Tim Hardaway Jr. and Mike Scott of the Atlanta Hawks collide with Jeremy Lin of the Charlotte Hornets. (Photo : Getty Images/Streeter Lecka)
The NBA and its officials were hit by a serious allegation of racial bias towards Charlotte Hornets point guard Jeremy Lin on April 5. However, the league has finally responded and presented evidence of equality using statistics.
A 48-year-old mother from San Jose, California named Hsiu-Chen Kuei started all of this by uploading a video on YouTube. It shows different clips of Lin getting fouled hard and hit in the face without any flagrant fouls getting called.
The six-and-half-minute video has gone viral with Kuei saying that the Asian American point guard is a victim of racial bias from NBA referees. It has reached countries like China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, per the New York Times.
The video has also been seen by Lin himself and has commented on the controversy. He's just grateful that fans care about him and is doing something about it by calling the attention of the NBA.
Jeremy Lin thanks fan create video about his non-call flagrant foul, hope the league can review it & get more calls pic.twitter.com/74jDgC4fC9
— Dennis Ginobili (@manu77728) April 10, 2016
"I'm just thankful the fans are trying to do something about it, and trying to push the league to at least review some of the stuff. What happened on the film is exactly what happened," Lin said in the video.
On the other hand, the NBA released a statement regarding the allegations via their official website and presented evidence including stats backing up the non-calls made by their officials. The league mentioned that they used their officiating database in determining if referees have made any racial bias when Lin is playing.
It is also noted in the statement that the NBA Basketball Operations reviews the fouls called during a game and determine if it can upgraded or downgraded. After an assessment, the league then decides what penalty will be given to the particular offender.
As for what the stats are indicating, Lin ranks number 21 for the most number of drives to the basket with 1,537 in the past three seasons. NBA guards that are ahead of him in that category include Reggie Jackson, Tony Parker, Tyreke Evans, Ty Lawson, Kyrie Irving and Victor Oladipo.
Even though Lin had not drawn any flagrant fouls, he is drawing fouls at the seventh-highest rate. The NBA added that the frequency of flagrant fouls in the league is one in every 500 fouls. You can watch the controversial video below.
