NBA

Davis’ injury solidifies Lin’s starting status for Knicks

03-16-12 Indiana Pacers vs New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden: Knicks #17 Jeremy Lin drives to the basket between two Pacers during the first quarter. (Anthony J. Causi)

Don’t throw dirt on Linsanity’s grave just yet.

Before last night’s Knicks win over the Pacers, interim coach Mike Woodson said point guard Jeremy Lin would start the rest of the season with Baron Davis as his backup. That idea then looked even more realistic when Davis left the game in the second quarter with a strained right hamstring.

Davis exited with 9:10 left in the second quarter after scoring seven points in nearly seven minutes played.

Davis looked like he was just shaking off the rust after missing the first seven weeks of the season recovering from a back injury.

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Woodson said Davis will miss tonight’s game in Indiana. The Knicks hope he will be back for Tuesday’s game against the Raptors.

Davis said he felt a “pinch” while guarding Darren Collison. He asked to come out of the game before injuring the leg further.

“It’s very frustrating,” Davis said. “We’re in a good groove. I was in a good groove finally. It seemed like the floor was spaced and I was aware what was going on out there. I had my legs right. It’s just a minor setback, though.”

Lin replaced Davis and handled most of the point guard duties in a 115-100 dismantling of the Pacers in Woodson’s second game in charge. Lin had 13 points and five assists.

Before the game Woodson talked Lin up, perhaps in an effort to boost the point guard’s confidence.

Woodson was taken aback by front and backpage coverage stemming from his remarks Thursday that Lin would be de-emphasized and Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire propped up as featured scorers down the stretch.

Woodson clearly wanted to stem speculation Lin was headed to the bench.

“Jeremy Lin is our starting point guard and Baron is backing him up and that’s the way it’s going to be the rest of the season pretty much unless someone gets hurt,’’ Woodson said before the game.

Woodson talked Thursday about the possibility of Mike Bibby, who was with Woodson in Atlanta, being put back into the rotation. But that’s not happening yet.

Bibby got in last night’s game late in the fourth quarter, well after the Knicks had the game in hand.