Marco Belinelli, Greivis Vasquez and Trevor Ariza went into Madison Square Garden, laughed in the face of Linsanity, and then led wire-to-wire to beat the Knicks, 89-85. New York’s 7-game win streak ended, and for at least 36 hours, the nation will get a breather from Linsanity.

New York drew within two after Jeremy Lin (26 points, 9 turnovers, 5 assists) made a steal and two foul shots with less than a minute to go. But the Hornets (7-23) came down the court and ran a beautiful play, beating Amare on a backdoor cut, and that was it. New York dropped to 15-16 but fortunately, Philly also lost, so the Knicks didn’t lose any ground in the Atlantic.

Lin’s nine turnovers hurt – he had five in the first quarter – but their guards couldn’t make shots: Fields was 1-8, Novak was 2-9 and rookie Iman Shumpert was 3-9. Fear not. JR Smith and Carmelo Anthony will probably be taking 20 of those 26 shots.

The Hornets have won three in a row. Belinelli scored 17 points, Vasquez scored 15 points and had 11 assists, and Ariza added 25 points.