Lin's still a winner

"Looking back, it's like I was watching them win the championship last year, and that's obviously where this team wants to go," Lin said. "This is helpful to us, not just to me but to us, just to be able to see where our team can go and what we can become, and I think that's the biggest takeaway from tonight."

After the final buzzer, Lin got a hug from a fellow Bay Area product, and someone who knows a thing or two about playing the point, Mavs star Jason Kidd

"He looks a little bit like Steve Nash out there," Kidd said, referring to the two-time MVP of the Phoenix Suns.

Also, ESPN fired an employee responsible for an offensive headline about Lin. The headline Friday on ESPN's mobile website was used for a story about the game in which Lin had nine turnovers. The headline ncluded an idiom that contains a word that also can be used as a slur against Chinese.

"I don't think it was on purpose or whatever, but [at] the same time they have apologized. And so from my end I don't care anymore," Lin said yesterday. "Have to learn to forgive, and I don't even think that was intentional. Or hopefully not."