Sports: Man of the Hour: Jeremy Lin

Well you heard it right, the New York Knicks’ third-string pointguard Jeremy Lin is surprisingly leading his team to a mini three-game roll this past week after the Harvard-educated sentinel of American-Taiwanese/Chinese decent scored 20+ points in his team’s last three winning outings.

For the record, the relatively unknown Lin is a product of the Harvard Crimson men’s basketball team (2006-10) who was undrafted in the National Basketball Association in 2010 but played for the Golden State Warriors during the 2010-11 season where he averaged a forgettable 2.6 points per outing in 29 games with the team.

After his rookie year with Golden State, the undrafted free agent was waived by the Warriors immediately at the start of training camp after the 2011 NBA lockout where he was eventually claimed off waivers by the Houston Rockets.

However, even before he could see action in a Rockets uniform, Lin was once again waived this time by Houston a day before Christmas Day (NBA opening). New York, on the other hand, claimed the 23 year-old 6-3 guard off waivers and signed him on December 27 of last year after injuries to rookie guard Iman Shumpert and Mike Bibby.

After a few games as a Knick, Lin was relegated to a spot in the Erie Bayhawks lineup of the D-League where he scored a triple-double of 28 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists against Maine on January 20 in the team’s 122-113 triumph. Three days later, he was back in the Knicks’ lineup.

Lin has been a consistent performer for Knicks Coach Mike D’Antoni in the wins against New Jersey, Utah and Washington. He had 25 markers in New York’s 99-92 victory over the Nets last February 4 and followed this up with another scintillating performance versus the Jazz with his 28 points and eight dishoffs.

And just last Thursday, Lin connived with Tyson Chandler in leading the Knicks to a 107-93 road victory over the Wizards at the Verizon Center in Washington. He scored 23 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field on top of 10 assists and 5-of-6 success from the stripe in 36 minutes as a starter for D’Antoni.

In New York’s 99-88 triumph over the visiting Utah Jazz last February 6 (US time), Lin romped off with a career-high 28 markers in his first start in a Knicks uniform. Although he had eight turnovers during the match, Lin compensated his miscues with eight feeds in 45 minutes of action, the most by a Knicks player during the game after Carmelo Anthony got sidelined and played only six minutes and scored two points.

The former Warriors reserve guard is actually one of four Knicks pointguards in the roster after Bibby, Toney Douglas and the recently signed Baron Davis with shooting guards Bill Walker, Landry Fields and Shumpert also in the backcourt rotation. With this kind of guard-laden roster, Lin’s heroics (and bigger playing time as well!) is one for the books thereby boosting his stock in the process.

Prior to Lin’s surprise showings which netted for the Knicks three triumphs in a row, New York lost to Boston at the TD Garden, 91-89, as the sophomore guard saw action for only seven minutes and finished with two points in making his pair of charities (100%) while missing all his three shots from the field. The Knicks were 8-15 after that setback at the hands of the Celtics.

Right now, the Knicks are half a game outside of the Top 8 in the Eastern Conference with an 11-15 win-loss record, behind No. 8 Milwaukee (11-14). New York is 6-7 at the Madison Square Garden and 5-8 (win-loss) on the road with the Atlantic Division ballclub hosting the Los Angeles Lakers (14-11) at home this Saturday.

As for “the newest kid on the block”, Lin’s greatness will be tested further in the next couple of crucial games for the underachieving Knicks after he averaged 25.3 points in New York’s last three victories including timely assists which gave star players like Chandler, Anthony and even Amare Stoudemire the chance to score for their offensive-minded quintet en route to a possible postseason appearance.*
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