Jeremy Lin’s joy ride was going to end at some point. But who believed it would be the bottom-feeding Hornets that channeled their inner Susan Powter to stop the Linsanity?
Yeah, sure, Lin had another big stat line with 26 points, five assists and four steals. But he also had a league season-high nine turnovers, which went a long way toward an 89-85 loss that ended the Knicks’ seven-game winning streak.
Lin committed eight turnovers in the first half. Five came in the first 10 minutes and helped dig a 10-point hole that the Knicks never climbed out of. Facing the worst team in the West, the Knicks never led.
Earlier this week, the prevailing opinion on the interwebs was that Lin’s turnovers were merely a product of having the ball in his hands all the time. Several writers noted point guards such as Magic Johnson and Isiah Thomas, who led the league in turnovers but also led their teams to titles.
Putting aside the absurdity of trying to draw an analogy to two of the greatest floor generals of all time, Lin’s turnover totals can no longer be ignored. He has no less than six in each of his last five starts.
Remember that stat about Lin scoring the most points in his first five starts of any player since the 1976 merger? Well, here’s another one, although it doesn’t sound nearly as nice: Lin’s 45 giveaways are the most by any player in his first seven starts since turnovers became an official stat in 1977.
No one else is really close. The previous mark was 38, held by Glenn Robinson. Allen Iverson, who was throwing passes to fans in his rookie season, had 34.
From Ian Begley of ESPN New York: “He was trying to make the hardest pass out there, he was trying to make the home run pass,” Mike D’Antoni said. Lin finished the night with nine turnovers, one of many reasons the Knicks fell to the Hornets 89-85 at Madison Square Garden. The loss snapped New York’s season-high seven-game winning streak, which started when Lin first received extended playing time. “Everyone wants to credit me for the last seven games, then I definitely deserve this one on my shoulders,” Lin said. “So that’s fine with me.”
Another less glaring issue is that Lin was outplayed at the point for the second time this week. His game-winner in Toronto on Tuesday glossed over his glaring inability to get a handle on Jose Calderon, who had 25 points and nine assists and pretty much got wherever he wanted on the court until Mike D’Antoni moved Iman Shumpert onto him in the fourth quarter.
On Friday, the culprit was Greivis Vasquez – like Lin, a former backup in his second season – who had 15 points, 11 assists and just three turnovers in a much more efficient performance.
On Sunday, the matchup will be Jason Kidd, who is 38 years old but still knows a thing or two about running an offense. On Monday, it’s Deron Williams, who was the first notch on Lin’s belt just under two weeks ago and might be looking for some payback.
Perhaps all of the hype is catching up to Lin. He already has played more minutes this season than he did all of last season and has the added burden of handling the ball and running D’Antoni’s offense. Add the maniacal media sessions at every practice and game, and you can see how the slender Lin might be having some trouble bearing the weight of his success.
From Frank Isola of the New York Daily News: “Lin admitted earlier Friday that the madness surrounding the last two weeks of his life — bench warmer to instant celebrity point guard — left him emotionally and physically worn down. Plus, opposing point guards were getting tired of hearing about Linsanity. “Our guys were fired up,” one Hornet said. “We were sick of it.”
After the game, Lin suggested that hoopla has been a bit much.
From Jake Appleman of the New York Times: “Maybe the precious few who predicted something close to Jeremy Lin’s meteoric rise are the same few who could have predicted that the Knicks’ seven-game winning streak — a thrilling run that made the term Linsanity a global brand — would come crashing down Friday night in an 89-85 loss to the New Orleans Hornets at Madison Square Garden. “I don’t think this is good, because I hate losing,” Lin said of the streak’s end. “But I know what you’re saying in terms of everything dying down a little bit. I think from that end, it may help me, it may help the team a little bit in terms of just having everything off the court cool down for a little bit.”
Doubtful. Later next week is a meeting with the Heat before Lin heads to Orlando for All-Star Weekend, where he will be participating in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday and assisting Shumpert in the Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday.
By that time, Lin will have a new teammate in gunslinger J.R. Smith, who began the season in China but signed a two-year deal worth a reported $4.3 million Friday.
From Howard Beck of the New York Times: “Smith’s seven-year N.B.A. résumé reads like a flashing caution sign: suspensions, benchings, clashes with his coach, traffic accidents and an accusation, in 2009, that he was using gang diction on his Twitter account. He also likes to shoot 3-pointers — a lot. In coaching parlance, Smith is known as a chucker, a player who shoots without conscience, awareness of game situations or much regard for his team’s offensive system. “He’s not stopping the ball, that’s for sure,” Coach Mike D’Antoni said with a nervous chuckle.”
Speaking of nervous chuckles, how about LeBron James saying that he would consider a return to Cleveland later in his career? Before an utter panic set upon Collins Avenue, James clarified his remarks.
From Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com: “James moved to calm his current fans in Miami. “The question is could I see myself playing back (in Cleveland). I said ‘yeah’ in the sense of I don’t know what my future holds and I don’t want to take that (option) out. I answered truthfully,” James said Friday after the Heat’s shootaround at Quicken Loans Arena, where Miami plays Cleveland Friday night. “But it’s all about this season for me and it’s all about playing with this Miami Heat team and trying to win an NBA championship. The fans of Miami shouldn’t be worried about anything at this point.”
You know who should be worried? The rest of the NBA. James and the Heat are absolutely crushing teams right now, and they are doing it on the road. Friday’s 111-87 win at Cleveland completed a 5-1 road trip for Miami, which won the last five games by an average of 18.7 points.
James was the leading scorer in the last four of those. He played through the now-customary chorus of boos at The Q to ring up 28 points before sitting out the entire fourth quarter. With apologies to Kevin Durant, he is turning the MVP race into a runaway.
From Manny Navarro of the Miami Herald: “Asked if he’s playing the best stretch of his career, James said: “I think I would agree – just looking at the numbers and how I feel. I’m very confident. I’ve always been a confident guy even in my MVP seasons I had here. I played some good basketball. But I haven’t shot as many threes, even though I took five tonight. Most of my damage is done in the paint or in the post. I’m shooting at a high clip right now.” Is this the best the Heat has played since the Big 3 was put together? “This year for sure,” James said. “We had some really good stretches last year. We had stretches where we were up and really low. We won 22 out of 23, seven out of eight. This year, this is the most consistent we’ve been since we’ve been together playing basketball.”
Elsewhere …
- The Bobcats gave Michael Jordan a nice 49th birthday present as they ended their franchise-record 16-game losing streak with a 98-91 win at Toronto. Rookie Bismack Biyombo had 13 rebounds and seven blocks. The Raptors have lost at home to New Jersey, Sacramento and Charlotte. They also have lost twice at Washington.
- The Thunder, who are probably more overlooked by this feature than any other good team, cruised to a 110-87 home win over the Warriors but lost Russell Westbrook to a sprained ankle late in the third quarter. They already were without injured starters Kendrick Perkins and Thabo Sefolosha. The Warriors lost Monta Ellis to a hyperextended knee.
- The Mavericks were supposed to miss Tyson Chandler and DeShawn Stevenson on the defensive end of the floor. Yeah, right. They shut down the Sixers in an 82-75 road win, their season-high sixth in a row. In the second half, Philadelphia scored 24 points, and so did Dirk Nowitzki. Philly’s starting backcourt of Jrue Holiday and Jodie Meeks was a combined 0-of-12.
- Kobe Bryant scored 36 points as the Lakers improved to 13-2 at home with a 111-99 win over the Suns. In an interview with ESPN that aired during the game, Bryant plainly stated that he does not like the Suns. In his last three games against Phoenix, Bryant is averaging 42 points. Perhaps more important was that the Lakers received 34 points from their much-maligned bench.
- The Magic scored the final 17 points in a 94-85 home win over the Bucks, virtually the same finish from Saturday’s meeting at Milwaukee. In that one, Orlando trailed by 10 with less than five minutes to go and rattled off 16 in a row. Dwight Howard registered his seventh 20-20 game with 26 points and 20 boards. The rest of the entire NBA has four 20-20 games. Howard also picked up his eighth tech. When he gets to 13, he is suspended for a game. The BUcks have lost four in a row and are fading fast in the East, where the playoff teams look all but set.
- In their 137th meeting this season (actually, their fourth and last; it just seems that way), the Wolves held on for a 111-98 road win over the Rockets. Kevin Love had 33 points and 17 rebounds and searing-hot Nikola Pekovic had a career-high 30 and 12 boards. In his last four games, Pekovic is averaging 22 points and 12.7 rebounds. Normally, we like to see Most Improved Player go to someone who lifts his game from good to great, but this season there are a handful of kids who have come out of nowhere, i.e. Pekovic, Lin, Paul George and Byron Mullens.
- The Grizzlies blew a 23-point lead but salvaged a 103-102 home win over the Nuggets on Dante Cunningham’s tip-in with less than a second to play. It was the third straight win for Memphis, which keeps plodding along and hanging around while waiting for Zach Randolph, who is still more than two weeks away from his possible return. Nuggets rookie Kenneth Faried had season highs of 18 points and 10 boards.
- The Jazz outclassed the visiting Wizards, 114-100, as Al Jefferson had 34 points on 16-of-23 shooting and swept 12 rebounds. Rookie Alec Burks, who has played more in the last two games, scored 13 points.
- The Pistons are playing much better basketball. They beat the Kings, 114-108, as Rodney Stuckey scored a season-high 36 points. Sacramento is 0-3 on a six-game trip.