The Knicks have been playing really well despite some questionable offseason moves. One of the those moves was not matching the Houston Rockets offer for point guard Jeremy Lin. Last night Lin had his shot to prove the Knicks made a mistake and he and the Rockets pounced on them putting up an astounding 131 points. Read more after the jump.
The Knicks entered the game with a 8-1 record and was doing something they hadn’t done previously, play defense. Last night however the defense was completely non existent as the Rockets dropped 72 points by halftime. Lin dropped 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists but the real stars were James Harden and surprisingly Chandler Parsons. Harden put up 33 points (16-of-16 from the free throw line) and nine assists but Parsons was able to score at will beating his career high of 25 points all before halftime. Parsons finished with a new career high of 31 points in 34 minutes.
It was a tough rout for the Knicks as Carmelo Anthony dropped a game high of 37 points but the Knicks just couldn’t get any stops. It was supposed to be a statement game for point guard Raymond Felton who said he was tired of hearing Lin comparisons and although he put up 17 points and 8 assists, it just wasn’t enough. Rasheed Wallace was out with a sore foot and although Marcus Camby was activated he didn’t see any playing time as Woodson alluded to him not being ready for game action.
Lin however said this was not a revenge game. “I’m not looking to recreate what happened in New York,” said Lin. ”I want to be a consistent player. I want to get better. I don’t know what my potential is. I don’t know if I can play any better than I did during that stretch, but I’m going to find out to see how close I can get.”
