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NEW YORK -- Two and a half weeks ago, the Knicks and Nets clashed in Madison Square Garden. It was a meeting between the 10th and 11th best teams in the East, two floundering franchises seemingly destined for failure. The Knicks had lost of 11 of 13 games when Jeremy Lin, a twice-released point guard out of Harvard, unassumingly checked into the action.

The rest is history. Lin scored 25 points in that Feb. 4 game to spark a 99-92 victory over New Jersey. He averaged 25 points and 9.5 assists over his next eight starts, improbably lifting the Knicks to .500. His story captivated the world -- a refreshingly genuine nobody-believed-in-me tale that dominated headlines from Brooklyn to Beijing.

On Monday, however, that script was flipped. Despite Lin's best efforts (21 points, nine assists, seven rebounds), the Nets upset the surging Knicks at home, 100-92. And with it, New York's roller coaster of a home stand (beat Sacramento, lost to New Orleans, beat Dallas, lost to New Jersey) took another surprising twist.

"The whole team was out of sync," said Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni. "We lost what we were doing the last eight or nine games."

That much was clear, with the Knicks displaying a carelessness that was absent against the defending champ Mavericks. It prompts the inevitable question: Will the newfound allegiance between Lin and Carmelo Anthony -- who scored just 11 points in his first game back since suffering a strained groin on Feb. 6 -- develop into the perfect union that New York so fiercely hopes?

"Any time you have new players coming back, your identity as a team is going to change," said Lin. "That's what we need to figure out, what our identity is gonna be."

At times, the nightmares concocted by talking heads -- issues with spacing; a lack of offensive concentration -- were realized. After racing to a 13-3 lead to open the game, the Knicks were outscored 39-20 over the next 14:41, shooting a paltry 8 of 24 during that span. Anthony was particularly sloppy, finishing with a game-high six turnovers, three more than the error-prone Lin.

The most representative play occurred with 6:47 left in the third quarter. Anthony tried to juke DeShawn Stevenson, attempting a stop-and-go toward the basket. The ball slipped out of his hands and sailed harmlessly out of bounds. Whether it was a result of a lay-off or him pressing, he, and the Knicks, appeared discernibly flat.

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Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas says the club's hierarchy should make it clear they back his vision for the Blues' long-term future. Speaking on the day before the club meets Napoli in the Champions League, Villas-Boas insists he is restructuring the club to "sustain" their success.

Villas-Boas maintains that he has the full backing of owner Roman Abramovich. But the Blues boss said: "These words would be more valuable coming from the top. I cannot keep saying them."

Meanwhile, Chelsea have been made aware of the alleged racist abuse of members of their squad when they arrived at the team hotel in Naples.

"If any members of our team or staff are subjected to racist abuse we would find that wholly unacceptable and it would be reflected in our conversations with Uefa," a Chelsea spokesman said.

Villas-Boas has presided over the club's least successful period since Russian billionaire Abramovich took control of the club in 2003, having not won a Premier League game since 14 January.

The West London side currently lie fifth in the top tier, out of the League Cup and facing an FA Cup fifth round replay at St Andrew's after being held 1-1 by Championship side Birmingham City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

But, despite having enjoyed just one win in six matches, Villas-Boas has issued a reminder that he is on a 'three-year project' at Stamford Bridge. He has already spent around £76m on seven players in his first season with five of those signings aged under 24.

"In terms of the results this year," added Villas-Boas. "The speculation is normal given the cultural past of this football club, but you have to understand that there's a different perspective now.

"We had a three-year project to change not only the team, but the culture and structure of the club.

"There's a lot we needed to do, a lot of plans. That's why I'm excited about the future.

"Having said that, we have to build a team to win trophies.

"We're no longer in the Carling Cup and don't have a chance to win the title. But we are still confident we can do well in the Champions League and the FA Cup." The club's joint top marksman Daniel Sturridge had insisted earlier in the day that they are not "a divided unit".

"We are a family and we've got a good unit going," the 22-year-old told Chelsea TV. "Maybe we will see that in the next few games."

Ahead of Tuesday night's last 16 first-leg tie against Napoli, Sturridge added: "They have some great individuals, as well as a good team. "But we have the same and we are not going to worry about what they have got.

"We have to go out there with the attitude that they have got to worry about what we have got." Fellow Blues striker Didier Drogba said: "We feel that no one really believes in us.

"We are going to show we deserve to be here. It's a top game and we are going to have to get a good result." Drogba denied that he gave a half-time "team talk" to Chelsea when they were a goal down in Saturday's FA Cup tie against Birmingham before coming back to draw, thanks to a Sturridge header.

"The manager made the speech at half-time," said the Ivory Coast international. "He has leaders in the squad and we are here to help him.

"We wanted to gee the team up at half-time and nothing more." Napoli will have to do without coach Walter Mazzarri, who must serve a two-match touchline ban for pushing over Villarreal's Brazilian striker Nilmar in a touchline spat in the group stages.

Mazzarri predicts that Chelsea's European experience makes the Italian side underdogs. "We will face a team who have played more than 100 Champions League matches," said the 50-year-old Napoli coach.

"We are proud to play this match but I don't want to hear anyone saying we are the favourite. We can find a result only if we play a great match.

"All the team has to play not only a special game, but the perfect game. It will be important for us that Chelsea will not score any goals at the Stadio San Paolo."

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