Following the Miami Heat’s 100-67 smack down on the New York Knicks in Miami Saturday and the comfortable 104-94 victory Monday, the Knicks seemingly had the life beaten out of them on the court. And with Knicks forward Amare Stoudemire out for game three, things aren’t looking up.
The Knicks once seemed dead this season, back in February, when out of nowhere, it was a spark of “Linsanity” that brought the Knicks back as an Eastern Conference competitor.
However, when rock star point guard Jeremy Lin went down with a left knee injury requiring surgery, it seemed the clock of the Cinderella story that took over the Big Apple struck midnight, and the carriage of momentum the Knicks planned to ride into the playoffs turned back into a pumpkin.
The evil stepsisters LeBron James and Dwyane Wade are out to put an end to the Knicks’ 2012 season.
But New York might have a little bit of Lin left in its 2012 season. According to ESPN.com, Lin practiced Sunday, following the game one blowout against the Heat. With guard Iman Shumpert going down in that game one loss, it is possible that Lin could return to the Knicks for game four of the series against the Heat.
Forward Carmelo Anthony and the rest of the Knicks will have to step it up and win game three, as there would be no point in risking Lin to further injury with the Knicks down, 3-0, in the series.
If the Knicks can get themselves back in the series, allowing a possible Lin return, imagine the possibilities of Lin again stepping onto the basketball court for the Knicks, and leading them to victory, ignoring all adversity that faces them. This would be the making for truly the greatest Cinderella story in all of sports.
A lot of things need to go right first for Lin to get back on the court. Then comes the problem of stopping the greatest player in the NBA, James and his sidekicks Wade and Chris Bosh. It’s something that Lin could not do alone, but with the way he brought the Knicks together before, could he do it again?
Feel-good stories are something that all sports fans would like to see. Now that the stage has been set, it will be interesting to see if the Harvard graduate and undrafted free agent Lin can rock the NBA for the second time in just a matter of months.