The scramble to find places to watch Lin play is particularly acute in Chinatown, which lacks the concentration of sports bars found in other parts of the city. Mr. Wong, who was a passionate recreational basketball player until he was slowed by injuries, hardly missed the Knicks during the first few weeks of the blackout because the team performed so poorly.

Thanks to the team’s disastrous record in recent years, Mr. Wong was expecting the season to fade into obscurity.

That changed on Feb. 4, when Lin played his first significant minutes against the Nets. Mr. Wong received a text message from a friend that “Lin was lighting it up.” Since then, he has had to find bars that carry televised Knicks games. He watched one game on a Web site, the legality of which is uncertain.

“Until Jeremy Lin started playing, I don’t think the blackout mattered much to me,” said Mr. Wong, who grew up in Chinatown. But “I’ve watched every game since then except for last night.”

Like other fans interviewed for this article, Mr. Wong is uncertain whom to blame for the blackout. But for now, Mr. Wong and other neighbors will remain basketball refugees in their own city because Verizon and DirecTV, which have agreements to show the MSG Network to their customers, are unable to install their services in Confucius Plaza.

Andy So, who was born in Chinatown and also lives in the apartment tower, has been cast out into bars to see Lin and the Knicks. When he heard that Lin was making his first start last week against Utah, he bought tickets to see him play.