Knicksnow

Jonah Ballow
KnicksNow.com
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In a warm-up session prior to the Haier Shooting Stars competition, the New York crew only managed a time of 1:11, which would have placed Landry Fields, Allan Houston, and Cappie Pondexter in last place.

During the pressure-packed event, New York rose to the occasion.  After watching the Texas team finish in 42.7 seconds, New York was smooth in a 38.7-second performance to move into the final round. Impressively, Fields, Houston, and Pondexter finished with an even better time of 37.3 to capture the 2012 Haier Shooting Stars trophy.

“I have to say, we have practicing a little bit. Heck, we came up with a good strategy; everybody hit their shot, and once you get to the half court, just kind of have hit the first few and then it could take a little while,” Houston explained.

The former Knicks guard hit both of the half-court shots but his stellar performance does not signify a return to the NBA.

“Stop. Stop it right now. This was fun. This was a lot of fun and it’s just good being here. I have my son with me. It feels good to have uniform again, but that’s about it. That’s about the limits of it,” Houston laughed.

The early portion of the All-Star Weekend festivities has been dominated by the Linsanity craze. Riding the momentum of Lin, the New York team represented the city in Orlando, “Just a great buzz around this, great energy, we’re just excited to be here taking advantage of it, just having fun,” Pondexer proudly stated.

On Friday night, Lin and Fields competed in the Rising Stars Challenge. The Sunday showcase will feature Knicks small forward Carmelo in the starting lineup for the Eastern Conference. Stay tuned to Knicksnow.com for complete coverage of the game, which starts at 7:30 PM.

For more news and notes on the team follow the New York Knicks and Jonah on Twitter.