Jeremy Lin latest news: Nets suffers buzzer-beater loss against the Bulls in Lin's absence
The Brooklyn Nets loses point guard Jeremy Lin to another hamstring injury as well as losing another game in a gut-wrenching buzzer-beater loss against the Chicago Bulls.
In their game against the Bulls at the United Center in Chicago sans Lin on Wedensday, Dec. 28, the Nets suffered a devastating buzzer-beater 101-99 loss. The tough three-point shot scored by Bulls' Jimmy Butler a few minutes to the end of the game was heavily contested and was also the turning point which cost the Net what was almost an assured win.
The Nets were leading 97–90 before the Bulls let Butler take over. Eventually, his contribution brought the Nets' lead down to one. Nets' center Brook Lopez scored two points for his dunk which evened out the score. However, Butler untied the score at the buzzer.
"It's tough to swallow a pill like that, especially when [Bojan] Bogdanovic played great defense like he did," Sean Kilpatrick said after the game, according to New York Post. "That's a tough shot that he hit. But it happens. This is the NBA."
As reported by ESPN, it can be recalled that Lin was pulled out of the Brooklyn Nets' game against Charlotte Hornets last Monday, Dec. 26, limping off the court in the third quarter with a strained left hamstring. Despite Lin's lack of participation in the remainder of that game, the Nets managed to walk away with a 120–118 victory on, ironically, a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Randy Foye.
Lin's return to the court in time for the Wednesday match against the Bulls was previously uncertain, but it was then revealed that their starting point guard ended up staying in New York to be evaluated by the team's doctors. While their general manager, Sean Marks, refused to disclose when Lin could return, he did say that Lin's current injury is not as severe as the previous hamstring injury which benched him for 17 consecutive games.
"I'll say this, the severity of it is not the same as the first one. This injury is not as severe," Marks said on Wednesday before the Nets' devastating loss to the Bulls. "It is a left hamstring strain, a different area to the first one, so it is not the same injury. They're not linked," he added.