Former NBA star Baron Davis recently shed light on how Carmelo Anthony reacted to the incredible “Linsanity” craze that swept the Knicks. During an interview on the Bootleg Kev podcast, Davis described the situation as some “weird ****” due to the dynamics at play.
Davis explained that the team was riding a tremendous wave of success when Jeremy Lin’s “Linsanity” took off. However, Anthony was injured during that period and missed the initial surge. When he returned, he found himself overshadowed by Lin, who had become the biggest star in the NBA practically overnight.
The situation created a sense of tension within the team. Davis noted that despite the media frenzy around Lin, the Knicks still considered it “Melo’s team.” This clash of narratives and the question of sustainability caused some unease and impacted the team’s chemistry on the court.
“He was bigger than Melo, media-wise,” Davis said, via HoopsHype. “Yeah, and so it did create a little like, “This **** is not real.” Like, we can’t live in this, is it sustainable or not? Yeah, bro, we can’t live in this. But, like, we should be living in it. But I think it started to create tension in the way we play. I feel like because it’s still Melo’s team, Melo is still the dog, you know what I mean?”