“He was extremely happy,” Ho said. “He was overwhelmed with everything at that time.”

Two nights after Lin’s breakout against the Nets, he got his first opportunity as a starter against the Jazz. Once again, he exceeded expectations, piling up 28 points and eight assists to secure his spot in the lineup.

But following the contest, it would be hard to tell that Lin’s life had changed irrevocably. He did not go out partying; he did not seek out media attention; and he declined to spend time with the celebrities who wanted to meet the new sensation.

Instead, Lin met with Ho and Wu, as he had done all through college. The three chatted outside of a Papaya Dog take-out restaurant until the wee hours of the morning—not about the fact that Lin was quickly taking the world by storm, but about Ho’s work with the NFL in China.

It was typical Lin, his friends said.

“It was never about him. The last thing he wanted to talk about was basketball or himself,” Wu said. “He wanted to hear about us.”

When Lee called Lin, he noticed, “Nothing’s changed. Our relationship is still very much the same. If I was living under a rock, I would have no idea this was going on by talking to him.”

Lin is changing the attitude on the Knicks—in New York, in Asia, maybe even the whole world. But the world seems not to have changed Lin a bit.

“Who you see in the media, the interviews, is Jeremy Lin,” Wu said. “This is who he is.”

—Staff writer Jacob D. H. Feldman can be reached at jacobfeldman@college.harvard.edu.