Knicks vs. Heat: How Miami Stole the Spotlight from Jeremy Lin and New York

Jeremy Lin, say hello to the best team in the entire NBA: the 27-7 Miami Heat.

As anticipated, Thursday night's showdown between the Heat and the New York Knicks was back and forth throughout, with the Heat ultimately coming out on top 102-88.

So how exactly did the Heat lock down Linsanity and the New York Knicks? Keep reading and you'll find out what exactly the Heat did right and what the Heat did wrong Thursday night against the New York Knicks.

While there's a laundry list of things the Heat did right against Lin and the Knicks, I'll stick with the most important ones and start with the impressive defensive intensity the Heat had on Thursday night

What the Heat Did Right: Consistent and intense defensive pressure

First of all, the Heat shut down New York by pressuring the Knicks on the defensive side of the ball like there was no tomorrow.

In the first half alone, the Heat's defensive pressure forced the Knicks into turning the ball over a whopping 15 times, 12 of which were courtesy of none other than Lin and Amar'e Stoudemire. The Heat made the Knicks pay when they turned over the ball in the first half too, scoring 12 points off those 15 turnovers.

Miami also shut down "Super Lintendo" by double-teaming Lin off screens and forcing him into poor decision-making, making him look more like a scared and hesitant rookie than the superstar he's been playing like as of late.  

What the Heat Did Right: Balanced the offensive production

While LeBron, Wade and Bosh all had impressive and consistent performances against the Knicks Thursday night, the production was extremely balanced across the board. Instead of relying on one of the Big Three to sink the Knicks, the Heat relied on the Big Eight, which consists of every Heat player who took the court. 

Just look at the Heat's balanced offensive point production: Chris Bosh (25), Dwyane Wade (22), LeBron James (20), Norris Cole (10), Mario Chalmers (eight), Shane Battier (eight), Udonis Haslem (six) and Mike Miller (three).

When the Heat are playing complete and balanced across the board with Wade and/or LeBron leading the balanced attack, they are nearly impossible to stop. The Knicks learned that the hard way Thursday night in South Beach.  

What the Heat Did Right: Not letting Jeremy Lin facilitate the offense

Miami took the game away from Lin, by consistently double-teaming him at the top of the key, which forced him into eight total turnovers and held him to only eight total points on 9.1 percent shooting from the field. By not allowing Lin to facilitate the game, the Heat forced the rest of the Knicks' roster to beat them, and they proved they couldn't do that.

The times when Lin was able to get into the paint, where he likes to make his money, he was met by the blocking talents of Heat center Joel Anthony, who had a season-high five blocks on the night—many of which were against Lin.

With guys like Baron Davis, J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony working their way back into the Knicks' rotation, New York wasn't ready to compete with the Heat without production from Lin. Miami shut down Lin because, without him, the Knicks are still the same below-average team they were when Lin was just another guy on their bench.

What the Heat Did Right: Outscoring the Knicks in the paint

As usual, the Miami Heat outscored their opponent in the paint, with Miami totaling 48 points as compared to the Knicks' 32 points in the paint.

Miami was constantly getting out into the fast break and into their transition offense. Not only did they get into the paint early and often but the Heat managed to keep guys like Tyson Chandler, Stoudemire and Lin out of the paint, which proved to be one of the big difference-makers against the Knicks.

If you want to beat Miami, you've got to slow down their production in the paint, and the Knicks didn't even come close to doing that Thursday night.  

What the Heat Did Wrong: Didn't manage their rotations early on

Don't get me started on the atrocious rotation management head coach Erik Spoelstra exhibited on Thursday night against the Knicks.

With Wade and James on the same roster, there should never be a minute during any game where one of those superstars isn't on the court.

On Thursday night in the second quarter, when the Knicks made their biggest run of the night on a 10-2 run led by hot three-point shooting from Knicks forward Steve Novak, neither LeBron nor Wade were on the court.

There are teams the Heat can match up with without LeBron and Wade, but with the talent New York has, the Knicks aren't one of them. While the Heat rebounded once LeBron and Wade got back on the court, it's inexcusable that Spoelstra doesn't realize how he holds the Heat back at times.

Aside from that, there wasn't much the Heat did wrong Thursday night against Linsanity and the New York Knicks, ultimately getting their eighth straight win.

LeBron had a near triple-double with 20 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and five steals on his way to helping the Miami Heat prove they are undoubtedly the best team in the Eastern Conference, if not the entire NBA, heading into the 2012 NBA All-Star break.

After slowing down the Jeremy Lin hype train, the Miami Heat are on a collision course with Oklahoma City in late March to see which team is truly the best in the NBA.

Alright NBA fans, enjoy the 2012 NBA All-Star weekend.