Keep It NBA

Jeremy Shu-How Lin: Showing How It's Done.

The Rise of the Emperor of New York?

By Ichank Nasution, KeepItNBA contributor

After gracefully piling in a career high 38 points along with 4 rebounds and 7 assists at Madison Square Garden over a veteran Los Angeles Lakers team who were well aware of his hype circle coming in after three equally impressive games, it appears the New York Knicks' Jeremy Lin no longer needs an introduction. Lin out-dueled 2-time NBA Finals MVP and 3-time scoring champion Kobe Bryant in what became a Kobe vs. Lin showdown in the 4th quarter. Playing for the frenzied home crowd, Lin received well-deserved "MVP" chants late in the 4th quarter while knocking down 2 free throws to seal the win.

With each passing game in the New York Knicks' first 4-game winning streak this year, the undrafted point guard out of Harvard continues to mesmerize and gain notoriety and support with his outstanding play. Being Taiwanese American certainly helps his cause; nevertheless, the numbers do the talking here. His averages over those 4 games, 3 of them starting, include 28.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 8 assists, 1.8 steals on 57.5% shooting from the field and 77.1% shooting from the free-throw line. This is certainly a case where the stats are telling the story as you can see from witnessing him play.

In the Lakers game, he was under control throughout the game. During the first half, he took advantage of the Lakers' strategy to go under the screen-and-roll by consistently knocking down jump shots. As the defense adjusted, so did he, as he was able to drive to the rim or find the open man off the pick-and-roll.  He also displayed great patience and did a good job of not forcing plays that weren't there. Derek Fisher played physical defense at times and even Kobe Bryant switched on to Lin at times in the 2nd half, but he continued to excel.  In the crucial moments of the 4th quarter, he continued to display great poise and quiet confidence by knocking down clutch long range jumpers, including a huge three-pointer that gave the Knicks their biggest lead of the game. Two memorable plays by Lin that came to mind at the end were when he sank an isolation pull-up jumper at the top of the key over Pau Gasol and from the same spot moments later without the help of a screen, easily blowing by Matt Barnes and the entire Laker interior defense for a nifty reverse layup.

The biggest question with Lin is will he be able to maintain this high level of play? First, heading into the Laker game, there were some doubts since his first 3 opponents, the New Jersey Nets, Utah Jazz and Washington Wizards, are poor defensive teams. The Laker game may have put that thought to rest for now, since they are one of the league's best defensive teams. Secondly, there is one statistic that is glaringly high, and that is his finishing rate at the rim. Over the 4 games, he has converted 80% of his shots at the rim, with an average of 7.5 attempts per game. To provide comparison, this year, only 4 players shoot at least 70% and have at least 6.0 attempts at the rim: Blake Griffin, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, and Andrew Bynum. Other players with similar success at the rim include Russell Westbrook, Dwyane Wade, Greg Monroe and Tyreke Evans. What these players have in common are supreme athleticism, strength and size, something that you can't quite say about Jeremy Lin. In all likelihood, his finishing rate at the rim will go down as teams focus on defending him more at the rim, meaning his scoring will go down.

Thirdly, how would Linsanity's game mesh with the Knicks' two main offensive weapons in Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire? It appears as though Stoudemire and Lin would fit greatly with each other since both excel in the pick-and-roll game and Stoudemire's struggles this season can be attributed to the lack of a decent pick-and-roll partner. But what about Carmelo Anthony? Anthony has always been a player that needs the ball to be effective. His usage rate, currently at 32.7% (an estimate of the percentage of team plays a player uses) has always been among the league's highest and has never came down over the years. Also, the percentage of his offense that is assisted (a percentage of a player's scoring that was a result from a teammate assist) is one of the lowest in the league, at 27.9%. In other words, Anthony is one of the league's biggest ballhogs. Lin's usage rate over the past 4 games has been around 35%. With the return of Melo, it's very likely that this number will go down along with his overall production. Finally, what about Baron Davis? At this point it seems like Davis will have almost no impact on Lin with the way he's playing, but we need to be kept in mind the reality that Lin has only done this for 4 games.  If Lin somehow falters at some point, D'Antoni has a proven guy in Baron Davis to take over the duties at point guard if he chooses.

Having said all of the above, disregarding statistics and just watching the Knicks play, Lin is playing the game the right way, the way it's supposed to be done. Essentially, Lin has taken advantage of his opportunity to the fullest and has shown to be a fantastic fit under Mike D'Antoni's offense. For the first time this season, the Knicks' offense looks smooth and playing the D'Antoni style offense where there is good side-to-side ball movement, a heavy dose of pick-and-rolls, quality attempts from the 3-point line and basically, every player being involved in the offense. Not only has Lin elevated his own play, but you can see that his play has elevated the play of others around him. Before the emergence of Lin, the Knicks' offense would appear stagnant, and too often players would defer to Anthony, especially in late game situations. This is why the Carmelo concern is real, and a return to the pre-Lin era offense would likely ruin the progress and excitement since Linsanity has taken over.

At the end of the day, Knick fans at Madison Square Garden always have the last say. When numerous fans thought Carmelo was taking too many shots at one point in the season, they had no reservations in booing him. When chants of "We Want Shumpert" roared the Garden due to the strong play of rookie Iman Shumpert earlier in the year, D'Antoni soon gave in and inserted him into the starting lineup. Knick fans at the Garden want something to cheer for; an icon and a winning product on the floor to be proud of. Right now, Jeremy Lin, ‘Linsanity’, ‘the Legend In NewYork’, ‘the Yellow Mamba’, ‘the Emperor of New York’, is that icon. And Jeremy Shu-How Lin is showing how it's done.