(Photo:Reuters/Mike Cassese)Jeremy Lin hugs teammate Jared Jeffries after a big win.
The legend of Jeremy Lin, New York Knicks starting point guard, grew a bit more on Wednesday night, as the team overcame the Philadelphia 76ers for their fifth straight win.
The Knicks were able to overcome Philadelphia 82-79 to continue their winning streak following six-straight losses. With the departure of former head coach Mike D'Antoni, and a less impressive stat line under new coach Mike Woodson, many critics have been quick to question whether Linsanity was nothing more than a lucky fluke.
Crowds who watched Lin play on the road over recent weeks have chanted "Over-rated!" in an effort to disrupt Lin and jump on the bandwagon of critics firing insults at him. Metta World Peace, Los Angeles Lakers forward, even took to his Twitter account to join in on poking fun at Lin.
"Is Jeremy Lin still in the NBA," Peace questioned on his Twitter account. "I have not heard much."
Lin seemed to carry that doubt into his game on Wednesday night, where he shot 1-11 from the field, scored only two points with two assists and a turnover during the third quarter. The lack of offensive energy earned him a seat on the bench, giving veteran point guard Baron Davis a chance to take over and teammate Jared Jeffries an opportunity to inspire the young guard.
Jeffries told Lin to prove all of his critics wrong in the game against the 76ers, who are leading the Knicks' division, and remain the number five seed in the playoffs to New York's number eight.
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"This is when you have to prove that everything you've done up to this point is legit, [prove] what you're made of," Jeffries told Lin, according the ESPN.
Lin's return after a rough three quarters resulted in him scoring 16 points in the fourth quarter to delight Knicks fans and wrestle the win from the 76ers. The star point guard managed to score three of six from the field in the last 12 minutes of the game, hitting all 10 of his free throws to solidify a fifth straight win for the team under coach Woodson.
However, Lin admitted overall he had had a disappointing game, and thanked his teammates for helping him rise to the occasion.
"Honestly today was a horrible game on my part but my teammates bailed me out," Lin said after the game.
Still, Woodson gave credit to Lin and seemed to have faith that the team would continue to flourish with the Asian-American guard running the offense.
"I put the ball back in his hands and he came up with the big play. He got to the free throw line and you can't just rely on guys shooting jump shots," Woodson said. "If we continue to play at the pace we're playing we've got a legitimate shot to move up."
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