Nets-Knicks Preview

By CHRIS ALTRUDA
Posted Feb 04 2012 1:44AM

A lack of late-game execution has cost both the New York Knicks and New Jersey Nets recently.

The two struggling Atlantic Division rivals try to right themselves Saturday night at Madison Square Garden, where the embattled Knicks host the Nets.

New York (8-15) is 3-5 in games decided by five or fewer points, but two of those losses have come in the last two games. After Amar'e Stoudemire failed to hit a game-tying 3-pointer in the final seconds of Thursday's 105-102 home loss to Chicago, both Landry Fields and reserve Steve Novak - who had not played the entire game prior to his insertion with four seconds remaining - missed late shots of their own as the Knicks squandered a 12-point second-half lead in a 91-89 defeat Friday at Boston.

"They were doubling and doing a good job. That's why other guys had to step up and make shots." New York coach Mike D'Antoni said after his team's final shots were not taken by Stoudemire or Carmelo Anthony, who had a team-high 26 points.

Despite having lost 11 of its last 13 overall and five of six at home, Anthony thinks his team is showing signs of improvement as New York wraps up this back-to-back-to-back stretch of games.

"I must say the last three days we've been playing way better than we did early on the season," said Anthony, who is averaging 28.1 points at home - well above his 23.8 overall mark. "I feel the chemistry is coming around. we're playing extremely hard offensively and picked it up defensively. It's just a matter of playing our games right now."

New York has held only one opponent under 40 percent shooting at home, while four have converted at least 50.7 percent of their attempts. The Knicks are yielding 98.3 points per game at MSG.

The Nets (8-16) also are trying to move on from a discouraging loss after a 108-105 home defeat to Minnesota on Friday night. Anthony Morrow made an NBA season-high eight 3-pointers and finished with a career-high 42 points, but New Jersey failed to get off a potential game-tying shot in the closing seconds after point guard Deron Williams lost his handle on the ball while trying to pass.

"Anthony was open, too," Williams said. "It was an unfortunate turnover. Last two of the game are on me. I told the team it was my fault."

Morrow, who sat out Wednesday's win over Detroit with a sore left ankle, has shot a combined 23 for 37 in his last two games - 13 of 24 from 3-point range - while averaging 35.0 points. He also scored 30 in a 120-116 loss to the Knicks at MSG on March 30, making 4 of 5 shots from beyond the arc and 10 of 15 overall.

Williams matched a season high with 14 assists in Friday's loss but also matched a season worst with six turnovers. After coming to the Nets from Utah in a midseason trade, he averaged 23.0 points and 10.0 assists in two games against New York in 2010-11.

The Knicks won all four games between the teams last season, with Anthony averaging 32.0 points and 12.0 rebounds in two matchups after New York acquired him from Denver. The Knicks have also won four of the last five meetings in the series at MSG.

Lin's career night leads Knicks over Nets, 99-92

By BRIAN MAHONEY
Posted Feb 05 2012 12:10AM

NEW YORK (AP) Jeremy Lin cut through the Nets' defense all night before he was finally surrounded.

As teammates hugged him at center court while Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" blasted through the arena, it was clear the New York Knicks had finally found a spark.

And even the Harvard-educated Lin struggled to explain how it ended up being him.

"This night, it just hasn't really sunk in yet to be honest, he said. "It's like I'm still kind of in shock about everything that happened but I'm just trying to soak it all in right now."

Lin scored a career-high 25 points and the Knicks salvaged the finale of a back-to-back-to-back set by the New Jersey Nets 99-92 on Saturday night.

Lin came in to control a sluggish offense, adding a career-best seven assists while outplaying Nets All-Star point guard Deron Williams.

"Jeremy came out and gave us a great spark off the bench, and that was phenomenal for us tonight," forward Amare Stoudemire said.

Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler each added 17 points for the Knicks, who won for just the third time in 14 games. They fell just short in losses to Chicago and Boston over the last two nights before picking up a much-needed victory Saturday.

Williams had 21 points and 11 assists but shot 7 of 19 for the Nets, while Kris Humphries added 20 points and 12 rebounds.

Lin was the catalyst for the Knicks, who have been desperate for production at point guard while they wait for Baron Davis to finally become available. Lin was a hit with the fans practically from the moment he checked in, and some of the loudest cheers of this disappointing season roared through Madison Square Garden when his three-point play made it 95-86 with 2:03 remaining.

He scored on the next possession to make it an 11-point game as chants of "Jeremy! Jeremy!" broke out.

Carmelo Anthony had just 11 points on 3 of 15 shooting, perhaps tired on the third straight night of games.

"If you would have told me Melo would go 3 for 15 and Amare would get in foul trouble, I'd think, `Man, we'd win by double figures,"' Nets coach Avery Johnson said. "But when you have a guy coming off your bench like that and getting 25 points, it's pretty deflating."

The Knicks' struggles have created speculation that Mike D'Antoni's job could be in jeopardy, especially if the Knicks had dropped this one and fallen behind the Nets in the Atlantic Division standings. But he said before the game there was no reason to panic and that he still believed in his players.

He had noted how much they struggled to score beyond Anthony and Stoudemire, needing someone else to step up. He found that someone in Lin, the first American-born NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.

