and basketball fan Hasan Minhaj appears in the documentary to discuss Lin’s impact on the Asian American community.
“Jeremy was not going to do a movie about Linsanity just recounting it and what happened on the court, even if it’s 10 year later. That’s not something I was interested in making and neither was Jeremy,” Chi said in an interview with New York Daily News. “We wanted to make something that took the story and put it in the context of the people who freaked out about it the most.”
38 at the Garden premieres tonight at 9 p.m. on HBO.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
Happy Lunar New Year. We are now 35% of our goal of meeting our $5,000 matching grant challenge with less than 11 full days to go. Every donation will be matched dollar for dollar through February 16 up to $5,000. All donations will go toward fully funding an editor position at AsAmNews and to support our reporting. You can make your tax-deductible donations here via credit card, debit card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Venmo. Stock donations and donations via DAFs are also welcomed.
Please also follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and X.