Jeremy Lin scores 20 points in 1-year anniversary of being cut from Rockets

Jeremy Lin's Christmas night performance -- in which he put up 20 points and 11 assists against the Chicago Bulls -- wasn't even the best on his own team (that would be Omer Asik's 20 points and 18 boards), but it may be the most impressive considering where Lin was exactly one year ago.

Lin is a certified star in the NBA, but last Christmas the Rockets cut him in a move to make room on the roster for Samuel Dalembert. Exactly a year later, Lin was back with the Rockets and helping rout the Chicago Bulls on national television, a turnaround that wasn't lost on the point guard from Harvard.

"I knew it was exactly a year ago on this day I got cut," Lin said Tuesday. "It's only been a year, man. It's crazy. It's ridiculous. It's so different now. I'm so blessed to be here. A year ago, I thought, this could be it for me."

(via Ultimate Rockets)

Lin said after Tuesday night's game that the Rockets tried to find a way to keep him on the roster last season but could not swing anything by the time they needed to add Dalembert. Luckily for Houston, it was able to atone for its mistake by inking Lin to a three-year, $25 million contract this offseason.