On the 7th, the Knicks hosted the Celtics at Madison Square Garden.
All week, the buildup focused on the early-season Twitter back-and-forth between Chris Paul and Rajon Rondo. With both guards on the same floor, people expected tension, maybe even a little chaos.
SIKE!
What they got instead was Lin Yi at full throttle.
Once he found his rhythm, Boston had no answer.
Kevin Garnett is still intense, still talking, still rising for that mid-range jumper. Offensively, that is where he lives now. Defensively, he has added weight to hold the center spot, but he no longer covers the floor the way he once did.
There was a time he could guard the paint, switch onto wings, and recover without missing a step. That version is gone. Now his range is smaller, and Lin Yi kept dragging the old man into uncomfortable spots.
Doc Rivers tried everything. He rotated four different defenders onto Lin Yi, searching for a solution. Nothing stuck.
Brandon Bass battled, but the height difference was clear. Lin Yi simply shot over him with hooks and soft pull-ups. Draymond Green, watching from the bench, could not help remembering those one-on-one sessions where Lin Yi had picked him apart in practice.
Jared Sullinger had the strength to hold his ground, at least for a few possessions. The problem was his feet. Lin Yi faced him up, attacked laterally, and forced him to slide. Sullinger reached.
The whistles followed.
In limited minutes this season, he was already foul-prone. That pattern continued. Before long, he was on the bench with five fouls, clapping and waving a towel reluctantly.
Chris Wilcox came next. At this stage of his career, he was more depth than deterrent. Lin Yi treated those minutes like a warm-up.
On the sideline, Rivers looked frustrated. Finally, he made a gamble and sent in Jason Collins.
Collins brought size and strength. At 213 centimeters and around 116 kilograms, he had built a reputation as someone willing to absorb contact from the league's biggest centers. He was not flashy, but he was disciplined, and he did not back down from physical battles.
When Collins checked in, Lin Yi adjusted immediately.
Collins tried to lean on him, bump him off his spots, talk a little.
Lin Yi did not engage.
He shifted gears instead. He pulled Collins away from the rim, used quick first steps, and attacked before the help could arrive. Collins had power, but not speed. Lin Yi made that gap obvious.
By the second half, the Garden crowd sensed something special.
For a while, some New York fans joked that Lin Yi saved his biggest nights for the road. This time, they watched him do it at home.
He finished 15 for 26 from the field, 3 for 7 from three, and a perfect 18 for 18 at the line.
Fifty-one points. Twenty-three rebounds.
A 50 plus 20 night that left no room for debate. The Knicks pulled away and closed it comfortably.
After the game, Rivers was honest.
"He's a scoring machine right now," he said. "We threw different looks at him. He reads the floor, finds the mismatch, and goes straight at it. That's what great players do."
"As for us, we have to pick ourselves up and dust away the loss and head into the next game gunning for a win."
Privately, Rivers understood where his team stood. This was not a championship roster anymore. The energy speeches were fewer. The long-term view had taken over. Danny Ainge was already thinking ahead, weighing assets and future picks.
Rivers stared at the stat sheet for a moment before heading back to the locker room.
If a rebuild was coming, it would not be subtle. In this league, when the reset button gets pressed, everything changes.
Even Rivers wasn't safe.
Ainge had already zeroed in on Brad Stevens, the young coach from Butler. The guy had pulled off miracles there, and Ainge was betting he could steer the new Celtics in the right direction.
As the league's most ruthless general manager, Ainge didn't mess around. Later, when Isaiah Thomas had proven himself as the best 5'9" player on the planet, he went to Ainge asking for a huge contract extension… and that was the end of that conversation.
Because the moment Ainge heard Kyrie Irving wanted out of Cleveland, Thomas was shipped there. And the "massive contract" he had been hoping for? Gone.
"Talking money with me?" Ainge might as well have said.
That's like asking LeBron how many Finals he's lost, Kobe how many bricks he's hit, Durant why he went to the Warriors, or Riley why he didn't give Wade a proper deal.
On the 9th and 10th, the Knicks had two days off. Coach Mike gave the team a break. With the Spring Festival coming up, Lin Yi used the downtime to do an interview with CCTV and, as usual, record a New Year's greeting for his fans in China.
This season, the NBA's popularity in China was booming. Tencent Sports, which had dropped $500 million for the broadcasting rights last summer, was thrilled. Meanwhile, Sina NBA, once a leading sports news platform, was sliding. Many editors there would eventually have to churn out clickbait just to get traffic.
Lin Yi wasn't slacking either. He'd been jotting down ideas from various variety shows and handed them over to Zhong and Alexander Wang to pitch.
Zhong Muchen's life was practically a highlight reel—he'd already gone through four model girlfriends. Every time Lin Yi saw him, he couldn't help thinking Zhong looked like he was running on empty.
Lin Yi's mind never stopped generating ideas.
He chuckled and said to his team. "Don't rush me. Almost done copying these. I don't need to be the richest guy alive—just enough to have fun."
Basketball always came first.
On the court, Lin Yi felt a constant, endless drive. Playing basketball was the best feeling in the world.
And just as he was mapping out the business plans for the season, something unexpected happened…
. . .
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