Lin passes his way around the Hornets' Al-Farouq Aminu. ASSOCIATED PRESSAP
linsanity
Lin-ning streak comes to an end
Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin endured a turbulent night at Madison Square Garden, committing nine turnovers as the Hornets held New York to their first in seven games.
JEREMY LIN KNOWS everybody credited him for the Knicks’ seven straight wins, so he takes the blame for their one-game losing streak.
With famous fan Spike Lee donning Lin’s high school jersey in the latest bout of Linsanity, New York’s point guard sensation committed nine turnovers, tied for the most in the NBA this season, in an 89-85 loss to the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night.
Lin scored 26 points, but his turnovers nearly doubled his five assists, and the Knicks lost for the first time with Lin as a starter, falling back below .500 at 15-16 heading into a matchup with the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
“Just a lackluster effort on my part coming out and careless with the ball, and so nine turnovers is obviously never going to get it done from your primary ballhandler,” Lin said. “It’s on me in terms of taking care of the ball and also the game in general.”
Trevor Ariza scored 25 points for the Hornets, who have won three in a row after a 4-23 start. Marco Belinelli added 17.
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Amare Stoudemire had 26 points and 12 rebounds for New York.
Before the game, one fan spotted a guy in a Palo Alto High jersey and asked, “Are you Lin’s high school coach?”
The green No. 20 in fact belonged to a fellow former Palo Alto player, who was tasked with transporting Lin’s old No. 4 jersey cross-country so it could be worn by Lee. The latest twist in the Lin saga started earlier this week when his high school coach in California, Peter Diepenbrock, said in an interview with a New York radio station that he hoped to put a Vikings jersey on the director’s back. Turns out Lee heard about it and had a representative contact Diepenbrock about making it happen.
“It’s the NBA, man. I mean, the kid is really good. I love his passion. What I love about him is he is so humble. He deserves everything he got right now and everything he is going through because, you know, the way he handles himself,” Hornets guard Greivis Vasquez said. “But tonight it was a little bit different. We came out and played great team defense.”
Thus ended a remarkable run by the Knicks, who were 8-15 when coach Mike D’Antoni finally turned to Lin, the undrafted point guard from Harvard who was perhaps days from being cut for the third time this season when he got this sputtering team on track.
The poor performance came just as many New York residents finally got to see Lin for the first time. Fueled largely by the Asian-American’s popularity, MSG network and Time Warner reached a tentative deal Friday that puts Knicks games back on TV for some 2 million Time Warner Cable subscribers in the New York area. New York state officials and the NBA had pressured the companies to settle a dispute that began Jan. 1.
But the ugliest thing at the start was the Knicks’ offense. Lin’s five turnovers in the first quarter matched their number of baskets.
Lin has been turnover prone — committing at least six in five straight games — and it finally came back to cost the Knicks this time.
“It takes a few games like this in order to learn from the mistakes,” Stoudemire said. “It’s a learning curve for him right now. He’s going to watch film, I’m sure, and get better.”
Lin-ning streak comes to an end
JEREMY LIN KNOWS everybody credited him for the Knicks’ seven straight wins, so he takes the blame for their one-game losing streak.
With famous fan Spike Lee donning Lin’s high school jersey in the latest bout of Linsanity, New York’s point guard sensation committed nine turnovers, tied for the most in the NBA this season, in an 89-85 loss to the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night.
Lin scored 26 points, but his turnovers nearly doubled his five assists, and the Knicks lost for the first time with Lin as a starter, falling back below .500 at 15-16 heading into a matchup with the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
Trevor Ariza scored 25 points for the Hornets, who have won three in a row after a 4-23 start. Marco Belinelli added 17.
Amare Stoudemire had 26 points and 12 rebounds for New York.
Before the game, one fan spotted a guy in a Palo Alto High jersey and asked, “Are you Lin’s high school coach?”
The green No. 20 in fact belonged to a fellow former Palo Alto player, who was tasked with transporting Lin’s old No. 4 jersey cross-country so it could be worn by Lee. The latest twist in the Lin saga started earlier this week when his high school coach in California, Peter Diepenbrock, said in an interview with a New York radio station that he hoped to put a Vikings jersey on the director’s back. Turns out Lee heard about it and had a representative contact Diepenbrock about making it happen.
Thus ended a remarkable run by the Knicks, who were 8-15 when coach Mike D’Antoni finally turned to Lin, the undrafted point guard from Harvard who was perhaps days from being cut for the third time this season when he got this sputtering team on track.
The poor performance came just as many New York residents finally got to see Lin for the first time. Fueled largely by the Asian-American’s popularity, MSG network and Time Warner reached a tentative deal Friday that puts Knicks games back on TV for some 2 million Time Warner Cable subscribers in the New York area. New York state officials and the NBA had pressured the companies to settle a dispute that began Jan. 1.
But the ugliest thing at the start was the Knicks’ offense. Lin’s five turnovers in the first quarter matched their number of baskets.
Lin has been turnover prone — committing at least six in five straight games — and it finally came back to cost the Knicks this time.
“It takes a few games like this in order to learn from the mistakes,” Stoudemire said. “It’s a learning curve for him right now. He’s going to watch film, I’m sure, and get better.”
– Rachel Cohen, AP
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