Jeremy Lin: Linsanity Proves He's Perfect Fit for Knicks in Win over Raptors

With one shot—albeit a wide-open one against the lowly Toronto Raptors—Jeremy Lin endeared himself ever more with the NBA-loving masses and entrenched himself as the undeniable (present and foreseeable) future at the point guard position for the New York Knicks.

Linsanity was anything but perfect at the Air Canada Centre on Tuesday night. He missed 11 of his 20 shots and four of his 11 free throws and turned the ball over eight times, mostly on passes that were the right idea given the situation but were poorly executed nonetheless.

But he still led all players in the game with 27 points and 11 dimes while leading the Knicks back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter. He came back to upstage Jose Calderon, who appeared to have the upper hand in the point guard battle through the first three quarters.

That is, until Mike D'Antoni stuck Iman Shumpert on him and watched the rookie shut down the sneaky Spaniard.

Lin's defense wasn't particularly good, nor was his pick-and-roll rapport with Amar'e Stoudemire as natural as most had expected. STAT was productive, to be sure, with 21 points and nine rebounds, though he connected on just 8-of-22 shots and was blocked seven times by Raptors defenders.

But the blame for Stoudemire's so-so return doesn't belong entirely on Lin's shoulders, not when Lin can't box out defenders and shoot the ball for Amar'e on top of feeding him.

More importantly, the Knicks won the game, and Lin was the one who was primarily responsible for the final result, even if the road to victory was rockier than the Knicks might've preferred. Lin displayed tremendous physical and mental toughness to fight through the miscues and lead his team to victory, despite trailing for most of the game.

It wasn't always pretty for Lin—not with the occasional overdribbling and the errant passing and the inability to drive left with any confidence or authority—but it was effective and it kept New York's winning streak alive at six.

It was wide open, that last three-pointer, but someone had to knock it down. Jeremy Lin stepped up and did just that, showing the sort of mental fortitude that's come to define the New York point guard's ethos.

And for that, he'll continue to play, and the fans will continue to cheer, and the Knicks will continue to win.

Until they don't, at which point Linsanity will have to beat back the haters and the doubters all over again, though if this magical 10-day run is any indication, that shouldn't be too much of a problem for him.

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