Why Jeremy Lin's Breakout Performance Against Lakers Deserves 'The EPIC Award'

It may not compare to MVP honors, but Jeremy Lin will have the opportunity to earn some overdue recognition on this month's NBA Social Media Awards.

The awards highlight accomplishments that set the Twitter accounts and Facebook updates ablaze during the NBA season, taking stock of the increasingly important role social media plays among hoops fans.

It's only fitting that New York's free-agent point guard would get a nod given the viral explosion of Linsanity. His meteoric rise to celebrity status was epitomized by his 38-point breakout game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Feb. 10.

According to the New York Daily News' Justin Tasch, the performance is appropriately nominated for "The EPIC Award" in the June 20's awards show.  

The performance was his fourth consecutive game scoring 23 or more points, and it remained his season high in scoring. Lin went on to average 14.6 points over the course of 35 games with the Knicks, cementing his status as the year's most treasured basketball discovery. 

Lin is up against four other memorable moments, including Carmelo Anthony's 43-point explosion against the Chicago Bulls and the night Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook combined for 85 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

There are arguments to be made for the other nominees, but Lin's statement game couldn't have been more epic.

This league has seen guys take games over, but those guys typically made a name for themselves long before their most defining games.

By comparison, Lin came out of nowhere and ushered his underdog Knicks to a seven-point victory over the Lake Show.

That just doesn't happen–outside of Disney movies, anyway.

Perhaps the best barometer for choosing between the potential award winners is this: Which event will you actually remember 10 years from now?

Chances are Durant and Westbrook will put together a few more outrageous point totals, and we all know what to expect from Carmelo. Lin, however, transcended basketball as we know it. It's all too easy to hyperbolize when it comes to these kind of rarities, but not in Lin's case.

The hype was–and is–entirely deserved.

So too is this award. It should be the first of many such accolades coming Lin's way.