Cavaliers-Knicks Preview

By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO
Posted Feb 28 2012 11:59PM

Jeremy Lin's rise to stardom continues to captivate. Lin thinks the rest of the resurgent New York Knicks deserve some attention.

Lin and the Knicks emerge from the All-Star break Wednesday night when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Lin has quickly become perhaps the biggest story of the NBA season, emerging from obscurity to spark the Knicks as their new point guard. He's averaged 22.6 points and 8.7 assists during a 9-3 run that has New York (17-18) looking more like the playoff team it expected to be at the start of the season.

The Knicks are tied with Boston for seventh in the East, and trail Atlantic Division leader Philadelphia by four games.

Lin, a reserve for Golden State last season who was cut twice in December before landing in New York, thinks there's much more to the Knicks' turnaround.

"I mean, we're unbelievably talented and you look on the headlines, you look on ESPN, you see 'Lin this' and 'Lin that,'" he said. "But we may be the deepest team in the NBA, so I think we should start talking about that as well."

Even with that depth, New York could use more production from its stars Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire.

Anthony is averaging 15.0 points and shooting 38.3 percent in three games after missing seven with a groin injury, while Stoudemire's 17.5 points per game represent a 7.8 drop from last season.

While Anthony scored 19 points for the Eastern Conference in Sunday's All-Star game, Stoudemire was resting and believes he's primed for a strong second half.

"It's going to be great. Every second half of the year, I have a tendency to turn it up because you know how important it is," Stoudemire said. "After the All-Star break, getting that momentum going to the postseason is always very, very key. You're playing at your best going into the postseason, so it's going to be an incredible second half of the year for me."

New York will try to bounce back after losing its final game before the break, 102-88 at conference-leading Miami on Thursday as Lin managed eight points and three assists while turning the ball over eight times.

"He'll have a learning curve and there will be nights where he won't look good, but I think he's a very good player and we're going to ride him and he'll just keep getting better," coach Mike D'Antoni said.

The Knicks have dropped 12 of their last 13 meetings with the Cavaliers (13-19), including a 91-81 defeat at Cleveland on Jan. 25, a game in which Lin didn't get off the bench. Stoudemire had 19 points and 14 rebounds, while Anthony finished with 15 points.

The Cavaliers finished 4-5 on their season-high nine-game homestand, which concluded Tuesday with an 86-83 loss to the Celtics. They avoided a scare when Kyrie Irving returned from a bruised elbow that sidelined him late in the second quarter.

"I just hit my elbow on the floor," said Irving, who scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half. "Once I got back (to the locker room) I felt much better. There was nothing funny about it (hitting his funny bone). It was my first almost-injury in the NBA."

Irving, the first overall selection from last summer's NBA draft, scored just seven while making 1 of 7 from the field against the Knicks last month.

Knicks storm back, beat Cavs 120-103 behind bench

By BRIAN MAHONEY
Posted Feb 29 2012 11:49PM

NEW YORK (AP) Jeremy Lin checked back in, triggering the wave of cheers that accompany his every move at Madison Square Garden.

This time, they were for the guys leaving the game.

Lin had 19 points and 13 assists and Carmelo Anthony scored 22, but the New York Knicks turned around this one with their reserves to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 120-103 on Wednesday night.

"I think our second unit did an awesome job," Lin said. "I think we've been talking a lot about our depth and tonight we definitely got to see the depth, and so that's going to be a strength of ours and we need to continue to use that."

Steve Novak had 17 points off the bench as the Knicks turned a 17-point deficit into an easy win, outscoring the Cavs 71-42 in the second half. They capped a 10-5 month, their first 10-win February since going 10-3 in 1996-97.

The Knicks didn't lead until Novak made consecutive 3-pointers to put them up 75-74 with 2:52 left in the third quarter, then dominated the fourth quarter to send the Cavs to their third straight loss. Their bench produced 50 points, outscoring the starters 38-33 in the final 24 minutes.

"We hope that's the normal-case scenario, if that's possible," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "And to be honest, the last couple of days in practice, that group has just kicked our first group's butt every day, so it wasn't different. They've been playing that way."

Antawn Jamison had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the Cavaliers, beaten at home by Boston on Tuesday, giving them losses on consecutive nights to two of the teams within reach for a playoff spot.

"I saw a team over there in the white uniforms that were a lot more aggressive and a lot more physical," Cavs coach Byron Scott said. "We had two turnovers at halftime, 16 in the second half. We didn't do a good job taking care of the ball. We didn't do a good job of attacking. If they're going to be aggressive like that, we need to be aggressive back. I don't think we were."

Kyrie Irving had 22 points and seven assists.

"We had the upper hand and they came out in the second half with higher energy than us and we couldn't sustain the same energy that we had in the first half," Irving said. "They did great in the second half."

The interesting point guard matchup between the No. 1 pick and the guy who wasn't picked was about even. Irving seems headed toward the Rookie of the Year award and has led the Cavaliers into playoff contention, but he and most of the rest of the NBA have been obscured by the player he said has "been on ESPN every single day."

Irving seemed to have little interest in discussing Linsanity. He said he didn't really speak to Lin when they both played in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday at the All-Star game and repeated the same basic answer when twice asked about his counterpart, saying Lin was a great story, great point guard, and was leading the Knicks to wins.

Now it's up to 10 in the last 13 games, and back to .500.

