After Watching Lin, Knicks" Stars Set to Team With Him GREENBURGH, N.Y. - In a period of grief and mourning, the Stoudemire family of Lake Wales, Fla., found relief in the same place that basketball fans everywhere did last week: they watched Knicks games. "We were watching Linsanity," Amar'e Stoudemire, smiling brightly, said Monday. And my family was getting a kick out of it. That's the only smiles they really had all week. In a week of remarkable, seemingly miraculous moments for Jeremy Lin, that was perhaps his most vital achievement. Eight days ago, in the early hours of Feb. 6, Hazell Stoudemire - Amar'e"s older brother, a man he called his guardian angel - was killed in a car accident in Florida. Stoudemire left the Knicks that day to be with his family, just as Lin's star began to rise. That night, Lin produced 28 points and 8 assists to beat Utah. The next night, he had 23 points and 10 assists in a victory at Washington. Then came a 38-point game against the Los Angeles Lakers and a 20-point game against Minnesota, both victories as well. The Stoudemires buried Hazell on Saturday morning. Amar'e returned to the Knicks on Monday, reticent in his emotions but clearly pleased to be back in their midst. He said he watched every game, enjoying every minute of Lin's uncanny streak. "It's great to see the team is playing well," he said. That's a positive for me right now. Stoudemire will be back in the lineup Tuesday night in Toronto as the Knicks (13-15) work to extend a five-game winning streak. His return should only bolster the Knicks and boost the development of Lin, who has been fashioning victories with a patchwork lineup that was missing its two biggest stars. Carmelo Anthony was also out last week after straining his groin in the first quarter of the Utah game. He is expected to miss at least two more games. The absence of Anthony and Stoudemire only enhanced Lin's mystique, as he went from anonymous bench player to the Knicks" leading scorer, playmaker and spiritual leader. The story has drawn international attention, with news outlets from China and Germany, among others, publishing articles on Lin. The Knicks, hoping to shield their unlikely star from the news media crush, turned down interview requests from every major news network, including from the ABC news anchor Diane Sawyer. When Coach Mike D'Antoni entered the press room at the team's headquarters Monday, he was startled to see a dozen television cameras and about 40 reporters. All this just because we won a couple games? D'Antoni said, laughing. The phenomenon is only becoming bigger, and sometimes sillier, by the day. ESPN's SportsNation posted two polls Monday: one asking fans to rank Lin's nicknames (all puns on his name), the other asking them to pick the N.B.A."s top point guard, with Lin among the four choices, next to Derrick Rose, Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo. That question is comically premature, but Lin is garnering justifiable plaudits. On Monday, he was named the Eastern Conference player of the week - the first undrafted player to win the honor since Brad Miller in 2008. Lin also became the first player to earn the honor in the N.B.A. and in its Development League, where he spent 20 games last season with the Reno Bighorns. Meanwhile, a key piece of Lin lore made its way onto Twitter on Monday. The Knicks" Landry Fields posted a photograph of his couch, where Lin slept the night before his Feb. 4 breakout game against the Nets. The photograph was promptly published by The New York Post. Lin has been spending most nights on his brother's couch on the Lower East Side. He has an offer from David Lee, a former Knick, to rent his apartment in Westchester County. Lin was given the day off from practice to rest a sore ankle and to recover from the increased workload and the excitement. He played 195 minutes over the last five games, after playing just 54 minutes in the first six weeks of the season. "I think my body has to adjust, for sure," Lin said. The Knicks will continue to lean heavily on Lin as their primary point guard and playmaker, but his workload should ease with Stoudemire back in the lineup and with Anthony on his way. Stoudemire and Lin should fit seamlessly together; after all, Stoudemire's strength is scoring out of the pick and roll, and Lin has proved to be a supremely skilled pick-and-roll guard. Stoudemire, who has been pining for a skilled playmaker all season, favorably compared Lin's style to that of Steve Nash, his former teammate in Phoenix. "You guys know my game," Stoudemire said. You guys know how I play. There are questions about Anthony, however. Anthony is used to dominating the ball, and his one-on-one style could disrupt the offensive flow the Knicks have established. Anthony will surely have to cede some control and play off the ball. Anthony says he is aware of the concern, having been bombarded about it on Twitter. "All this stuff about me fitting in, it's funny," Anthony said. He insisted, "This is like a dream come true to me. It takes some pressure off of me. Anthony was forced to play as a point forward for much of the season while the Knicks" other point guards, Toney Douglas and Iman Shumpert, struggled. "When I get back, Jeremy will have the ball in his hands, and I'm playing off of that," he said. D'Antoni also dismissed the issue, saying of Anthony: "He's not going to mess it up. I think that's ludicrous.