By Garry Jones
Well aware that he was credited for the Knicks' seven straight wins, Jeremy Lin has taken the blame up on himself for their last night loss.
As famous fan Spike Lee endorsed Lin's high school jersey, the Knicks' point guard sensation committed nine turnovers, tied for the most in the NBA this season, as New York lost 89-85 loss to the New Orleans Hornets on Friday night.
Lin added 26 points, but his turnovers almost increased by two times his five assists in the game which was the first where the Knicks lost with Lin as a starter. Lin fell back below .500 at 15-16 heading into a match-up against the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks on Sunday.
He said, "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 ball-handler. It's on me in terms of taking care of the ball and also the game in general."
The Hornets' Trevor Ariza scored 25 points for New Orleans, who won their third consecutive game after a 4-23 start. Marco Belinelli added 17 points. For the Knicks, Amare Stoudemire had 26 points and 12 rebounds.
Before the game, a guy was seen donning a Palo Alto High jersey. The green No. 20 actually belonged to a fellow former Palo Alto player, who was actually transporting Lin's old No. It all started earlier this week when Lin's high school coach in California, Peter Diepenbrock, said in an interview with a New York radio station that he hoped the director would wear a Vikings jersey. Lee, then had a representative contact Diepenbrock about making it happen.
Diepenbrock will not make it to a Knicks game before Sunday, but a former player, Chris Bobel, was going to New York on Friday and so he delivered the jersey to Lee's rep.
This was the Knicks' sixth straight game without injured All-Star Carmelo Anthony, as New York also missed 20 of their 24 3-point attempts. They only made 19 of 29 on free throws as New York fell flat relatively early. Tyson Chandler said, "We got the same shots we've been getting. They just didn't fall."
Early in the fourth, when the Knicks were down by 12, they made a run with Lin off the court, and cut it to 73-71 after Jared Jeffries hit a free throw, following Lin's return over a timeout with 5:29 to go.
Once again, New York got it down to two on Lin's free throws with 1:06 to go, but But Gustavo Ayon bucketed and Lin missed wildly on a drive to the basket. Then Belinelli's free throws with 25 seconds to go made it 87-82, fans began heading for the exits, which almost made the the crowds exit.
Hornets guard Greivis Vasquez said, "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. But tonight it was a little bit different. We came out and played great team defense."
And that's how the streak was broken for the Knicks, who were 8-15 when coach Mike D'Antoni turned to Lin, the undrafted Harvard point guard who got his shot just days from being cut for the third time this season, and then got the team back on track.
They only figure to get stronger in the coming days. Anthony worked out before the game and is close to returning, and the Knicks signed his former Denver teammate, J.R. Smith, on Friday. Smith is eligible to return to the NBA after his Chinese team's season ended, and the Knicks believe he will strengthen their poor 3-point shooting, which cost them Friday.
"They're long and they did defend well," D'Antoni said of the Hornets. "But at the same time, I was telling (Lin) he's trying to make the hardest pass out there; he's trying to make the home run pass. That will happen for young guys. When they collapse so much, he has to kick. At the same time, we weren't making any outside shots, so they weren't coming out. He'll learn. He'll get through it. I thought he played well. Second half, he adjusted."
Knicks' loss came at a game where New Yorkers finally got to see Lin for the first time. Contributed largely by the Asian-American's popularity, MSG network and Time Warner reached a tentative deal last night to put back Knicks games on the television for some 2 million Time Warner Cable subscribers in the New York area.
But the buzz-kill of the day was Knicks' offense- Lin's five turnovers in the first quarter matched their number of baskets.
Hornets coach Monty Williams said, "We had a few lulls in the second and a little bit in the fourth. But when you play that kind of defense, to hold that team to 13 points in the first quarter and 19 in the third, you set yourself up to have a chance."
Stoudemire said, "It takes a few games like this in order to learn from the mistakes. It's a learning curve for him right now. He's going to watch film, I'm sure, and get better."
