NEW YORK  Jeremy Lin will miss the rest of the regular of the season because he needs knee surgery that will sideline him six weeks and could leave the Knicks without their star point guard in the playoffs -- if they make it that far.Lin had an MRI exam this week that revealed a small, chronic meniscus tear and he has elected to have surgery next week in New York.With the regular season ending April 26, the biggest story in basketball this season is done unless the Knicks make a deep postseason run.Speaking slowly during a pregame press conference, Lin was unable to hide his disappointment with the decision that was reached earlier Saturday after a painful workout."It [stinks] not being able to be out there with the team,” Lin said. "And you know, it is what it is and so hopefully I can come back as soon as I can and help everybody.”He was barely holding on to a place in the NBA back in February. Now, after the back-to-back Sports Illustrated covers and popularity around the world, he has to go back to the bench when he wants to play most."If this was done very early in the year, obviously ... I don’t know where my career would be. I could be, would be definitely without a job and probably fighting for a summer league spot,” Lin said. "But having said that, this happening now hurts just as much, because all the players, we really put our heart and souls into the team and into season, and to not be there when it really matters most is hard.”The Knicks will continue to turn to Baron Davis in place of Lin, the undrafted Harvard alum who became the starter in February and turned in a series of brilliant performances, kicking off a phenomenon that was called Linsanity.Lin is averaging 14.1 points and 6.1 assists, but the numbers only tell a small part of the story.