Jeremy Lin’s Game-Winner Lifts Knicks Over Raptors As Linsanity Continues

By comparison, the first 20 Knicks games of the season -- the “pre-Lin” era -- averaged a 1.81 rating. The games since Lin joined the team (before Tuesday night, at least) have averaged 3.08.

For all news and information regarding Linsanity and the New York Knicks, please visit Posting and Toasting. For updates and perspective on the Toronto Raptors, head on over to Raptors HQ.

If anyone is lagging behind on their Wednesday morning NBA news, Jeremy Lin went wild again on Tuesday night. The New York Knicks point guard wasn’t quite as impressive as most have come to expect, considering he turned the ball over eight times against the Toronto Raptors, but all was forgiven when he nailed the game-winning three-pointer with less than one second left to play.

Lin finished the game with 27 points and 11 assists to go along with the abnormal amount of giveaways, but it was his final three-point bucket that everyone will remember. It personified Linsanity and luckily for those that weren’t able to watch in real-time (video of the play is included here), Posting and Toasting’s Seth Rosenthal walked everyone through the final moments in his excellent game recap.

Lin was interviewed at courtside immediately following the victory, where he was able to give his thoughts on the game as well as heap plenty of praise on his teammates. Check out the video below to see more of the unadorned, self-effacing charm that makes Lin so likable beyond his immense skills on the basketball court. The video features a fun cameo as well. Take a look:

The Knicks are still undefeated in the Lin era. One wonders how much longer this level of ridiculousness can continue.

Before the start of the comeback, the Knicks trailed by 17 points at one point in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, they trailed by as many as 12 points. Jose Calderon had a very good night statistically, shooting 11-17 from the floor as he put up 25 points, nine assists and seven rebounds, but he failed to contest Lin’s game-winning three-point shot. Additionally, none of Calderon’s points came in the fourth quarter

With the Raptors leading 87-84, Lin took the ball to the bucket, drew a foul and made his shot with 1:05 remaining in the fourth quarter. He made the free throw to tie the game, and that was followed by a Knicks stop at the other end. The following New York possession resulted in an Iman Shumpert miss, but Tyson Chandler was able to grab the offensive board and kick the ball back out. That set up Lin for his big moment and he drained the game-winner over Barbosa.

With the Knicks down with under 90 seconds to go, Lin went to the rim, got fouled, and converted both the shot and the free throw for a three-point play. On the Knicks’ next possession, he nailed the game-winning three. Video is after the jump.

Hat-tip to @pbump