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Heat take down Knicks for 8th straight win

Feb 24, 2012 - 5:45 AM Miami, FL (Sports Network) - It was a long night for NBA's newest sensation Jeremy Lin, and Miami's All-Star trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh helped the Heat earn their eighth straight victory with a 102-88 triumph over the New York Knicks.

Bosh led the Heat with 25 points, James filled the stat sheet with 20 points, nine rebounds, eight assists, five steals and two blocks while Wade registered 22 points to go with five boards and five assists.

During its winning streak, Miami has won all eight contests by at least 12 points.

Mario Chalmers and Norris Cole did a stellar job of persistently flustering Lin, and Miami continually frustrated him with its trapping defense.

"We wanted to treat [Lin] with the adequate respect he deserves," Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra said. "He's played at an extremely high level. ... He is a very good player."

Lin was just 1-of-11 from the floor and turned the ball over eight times. He had eight points and three assists for New York, which has lost two of its last three games.

"They did a good job of making me uncomfortable," Lin said. "I'm not going to hang my head. I know I played hard. You can't win them all."

The Knicks gave the ball away nine times in the opening stanza as the Heat led, 24-20, after one. New York hung around by dominating the offensive glass, holding a 6-1 margin.

Steve Novak provided a lift for New York in the second, hitting back-to-back treys to highlight a 12-4 Knicks run as the visitors took a 32-28 advantage early in the stanza.

Miami, though, closed the half strong, outscoring the Knicks 12-7 over the final 2:59. James and Wade turned back-to-back turnovers into easy transition buckets to start the stretch and Chalmers nailed a step-back trey with 9.6 seconds left in the period. Carmelo Anthony answered with a jumper at the buzzer to pull New York within 51-47 heading into the break.

Just like for most of the first half, Miami used its defense to create offense to start the third.

Wade's steal and layup, followed by Joel Anthony's block and Wade's pull-up jumper in transition highlighted a 10-2 Heat spurt as the hosts took a 63-53 lead early in the third.

Later in the quarter with the shot clock running down, Lin drove along the right baseline and was blocked by Joel Anthony. The swat led to more Miami offense as James found Shane Battier in the left corner for a trey to give the Heat a 75-62 lead.

James' baseline jumper with 0.9 left in the third gave the Heat an 80-66 advantage heading into the fourth.

The Knicks made a move early in the final quarter as J.R. Smith's bank shot and three-pointer on back-to-back possessions capped an 8-4 burst and pulled New York within 84-76.

But Miami halted New York's momentum with a 8-0 flurry to increase its bulge to 16, 92-76, midway through the frame.

The Heat cruised to the easy win from there.

Game Notes

Miami has won nine consecutive home games...Carmelo Anthony finished with a team-high 19 points while Amare Stoudemire donated 13 points for New York...Miami recorded 19 fastbreak points and 12 steals.