"He gives us a good feel," D'Antoni said.

The second-year pro has hardly been a factor and even was sent to the NBA Development League recently, where he had a triple-double. But searching for someone to run his pick-and-roll offense, D'Antoni gave him a chance last Saturday at the end of a road trip, though it's hard to imagine he saw this coming, given his concerns about Lin's defensive abilities.

"I had my doubts, but we just stayed with it and he has some of the qualities that we needed," D'Antoni said.

Lin drove along the baseline and fed Stoudemire for the tiebreaking basket, then scored on his own drive for an 86-82 lead with 4:59 left. Stoudemire scored again, and after a jumper by Williams, Chandler converted a three-point play for a 91-84 lead before Lin put it away.

Jordan Farmar scored 19 points for the Nets but Anthony Morrow had only 11 points on 4 of 12 shooting, one night after scoring a career-best 42 points and making an NBA season-high eight 3-pointers.

The Nets raced to a 17-7 lead and were ahead 30-20 after one quarter behind 10 points from Williams. But with Lin playing the entire second quarter in rare first-half playing time, the Knicks seemed to get a spark on both ends of the floor.

"There is so much focus on Carmelo, Amare and the other guys that our game plan was to help off him and go under (screens) on him," Williams said. "He started knocking down shots, got confidence. He was taking it to the basket and had a lot of success."

Lin had team highs of six points and three assists in the second quarter, including a lob to Chandler that allowed the Knicks to tie it at 46 with 1:32 remaining. New Jersey took a two-point lead into the half after a basket by Jordan Williams.

Notes: Humphries was booed loudly on a few occasions, as he was when the Nets played here in the preseason and in a number of other arenas after his brief marriage to reality star Kim Kardashian. ... Nets starters Shawne Williams and Shelden Williams both finished last season with the Knicks. ... The teams play only three times this season, once more at Madison Square Garden and once in Newark.

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Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Briancmahoney

Notebook: Knicks 99, Nets 92

By Joshua Newman, for NBA.com
Posted Saturday February 4, 2012 11:40PM

THE FACTS: Unheralded backup point guard Jeremy Lin came off the bench to score a career-high 25 points to go along with seven assists and five rebounds in a career-best 36 minutes as the New York Knicks snapped a two-game skid with a 99-92 victory over the New Jersey Nets at Madison Square Garden. Lin, a former Ivy League star at Harvard, led four players in double figures as Amar'e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler each scored 17 points, while Carmelo Anthony added 11.

QUOTABLE: "We've seen bits and pieces and sometimes, I thought he was trying to do a little too much. We told him to do what he does, but don't try to do everything. The biggest thing is he has a point guard's mentality."
-- Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni on Lin's career night.

THE STAT: Lin scored 12 of his 25 points and shot 5-for-7 from the floor in the fourth quarter when the Knicks took control for good after trailing, 72-70, through three quarters of a back-and-forth affair that saw the Nets lead by as many as 12 and the Knicks lead by as many as 11.

TURNING POINT: With the game tied at 82-all midway through the fourth quarter, the Knicks ripped off a 15-4 run to take a 97-86 lead with 1:36 to play. Lin scored nine points during that spurt, capped by a driving layup through the teeth of the defense that brought the Garden crowd to its collective feet.

QUOTABLE II: "This night, it hasn't really sunk in yet to be honest. I'm still kind of in shock about everything that happened. I'm just trying to soak it all in."
-- Lin, who addressed a pack of media members that went five-deep at his locker after the game.

HOT: Jared Jeffries turned in what was by far his best game this season as he scored nine points to go along with a season-high 10 rebounds in 31 minutes of work. This was Jeffries' first 10-rebound game since April 6, 2010 when he was with the Houston Rockets.

NOT: The emergence of Lin coincides with the on-going reduction in the minutes and role played by Toney Douglas. The opening night starter at point guard, Douglas played just 13 minutes against the Nets after playing only eight minutes on Friday at the Celtics and just 15 minutes on Thursday against the Bulls at the Garden.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira sat courtside.

ROOKIE WATCH: Nets forward Jordan Williams has seen a bit of an expanded role in back-to-back games against the Timberwolves and Knicks and he has not disappointed. After scoring nine points to go along with eight rebounds in 20 minutes against the Timberwolves, the 6-foot-10 Maryland product scored 10 points against the Knicks in 26 minutes. Williams came into the night averaging just 2.4 points per game.

NOTABLE: Thanks to the huge night from Lin, the Knicks' bench outscored the Nets' bench, 46-34, on the night. The Knicks have only outscored the opposition's bench nine times this season as they move to 4-5 when they do.

UP NEXT: For the Knicks, Monday vs. Jazz, Wednesday @ Wizards, Friday vs. Lakers. For the Nets, Monday vs. Bulls, Wednesday vs. Pistons, Friday at Pistons.

• Nets: James, Lopez, Stevenson
• Knicks: Davis, Harrellson

• Nets: --
• Knicks: --

• Lead Changes: 14
• Times Tied: 8

• Arena: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Officials: #32 Eddie F. Rush, #18 Matt Boland, #77 Karl Lane
• Attendance: 19763
• Duration: 2:17