Lin wasn't willing to risk a knee setback

Jeremy Lin knows he would have been rusty and probably not in great shape if he tried to play for the New York Knicks in the playoff series against the Miami Heat.

While he could handle those things, what he couldn't handle was the unknown - that being how much his surgically repaired left knee could take if he tried to play too soon.

So with the Knicks having lost guards Baron Davis and Iman Shumpert to serious knee injuries already in this series - there's little chance Davis will play at all next season, and Shumpert's availability for the start of next season would be considered highly doubtful at best - Lin (pictured) erred on the side of caution by not rushing a comeback against the Heat, a move that neither risks his knee or his earning potential this summer as a restricted free agent.