NEW YORK — There were times in recent weeks when Jeremy Lin wondered whether he’d ever get a real shot in the NBA.

“Of course, of course, that’s definitely going to cross my mind,” Lin, a Harvard grad and one of the first Asian-Americans in the NBA, said Monday night in the Knicks locker room.

After both the Golden State Warriors and the Houston Rockets waived him in December, the Knicks took a flyer on Lin because they needed another point guard in the wake of of Baron Davis’s back injury. (more…)

NEW YORK — Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony aren’t about to call out their teammates, but both know full well that their bench was outscored 25-6 in Thursday’s 105-102 loss to the Chicago Bulls at Madison Square Garden.

“We’re doing a good job of playing together, playing team basketball,” Stoudemire said after scoring a season-high 34 points, but missing a potential game-tying 3 pointer with 11 seconds remaining.

“We just need a little more production off the bench. If we can get those guys to come in, that second unit to play a little bit harder for us, then we’ll be OK.” (more…)

GREENBURGH, N.Y. — The Knicks are coming off a win, yet are battered and bruised as they head into a showdown with Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls that kicks off a brutal stretch of three games in three nights.

Amar’e Stoudemire has a sprained ankle but will play. Carmelo Anthony is still battling a series of injuries but returned to the court after a two-game hiatus Tuesday and scored 25 points in a 113-86 win over the Detroit Pistons. And head coach Mike D’Antoni concedes he has “no clue” when Baron Davis will debut.

“Everybody will be ready to play all three games hard as they can play,” D’Antoni said Wednesday after practice, referring to Anthony and Stoudemire. (more…)

J.R. Smith dropped 60 points in a Chinese League game Wednesday.

Here’s the box score showing that the former Denver Nuggets and St. Benedict’s Prep guard went 14-for-18 from beyond the arc and also added eight rebounds — off the bench — in the Zhejiang Cyclones’ 122-110 win over Qingdao Double Star.

Former Nets and UConn big man Josh Boone added 18 points in the win.

Smith is one of several Americans playing in China who can’t join the NBA until their season’s end. (more…)

NEWARK — Even Rick Pitino knows West Virginia was robbed.

“Syracuse would’ve been a goal-tend away from having a tie for second place [in the Big East] today,” Pitino said after Louisville beat Seton Hall, 60-51, at the Prudential Center.

Pitino was referring to the missed call in Syracuse’s 63-61 win over West Virginia in which Baye Keita’s obvious goal-tend of a shot by Deniz Kilicli with 10.6  seconds remaining was missed by the officiating crew of Karl Hess, Gene Steratore and Brian O’Connell. (more…)