+12
The Miami Heat turned up the defense and pulled away for a 14-point victory over the New York Knicks on Thursday night.
Linsanity has been calmed, at least until after the All-Star break. Perhaps everyone should have seen it coming, but Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks struggled on Thursday night against a team that played at a higher level from whistle to whistle. The Miami Heat played great team defense while the big three scored very efficiently in a 102-88 victory.
The Heat have won eight straight games, their best streak of the season, and they have the best record in the NBA. Miami forced Lin to turn the ball over eight times and forced the Knicks to turn the ball over 19 times, grabbing 12 steals in a fantastic defensive performance. They also blocked 10 shots, with five of those blocks coming from Joel Anthony.
Amare Stoudemire helped to carry the Knicks in the first half, but just two of his 13 points came in the second half. Carmelo Anthony struggled shooting the ball, dropping 19 points on 7-20 shooting. Lin scored just eight points on 1-11 shooting, with six of his points coming from the free throw line.
Chris Bosh led all scorers with 25 points, but there wasn't much separation between the big three. Dwyane Wade scored 22 points and LeBron James scored 20. James also had nine rebounds, eight assists, five steals and two blocks in a fantastic complete performance.
For more on the two teams, check out New York Knicks blog Posting And Toasting and Miami Heat blog Peninsula Is Mightier.
The Miami Heat were able to extend their lead on the New York Knicks in the third quarter, and the Knicks are just barely in the game. The big three all came up big in the third quarter while the Knicks turned the ball over three more times and continued to struggle shooting the ball. With one quarter to go, the Heat lead 80-66.
Miami outscored New York 29-19 in the third quarter and it felt even worse than that. Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron James now have a combined 53 points on the night, with nearly half of those accrued in the third quarter. Jeremy Lin did well to get to the free throw line on a couple off occasions in the third, but still has just eight points, four rebounds and three assists to go with his seven turnovers.
For more on the two teams, check out New York Knicks blog Posting And Toasting and Miami Heat blog Peninsula Is Mightier.
Jeremy Lin might finally be in a bit over his head. For once, he looks very much off the pace and he's struggling mightily. The good news for the New York Knicks is that they're getting second-chance points off of offensive rebounds, while Steve Novak can't miss from outside. The Miami Heat are pushing the pace in transition and playing great defense, but only lead 51-47 at halftime.
Amar'e Stoudemire and Lin have six turnovers each, though Stoudemire's redeemed himself with three rebounds and 11 points. Lin has just two points and two assists, and those assists came on the first two Knicks buckets. Though it would be easy to blame the Knicks' struggles so far on Lin, Carmelo Anthony was just as big of a problem until the very end of the quarter. He's only 3-10 from the floor, and was 1-8 until the dying seconds. He hit two jumpers in the last minute, including a buzzer-beater at the end of the second quarter.
Even though the Knicks are struggling offensively outside of Stoudemire and Novak, they're only down by four points. Dwyane Wade and LeBron James have missed some close-range shots and haven't made the most of the 15 turnovers that the Heat have forced.
With the shot clock running down in the last minute of the second quarter, Mario Chalmers drained a three with just under eight seconds remaining. Anthony's answer should give the Knicks some confidence in his shooting and themselves going into the locker room.
For more on the two teams, check out New York Knicks blog Posting And Toasting and Miami Heat blog Peninsula Is Mightier.
There are two parts to pretty much every athletic move. The first is the move itself, but there's always a dismount. It may be getting two feet down in the NFL or simply not looking like a fool after doing something cool. But one should always remember to stick the dismount.
Norris Cole forgot those sound words of advice. His steal in the second quarter was great, his dunk was a nice finish to the sequence, but the dismount was missing a little something. He just forgot to land on his feet -- a minor problem.
The New York Knicks and Miami Heat got off to an incredibly fast-paced start on Thursday night, with the Heat jumping out to a 10-4 lead in the opening minutes thanks to some transition buckets, but the first quarter ended with a reasonable score despite the frenetic pace. With fast basketball often comes mistakes, and there were plenty for both teams in the first quarter. Miami leads 24-20, and the teams have already combined for 14 turnovers.
Jeremy Lin has been forced into three of those turnovers, but Amar'e Stoudemire has been even worse at holding onto the ball, couching the ball up four times in the opening 12 minutes. Lin also had an impressive driving layup to his left and two early assists.
LeBron James is off to a big start with six points, three assists, four steals and two rebounds. Along with Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers, James and the Heat have pushed the ball in transition, but they haven't converted as much as they would like. Wade already has a missed dunk and a charge to his name.
For more on the two teams, check out New York Knicks blog Posting And Toasting and Miami Heat blog Peninsula Is Mightier.
