Lin: Mavs did great job with defensive stops

DALLAS - Jeremy Lin's second game against the Mavericks was nowhere near as successful as his first. The overnight sensation was in the middle of "Linsanity" when he scored 28 and dished out 14 assists in a 104-97 nationally televised win over Dallas last month.

Tuesday night was much more of a struggle for the 23-year-old point guard. Lin, who was on the floor for only four minutes in the fourth quarter, was held to 14 points on 4-of-13 shooting in a 95-85 loss at American Airlines Center, New York's third defeat in its last four games.

Lin commended the Mavericks on their defense, admitting that the Dallas club did a good job of taking away New York's first offensive option.

"We made a run with our second team which kept us in this ballgame," Lin said. "We couldn't close this game out and they obviously did a great job of getting defensive stops."

And as Lin pointed out, those stops turned into easy baskets for Dirk Nowitzki, who scored 24 of his game-high 28 points in the final two quarters.

But Lin's coach remained positive about his point guard despite the Knicks being -11 when Lin was on the floor, including the last four minutes when New York was outscored 15-7.

"[The Mavericks] just trapped," Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said of the defensive strategy against Lin. "I think he had seven assists and two turnovers, so I thought he did well. He missed a couple shots but I thought it was OK."

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