Lin faces boyhood idol Kidd
Jeremy Lin in action against the Los Angeles Lakers. (Feb. 10, 2012) Credit: Jim McIsaac
GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- Growing up in the Bay Area, Jeremy Lin followed the career of a point guard from Oakland who became one of the best in NBA history.
On Sunday afternoon, in front of a national television audience, he will be matched up against that all-time great, Jason Kidd. Lin can't wait.
"He's a legend out there," he said. "No question, people talk about him everywhere I go. Obviously, it's an honor to be able to play against him. I looked up to him a lot and growing up was a fan of what he did. It'll be good to play against him and see where I'm at."
The defending champion Mavericks (20-11) will test Lin and the Knicks, who will be without Carmelo Anthony (groin injury) for the seventh straight game but could have J.R. Smith and Baron Davis in the lineup.
NBA Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki has led the Mavs to six straight wins. Even though they lost defensive anchor Tyson Chandler to the Knicks, they are playing defense similar to the way they played in their championship season.
Mavs coach Rick Carlisle will try to come up with something to limit Lin. Kidd, 38, a former All-Defensive performer, always looks for challenges. Trying to slow down a point guard who is 15 years his junior could motivate him. "J-Kidd is just crafty, period," Chandler said. "He goes in to win the game. He's not one to take on a personal matchup unless it's defensively."
Lin has been terrific in the last two weeks, leading the Knicks to seven wins in eight games. But his weakness has been his turnovers, and that could be something the Mavs try to exploit.
In his seven NBA starts, Lin is averaging 24.6 points, 8.9 assists and 6.4 turnovers. Kidd has averaged 9.1 assists and only 3.0 turnovers per game in his career.
Lin had nine turnovers in Friday night's loss to New Orleans and blamed himself for the end of the Knicks' winning streak.
"I'm the floor leader," he said. "It's my job to distribute the ball and I didn't do a good job of that and put us in a hole. Eight turnovers in the first half -- it's pretty obvious where the blame should go. That's why I took it."
Mike D'Antoni said Lin was being too hard on himself. "We can iron that out," he said. "Other than that, his game was good -- 26 points, five assists. You might say it's not Lin-sanity, but for any NBA player, that's pretty good. Just too many turnovers."
D'Antoni talked to Lin during and after the game and showed him tape of some of the things he did wrong or might consider doing differently to decrease his turnovers.
D'Antoni said some of it is that Lin "was trying to hit the home run" instead of making the easy pass. He added that when he gets more experience and gets used to his minutes, he will make fewer mistakes. "The thing I like about Jeremy is he's always attacking," he said. "If you're always attacking, you're going to have some turnovers. As he gets older, those turnovers will come down.
"We're not talking that many. He'll get there. It's not even a concern. I just want him to keep his mentality and not get hesitant -- 'Oh, I might turn it over.' That's OK; risk it."
