Double Duty: Jeremy Lin goes up for two of his 23 points. He also dished out 10 assists in the Knicks’ 107-93 win in Washington last night. (
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WASHINGTON — Jeremy Lin continued rising into a national phenomenon in the nation’s capital last night, with a soaring dunk that put the exclamation mark on another surreal evening.
This is “Linsane!”
And if this keeps up, point guard Steve Nash soon will be referred to as the Canadian Jeremy Lin.
Lin, the Knicks’ savior and coach Mike D’Antoni’s angel from heaven, made it a terrific trifecta, lighting up the Verizon Center and John Wall with a third straight virtuoso performance — 23 points and a career-high 10 assists.
Lin’s third straight spectacular showing energized the Knicks to their third straight win, 107-93 over the Wizards (5-21).
“If you love sports you have to love what Jeremy Lin is doing. Getting an opportunity and exploding!!” Nash posted on Twitter.
No Carmelo Anthony. No Amar’e Stoudemire. No worries. Lin is here, penetrating and playmaking. The Lakers are on tap tomorrow, with a club seemingly unafraid of anyone despite a 11-15 record.
“Look at the stats the past three games, he’s one of the top point guards if not the top point guard in the league,’’ Jared Jeffries said. “Going up against John Wall, Deron Williams, Devin Harris and he’s outplaying these guys. The energy in this room and camaraderie we have unifies this team. He can take credit for that.”
Lin again deflected that credit.
“You look around the locker room,’’ Lin said. “The combined salaries may be not that much but these guys can play basketball. Everybody across the board. The whole team is playing with so much chemistry. The chemistry can’t come from one person. It’s a five-man game.”
It is beyond surreal. With three minutes left in the third, Lin swept again past Wall, tore down the lane and rose for a uncontested dunk. No Wizard wanted to be in the Lin poster. Lin stood up to Wall even after he got a nasty deep cut under his chin and gash on his arm when they collided at midcourt when Wall drove into him.
The crowd of 17,376 made up of close to half Knicks fans let out a giant roar. One Washington insider said they never heard it louder for an opponent’s basket than when Lin dunked.
“A lot of people underestimate how athletic he is,’’ Jeffries said. “He hadn’t had a big dunk. Those kind of plays give us the momentum we need.’’
The only upset was President Obama didn’t slide by to watch Lin, who is being compared in some circles to Tim Tebow. The fans chanted Lin’s name in the fourth quarter and a handful of “JLin17’’ signs were brandished. A group of five Asian students sat together with magic marker on their shirts spelling out “L-I-N-1-7.”
“It was shocking but I’ve seen him do it in practice, and warm-ups,’’ Fields said of the Lin dunk. “The man’s doing it all right now. He’s a shoo-in for all-stars. Get him in there. Late addition.’’
“I didn’t know he could dunk,’’ said Tyson Chandler, who scored a game-high 25 points after being a recipient of a handful of Lin feeds off the pick and roll.
“It doesn’t get better than this,’’ D’Antoni said. “I think it’s real. … I think he can get better.’’
Indeed, Lin has given life to 3-point specialist Steve Novak, who had his second straight 19-point outing, making five of nine 3-pointers. Fields is soaring on the fastbreak and finished with 16 points and eight rebounds. Iman Shumpert is back at his more comfortable position as a backup shooting guard and had 17 points with three steals.
Stoudemire, home in Florida grieving his brother’s death, and Anthony (sore groin) weren’t with the club last night. But the team is bonding without them.
marc.berman@nypost.com