5 days ago
"He was like, 'Dude I couldn't believe you did that'" - Jeremy Lin recalls how Kobe Bryant acknowledged his iconic 38-point MSG game
"He was like, 'Dude I couldn't believe you did that'" - Jeremy Lin recalls how Kobe Bryant acknowledged his iconic 38-point MSG game originally appeared on Basketball Network.
It had been two years since that unforgettable night at Madison Square Garden — the night Jeremy Lin exploded for 38 points against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers.
By the time Lin arrived in L.A. as Bryant's teammate, the Linsanity wave had already crested. The hype had faded, the headlines cooled. But the memory of that February night still lingered — especially between the two men at the center of it.
When Lin finally got to wear the purple and gold and walk into that locker room, the moment came — quiet, but unforgettable.
When things come full circle
Lin still remembers the car ride, the small talk that morphed into something much more. He'd waited for this kind of moment, and when it arrived, it was all the sweeter for how understated it was.
"When we were teammates he just briefly mentioned it," Lin recalled in an interview with GQ Sports. "He was like, 'Dude I couldn't believe you did that. And after you did that, that's when I had a lot of respect for you.'"
For any player, those words would carry their own weight. Coming from Kobe, a man whose respect had to be earned the hard way, it was no small compliment. Lin had shown up at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 10, 2012, with the world watching No. 24 in purple.
But it was the rising Asian basketball sensation who stole the show, hitting pull-up jumpers, attacking the rim and finishing with a career-high 38 points in a 92-85 Knicks win. The Garden roared every time he touched the ball, and Bryant, though visibly frustrated that night, never dismissed what he saw.
Lin admitted he was stunned when Bryant brought it up years later, in that casual yet disarming way only Kobe could manage.
"I was like, okay wow that was really impressive," Lin said of the exchange. "So we did talk about it afterwards."
In that instant, it was clear the game had come full circle for respect of a legend
The first few weeks of Lin's stint with the Lakers felt surreal.
Not just because of the bright lights of Staples Center or the expectations of donning a jersey with all that history stitched into it, but because every day meant sharing the floor with the man he'd once lit up under the most unforgiving spotlight in sports.
He came into the Lakers locker room a bit older and certainly wiser than the kid who'd sprinted through defenses in New York. But there was still that glimmer of the underdog in him. The hunger never left.
Bryant's comment was brief but revealing and a rare peek into the way he kept mental notes about everyone who crossed his path. Lin's night at the Garden wasn't just a fluke in Bryant's eyes.
Even though the Lakers at that time were a team trying to find itself again, Lin took pride in the small moments. Moments like watching Bryant command the respect of the room, even when his body began to betray him. Moments like hearing that quiet acknowledgment of what Lin had done on that snowy night in Manhattan.
It spoke to something larger than just basketball — the recognition of a battle well fought, of someone stepping into their moment when the world least expected it.
Lin would later say the memory of Kobe's words meant more than he could have ever said in that moment. For a kid who'd gone undrafted, cut more than once, and nearly faded into obscurity before Linsanity — that respect felt like validation.
By the time their time as teammates ended, Lin had learned plenty more from Bryant — about preparation, mental toughness, and owning your moment when it comes.
But nothing quite matched that quiet car ride, that short exchange, that unmistakable feeling of a circle being closed. Though they didn't linger on the subject, Lin walked away knowing he'd left a mark. And that Kobe, in his own way, had let him know story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 3, 2025, where it first appeared.