With the recent additions of Baron Davis and JR Smith, and the return of rookies Iman Shumpert and Josh Harrellson from injuries, the Knicks believe their depth has become a strength. And it was the reserves who broke open the game to start the fourth quarter.

"Our bench was tremendous tonight," Anthony said.

The Knicks began the period with a 19-6 burst, turning a two-point lead into a 101-86 advantage as the starters watched. Novak made two 3-pointers, Davis made a layup and hooked up with Smith on a gorgeous alley-oop. Jared Jeffries had a bucket and Shumpert capped it with a layup with 5:50 remaining before the first team finally got to play again.

"I think in the first half we came out kind of flat," Novak said. "In the second half, we all went out and warmed up and we knew we had to get it going, and we knew if defensively we got it going our offense would happen, and that's what happened."

Amare Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler came back with 5:23 left, and Lin and Anthony returned 21 seconds later for Davis and Smith. The reserves got loud ovations as they departed, and Novak was even treated to a "We want Novak! We want Novak!" chant with about 3 minutes left.

Chandler had 13 points and 15 rebounds.

Cleveland appeared on its way to joining Toronto, Charlotte, Phoenix, Milwaukee, New Orleans and New Jersey as sub.-500 teams who have won at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks missed eight of their first nine shots as Cleveland raced to a 7-1 lead. Jamison's 3-pointer with 6.5 seconds left made it 31-24 after one quarter.

Daniel Gibson hit three straight 3-pointers midway through the second to push the lead to 16, and it peaked at 17 later in the period before the Cavs settled for a 61-49 advantage at halftime.

Lin bounced back from his 1-for-11 performance in a 102-88 loss at Miami in the last game before the break, going 6 of 12 with only one turnover. Irving, playing in front of family and friends from nearby New Jersey, shot 8 of 18.

Notes: With the Big East tournament in town next week, the Knicks don't play at Madison Square Garden again until March 11. They open a four-game trip Sunday at Boston, then go to Dallas, San Antonio and Milwaukee. ... Athletes in the crowd included Magic Johnson, tennis star Caroline Wozniacki, who plays Maria Sharapova as part of a doubleheader exhibition here Monday, and 2004 Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Carly Patterson.

Notebook: Knicks 120, Cavs 103

Posted Wednesday February 29, 2012 10:55PM

By Adam Zagoria, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Steve Novak and the Knicks' bench keyed a huge second-half comeback as the Knicks came from 17 points down in the first half to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 120-103, at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks outscored the Cavs, 71-42, in the second half.

Novak came off the bench to hit five 3-pointers and score 17 points. After he left the game in the fourth and the Knicks' lead dwindled slightly, the crowd chanted, "We want Novak."

Ten Knicks scored and seven reached double figures.

Jeremy Lin had 19 points, 13 assists and one turnover. Tyson Chandler tallied 13 points and 15 rebounds. Carmelo Anthony scored 22 points and Amar'e Stoudemire added 14.

QUOTABLE: "I got the ball in some good spots and they found me and I knocked them down....To hear your name chanted at Madison Square Garden, there's nothing like it. It's unbelievable."
-- Novak in his on-court interview.

THE STAT: The Knicks' bench, a weakness for much of the early portion of the season, scored 50 points, including Novak's 17 and Iman Shumpert's 12. Baron Davis had four points and a season-best eight assists off the bench.

QUOTABLE II: "The way Novak played, he was ridiculous."
-- Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni.

TURNING POINT: Trailing 61-49 at the break, the Knicks outscored the Cavs, 33-19, in the third period, when Anthony and Novak scored nine points apiece. Novak hit three 3-pointers in the quarter. The Knicks led, 82-80, after three and then pushed the lead to 97-84 with their bench providing the punch.

HOT: The Knicks are now 10-3 since Linsanity began Feb. 4 against the Nets. Though Lin struggled against the Miami Heat in the last game before the break, he broke out for a big game in his first game back.

NOT: Josh Harrellson didn't get off the bench for the Knicks even though he was able to play after recovering from a broken wrist. D'Antoni likes Harrellson and said he could've played and he will try to get him in in future games.

QUOTABLE III: "Great. I brought him over about 50 seconds and said that's unbelievable what he's doing."
-- D'Antoni on Lin's bounce-back from the Miami Heat game

NOTABLE: Kyrie Irving said he's still mulling whether to play for Australia in the 2012 London Olympics. "I'm not sure," Irving said. "You know, it's still up in the air. I haven't made a decision yet. You'll probably hear about it next week or so, what decision I make. But it's still up in the air." Asked if there was any deadline to decide, Irving said, "Honestly, if there is, I'm not aware of it, so I don't know."

QUOTABLE IV: "To be honest the last couple days in practice that [second] group has just kicked our first team's butt in practice. You see there's a lot of talent coming off the bench now."
-- D'Antoni.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Magic Johnson, Howard Stern and tennis star Caroline Wozniacki all sat courtside.

UP NEXT: For the Knicks, Sunday at Celtics, Tuesday at Mavericks, Wednesday at Spurs. For the Cavs, Friday vs. Bulls, Saturday at Wizards, Monday vs. Utah.

• Cavaliers: Eyenga, Varejao
• Knicks: Jordan, Walker

• Cavaliers: --
• Knicks: Stoudemire

• Lead Changes: 7
• Times Tied: 2

• Arena: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
• Officials: #14 Ed Malloy, #56 Mark Ayotte, #60 James Williams
• Attendance: 19763
• Duration: 2:23