NBA: Julius Randle triple-double leads Knicks past Magic

Reggie Bullock scored 20 points and came up with a big steal with 5.9 seconds left as the host New York Knicks held on for a 94-93 victory over the Orlando Magic on Thursday night.

Bullock saved the Knicks from completely collapsing after they blew a 16-point, third-quarter lead and trailed by five points twice in the fourth. 

The Knicks held a 94-90 lead after Alec Burks hit a floater in the lane with 31.5 seconds left but Orlando drew within 94-93 on Evan Fournier's 3-pointer with 27.6 seconds left.

The Knicks had a chance to clinch the win but Bullock got tied up by Fournier and lost a jump ball with 19.5 seconds left. 

After Orlando called a timeout, Aaron Gordon inbounded to Fournier, who moved around a screen by Nikola Vucevic but Bullock trailed Fournier and came up with the clutch steal beyond the 3-point line.

Burks led the Knicks with 21 points and also added 10 assists. 

Julius Randle posted his third triple-double of the season with 18 points, a career-high 17 assists and 10 rebounds as the Knicks shot 43 percent and bounced back from close losses to Brooklyn and Philadelphia.

Fournier scored 23 points for Orlando, which lost its ninth straight game. Gordon and Vucevic added 17 apiece for the Magic, who shot 42.7 percent

After allowing the game's first five points, the Magic took a 20-10 lead on Fournier's one-legged 3-pointer with 5:50 left in the first quarter. 

New York outscored Orlando, 14-6, the rest of the frame to get within 26-24 after 12 minutes, before taking a 45-44 lead by intermission.

Randle's 3-pointer put New York up 72-56 with 1:59 left in the third but Orlando scored the final 10 points of the quarter and got within 72-66 after Khem Birch hit a bank shot with one second left. 

Orlando regained the lead when Fournier's 3-pointer made it 75-74 with 9:54 left in the fourth.

Orlando took its second five-point lead of the fourth at 87-82 on Vucevic's 14-footer with 5:15 left but the Knicks took an 88-87 lead on Frank Ntilikina's 3-pointer with 3:49 remaining. 

Randle then hit two jumpers to give the Knicks a 92-87 edge with 2:39 left.

Orlando had a chance to retake the lead when Bullock missed a 3-pointer with 56.4 seconds left in the third but Dwayne Bacon missed a wide-open 3-pointer with 44.7 seconds to go.

-reuters

NBA: Linsannity stung as Hornets end Knicks' winning run

Jeremy Lin coughed up nine turnovers in his first defeat as a New York Knicks starter with the lowly New Orleans Hornets claiming a surprise 89-85 victory at a sold-out Madison Square Garden on Friday.

'Linsanity' has gripped America and spread throughout Asia as the Chinese-American guard, rejected by a string of NBA teams, became the unlikely driving force behind the Knicks' seven consecutive wins.

However, that run came to an end on Friday as the 23-year-old Harvard graduate turned in a season high turnover rate.

"Nine turnovers is obviously never gonna get it done from your primary ball-handler," Lin, who scored a joint team-high 26 points, told reporters.

"It's on me in terms of taking care of the ball and the game in general. If everyone's going to credit me for these last seven games, then I definitely deserve this one. So that's fine by me."

The Knicks fell to 15-16 for the season while the victory was the Hornets' seventh this season against 23 defeats.

The Hornets capitalised on Lin's five first quarter turnovers to build a 27-13 lead and led wire to wire. The Knicks rallied to within two points at 82-80 on two free throws by Lin with one minute remaining but could not complete the comeback.

Although disappointed by defeat, Lin hoped that the hysteria surrounding him might dampen for the good of the team now the winning streak had ended.

"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 little bit.

"I think from that end, it may help me, it may help the team a little bit in terms of just having everything off the court cool down for a little bit."

Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said he was pleased with how Lin responded in the second half after he recorded eight of his nine turnovers in the first.

"I just told him he was trying to make the hardest pass out there, he was trying to make the home run pass," D'Antoni told reporters.

"That'll happen for young guys. "He'll learn. He'll get through it. I thought he played well. Second half, he adjusted."

Lin was given his chance to play because of injuries and the struggling form of the Knicks, who were 8-15 before he took charge on the floor in the absence of their two top scorers, Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire.

The winning run included scoring 38 points in victory over Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers and dropping a game winning three-pointer with one second remaining to beat the Toronto Raptors.

However, many Knicks fans missed those efforts.

Friday's game was the first Knicks outing to be aired to more than one million TV viewers in New York after a month and a half blackout for Time Warner Cable Inc subscribers.

They will be hoping for better from their talisman when the Knicks host the NBA champion Dallas Mavericks on Sunday. — Reuters

source: gmanetwork.com

Sarah Palin I'm Going LINSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Call her Sarah Pa-LIN ... because the former Vice-Presidential candidate is the new Knicks' sensation's biggest fan -- even showing off her brand new "LINSANITY" t-shirt on the streets of New York today.

According to Sarah, Jeremy Lin is everything America stands for -- calling him "an American story ... uplifting, positive ... he unifies our country!"

But when it came to deciding between Lin and Tim Tebow -- Sarah reverts to politician mode, telling us she can't decide between the two ... she loves them both. Lame.

source: TMZ