The Miami Heat demolished the New York Knicks Saturday, winning 100-67. Even worse news for the Knickerbockers was the loss of Iman Shumpert for the rest of the season (and probably the start of next season) with a torn ACL.
The Knicks had a problem before Shumpert left and that problem is called LeBron James. Losing Shumpert means losing their best perimeter defender and one extra ball handler. That means lots of Mike Bibby and maybe even some Toney Douglas action for games three and four.
But as Alex Raskin writes, help may be on the way in the form of Jeremy Lin.
“Lin, who tore a meniscus in his left knee in late March, took part in one-on-one drills before Saturday’s game. But while he felt good at the time, Lin admitted to some soreness afterward.
“I was more encouraged by what I did yesterday and less encouraged by how I felt today,” he told reporters, as quoted by Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.
Lin thinks the earliest he could return is game four, but he won’t know for sure until he takes part in some contact drills later this week.”
Game four, huh? So Lin thinks he might be able to come back for the last game of the Knicks season, cool.
In all seriousness, Lin wanting to come back shows what a dedicated teammate he is and how much not playing must be killing him. But coming back against this team in what could be a no-win situation sounds like an awful idea. You are basically going to ask this guy to take back over point guard duties, get trapped a lot by Mario Chalmers, Dwyane Wade and James, not to mention have to chase probably Wade around whenever he’s in.
So not only is he coming back early from an injury he admits to still feeling soreness from, he will pretty much be throwing himself in to the worst situation possible.
Take it easy, Jeremy. Just sit it out, get healthy and keep working on your game.
