“There were a lot of funny signs out there,” Lin said after leading the Knicks to their third straight victory. “Last year, I wouldn’t have imagined this. I think I’m more shocked than anybody else is.”

Less than a season ago, the undrafted Harvard economics graduate was toiling in the NBA Development League. Less than a week ago, he was glued to the Knicks’ bench. The past three games, he has either started at point guard or played major minutes.

Lin spoke Wednesday in front of maybe three dozen, tightly bunched reporters, 15 of whom were from Asian media outlets that had requested credentials just that night.

ESPN is having a viewing party Friday night when the Knicks take on the Lakers. Replete with hundreds of fans, dancers and highlight packages, and did we mention this was happening in Taiwan, where TVBS is replaying his Lin’s two games in New York?

Wednesday’s game in Washington was broadcast live back to his parents’ homeland. Since he was summoned from the Knicks bench on Feb. 2 to Thursday, Lin has gained 60,000 followers on Sina (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter).

This is Linsanity. This is the world Jeremy Lin has created for himself in 111 minutes of scintillating floor time.

Look, when a faith-based underdog enraptures a disgruntled fan base in less than three games and lights up his opponents almost as much as he lights up Twitter, only one other can identify with such stratospheric, instantaneous celebrity:

Really, who does Tim Tebow think he is, the Caucasian Jeremy Lin?

“He’d laugh at that one,” said Eddie Lee, Lin’s friend who used to cram into Lin’s dorm room as he led Bible study at Harvard. “I really don’t think anyone expected this to happen. One day he’s on the bench, and the next day he’s a sensation.”

Lee spoke after the Knicks had outclassed the Wizards and as we scurried behind the Most Important Sports Story in America At This Very Second. (Sorry, Peyton, you’re soooo three minutes ago.)

Lin doesn’t know it yet, but some of his friends have already begun referring to him as “the Asian Tebow” or “Tebow 2.0.”

Which is catchy and all, but lumping him in with the overachieving Denver Broncos’ quarterback doesn’t quite encapsulate the unusualness of Lin’s journey.

Yes, they have the devout Christianity and underdog themes in common. Yet before Tebow got to the NFL, he was a highly recruited Heisman Trophy winner from a college football powerhouse that he led to two national titles. Only then was he told by many of the game’s observers he could not play the quarterback position effectively at the next level.

Lin was essentially told he shouldn’t aspire to the NBA at jump street. He played college in the Ivy League. Undrafted, he was cut by the Warriors and Rockets and ended up in Erie, Pa., a D-League outpost, before the Knicks brought him up and stuck him at the end of the bench.