Jeremy Lin thanked God for Monday's night 110-104 double overtime win over Toronto Raptors, in which he scored 31 points off the bench. He has scored more points in all but his two 38-point games during his seven-game winning streak with the New York Knicks during the outbreak of "Linsanity."
"For any player, if you can get the defense at your mercy - if you can hit the shot and drive by them - there is really nothing they can do anymore," Lin said after Monday's game, according to Houston Chronicles.
Lin, who is lined up as the sixth-man among Rockets five starters, shot 10 of 17 from the field and hit 8 of 9 from the free throw line.
"I think I would say from a pure field-goal attempt standpoint, this is the most aggressive I have been this year. I think once you get in a zone, you are in that zone, and there is nothing that can faze you at that point," he said.
In overtime, Lin landed a 3-pointer for the lead and finished a left-hand layup for a 95-92 lead with just 66 seconds remaining.
"I started feeling pretty good and got in a rhythm once I got a couple of shots to go down," Lin said, the Chronicles reported. "I am thankful to God for the game. You know that lefty shot I hit at the end - I don't think I have ever done that in my life, besides like working on it in workouts but never in a game. So I was definitely in a zone."
Lin scored the most point off the Rockets' bench since Carl Landry had 31 in the 2009-10 season. According to ESPN 2013-2014 stats, he is averaging 16.1 points, and his 54.5 percent shooting is second among the Rockets to Dwight Howard. Also, his 45.5 percent 3-point shooting leads the team by a wide margin.
"Jeremy was in attack mode going in," Coach Kevin McHale said, according to Chronicles. "Jeremy is one of the few guys right now shooting with a little bit of confidence , and he made some shots.
Over the summer, Lin has worked on becoming a better all-around shooter, whether in mid-range, left-hand shots, or three pointers. In a summer practice session with his brother, he showed a 78 percent shooting accuracy rate. His performance now shows a sharp improvement from his 2012-2013 regular season stats of 33.9 percent 3-point shooting and 44.1 percent shooting.
"With Jeremy, we talked about it, about him coming off bench. I told him, 'Hey, you have to just go out there and just play. You've worked hard all summer," said MaHale.
"I've said it all training camp and the first part of the season, I think he has more bounce in his legs. He's got more juice. He's been playing very, very well for us. He's just got to go out there and play. He made some big shots for us."
