Well, Jeremy Lin-Tim Tebow analogy lovers, you wanted some evidence the two of these guys were more similar than you thought. Here's your one game sample to pick from.
The Palo Alto native returned back to Boston, city of his college days at Harvard, and it seemed like most of the game he was pressing to impress when a more settled performance would've done quite well. But even when he was struggling to put everything down right, he still managed to make a few winning plays to keep his team alive. Sound familiar?
Here are the video highlights of Lin vs. the Celtics.
(via xXxCrosby87Xx)
For most of the game, Lin wasn't good at all. His first half line was putrid, as Lin posted a line better suited for your phone address book. He was turning over the basketball, he was pressing to make plays, and he struggled mightily defensively. Rajon Rondo toasted him during his career performance for the Celtics, and showed how far Lin has to go to be an elite player in the league.
Neverthless, despite Rondo thoroughly dominating Lin on the statline, the Knicks still had their chances of winning. If you're wondering how he did it, take a look at some of those plays he made. Those intangible, absurd, bizarro winning plays.
Keeping a ball alive leading to a strip of Paul Pierce at halfcourt, then going the other way for a layup to cut the lead to four with 2:30 to go? Nailing a corner three to cut it to one? Assisting to Carmelo Anthony on the two go-ahead baskets late in the fourth? Hitting tough contested off-balance fadeaway jumpers with Celtics strewn all over him? Where did those come from? Aren't those Tebow-like plays, making unconventional things happen to keep his team in it? Seth of Posting and Toasting says as much.
Lin, in general, had a pretty bad game with spurts of excellence. Lin's creation off the dribble was sloppy and inefficient and he didn't have a prayer against Rajon Rondo (who had an absurd triple-double), but Lin almost made up for it with some ridiculous plays. It felt like all the shots he hit were tough ones and, when the Celtics seemed to be pulling away in the fourth, he stole back his own turnover and sank a layup, then drilled a corner three to cut the deficit to one.
Hopefully Lin strays away from Tebow territory, since that usually means he has limitations rather than weaknesses. It could just be more growing pains from facing the most elite point guards in the league like Rondo and Deron Williams, as they want to do their best to show they're the superior floor general on the court. But sometimes Lin might have to dig down and summon those Tebow-type performances to keep his Knicks moving upward.
(I wish I'd never brought this comparison back up.)