With the game clock winding down, the Houston Rockets found themselves in an unfamiliar position. For the first time in almost two weeks, Jeremy Lin ’10 and his squad were on the wrong side of the score as the buzzer sounded, losing to the San Antonio Spurs, 122-116.

Whereas in Houston’s last game the team thrived while Lin struggled, it was the opposite Friday as the point guard racked up stats as his teammates faltered. Lin had a hand in three of the Rockets’ first four scores, totaling five points and an assist in the first five minutes and 16 seconds.

Despite Lin’s early offensive success, San Antonio controlled the game from the tip, pouring in 41 points in the opening period. Lin’s counterpart on the Spurs, Tony Parker, was a large part of that offensive onslaught, notching 13 points in those first 12 minutes. Parker would go on to tally 31 points and 11 dimes in the game.

Lin finished the contest with 21 points and eight assists, a marked difference from the eight point, one assist line he had in his last game Wednesday. The Harvard alum had help from James Harden and Chandler Parsons, who had 33 and 24 points, respectively, in the loss.

The upswing in his play wasn’t the only good news for Lin in the last 24 hours, as the new NBA All-Star voting results were released with Lin ranking third among Western Conference guards in votes, roughly 500,000 behind leader Kobe Bryant and 200,000 ahead of teammate Harden. If Lin is to start in the All-Star Game, he will need to move ahead of the Clippers’ Chris Paul, whom he trails by only 46,431 votes.

With a few more performances akin to the one he put on tonight, Lin will only increase his chances of reaching his first All-Star Game.