Jeremy Lin was not the Knicks’ hero last night. He was just a good, solid, all-around, mistake-free point guard who ultimately got the better of Cavaliers Rookie of the Year candidate Kyrie Irving.
And that’s all the Knicks will need from the undrafted Harvard point guard who has engineered their surreal 10-3 run.
With Baron Davis providing terrific backup play, Lin got to play a more reasonable 33 minutes, scored 19 points with 13 assists and one turnover.
“I talked to him for a few seconds and told him he was just doing a great job,’’ coach Mike D’Antoni said.
Lin said he was happy with his minute production as the Knicks go about trying to reduce his workload to save him for the long haul.
“Thirty-three minutes is good, but it depends on the game,’’ Lin said. “On a back to back, it might be less than 33. If I’m feeling great it could be 40. I like to play but our team is deep.’’
Lin turned it up in the second half and erased any doubts from a tough loss to the Heat.
“Coming back from the Miami game, the only thing I was focused on was making sure my approach was the same in terms of aggressiveness and doing a better job taking care of the ball,’’ said Lin, who committed eight turnovers and shot 1-for-9 in South Beach.
Irving is a lead candidate for Rookie of the Year but he’s losing in the race for New Sensation of the Year to Lin, a second-year pro. Irving scored 22 points but had four turnovers.
As had been the trend at the All-Star Weekend festivities, some of the NBA’s point guards are getting a little tired talking about Linsanity.
Irving, out of Newark and making his Madison Square Garden debut as an NBA player, seemed to be one of them. Irving was No. 1 pick of the NBA Draft out of Duke. Lin was undrafted.
Irving said he didn’t talk to Lin during the Rising Stars competition in Orlando last Friday. They were on opposite teams and Irving won the MVP; Lin played nine minutes and scored two points.
“It’s a great story, he’s a great player and leading the Knicks to a lot of wins,’’ Irving said before the game. “ He’s a great point guard in the league.’’
When someone wanted to know what he thought of Lin’s game, Irving rolled his eyes. “Like I said before, it’s a great story. He’s a great point guard and leading the Knicks to wins. He’s on ESPN every single day. What is it? Three weeks, almost a month.’’
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Irving has an interesting choice for the London Olympics as he is strongly considering playing for Australia, where he was born when his father, Drederick, played there professionally.
Irving said he will announce his decision next week. Irving has dual citizenship, creating a conflict for the 19-year-old. Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski has talked about having him play for the practice squad to scrimmage against Team USA — which would be his steppingstone to future Olympic glory. “It’s still up in the air,’’ Irving said.
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Josh Harrellson did not play, though he was cleared for action for the first time since fracturing his right wrist on Jan. 21.
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The Knicks have three straight practice days before their next game in Boston Sunday when they begin a four-game trip.
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D’Antoni said in his conversations with Tyson Chandler he is not worried about him missing games because of a bone bruise in his wrist.
D’Antoni said Chandler was the team’s only “irreplaceable player.’’