In 2012, Linsanity took the NBA world by storm and became a worldwide phenomenon. Jeremy Lin went from being a bench warmer to one of the most unstoppable players in the NBA during a 4-week period that captured the imagination of basketball fans.
But like every fairy tale, Linsanity also had an ending. And according to Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett , that phenomenon ended at the hands of the great Rajon Rondo in a game against the Boston Celtics .
"Remember when Jeremy Lin killed the league; seven, eight games went crazy?" Garnett said during an appearance on the "Knuckleheads podcast." "Do was up every day. 'P, come in, man. Y'all said Jeremy Lin, Jeremy Lin, goddamn. We used to have a little saying in the locker room 'Man, suck him off, ni–a. That ni–a trash.' 'Damn, Linsanity trash, Do?' 'That ni–a ain't s–t. Wait till I see this ni–a.' 'I'm ridin' with you. Nine five all day.' 'That ni–a ain't s–t. Wait till I see this ni–a."
Lin was an undrafted point guard who played college basketball at Harvard. After playing for the Golden State Warriors , he found a spot on the New York Knicks roster as the 4th point guard in their rotation. However, due to injuries, Lin slowly got his opportunity to prove his worth, and he made the most of that chance.
In his 12 starts before the All-Star break, Lin averaged 22.5 points and 8.7 assists per game with the Knicks posting a 9-3 record during that period. However, he suffered a knee injury in late March that sidelined him for the remainder of the season, which essentially ended Linsanity. However, KG claims that it was Rondo who ended Lin's run when the Knicks met the Celtics on March 4, 2012.
"Boy, we played New York. He wasn't even close, yo. He wasn't talking. He was in the zone. He ate dude. He ate Jeremy Lin, and he stopped that seven-game whatever. Well, he stopped it, and then dude went into like a little slide after that," Garnett added.
In that game, Lin was held to only 14 points on 6-16 shooting from the floor as the Knicks lost to the Celtics 111-115 in overtime. Rondo finished the game with a monster 18 points, 17 rebounds, and 20 assists triple-double performance that completely dominated Lin. That started a six-game losing streak for the Knicks.
However, when Lin was interviewed by Dwight Howard a couple of months back, he seemed to agree that his glorious run ended a couple of games before that Boston game.
"When the spotlight is on me, I get nervous. I start sweating…. I shrink. It's overwhelming for me. Linsanity was that times 100,000. Going into the Heat game, I had so much hype that everybody had me circled on their calendar. — Credit to Chalmers, the Big 3 and the Heat. That was the night everybody says Linsanity ended. Credit to them because they did that," said Lin.
Lin scored only 8 points on 1-for-11 shooting with 8 turnovers against the Heat. It was a worse performance from him than that Boston game, so that makes sense too. If he thinks that's the one, then that should be it. However, the Celtics game also made sense because not only did he struggle in that game, but Rondo also showed him what an elite stat line really is.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Sep 16, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
