Not at all. LD just plays unbelievably passive and harmless. Conditions seem to be a bit on the slow side from what I've seen so far, with a quite manageable drift, so not a lot of unforced errors. Worse wind conditions and a faster hall would've played into LD's hand.
Lin Dan nowadays always play like that, it's NTM who is stepping up from the get-go, from what I see.
Not the game of his life if all he does is play high clears and the occasional drop shot. He does have the upper hand in terms of patience right now, and LD either cant keep up the lifts or doesnt have the patience to. Another worrying sign is that LD didnt manage to move NTM more than he had to move in the opening game, and a match with both players moving the same amount will almost always favor NTM (few notable exceptions, almost none of which havent retired at this point). Let's see if LD has now adjusted to the venue and conditions and can step up a gear, and if NTM can match him or not.
No real way to know unless the winner manages to advance further (the only conclusive evidence it wasn't a Pyrrhic victory). If they lose next round, it might have been this strenuous match, or maybe just their natural not-so-high level. It'll be open to interpretation and people will go with their natural biases (I'll wager you'd accredit LD losing in the next round to this match going 3 games, I personally probably wouldn't).
Lin Dan hasn't been playing an attacking game for so long that every time when he tries to do so or inject pace, there's a half chance of him mistiming his shot, it seems.
Seems to me like he's so intent on preserving energy that he isn't willing to play those shots with high intensity, and that drastically increases the chances of making an error. Whether he's doing it out of strategic reasons or whether he's tired/'lazy' - I'd say it's a habit of his strategic approach these days.
