The Nets knew a point guard could take over last night’s game against the Knicks.
They just didn’t know that point guard was Knicks backup Jeremy Lin.
“We tried to trap him, he split our trap. We stayed back on him and he threw up some Hail Mary’s, and they went in tonight,” Nets coach Avery Johnson said after Lin finished with 25 points, five rebounds, seven assists and two steals in a 99-92 Knicks win over the Nets at the Garden.
“So I guess he’ll have a good day at church tomorrow.”
He certainly had a good night at the Garden. Lin scored at will throughout the second half, including 12 fourth quarter points — many of which came against Nets star Deron Williams.
“[The Knicks] were able to gain momentum back,” Williams said, “and then, down the stretch, I didn’t do a good job containing Jeremy Lin.”
“There’s so much focus on Carmelo [Anthony] and Amar’e [Stoudemire] and the other guys, and our game plan was to help off of him. He started knocking down shots and got confidence, and he was relentless taking it to the basket.”
It seemed like Lin could do whatever he wanted in the fourth quarter, going 5-for-7 from the field along with two assists, and repeatedly splitting double-teams on the pick-and-roll, leading to breakdowns in the Nets’ defense.
After hitting a jumper to give the Knicks the lead early in the fourth, Lin put the game out of reach with an and-one layup and free throw with 2:03 remaining to put the Knicks up 95-86, and then hit another driving lay-up on the Knicks’ next possession.
“He is on an NBA roster, so he can do something,” said Shawne Williams, who finished with six points in his first appearance at the Garden since signing with the Nets as a free agent following the lockout. “He had a good night.
“We have to tip our hats to him. … He had a career night. Next time, we have to shut him down.”
It wasn’t long ago that Lin was sent down by the Knicks to the Erie Bayhawks, their D-League affiliate. But Johnson said that they knew who Lin was, and what he could do, when he came into the game.
“We scout everybody,” he said. “They bring a guy up from the D-League at the last minute, we scout everybody.
“He was on our video. … We knew what he could do. He just had a career night and unfortunately, it was against us.”