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Linsanity sees encore in Taiwan

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Houston Rockets guard Jeremy Lin arrived in Taiwan on Friday to play in his parents' homeland.

The Rockets will face the Indiana Pacers in an NBA preseason game Sunday in Taipei -- a special occasion for the league's first American-born player of Taiwanese descent.

"I kind of see this as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," Lin told a packed news conference. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to come back and play an NBA preseason game here, where my parents were born and raised.

"Definitely, I am looking forward to it. It's a celebration in some sense."

The Rockets and Pacers traveled to Taipei from Manila, where Houston beat Indiana 116-96 on Thursday in the first NBA preseason game in the Philippines.

Taiwan is still in the throes of "Linsanity," with Lin T-shirts and related paraphernalia popular on this self-governing island of 23 million people, 100 miles off the China coast.

Rockets coach Kevin McHale said Lin learned last season about the grind of a full NBA season and praised him for the hard work he put in over the summer to improve his game.

"He worked really, really hard," McHale said. "I think he's going to get better and better."

Home to a professional basketball league of its own, Taiwan fits into the NBA's plans to expand its brand internationally. Retired Chinese star Yao Ming gave the league a massive lift in the world's largest single market.