The New York Knicks have not been off to the start they wanted this season and now they will get a reminder of what might have been, as the Houston Rockets and point guard Jeremy Lin returns to the scene of Madison Square Garden where he dominated headlines for a few weeks as "Linsanity" swept the city.
Lin broke out with some great performances while Carmelo Anthony was out and injured and after playing great against the Lakers and Nets and during a nice run of a winning streak, everything ended after he got injured in the playoffs and then signed with the Rockets. Lin flirted with the Knicks as a free agent, but once the Rockets hit him with a three-year deal and a lucrative offer, he signed it and the Knicks could not match it due to the high price tag and now he returns to MSG over a year later to where it all began.
The Rockets have big expectations as well this season after signing Dwight Howard and while they are slumping a bit after starting 4-1, the team likely will be favored against New York with the way the Knicks are playing. The team held on for a road win against the Atlanta Hawks and now they come into the matchup at 3-5 and it should be a tough test with Howard in the middle and Lin comes into the matchup after having a nice stretch of games, scoring 31 points and then 34 points in the win over the Raptors that saw him also dish 12 assists and that could be enough to get his starting job back.
The Knicks have been able to get by without Lin, as Raymond Felton has been very solid since coming back to the team and now Lin will get to see what he is missing. Howard knows what it's like to leave an excited fan base and he has that in common with Lin after inking an $80 million deal with Houston and now Lin gets to keep proving that he was worth the near $30 million Houston signed him for and on Thursday night he gets to show that for the Knicks. The Rockets knew they had a chance to sign him from the Knicks after offering $25 million, as they knew that New York could not afford to go that high.
Last season Lin was very solid while averaging 13.4 points and 6.1 assists and he also started all 82 games for the team and played very well alongside teammates Chandler Parsons and James Harden. The Knicks have been a mess this season and they come into the matchup ranked 26th in the league on offense with just 93 points per game and the defense has played better, ranking ninth, but the team is giving up too many early points and buckets in the paint. The team has tons to worry about with Houston, as Howard has been excellent on the boards and the team ranks third in the league in scoring per game and first in rebounding and without Tyson Chandler in the lineup, it will be hard to keep up with that.