https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/jeremy-lin-fails-to-lift-knicks-over-lebrons-miami-heat/2012/02/23/gIQA0W6uXR_story.html

Jeremy Lin fails to lift Knicks over LeBron’s Miami Heat
Jeremy Lin and the red-hot New York Knicks head ed to Miami Thursday for a much-hyped matchup against the Miami Heat, whose trio of stars put the brakes on Jeremy Lin in a 102-88 win. As Amy Shipley reported:

Already considered the league’s biggest villain, the black-suited Miami Heat shut down basketball’s most beloved underdog Thursday night to bring an end to a breathless, occasionally hysterical 20-day run.

In a rare game in which megastars LeBron James and Dwyane Wade could not be credited for the throngs that packed American Airlines Arena, New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin looked overmatched for the first time since he became a starter Feb. 4.

Savaged by the Heat’s relentless defense, he tallied as many turnovers — eight — as points. He stood by helplessly at the wrong end of a host of highlights. He looked either fatigued, or sluggish, or overwhelmed — or, perhaps, all three in the 102-88 defeat to the Heat. For one night at least, Linsanity died down.


“They were all geeked up for him,” Knicks Coach Mike D’Antoni said. “They took the challenge and did a great job. It’s hard to be Peter Pan every day.”

Lin failed to reach double figures for the first time since he entered the starting lineup, hitting just 1 of 11 shots from the field. He committed six of his eight turnovers in the first half and managed just three assists after leading New York to a 9-2 record and averaging 23.9 points during that stretch.

In the nationally televised contest that brought the Heat as many media requests as for last year’s NBA Finals, Lin struggled from the start. He didn’t have a single superb moment all night, ending more than two weeks of steady play and late-game brilliance.

“They did a great job of making me uncomfortable,” Lin said. “I can’t remember another game where it was just hard to take dribbles.”


President Obama, who was in Miami at the time of the game for a series of fundraisers expressed sadness that he would not be able to attend the Heat-Knicks matchup. As David Nakamura explained:

In the end, there was no time for “Lin-sanity” for President Obama. But that doesn’t mean the baller-in-chief wasn’t thinking about the New York Knicks’ breakout star on his trip here to south Florida.

By coincidence, Obama was in town to speak at the University of Miami and attend several fundraisers on the same day Lin and the Knicks were here to face the Miami Heat and superstar LeBron James.

Alas, the nation’s First Fan didn’t have time to make it to the game before jetting off to Orlando for one more fundraiser Thursday evening.

Still, the president, an avid pickup basketball player, had his mind on the game.


“First of all, I just want you to know that I’m resentful I’m not going to the game tonight,” Obama told a crowd of about 450 supporters at the Biltmore Hotel at his first fundraising stop. “I am mad about that. It’s not right, it’s not fair. But I wish you guys all the best.”

According to White House press secretary Jay Carney, Obama has watched Lin play a full game on television and marveled more than once at highlights.

During his appearance at the University of Miami, Obama, speaking in a basketball gymnasium where pictures of the Hurricanes players hung from the rafters, told the crowd of 1,500: “In another life, I would be staying for the Knicks-Heat game tonight, then go up to Orlando for NBA All-Star Weekend.”

The crowd applauded. “But these days, I’ve got a few other things on my plate,” Obama added, drawing laughs. “Just a few.”


Many NBA fans who had been excited by the prospect of Lin participating in the All-Star weekend dunk contest were disappointed when his teammate, who was entered in the event, had to withdraw with an injury. As Cindy Boren reported:

The NBA All-Star Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday could have been so great. Maybe not Blake-Griffin-over-a-Kia-with-Baron-Davis-feeding-him-through-the-sun-roof fun or Michael-Jordan-vs.-Dominique-Wilkins classic, but still great.

Instead, there’s no Griffin and now there’s no hope of a Jeremy Lin cameo, either. Lin’s New York Knicks teammate, Iman Shumpert, was going to compete and had promised the New York Post a “Linsane” trick involving Lin and a couch, the kind of couch that Lin slept on after signing with the New York Knicks and before Linsanity (and a guaranteed contract) kicked in. Shumpert was compelled to withdraw from the competition because of tendinitis in his knee. (Utah’s Jeremy Evans will replace him.)

“He was going to help me out,’’ Shumpert said of Lin. “Once my knee was so sore, I started thinking about it: ‘Am I going to be able to jump over the couch?’ All kinds of things to think about.’’