I’m as amazed by Jeremy Lin as anyone else. Coming from pretty much nowhere to ring up five consecutive 20-points-plus games and lead (yes, lead) the New York Knicks to five consecutive victories.

His also is a story of multiculturalism, and demonstrates the global reach of the NBA.

Thus, I decided to write about Jeremy Lin for the Monday editions of The National.

You may find that comment piece here.

I recap Lin’s journey from high school in Palo Alto to his joining the Knicks, and his five-game run as a major contributor to the team. If you live in the U.S., you already know much of this.

He is, of course, huge around the NBA and exploded on the scene so suddenly and totally that he seems to have pushed the Super Bowl-champion New York Giants to the second rank of Gotham sports stories.

Two more sides to the Jeremy Lin business:

1. His story has so many facets that I barely even touched on his religious side. He is a devout Christian, and brings it up regularly, and if you have seen video of him being interviewed you know he will mention God inside of two minutes. In that way, he could be a sort of Tim Tebow of hoops, an avatar for muscular Christianity of the Tebow variety. Basically, once you get past the Asian-American thing and the Harvard thing and the undrafted/twice-waived/demoted-to-the-D-League things … well, then there’s his religion, too, and I suspect that will become a bigger story as we move along.

2. In the column I didn’t give my opinion of what happens next to him, and my hunch — which I hope is proved incorrect — is that he is due for some serious regression to the mean as opponents take notice of him. The questions about his game that remain to be answered: 1) Can he go to his left? 2) Can he play defense; 3) Is he a dependable perimeter shooter? and 4) What happens when noted ball-hog and ball-stopper Carmelo Anthony rejoins the Knicks? Can ‘Melo and a real point guard, like Lin, coexist on the floor?

This is a fascinating story, with many many layers, and is another aspect of what is one of the most interesting seasons in NBA history.