After a convincing victory over the Atlanta Hawks at the Garden last night, Jeremy Lin and the Knicks will head to Miami tonight to play LeBron James and the red hot Heat in what is being called "the marquee matchup of the season thus far." President Obama is also in Miami today to attend a few fundraisers and speak at the University Of Miami—unfortunately, he won't be able to stay and see the game: “In another life...But these days I have a few other things on my plate.”
While Obama and former President Bill Clinton (who is rumored to be attending tonight's game) are definitely caught up in Linsanity, James and Dwayne Wade don't sound quite as impressed: “The tooth fairy put that under the pillow,” Wade said about Lin’s sudden rise to superstardom. “The Knicks woke up to that.”
Wade sounded somewhat annoyed about the constant Linsanity chatter leading up the game: “It’s not about Jeremy Lin versus LeBron James. It’s the Miami Heat versus the New York Knicks.” James conceded that Lin and the Knicks' success was good for the league: “It’s great for the league what Jeremy Lin is doing. They were looking for a point guard and they found one. At the end of the day, he’s winning ballgames. You average 25 and nine and you lose, it doesn’t mean much.”
"Obviously, LeBron is a great player and a great, great defender. So I've just got to be aggressive and not change anything on my end," Lin said after the win last night. The game may be especially meaningful for him: the last time the two teams played, Heat forward Udonis Haslem recalls Lin praying inside the chapel at American Airlines Arena to not get cut again.
“It makes you feel good, seeing a story like that, seeing a guy make his way like that especially because I can definitely relate to it,” said Haslem, who went undrafted out of Florida in 2002. “I only wish that this was playing itself out with him as a member of the Heat.”
But with "Knicks Vs Heat" trending on Twitter in NYC, anticipation is through the roof for the game, the Knicks' last before the All-Star break. "Am I uncool to be really, really, really, really looking forward to Heat/Knicks/Lin/LeBron? #dontcare," tweeted WSJ reporter Jason Gay. “Everyone knows the history between the Knicks and Heat, then you bring in the Jeremy Lin Linsation, you bring in the Miami Heat, Carmelo Anthony and those guys and Amare Stoudemire, Spike Lee, Pat Riley and all that and it’s a huge game,” James told the Miami Herald.
