The Starting Five

(Howard Simmons/New York Daily News)

As the New York Knicks fought off the Miami Heat and elimination on Sunday it came with a price as the team lost point guard Baron Davis with a partial tear of the right patella tendon, Davis also completely tore his right ACL and MCL tendons. This is the second guard that the Knicks have lost in this series, combo guard Iman Schumpert tore his right achilles tendon in Game 1 of this series. With the team down to two point guards and Amar’e Stoudemire literally on the mend the Knicks are down to Carmelo Anthony the defense of Tyson Chandler and little else.

Gotham is looking for a hero to force Game 6…

(Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)

Jeremy Lin has been out of action since April 2nd to have a meniscus tear in his left knee repaired. According to Knicks coach Mike Woodson Lin has not looked in great shape and that could be a determining factor in his return. Lin in the Knicks lineup would provide depth at the position as Mike Bibby (will start) and Tony Douglas are the only two point guards remaining on the roster.

Should Lin risk further injury by playing in Game 5 tomorrow night?  Woodson is hoping that Lin at least gives it a shot. This series going six games at the max and a Jeremy Lin that has missed a month of action isn’t doing anything to strike fear into the Heat guards.

The bigger issue for Lin is that he’s an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Playing at less than 100 percent not only risks further injury it jeopardizes a potential cash windfall during this summer’s free agency period. Coach Woodson said that the decision on Lin returning is ultimately up to him and team doctors. It’s obvious that the Knicks are trying to push the issue to get Lin on the floor - but at what cost?  The thought that a hobbled Jeremy Lin extending this series with the Miami Heat up 3-1 is foolish. This isn’t Game 7 of the NBA Finals…

…and that isn’t Willis Reed coming out of the tunnel.

In other news:

Lamont Peterson tests positive for banned substance, bout with Amir Khan in doubt (USA Today).

Mariano Rivera’s surgery was more complicated than expected (New York Post). 

Deion Sanders’ wife ordered to stay away from his home (MSNBC).

Phillies Cole Hamels suspended 5 games for throwing at Nats Bryce Harper (Comcast.net)

Push for African-American movies pays off (Philly.com).

Add Patrick Ewing to list of potential coaches for the Charlotte Bobcats (NBC Sports).

So the Hindenburg had a smoking lounge (Real Clear Science).

Is the Tiger Woods era over (Guardian UK).

Homeless man beaten  being beaten by California police officers while crying for help dies 5 days later (CNN).

Samuel L. Jackson is Hollywood’s highest grossing actor ever (CNN).

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2012 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Blogroll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.