Just in case you're late to the party: NBA on TNT sideline reporter Craig Sager wears a ridiculous suit every time he covers a game. It's his signature, and it's always fantastic. Knowing full well that the game between the Miami Heat and New York Knicks on Thursday night would have more viewers than the average game, Sager brought his top suit game. A photo can be found after the jump.
The eyes of the NBA world will be on the court of the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Fla., on Thursday night when Jeremy Lin and the New York Knicks head south to take on LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
The Heat will close out a three-game homestand before the All-Star break and have won seven in a row, including a 120-108 triumph over the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday. Dwyane Wade led six players in double digits for the Heat with 30 points and dished out 10 assists, while Chris Bosh tallied 20 points and 10 boards. Mario Chalmers also added 20 points in the win for Miami, winners of eight in row at home and owners of a 14-2 home mark.
According to SBNation odds partner OddsShark, the Heat are favored by 10 points over the Knicks with a line of -110.
New York bounced back into the win column with Wednesday night's 99-82 home win over the Atlanta Hawks and had dropped two of three games after a season-best seven-game winning streak.
For more on the two teams, check out New York Knicks blog Posting And Toasting and Miami Heat blog Peninsula Is Mightier.
The Miami Heat and the New York Knicks may well break the Internet on Thursday night. The game between the two teams may well be the highest-rated, non-Christmas regular season game this year, so you might as well partake in the fun. Especially because Craig Sager is likely to bring his top suit game to proceedings in South Beach.
This game is unlikely to be slow and lethargic like games before the All-Star break have been in previous years, mostly because millions of people will be watching and both teams will be well aware of this. If LeBron James gets shown up by Jeremy Lin in his own building because he and his teammates aren't trying, he'll have to read the columns tomorrow morning about what a fraud he is.
Game Date/Time: Thursday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m. ET
Venue: AmericanAirlines Arena, Miami, Fla.
TV: TNT
For more on the two teams, check out New York Knicks blog Posting And Toasting and Miami Heat blog Peninsula Is Mightier.
Faith is a tricky concept in any realm. In sports, given the pervasiveness of expressed faith and the relative lack of deep conversation about what that expressed faith actually means to the believer beyond words leaked into the ether, it is an especially difficult subject to broach.
That said, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's Dave Hyde rolls up his sleeves to share a sweet Jeremy Lin anecdote from one of the league's toughest players, the Heat's Udonis Haslem.
More than halfway through the abbreviated NBA season, the league's biggest game of the year has arrived, and it somehow involves a team that might not be .500 at the All-Star break. Jeremy Lin takes his traveling show to South Beach on Thursday night (7 p.m. ET, TNT), as the New York Knicks take on the Miami Heat.
It goes without saying that this is the toughest test that the Knicks have faced this season. Presumably, a road game against the best team in the league is the hardest test that any team can face in a season in any sport. Additionally, the Heat have the benefit of an off day, while the Knicks had to play on Wednesday night in Atlanta.
New York won that game against the Atlanta Hawks comfortably, taking a 60-35 lead into halftime. Tyson Chandler led the Knicks with 34 minutes while both Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire played less than 30 minutes in the 99-82 rout. Thanks to that big first half performance, this might not be a typical back-to-back for the Knicks as far as fatigue goes.
Still, rested or not, the Knicks are facing the team with the best record in the league. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are both shooting better than 50 percent from the floor and both have assist-to-turnover ratios of 1.9. When they can't get their own shots, they have shooters to pass to; Mike Miller, James Jones and Mario Chalmers all shoot better than 40 percent from behind the arc. James and Wade defend almost as well as they create offense. A completely rested Knicks team should have trouble with the Heat, even on its best day.
Lin and the Knicks have had big games against very good teams. They made a decent Hawks team look awful on Wednesday night and they've previously risen to the occasion against the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. The games against those two teams featured what were arguably Lin's two best performances. Maybe those were aberrations, or maybe he's actually the kind of person that brings his best against the best.
Miami is a superior team to New York and Linsanity should be reined in a bit by the Heat, but it's not like the success of Lin and the Knicks over the last three weeks made any sense in the first place.
For more on the two teams, check out New York Knicks blog Posting And Toasting and Miami Heat blog Peninsula Is Mightier.
PHOTO: Spike Lee, Floyd Mayweather Discuss Politics Over Tea
by Brian Floyd
Ha! Yeah right. It's just a photo of Floyd Mayweather screaming into Spike Lee's ear while Chad Ochocinco looks on, oblivious to it all. Remember, Spike is a die-hard Knicks fan and Mayweather is ... well, he doesn't seem like one. So with the Knicks getting whipped, he had every chance to rub it in.
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Feb 23 10:48p