Written by William Lee

Friday night New York continued their Texas Triangle road trip, taking on the Houston Rockets, after a very impressive victory over the San Antonio Spurs the previous night. Jeremy Lin made sure to let his former team know what they were missing, scoring seven points in the opening four minutes. Lin penetrated into the paint for a couple of layups, and knocked down a three, which quickly gave the Rockets an 11-4 early lead. James Harden would also get into the act, easily getting into the paint for a layup as well. Mike Woodson decided to substitute out Beno Udrih in favor of the home town native Toure’ Murry for his defense. Murry and Iman Shumpert made a good defensive backcourt, and it sparked an 18-9 run to end the first quarter, to give the Knicks a 24-20 lead.

The Rockets started the second quarter on a 9-3, where they were able to keep the Knicks scoreless for three minutes early in the second quarter. The run gave the Rockets the lead briefly, as the game was tightly contested throughout, with 18 lead changes in the game. The Rockets would extend their run, leading by as much as seven points in the second quarter, behind the dribble penetration from Lin, who scored another seven points in the quarter. The Knicks would connect on three straight three pointers in route to an 11-2 run to take back the lead 43-41 with 2:25 remaining in the second quarter. Continue reading →