"The Iman Shumpert starting point guard experiment ended last night.

Toney Douglas was promoted to starting point guard last night for rookie Shumpert, but then played so poorly he got benched for third-string Jeremy Lin for the final 20 minutes of the Knicks' 97-84 loss to the Rockets. One week ago, Lin was in the D-League rather than being wasted on the Knicks bench.

D'Antoni said the move also was made to get Shumpert, who had 11 points on 5 of 13 shooting, more time at small forward in the absence of Carmelo Anthony, who has shut it down for a couple of games to rest his assorted ailments. But D'Antoni gave an indication Douglas could stay there when Anthony gets back, pending the Baron Davis situation."