New York Knicks fans don’t know where he came from, but Jeremy Lin has exploded into an amazing force at the point guard position over the past two games.
On Saturday, with 3:35 to go in the first quarter, Lin came off the bench to lead the Knicks to a 99-92 win over the New Jersey Nets and Deron Williams. He ultimately played 36 minutes, scored 25 points (10/19 FG, 5/7 FT), dished off seven assists, grabbed five rebounds and had two steals, to go with only one turnover.
Coach Mike D’Antoni was happy with Lin finally providing a point guard presence on the Knicks roster (despite being the third-stringer previously):
“The biggest thing is, he’s got a point guard mentality,” said D’Antoni.
The Harvard graduate, after jumping from the Golden State Warriors, to the Houston Rockets, to the Knicks, has been impressing more than just his coach.
“He has been breaking down guys in practice for a while now,” Tyson Chandler said. “We were saying at halftime he just needs to play more minutes.”
“He won the game for us,” Carmelo Anthony said.
And then D’Antoni decided to start Lin at the point against the Utah Jazz last night. Lin repaid the faith as he led the Knicks to a 99-88 victory.
In 45 minutes, Lin recorded 28 points (10/17 FG, 7/9 FT), eight assists and two steals, however did blemish that line with eight turnovers. He scored on a variety of drives to the basket, showing a quick first step and an ability to absord contact and finish with both hands. He also mixed it up with some jump shots and an array of great passes in the lane to the likes of Chandler.
Check out one of Lin’s amazing drives:
Of course, the Taiwanese animators at Next Media Animation were over the moon with Taiwanese-American Lin’s emergence and honoured his 25 point Nets performance with one of their famous animations:
The question is, where does Lin go from here? At 200 pounds and 6’3″, the guy has proven that he is stocky and strong enough to play the NBA game. He has a quick first step, however how long will he surprise opponents for now that he has had two huge back-to-back games? It will certainly be interesting to watch on Wednesday as the Knicks take on the Washington Wizards, presumably with Lin at the point again. Could he be the long-term answer at the point for the Knicks?
Projecting a long way down the track, could Lin be voted to the NBA All-Star team in 2013 on the back of some Asian support? I know a huge number of my Asian friends are excited about a possible NBA successor to Yao Ming.
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