"When we get out there, hopefully we'll hit the ground running," said Lin, whose improbable 26.8-point average created "Linsanity" and coincided with a five-game winning streak that lifted New York's record to 13-15 ahead of Tuesday night's game at the Toronto Raptors.
The undrafted Harvard graduate, previously cut by the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets, also averaged 8 assists and 4.2 rebounds and shot 51.5% in the last five games.
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Carmelo Anthony, who has not played in a week because of a strained groin, compared Lin to Rudy Ruettiger, who spent most of his Notre Dame career as a member of the scout team before getting in on two plays as a reward for his hard work. His inspirational story became a Hollywood film.
"He's Rudy. That's our Rudy, man," Anthony said of Lin, 23. "People love an underdog."
Lin started the last four games, all without Anthony and Stoudemire, who was with family in Florida after the death of older brother Hazell. .
"I feel I have a long way to go, a lot more to do," Lin said. "If I can inspire people along the way, I'd love to do that."
Stoudemire, who averages 18.2 points, rejoined the team for Monday's practice that Lin sat out. Coach Mike D'Antoni said he was giving the first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent a "recovery day" to rest a "tweaked" ankle.
D'Antoni could not be more delighted with the emergence of a point guard.
"We've talked about it all year, if we have a point guard who can set people up we'll be better," D'Antoni said. "And this happened."
Anthony, too, said he sees only an upside. "I know there are questions about whether I'll fit in," Anthony said, "but this is a dream come true for me. ? At the end of the day, I'm here for one thing, and that's winning basketball games."
Lin played the entire second half of Saturday's two-point win at the Minnesota Timberwolves, and he was visibly fatigued, especially with the pounding he took driving the lane against big men Kevin Love and Nikola Pekovic.
"My body has to adjust, for sure, to playing heavier minutes," said Lin, 6-3, 200.
His coach at Palo Alto High School in California, Peter Diepenbrock, said Lin didn't lift weights in high school and didn't have a Division I body.
"It was not like we were sitting here wondering, 'What are those Division I coaches thinking?' He wasn't that strong, he wasn't that explosive," Diepenbrock said.
Stoudemire and Lin are set to start together for the first time Tuesday, and D'Antoni suggested Anthony, who has improved considerably, could return later this week.
On adding Stoudemire and soon Anthony with Lin, D'Antoni said: "I know everybody's worried about it, but it will only get better. It should."
Anthony, who dominated the ball earlier this season as the Knicks desperately searched for a point guard and averages a team-leading 22.3 points, insisted Lin's emergence can only help him because it will remove the need for him to work the ball up the floor.
"To say, 'How is it going to work out? Can I fit in?' It's easy," Anthony said. "Give him the ball and space out."
Stoudemire thrived under D'Antoni's system when they were together with the Phoenix Suns and Steve Nash was the point guard. Lin, with the way he probes defenses and his rapid ball movement, has drawn early comparisons to Nash.
"I see similarities in their games," Stoudemire said. "He's finding guys. He's unselfish."
Lin rejected such talk.
"I'm very careful not to compare myself to a two-time MVP and a Hall of Famer," he said Monday.
In other Lin items of interest:
? Courtside tickets for Tuesday's game at Toronto were selling for more than $1,600 on Ticketmaster.com on Monday. The same seats for Toronto's next home game, against the San Antonio Spurs, peak at $896.
? With "Linsanity" sweeping the nation if not the world, the natural would be for someone to grab and go with a Linsanity URL.
It won't happen ? because Linsanity.com was registered by one of Lin's high school basketball coaches in 2010 as the "official home for all your LINSANE apparel."
Among the most popular of the LinSanitees right now? "Live from New York, it's The Jeremy Lin Show."
? According to social media aggregate topsy.com, over the past two weeks, what it terms "significant and valid" mentions of Lin on Twitter ? a tweet retweeted or containing a link ? have gone from zero on Feb. 3 to a peak of roughly 225,000 on Friday, when he scored 38 points to lead the Knicks past the Los Angeles Lakers.
By comparison, mentions of injured Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony have gone from just under 1,000 on Jan. 31 to a peak of 2,250 on Friday.
? Lin is Fathead's No. 1 seller (NBA granted permission to use), overtaking New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, the fastest product turnaround in company history.
?Endorsement offers have been pouring in and are being evaluated to see what Lin might take on, said Lin's agent, Roger Montgomery.
? On hardly any fantasy rosters two weeks ago, Lin now "plays" in 97% of the leagues on cbssports.com, starts for 82% of his "owners" and is the most claimed off the waiver wire.
Source: http://rssfeeds.usatoday.com/~r/UsatodaycomSports-TopStories/~3/fwqJ9i6M1rc/1
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