JEREMY Lin and the New York Knicks rebounded from the first loss of the point guard’s magical run to defeat the defending NBA champion Dallas Mavericks 104-97 today.
Just two days after committing a season-high nine turnovers in a loss to New Orleans, 23-year-old Lin finished with at team-high 28 points, 14 assists and five steals as the Knicks beat Dallas at Madison Square Garden for the first time in over six years.
Centre Tyson Chandler finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds and shooting guard J.R. Smith had 15 points in his first start of the season for the Knicks.
Veteran Smith signed with New York on Friday after a stint playing in China. The Knick’s Jeremy Lin era got its launch when the former part-time player was called upon with two starters missing and the Chinese-American star answered with the most points of any NBA player in his first five starts since the NBA and ABA merged in 1976.
Lin’s fairytale rise to fame is further enhanced because he was cut by two clubs before the season started. Once again, Lin drained long three pointers, made precision full court passes and spun off defenders to attack the Mavericks’ basket as he carried the Knicks on his back down the stretch in the fourth quarter and there we limited New York Knicks Tickets available for the game.
Lin shot 11-of-20 from the field in 46 minutes of playing time. He also limited his early turnovers making just one in the first half as the Knicks led 48-45 at the half. Lin finished with seven turnovers but he more than made up for it with a trio of three pointers on six attempts.
In the final minute alone, he assisted on the Knicks’ last two baskets and had a clutch steal against reigning NBA finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki.
Earlier in the fourth quarter, Lin hit a three pointer over the seven-foot Nowitzki that made it 90-81, giving New York one of their biggest leads of the game.
Nowitzki scored a game-high 34 points and Shawn Marion, who was given the task of guarding Lin, had 14 points and seven rebounds for the Mavericks, who had their six-game winning streak snapped.
Dallas, who are 12-5 in their last 17 games, led by as much as 12 points in the third quarter but were outscored 32-22 in the fourth.
New York had its season-high seven-game win streak come to an end with Saturday’s loss to the Hornets as Lin suffered his first defeat as a member of the starting squad.
Lin is averaging 22.5 points and 10.2 assists in his past five games. The Knicks played their seventh-straight game without superstar Carmelo Anthony who is out with a groin injury.
Meanwhile, ESPN said today it had fired an employee and suspended an anchor for using “offensive and inappropriate comments” in its coverage of Asian-American Lin and ban him from any future New York Knicks Tickets to cover the game.
The moves come after ESPN apologised for its “Chink in The Armor” headline that appeared on its mobile website following the Knicks’ 89-85 loss to the hapless New Orleans Hornets.
The phrase, which carries obvious racial overtones when used in reference to a person of Asian descent, appeared on the site for more than 30 minutes before being removed.
The expression was also used by ESPNEWS anchor Max Bretos on Thursday when he asked a question about Lin’s weaknesses during an interview with Hall-of-Fame Knicks guard Walt Frazier.
The network announced it had fired the employee responsible for the headline and was suspending an ESPNEWS anchor for 30 days for “offensive and inappropriate comments” used during its coverage of Lin.
ESPN did not release the names of the two employees, but it was widely reported the anchor was Bretos.
ESPN also said it had learned a similar phrase was used by ESPN Radio New York. ESPN said that it had not taken action for the radio incident because the commentator was not an ESPN employee.
“We again apologise, especially to Mr. Lin,” ESPN said in a statement. “His accomplishments are a source of great pride to the Asian-American community, including the Asian-American employees at ESPN. Through self-examination, improved editorial practices and controls, and response to constructive criticism, we will be better in the future.”