Knicks' Lin picks up pace of knee rehab

New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin broke his silence and offered a ray of hope Sunday, saying he is pushing to rejoin the desperate team during their Miami first-round playoff series and has picked up the pace on his rehab from knee surgery.

He participated in much of practice Sunday at AmericanAirlines Arena. The Knicks need him even more now, with the series-ending knee injury to guard Iman Shumpert and starting point guard Baron Davis developing a bad back during Saturday's Game 1 loss.

The soonest Lin feels he can be back from his torn-meniscus surgery is Sunday in Game 4 at Madison Square Garden, though he expressed less optimism after feeling soreness following a big one-on-one workout with assistant coach Kenny Atkinson on Saturday.

"I don't really want to make a promise because I just don't know," Lin said about Sunday. "If I felt good today, then that would be more of a possibility. But I don't feel that great today."

If he is back Sunday, that means he would beat the six-week timetable by one week — which was his initial goal entering surgery.