NBA: Lin says he became obsessed with 'trying to be Linsanity'

Point guard Jeremy Lin says he tried to do too much in his first season with Houston and was pressing so much to help the Rockets that they lost faith in him.

"I became so obsessed with becoming a great basketball player ... trying to be Linsanity, being this phenomenon that took the NBA by storm," Lin told a crowd of about 20,000 at a youth conference in Taipei, Taiwan.

"The coaches were losing faith in me; basketball fans were making fun of me. ... I was supposed to be joyful and free, but what I experienced was the opposite. I had no joy, and I felt no freedom."

Lin signed a three-year, $25 million contract with the Rockets before last season after he emerged as a sudden star with the New York Knicks and Linsanity swept through the NBA during the 2011-12 season.

"I was ready to invigorate the entire city of Houston," he said. "I was supposed to save Houston basketball."

Instead, Lin battled injuries and inconsistent play last season, averaging 13.4 points and 6.1 assists per game. - Reuters