At least this time, Kris Humphries gave the Knicks crowd a reason to boo him.
In between turning Jeremy Lin into a walking, talking, driving and scoring legend, the Madison Square Garden sellout crowd again found time to target Humphries.
Following the news of his divorce proceedings with Kim Kardashian, they rained hate on him during a preseason game just because.
Last night, in the Knicks’ Lin-driven 99-92 victory over the Nets, the Knicks faithful watched Humphries perform as the best big on the floor.
Humphries posted his 10th double-double of the year with 20 points and 12 rebounds. His arms were a bruised mess — supported by a stat line showing 12 free throws.
“I love it. It’s motivating. We’re back here, right? ’Til we meet again,” Humphries said of the crowd that, while nasty, spewed nothing compared to the preseason venom unleashed toward him.
There was a point in the back-and-forth fourth quarter when Humphries looked like he may have tilted the game toward the Nets. With the Nets up one, Amar’e Stoudemire and Jared Jeffries collected offensive rebounds and were both rejected by Humphries, who finished tying a season high with four blocks for the second straight night.
“It just got me going,” he said. “We’re kind of playing small right now. You get against a team with [Tyson] Chandler, 7-feet, Amar’e, 6-10, it’s a team effort down there. Obviously getting some blocks gets you energized and hyped up a little bit.
“You hear everyone talk about the Knicks. They’re not a bad team. They have a lot of talent, and we let them get in a rhythm offensively,” Humphries said. “We still got to do a lot of what we wanted to do on offense. I wouldn’t say we [took] a step back. I’d say we’re kind of stuck in neutral right now.”
* Anthony Morrow, who before the game made his pitch to be in the 3-point shooting contest at All-Star Weekend, revealed afterwards he will not face the Bulls tomorrow because of the death of his grandmother, Lillie, 82.
“I want to,” Morrow said about participating in the 3-point contest. “It’s on the league, man. But I’d love to. I’ve got everybody working: my agent, teammates. I feel like I’m one of the best … I feel like I’ve proven it my four years in the league.”