Five things to know about rising NBA star Jeremy Lin

Washington, Feb 12 (ANI): During Friday night's big game between the L.A. Lakers and the New York Knicks, Kobe Bryant told reporters that he didn't know the Knicks hot new point guard Jeremy Lin.

However, the 33-year-old professional basketball player's notion changed sometime between the 38 points Lin scored for his teammates and their 92-85 victory over the Lakers.

To help fans know more about the 23-year-old, People.com has broken down five things to know about Lin.

Firstly, Lin, whose parents emigrated from Taiwan to the U.S. in the '70s, is the first American player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent in the NBA. He is also the first Harvard alum to play in the league since Ed Smith's 11-game season for the Knicks in 1953 to 1954.

According to Sports Illustrated, Lin has brains, as before he took the NBA by storm, the California native ruled the Ivy League. He attended Harvard University, where he played basketball without the perk of an athletic scholarship.

"My G.P.A. was not a 4.2," People magazine quoted Lin as telling the San Francisco Chronicle last summer.

"That's been the rumour. It's not even possible. My friends have been absolutely killing me about that," he said.

Thirdly, he wants to be a pastor, and Tim Tebow's not the only athlete who brings his love of God to the game.

"I know there is a lot of temptation out there, and I have heard about the NBA lifestyle.

"I am not saying I am better than anybody else, but I am going to try to live the way I have always lived and try not to change just because I am in the NBA," he said.

Lin hopes to become a pastor and lead non-profit organizations either in the U.S. or abroad after playing basketball.

Fourthly, Lin has yet to reveal if he's on the market for a girlfriend, but one thing that is sure is that he is looking for a place to call his own. FOX Sports reports that Lin sleeps on the couch of his brother, who is a New York University dental student living on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

Lastly, Lin has Kobe's approval. Now that he knows Lin is a force to be reckoned with, Bryant had nothing but kind words for the man who outplayed him on the court.

'Players don't usually come out of nowhere," Bryant said.

"If you go back and take a look, his skill level was probably there from the beginning but no one ever noticed.

"It's a great story. It's a testament to perseverance and hard work. I am sure he has put in a great deal of work to always have that belief in himself. Now he has the opportunity to show it," he added. (ANI)