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.

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.

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.

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Savaged by the Heat’s relentless defense, he tallied as many turnovers — eight — as points. He stood by helplessly at the wrong end of a host of highlights. He looked either fatigued, or sluggish, or overwhelmed — or, perhaps, all three in the 102-88 defeat to the Heat. For one night at least, Linsanity died down.

“They were all geeked up for him,” Knicks Coach Mike D’Antoni said. “They took the challenge and did a great job. It’s hard to be Peter Pan every day.”

Lin failed to reach double figures for the first time since he entered the starting lineup, hitting just 1 of 11 shots from the field. He committed six of his eight turnovers in the first half and managed just three assists after leading New York to a 9-2 record and averaging 23.9 points during that stretch.

In the nationally televised contest that brought the Heat as many media requests as for last year’s NBA Finals, Lin struggled from the start. He didn’t have a single superb moment all night, ending more than two weeks of steady play and late-game brilliance.

“They did a great job of making me uncomfortable,” Lin said. “I can’t remember another game where it was just hard to take dribbles.”

Knowing Lin had become a master operator running off of high pick-and-rolls, the defensive-minded Heat brought pressure early on. Just more than two minutes into the game, guard Mario Chalmers stripped Lin as he was bringing the ball upcourt and turned the steal into a running dunk. Backup Norris Cole pulled the same maneuver near midcourt precisely seven seconds after Lin reported in after a stint on the bench in the second quarter, also finishing with a dunk.

“They’re all quick, long, strong guys,” D’Antoni said. “He hasn’t seen that yet. He’ll adjust to that.”

Other lowlights for Lin included an air ball, a host of rushed shots, a turnover that led to a slam dunk by James. His inconsistency seemed contagious; New York shot just 39.2 percent and committed 15 first-half turnovers. Carmelo Anthony led with 19 points and J.R. Smith added 14 off the bench. The Heat blocked 10 shots.

“I’m not going to hang my head, or anything like that,” Lin said. “You can’t win them all. You can’t have a great game every time. At the same time, I need to understand what did I do wrong and how can I improve.”

The game offered a marquee matchup, with the Linsation meeting arguably the league’s best team. Miami had won 10 of 11 games and seven straight — now eight — by at least 12 points. James, who has dominated early most valuable player talk, scored 20 points as the Heat was led by Chris Bosh, who scored 25, and Wade, who got 22.

“The atmosphere in the arena spoke for itself,” Wade said. “We knew how many people was tuning into this game for different reasons.”

Undrafted out of Harvard and cut twice in the preseason, Lin earned himself two straight Sports Illustrated covers with his marvelous play over the past two weeks. His play Thursday sent him into the all-star break eager for some rest.

“There’s a lot to learn,” he said. “I’m very far from where I want to be.”