Lin was in danger of being waived again, by the Knicks, before he started his streak on Feb. 3. He had done little to establish himself by that point, although he showed a few glimmers in games against Houston and Boston. But a crucial decision point was approaching: whether to keep Lin and guarantee his $788,000 contract for the season, or release him. Teams had until Feb. 7 to cut players with nonguaranteed deals, and the Knicks officials considered waiving Lin. "His expiration date was coming up," Coach Mike D’Antoni said in an interview earlier this week. "We had to evaluate to see if there was something there or not." The guarantee deadline "kind of prompted us" to give Lin more playing time, he said. Lin was shaky in that Boston game, leaving D’Antoni feeling ambivalent. But he decided to give him another shot the next night against the Nets. Lin responded with the best game of his career, with 25 points and seven assists off the bench in a victory over the Nets. Two nights later, he got his first start and set the bar even higher, with 28 points and 8 assists. Suddenly, there was no decision to make. Lin will be a Knick for the rest of this season, and almost certainly beyond.