Jeremy Lin tests knee as NBA playoffs loom

Jeremy Lin tested his surgically repaired left knee with shooting and conditioning drills, but it remained unclear if the Knicks sensation would return if New York go deep in the NBA playoffs. "I asked him yesterday how he felt after getting out running a little bit," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. "He said he felt pretty good. But we've got to put him through drills where he's cutting and things of that nature to make sure the knee doesn't swell up and he's not physically sore." Lin had surgery to repair a torn meniscus on April 2, with the projected six-week recovery time ruling him out for the rest of the regular season and probably the first round of the playoffs. "I'd like to think if we were able to get out of this first round, he should be ready for the second round," Woodson said. "Again, it's not for me to determine that. He's got to come to us along with the doctors and say that the knee feels fine and he's confident that he can cut and do the things he once did," the coach added. Lin, 23, was an NBA unknown when he shot to prominence in February, getting the starting nod from then-coach Mike D'Antoni and energizing a flagging Knicks team. Lin, who was born in California to parents from Taiwan, became an international sensation as the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA. The Knicks won't know who they face in the first round until the regular season concludes on Thursday. "It's a big challenge," Woodson said of managing the uncertainty. "I have my scouts, my video guys, putting together information on Miami, Chicago, Indiana, in that order."