"If Ricky Rubio and Jeremy Lin were in the same conference, a nice rivalry could be brewing between two of the NBA's more promising international players.

Saturday night's game at Target Center was a one-time showing for the Timberwolves and New York Knicks in this lockout-shortened season, and barring realignment of the Eastern and Western conferences, the teams will meet only twice per season in the future.

For the moment, Lin is one up on Rubio after the Knicks held on for a 100-98 victory in front of a charged-up crowd of 20,232 - the largest audience for a Wolves home game in eight years and fourth-largest in Target Center history.

The deciding factor for Lin, the NBA's surprising overnight sensation, was his execution in the fourth quarter, when he played the entire 12 minutes and contributed three assists and made only one turnover. Rubio, a rookie sensation, played 8 minutes, 36 seconds of the fourth quarter but committed two costly turnovers in the final 24 seconds and had no assists.

"We had a chance at the end, but I made two huge mistakes in a row and that hurts so much because we lost," Rubio said. "I have to learn to take care of the ball at the end."

An exhausted Lin, coming off a career-high 38-point performance Friday night against the Los Angeles Lakers in New York, did not dominate the Wolves (13-15) as he had done the Knicks' previous four opponents. But the NBA's first American-born player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent was a step

ahead of Rubio with the game on the line.

Lin got a questionable screen from Tyson Chandler that floored Rubio and cleared a path for a drive to the basket that resulted in two free-throw attempts with 4.9 seconds left and the score tied 98-98. Lin made one of the free throws, then watched as Rubio lost the ball on the Wolves' next possession and Kevin Love missed a desperation three-pointer at the buzzer. "