For Novak, his time with the Reno Bighorns is a footnote on his resume.
"We caused a little bit of trouble for the defense that game," said Novak, who had 21 points in a 110-96 win over the Idaho Stampede. "We enjoyed being out there together."
Novak has now become an intriguing element in the cultural phenomenon that is Linsanity. Although he is in every way an N.B.A. journeyman, he has a silky 3-point shot, and he has become a dangerous threat for the Knicks in the two weeks since Lin has taken charge.
Indeed, part of the charm of Lin’s adventure has been that he has done it with a supporting cast generally lacking in star power. Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire were sidelined for much of the recent winning streak and instead Lin was aided by a resurgent Landry Fields, a resilient Tyson Chandler and contributions from three relative nobodies — Novak, the rookie Iman Shumpert and Jared Jefferies.
The question for Novak, 28, is what happens now that Anthony and Stoudemire are back in the mix, coupled with the addition of the free-shooting J. R. Smith. Novak’s quiet 8 points Monday night had little impact on the Knicks’ 100-92 loss to the Nets.
Still, no player has probably benefited more from Lin’s arrival than Novak, who was claimed off waivers by the Knicks on Dec. 21. Averaging 4.2 points per game in his six-year career, the 6-foot-10 Novak has seen his production soar lately; in the nine games since Lin took over as the starting point guard he is averaging 11.8 points.
"There’s not a lot of pressure to force things," Novak said of playing with Lin. "You’re free to play your game, and you feel like that’s good enough. Jeremy continues to give you the ball in good spots and look for you. It makes it easy on you mentally."
The son of a high school basketball coach, Novak was picked in the second round of the 2006 draft, having left Marquette as its career leader with 354 3-pointers. Novak, who is from Brown Deer, Wis., then played two seasons apiece for the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Clippers, before playing for both the Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs in 2010-11.
His best season was with the Clippers in 2008-9, when he averaged 6.9 points over 71 games.
"He’s been used more as a specialist throughout his career," said Jeff Van Gundy, who was Novak's coach during his rookie season in Houston. "He’s had good success with that, but he really hasn’t had a lot of times where he’s had every-night-quality minutes."
Last season, Novak played seven games with the Mavericks before he caught on with the Spurs. In between, however, he considered signing with a team in Europe before playing two games in the developmental league.
Novak's detour to the Bighorns was a footnote on his resume. And getting a chance to play with someone from Harvard did not seem like a big deal.
But that game, on Feb. 4, 2011, at a small arena in Boise, Idaho, hinted at what would later happen in front of capacity crowds at Madison Square Garden. With Lin playing point guard for the Bighorns, Novak hit 5 of 7 attempts from 3-point range in a little more than 20 minutes. Lin finished with 17 points and 9 assists in nearly 30 minutes.
"I never as a coach felt so relaxed," said Eric Musselman, who was in charge in Reno at the time. "I figured I might as well just grab a Coke and some popcorn and sit in the stands and watch." He said that he thought Reno "might not ever lose another game."
But the tandem did not last. Lin left to rejoin the Golden State Warriors and a short time later, Novak received a call from the Spurs inviting him to San Antonio.
And then, nearly a year later, came the reunion. Six days after the Knicks signed Novak last December, they brought Lin aboard.
For a while, they basically took up space together on the bench. But not lately. Their collaboration has included back-to-back 19-point games for Novak in wins over Utah and Washington, on Feb. 6 and 8 and some notable late-game heroics.
With an assist from Lin, Novak hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 36.2 seconds left in a 100-98 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Feb. 11. On Sunday, Novak scored all of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, lifting the Knicks to a 104-97 win over the Dallas Mavericks. Lin assisted on four of Novak’s five field goals that day, and four of them were 3-pointers.
"He’s getting more time now than he did before," D’Antoni said of Novak’s out-of-nowhere play. "And then you add Jeremy on top of that."
It should be noted that as much as Lin has helped Novak, Novak has aided Lin. His 3-point prowess forces defenders to cover him, allowing Lin more room to create. Whether this collaboration will continue to remains unclear. But whether it is Boise or Broadway, the two players clearly work well together. All they need is a nickname.
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