Jared Jeffries thinks the Knicks didn't do enough to help Jeremy Lin on Thursday night against Miami.

"Their whole focus was to contain Jeremy. With guys that are that aggressive, that athletic ... I think it was difficult for him to have a good game," Jeffries said on Friday in an interview with ESPN New York 1050's Robin Lundberg and Ryan Ruocco.

"A lot of it's on us," Jeffries continued. "We have to take some of the pressure off of him."

The Heat pressured Lin into eight turnovers. He missed 10 of his 11 attempts. Miami point guard Mario Chalmers continually picked up Lin in the backcourt and the Heat made an effort to trap Lin coming off of the pick and roll, one of Lin's biggest weapons.

"They were firing on all cylinders," Jeffries said of Miami.

Over the Knicks' previous 10 games with Lin as the starting point guard, the team averaged 28 plays in the pick-and-roll per game (20 for the ball-handler, eight for the roll man).

On Thursday, they had far fewer chances to run the play. They only connected on 5 of 10 field goals, and had four turnovers in the process. Overall, just 18 of the Knicks' offensive plays were in the pick-and-roll.

Jeffries, one of the Knicks' best defenders, believes New York (16-17) can learn from the defeat and will be better prepared the next time it faces Miami, on April 15.

"If we change a couple of things ... we can be competitive with them," Jeffries said. "The biggest thing for all of us is to realize it doesn't matter where you start, it's where you finish. And right now, we're trying to build toward [finishing in a place] where we can be champions."