The New Orleans Hornets ended the New York Knicks' seven-game winning streak with an 89-85 victory Friday at Madison Square Garden.
In Knicks guard Jeremy Lin's meteoric ascent to NBA and worldwide cultural phenom, this was not his finest performance, even though he had a team-high 26 points, five assists and four steals.
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As is the case with young point guards who have the ball in their hands so often, Lin struggled to protect the ball and committed a season-high nine turnovers, including eight in the first half. In his last five games, he has 35 turnovers.
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"They are long, and they did defend well," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said. "But at the same time, I just told him he was trying to make the hardest pass out there. He was trying to make the homerun pass. That'll happen for young guys."
Even with the turnovers, the loss wasn't all on Lin. The Knicks shot 31-for-75 (41.3%) from the field, 4-for-24 (16.7%) on three-pointers and 19-for-29 (65.5%) from the foul line.
What endears fans to Lin ? beyond his incredible story from pro basketball obscurity to star ? is his charm, humor, self-effacing and maturity. So it wasn't a surprise when Lin, 23, sat down for his postgame news conference and took the blame for the loss.
"It was just a lackluster effort on my part coming out and (being) careless with the ball," he said. "Nine turnovers is obviously never going to get it done from your primary ballhandler. It's on me in terms of taking care of the ball, and also the game in general."
New Orleans gave him multiple defensive looks and forced him into bad decisions, particularly in the first half.
The Hornets tried to limit Lin from running the pick-and-roll on the perimeter, and once he got into the lane, they tried to take away his options: defending forward Amar'e Stoudemire or center Tyson Chandler near the basket and making it tough for Lin to take shots.
"Everyone wants to credit me for the last seven games, and I definitely deserve this one on my shoulders. That's fine with me," Lin said.
Asked if losing might not be such a bad thing in order to lessen the mania surrounding Lin and the Knicks, the first America-born NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent struggled to find the potential positive.
"I don't think this is good because I hate losing," Lin said. "But I know what you're saying in terms of everything dying down a bit. From that end, it may help me, may help the team a little bit in terms of having everything off the court cool down for a little bit."
Another news reporter asked Lin about throwing alley-oops to Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin in the Rising Stars Challenge involving rookies and second-year players during All-Star Weekend in Orlando Feb. 24-26.
Dejected as he was about the loss and his performance, he entertained with his answer.
"It's going to be pretty easy," he said. "I'm just going to throw it anywhere in the sky, and he'll probably go and get it and make me look pretty good."
Even with the turnovers, Lin still generated excitement and put the Knicks in a position to tie the score or take the lead late in the fourth quarter. Three times in the final 4:40, Lin scored to keep it a one-possession game. After a steal, he was fouled and made two free throws, cutting the Hornets' lead to 82-80.
But that was the closest the Knicks would get.
"He'll learn. He'll get through it," D'Antoni said. "I thought he played well. The second half, he adjusted. He had one turnover in the second half, and he did a good job."
Lin finished 8-for-18 from the field, including 2-for-5 on three-pointers.
His teammates understand it's going to be a process. It's not going to be 38-point games, game-winning shots and double-doubles in points and assists every game.
"Teams are keying on him. But it takes time, and it takes games like this in order to learn from your mistakes," Stoudemire said. "He's going to watch film now and get better. The more we play, the more we recognize defenses out there, the better it's going to be become."
"We're going to be a pretty good team in the near future."
At least that's what the Knicks are expecting when forward Carmelo Anthony returns to the lineup and newly signed J.R. Smith joins the team.
Smith played in China during the lockout but did not have an opt-out clause to return to the NBA once the lockout concluded. He couldn't play in the NBA until his Chinese team's season was finished.
Hornets swingman Trevor Ariza scored a team-high 25 points, and rookie forward-center Gustavo Ayon had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Second-year point guard Greivis Vasquez had 15 points and 11 assists for New Orleans.
Stoudemire added 26 points and 12 rebounds for the Knicks, and Chandler had 10 points and 11 rebounds.
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