Jeremy Lin posted a video on Thursday that captures how his game day routine in preparing, warming up, and recovering, which included setting the right mindsets and reading the Bible and praying.
"A Day in the Life: Game Day” is Lin's third short video posted on Youtube. The previous video was "The Last Pick." In the latest video, Lin begins by explaining the mindset that he carries as he journey through his career as a professional NBA player.
“I just keep reminding myself to be free of my own expectations and the pressures that a typical athlete faces, and I just try to remind myself [to] go out there and have fun, smile on the court, just be myself, be free and be really aggressive,” said Lin in the video filmed on day that Houston Rockets played Los Angeles Lakers on January 8, 2013.
“There is so much stuff that you need to do every day in order to maintain your physical health. My biggest thing is energy. If I have a lot of energy in my legs, I play more defenses, I get more steals, I run a lot more transitions, my jumpers tend not to be short,” said the six-foot-four guard. He said he emphasizes a lot on having enough energy in his legs to make sure that he can play the way that he wanted that night.
At 10 a.m., the video showed Lin doing practice shots at a morning shootaround. At 10:35 a.m., it was media-availability time.
Lin told an interviewer, “I think the key is to keep building, keep building, keep building, and it is great when you see hope and potential. Now, we started to kind of achieve the things that we have been talking about earlier. You know some of the games that we have let slip early in the season. Some of those are starting to close now, so it is really nice to see that.”
Upon finishing the morning practice, Lin went back to his apartment, where he ate an omelet and played his recently started hobby of playing the piano, followed by a four-hour nap. “Basically on game days, I try to do as much as nothing as possible pretty much until right before the game and I try to save all my energy,” he said.
After the nap, Lin shifts into game model, where he would spend around 30 minutes to an hour to read his Bible and pray about the game and what he wants to accomplish that night. The 24-year-old Chinese-American NBA player has been very vocal about his faith in God and attributing his rise to God’s guiding hands.
Around 4:28, Lin starts packing and heads to the Houston Arena.
While in his car, Lin said he would remind himself to “be free on the court, have fun on the court, and smile a lot when I am out there.” With that mindset, “everything will happen instinctually,” he said.
Upon arriving at the stadium, Lin begins his pre-game stretching and shooting practices.
“I tried to make sure that I play my game, and I feel that when I do that I will be alright,” he said. “I don’t have to worry who I’m necessarily going against. When I focus too much on the other person, I’d lose sight of what I need to do myself.”
Twenty minutes before the tipoff, Lin described that everything turns into business mode, where he would try to get a full-sweat. By the time the game begins, he would be done warming up and ready.
The video filmed Chandler, James, and Lin doing a special hand shake. Lin said the idea was proposed by Chandler and James saw it, so they thought that they made one together and do it before the tipoff.
“It’s pretty much a blur” as soon as the game begins, said Lin. Nothing would be on his mind besides the game. That night, Rockets defeated the Lakers with the score of 125-112. “If you have that mindset that you are going to be aggressive and just be yourself, everything comes a lot more natural and free.”
Around 9:04 p.m., the video showed Lin receiving cryogenic chamber therapy, where, according to Lin, nitrogen is pumped into a chamber encircling his body, making the temperature negative 107 degree Celsius, and then blood would rush to the heart, and when he comes out the blood would rush to the rest of the body, regenerating the worn body.
Around 9:45 p.m., another round of media interview was given, and then Lin headed to the airport to board the plane to New Orleans for a game the following day. Then, he thanked the viewers for following him.
The video ended with a Bible verse from 1 Corinthians 15:58 in white letters with black background. “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
