Jeremy Lin #17 of the Knicks rebounds the ball over Shelden...

Jeremy Lin #17 of the Knicks rebounds the ball over Shelden Williams #33 of the New Jersey Nets at Madison Square Garden on February 20, 2012. Credit: Getty Images/Chris Trotman

As the Knicks have struggled through one losing season after another, cycling through rosters of players trying to find their place, they could only dream of a moment like the one that happened eight years ago when Jeremy Lin ascended.

While nothing like that has been found by the Knicks on the court, for MSG Network at least it will return starting Monday, April 27, when the network airs some of the biggest games of Lin’s brief run with the Knicks.

Lin, who had been already cut by two NBA teams in 2011, was sparingly used by the Knicks in the 2011-12 season and was bound for a return to the developmental league when injuries provided him with an opportunity. And, for a brief period during that season, Lin took that opportunity and flourished in a way that made him a worldwide sensation, a traveling roadshow dubbed “Linsanity” that landed him on the cover of national magazines and filled arenas around the NBA.

The lineup of games that highlight the 2011-12 season will feature Lin’s improbable rise to stardom. The seven games include his first moment that captured the fanbase in New York when he scored 25 points off the bench against the Nets, a game-winner at Toronto where his arrival was like The Beatles landing in the United States and a 38-point effort against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.

Almost as quickly as Linsanity lit up Madison Square Garden, it came to an end. A meniscus tear ended his season and when the summer came he departed in free agency, an acrimonious parting as the Knicks' intentions of bringing him back were spoiled by a poison pill contract signed with the Houston Rockets.

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