If you were counting on the knee injury Baron Davis suffered in Game 4 to bring about a rebirth of Linsanity, don’t get your hopes up quite yet.
Lin hasn’t seen a minute of action in this series so far, and according to interim head coach Mike Woodson, Knicks fans may not see him at all. Lin will go through some light scrimmaging the next two days and then the team doctors, Lin and the coaching staff will make a decision.
Woodson said regardless of the way Tuesday’s roundtable goes, it doesn’t look good for Lin to play simply because the layoff has been so great.
“Jeremy is getting treatment today and will go out on the practice floor today [for 3-on-3 scrimmages] and tomorrow and we’ll gauge it then,” said Woodson. “I’m not counting on Jeremy Lin though. We’ll just have to continue on. I’m heading into Game 5 thinking he won’t be available.”
When pressed why he doesn’t think Lin could be of help, Woodson said it’s because the postseason is an entirely different animal.
“I’ve been watching him on the side and he’s not in great shape. You know in playoff basketball you have to be at an all-time high [with conditioning] and he’s not there yet,” Woodson admitted, adding the environment also wouldn’t help a young point guard who’s just trying to get back into the flow of things. “We’re going into a hostile place in Game 5 and we all have to be ready. Both teams are struggling to score, so it’ll come down to lowest turnovers and not making mistakes.”
Woodson said he would not pressure him to return until he and team doctors say he’s ready.
“It’s going to be up to the doctors and Jeremy. It won’t be my decision. They’ve been keeping close tabs on him, watching him run and having contact. … I’ve never told a player to get out there if they weren’t ready. That’s not my decision to make. But if a player says he’s ready to get back out there to play, I’ll play him.”
Woodson added he wouldn’t dress Lin simply as a way to psyche out the Heat and would only do so if he’s a legitimate threat to play.
“The only way I’d dress him in uniform is if he said, ‘I’m ready to go in and play.’ I wouldn’t put him in uniform if he wasn’t going to play.”
Follow Knicks beat writer Tony Williams on Twitter @TBone8.
