Linsanity Grips New York

It's the story Americans love - no athletic high school scholarship, undrafted out of college, Jeremy Lin soldiered on and negotiated a contract with the Golden State Warriors. Pre-season the Warriors waived Lin goodbye. The American born to Taiwanese parents was then picked up by the Houston Rockets but after playing just seven minutes in pre-season the Rockets also waived farewell. Just after Christmas, New York claimed the devout Christian off the waivers. Lin was seen as a mere back-up and the Knicks farmed him out to Erie BayHawks in the D-League. After a triple-double of 28 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists on his first game for the BayHawks - on the same day the Knicks fell at home to the Milwaukee Bucks - Lin was immediately recalled.

"He got lucky because we were playing so bad," said coach Mike D'Antoni on putting Lin in against the New Jersey Nets. Lin scored 25 points, had five rebounds and made seven assists, helping his team to a 99-92 win. In subsequent games against Utah and Washington Lin was just as impressive but 'Lin-sanity' really took hold when the Lakers came to town. Lin outscored the enigmatic Kobe Bryant's 34 points with a new career high 38 and the Knicks won their fourth in a row. Victory over Minnesota followed. Lin had 109 points in his first four starts - a new record high in the history of the NBA. The point guard was named as the Eastern Conference's player of the week.

Lin's dramatic rise has not been for everyone though. Fox Sports commentator Jason Whitlock was forced to issue an apology over a politically incorrect comment about Lin's sexual prowess. The outspoken Floyd Mayweather is also yet to be won over as he tweeted, "all the hype is because he's Asian. Black players do what he does every night and don't get the same praise."

Tonight, however, Lin-sanity reached a new crusciendo as Knicks' number 17 netted a three-pointer in the dying seconds to win New York their sixth successive match. A season high crowd inside Madison Square Gardens roared. If all that wasn't enough, Lin is the Tim Tebow of the NBA - dedicating his success to a higher power, "If you look back at my story, doesn't matter where you look, but God's fingerprints are all over the place where there have been a lot of things that had to happen that I couldn't control."

The Knicks are a best price of 50/1 to win this year's NBA Championship. Hollywood awaits in expectation.