Knicksnow

By Jonah Kaner

Jeremy Lin, people.

It’s hard to imagine that the first NBA player of Taiwanese-descent, who graduated from Harvard and went undrafted, could make such an impact for the Knicks, but Jeremy Lin razzeled and dazzled in front of the MSG crowd, Saturday and Monday nights.

On Saturday against the Nets, Jeremy had a career night, across the board.  In 36 minutes of playing time, Lin scored 25 points, on 10-19 shooting, grabbed 5 rebounds and dished out 7 assists.  Seemingly out of nowhere, Jeremy Lin played like a star point-guard.

Many fans believed this to be a one-time showing, but Lin came to play, once again, on Monday.

Against the Jazz, Lin played nearly the entire game. D’Antoni kept him in the game for 45 of the 48 possible minutes, jokingly saying after the game, "I was riding Jeremy like Secretariat”. In the 45 minutes on the floor, Lin played superbly. He scored 28 points, a new career high, on 10-17 shooting, grabbed 2 rebounds and dished out 8 assists, also a new career high.  Also, just to mention, Jeremy set up multiple players with fantastic looks, but the players missed the layups.  Had they connected, Lin would have been credited with at least four more assists, giving him a nice double double.

Now, what really stood out to me, in both games, was his ability to run the pick-and-roll, as well as his knack of finding his teammates at the rim.

Against the Nets, 6 of Lin’s 7 assists came at the rim.  With players like Tyson Chandler and Amar’e Stoudemire underneath the basket, Jeremy Lin is able to penetrate and just hand the ball off, or run the pick-and-roll, with talented finishers on the other end.

Jeremy’s ability to run the pick-and-roll is second to no active guard currently on this Knicks team.  He can throw an alley-oop, which he did with Chandler multiple times against the Nets; he can take the ball to the hoop, when the roll-man isn’t open; and he can drive and kick out for the open jumper, helping Novak nail some big shots against the Jazz. Lin has so many possibilities when running the pick-and-roll, that he is quickly becoming one of the most dangerous pick-and-roll handlers in the league.

According to MySynergySports, as a pick-and-roll ball handler, Jeremy Lin is averaging 1 point per possession, which is currently good for 8th in the entire league.  Also, a notable statistic is that he has four and-1’s, as the ball handler, so far this season.

From the limited time we’ve seen Lin play, he’s shown the ability to run the offense, while using his lethal pick-and-roll abilities, as well as find his own shots, whether they come in transition, on a drive to the hoop, or as a pick-and-roll handler. There is no question that he has shown some impressive skills, and considering that he will continue seeing a lot of minutes at the starting point-guard position, Lin is an excellent option for a waiver wire pickup, in fantasy basketball.

Next week, we’ll focus more on fantasy basketball, so if you have any questions you’d like to ask, please email them to NYKSocial@msg.com.

For more from Jonah Kaner, visit TheKnicksWall.com.