Knicks vs Raptors: Jeremy Lin's Game Winner Proves New York is a Title Contender

With each passing day, the legend of Jeremy Lin continues to grow. His latest heroic effort came on Tuesday night against the Toronto Raptors. His game-winning shot will be the catalyst for the New York Knicks to make a championship run. 

The Knicks were down by 15 points in the third quarter, but the always cool-under-pressure Lin did what he had to in order to make sure that his first loss would not come against one of the NBA's worst teams. 

As Mitch Lawrence of the New York Daily News wrote, it has taken a little over a week for Lin to earn the full trust of his coaches and teammates. That trust is why he was able to stand at the top of the key with less than 10 seconds to play before taking the final shot against Toronto.

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From when it all started against the Nets at the Garden 10 days ago until now, it’s reached the point where D’Antoni is perfectly fine with Lin standing alone at the top of the key and hoisting up the biggest shot of the night. Although he did have to admit, reflecting on the game-winner, “There was plenty of doubt.”

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Lin is not a perfect player right now, though you would be hard-pressed to find someone that would argue against that. He still turns the ball over too much as a point guard--his assist-to-turnover ratio during these last five games is less than 1.5-to-1. 

But if you just look at those numbers, you are missing out on everything he has been doing for this team. He has brought a confidence and swagger to the backcourt that has been missing all season. His passing ability makes it possible for everyone on the offense to make plays. 

For the first time since Lin had his breakout game, he got to play alongside Amar'e Stoudemire. Stoudemire did struggle, scoring 21 points on just 8-for-22 shooting, but with everything he is dealing with you had to expect him to start slowly. 

As long as Stoudemire is able to get back to being the player we know him to be, Carmelo Anthony returns and adjusts to the new Lin-led offense, the Knicks are going to do some special things. 

They aren't better than the Chicago Bulls or Miami Heat, and probably are the sixth-best team in the Eastern Conference on talent alone. But as we saw on Tuesday night, with Lin running the point, all things are possible for this team. 

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