MIAMI — For a game in the 1950s, Madison Square Garden had on its marquee, "George Mikan vs. Knicks."
Don't expect those who run the board at AmericanAirlines Arena to take a page from that. Still, Thursday's game does have a feeling of Jeremy Lin vs. Heat.
It's the biggest test yet for the New York sensation as he plays his 12th game since, to borrow a word from Miami coach Erik Spoelstra, he emerged from "oblivion." It's just the fourth road game during the stretch, with the first three being in NBA outposts Washington, Minnesota and Toronto.
How big is the game between the Knicks and the Heat? Just listen to the second-most popular player who will be in it.
"It's a huge game," Heat forward LeBron James said. "It's a rivalry. Everybody knows the history between the Knicks and the Heat, and you bring in Jeremy Lin, the ‘Linsation.' You bring in the Miami Heat and Carmelo Anthony, all those guys, Amar'e Stoudemire, Spike Lee, Pat Riley. All that. It's a huge game."
Need a pair of courtside tickets? StubHub is offering the best ones at $10,001 apiece.
Want to go a little cheaper and instead sit in the front row on the baseline? StubHub can offer a pair at $7,059 apiece but you might not be sitting next to Lee.
For those who can't get in, Lin taking his talents to South Beach will be televised nationally by TNT.
Throughout last season, the Heat were the biggest show in the NBA. It has been much more tame this season. But the spotlight is back, and the Heat are ready for it.
"It's not our guys' first rodeo in that regard," Spoelstra said.
The strange thing, though, is Thursday's game is being hyped mainly for somebody who is not on the Heat. That someone, of course, is a Harvard graduate who is now on the cover of Sports Illustrated, not Business Week, for a second straight time.
"He should make sure he doesn't take that for granted and get those covers and frame them and put them in his house," said James, who knows a bit about Sports Illustrated covers, having been on 14.
But nobody on the Heat has been on any such cover this season.
Miami players have been saying during Lin's run they don't mind being under the radar. Nevertheless, after looking bored during a 120-108 home win Tuesday over lowly Sacramento, you get the feeling the Heat (26-7) don't mind being back in the spotlight even it's more because of what an opponent is doing.
"We play a lot of spotlight games," said guard Dwyane Wade. "It's going to be a good game. The fans will be excited. For us as players, we love these kind of games, and we want to come out and perform great."
Obviously, James, who expects to guard Lin some, wants to continue to play like the guy everybody has been touting all season for MVP. But James does have great respect for the second-year guard who appears to have locked up the Most Improved Player award.
James was asked if Lin simply should be regarded as a player averaging 23.9 points and 9.2 assists in his past 11 games without there being dwelling on the fact he's Asian-American. James agreed.
"I think it's taken away from it, obviously," James said about Lin, whose Knicks (17-17) have won nine of 11 since he began playing significant minutes. "But, at the end of the day, he's winning ball games. That's all it really comes down to… You should realize how good of a player he is and not get caught up in everything else. He's a really good player."
James said he first took notice of Lin when he flipped on the television in the summer of 2010 and saw him playing well for Dallas in a summer league game in Las Vegas against John Wall and Washington. Pardon James if he didn't follow Lin much during college.
"I never watch Harvard basketball," James said.
Spoelstra also remembers that game in Las Vegas. The Heat played immediately following it.
"I had no idea who he was at Harvard," Spoelstra said. "The first time I heard of (Lin) was in the summer league two years ago…. I showed up at the auxiliary gym next door. You could hear all the noise and we heard John Wall was playing… We all assumed that it was John Wall who dominated that game. Then people were talking about a Lin kid who dominated the fourth quarter. Nobody knew who he was."
Spoelstra sure knows now.
This actually isn't the first time Lin will have taken the floor against the Heat. On Dec. 10, 2010, he went scoreless in three minutes against them while playing for Golden State. But just four weeks ago Lin never left the bench in New York's 99-89 loss at Miami.
That, of course, was before the world changed Feb. 4. Lin got significant minutes as a reserve and responded with 25 points against New Jersey.
"Everything has changed for that franchise from that moment," Wade said of Lin, who's been starting ever since.
Now, Lin might just get on the cover of Sports Illustrated a third straight time if the Knicks can beat the Heat. That would put him 46 behind Michael Jordan for the all-time lead and 11 behind James, who has gotten no cover love since last spring.
