Jeremy Lin got a huge morale booster from Charlotte Hornets team owner and basketball legend Michael Jordan, which he eventually used as inspiration to help his team win against the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Hornets acquired key players during the offseason like veteran forward Nicolas Batum and first-round pick Frank Kaminsky. But for Jordan, Lin is their most important acquisition heading into the 2015-16 NBA season.
Lin, who played for the Los Angeles Lakers last season, signed a two-year deal worth $4.3 million with the Hornets in July after the Purple and Gold squad decided to go into a different direction.
Jordan believes that his team made a good decision is signing Lin, who made a name for himself in the league after his well-publicized "Linsanity" moments during his stay with the New York Knicks in 2012. The Hall of Famer believes that Lin's skillset will be a huge boost to the Hornets in the upcoming season.
"We just got Jeremy Lin, who I think is going to be our biggest acquisition," Jordan said, Xinhua News Agency reported. "His penetration, his shooting capability, his point guard savvy, he can really pass the basketball, his energy about the game of basketball something."
After Jordan made the interesting remarks, Lin immediately proved why the six-time NBA champion is high on him, helping the Hornets score a 113-71 blowout win over the Clippers on Wednesday at Mercedez-Benz Arena in Shanghai, China.
Lin played in just 17 minutes but the savvy point guard posted 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field, including a 3-for-3 clip from beyond the arc. The former Harvard University standout also grabbed five rebounds for the Hornets. After the game, Lin said that Chinese fans in Shanghai gave him a huge motivation.
"I was in the zone after the first 3-pointer went in, I felt all the shots would go in," Lin said via ESPN. "It was such a fun trip. I got to show my teammates China, my culture. And we're excited to go home and get some rest."
During their 104-96 win against the Clippers on Sunday at Shenzhen Universidae Center, Lin also had a solid night, racking up 16 points on top of four assists and three rebounds off the bench.
Lin traces his roots to Taiwan as both of his parents are from that country, but his grandparents were born and grew up in mainland China, ESPN reported. Lin enjoyed tremendous support from the crowd, receiving huge cheers when he was introduced as one of the starters and when he addressed the Chinese crowd in Mandarin before the game.
