Clutch: February 14, 2012
It was Valentine’s Day, and Knicks fans had already fallen in love with the kid out of Harvard. His impressive outings continued, and the Toronto Raptors did as much as they could to stop Jeremy Lin. His shooting was decent that night, and made nine shot on 20 attempts for 27 points, but Toronto forced him into eight turnovers which kept the game close.
This was another game with Carmelo Anthony not present, and the rest of the team struggled mightily–Stoudemire finished with 21 but on 8/22 shooting; Landry Fields had only eight points, and Iman Shumpert was 3/9 for eight points off the bench. With all their struggles, New York entered the third quarter down 49-36, but had cut the lead to 75-66 by the fourth. In the final period, Lin took total control and chipped in 12, leading all scorers. With 20 seconds left and counting, the Knicks had regained possession after an offensive rebound off a Shumpert miss.
Lin, guarded by Jose Calderon, held the ball for nearly the entire 20 seconds before making his move. As he slowly dribbled up to the three-point line, Calderon began back-pedaling, and Lin hoisted up and drilled the game-winning three with less than a second remaining.
Box Score: NYK 90 – TOR 87
Next: Number One