On the night the Knicks beat the Celtics, the result itself wasn't the main headline. What everyone kept talking about was Lin Yi's Bird-style LOGO four-pointer.
YouTube lit up almost instantly. The clip of Lin Yi calling his shot right in front of Rivers and his celebration went viral, and as more slow-motion angles and breakdowns popped up, the whole thing started drifting into myth territory.
Some Knicks teammates even claimed he'd seen Lin bury three straight half-court shots with his eyes closed in practice.
What left Lin Yi genuinely speechless was how many fans actually believed it.
"My God, half-court threes with my eyes closed? At this point, you might as well say I can dunk from the three-point line," he muttered.
But that didn't stop one editor on a major domestic site from writing a full article titled: Shocking! Lin Can Dunk From Here!
Lin could only respond helplessly: "Sorry, I underestimated your imagination."
With that, another story got added to the legend of his career.
After the game, Rivers shook his head in disbelief: "He's just… not human. When he pointed at the logo and told me he was taking it from there, I thought he was joking. Then he actually took it. And hit it. At that moment, I genuinely felt like we'd ticked him off."
Pierce, meanwhile, had a different take: "He was showboating. We all know he's got range, but provoking people like that… yeah, one day it'll catch up to him."
Lin couldn't help rolling his eyes at that.
Provoking? Seriously? The Celtics talk trash every other possession.
And if anyone was handing out provocation diplomas, Garnett was practically running a full university program.
As for suffering the consequences, Lin felt he already had—he'd eaten enough rough fouls to fill a highlight reel. Without his healing keeping him intact, he joked to himself that he'd probably be lying in a hospital bed right now, chatting life philosophy with Billups.
"I can't just watch my teammates get pushed around," Lin later said. "Everyone's free to talk, but if you rewind the moment, I'd still do the same thing. Respect goes both ways. The Celtics are a great team, but when Pierce says that, maybe he should think about what Kevin said to Donatas."
"Kevin tells Donatas off, and it's 'that's the NBA,' but I stand up for my teammate, and suddenly it's 'provoking the opponent'? How does that work?"
Lin wasn't a big fan of trash-talk anyway. In his eyes, most of it was just noise.
On the court, the score does the talking.
On Twitter, Kobe gave him a thumbs-up:
"As a leader, you can't back down in that moment. Lin handled it the right way. Respect."
LeBron, the embodiment of chimed in too:
"If it were me, I'd have done the same. I don't think Lin provoked anyone—they were the ones taking shots first. Everything he did was for his teammates. I like it."
Curry, freshly back from injury, added with a grin:
"Lin's been solid like that since college. And that logo three? Man, that was beautiful."
Clearly, most people were siding with Lin. And honestly, his reasoning held up.
After the game, a reporter asked if he had thought about the consequences of missing before taking the shot.
Lin shrugged. "If you're always looking back, you'll never move forward."
The reporter followed up: "So how did you feel when it went in?"
Lin deadpanned, "Lucky. Because if I'd missed, I wouldn't be standing here answering your questions."
That got a laugh. "Lin, has anyone ever told you you'd make a good conversationalist?"
He paused, thought for a moment, and said, "Not really. But here's the thing—when you succeed, everything you say suddenly sounds deep. When you fail, even the smartest thing you say gets ignored."
The reporter blinked, then laughed again:
"Wow. That's… actually spot on. I've got nothing to add."
...
After beating the Celtics, Lin Yi didn't even have time to log into his account to see the comments—because the Knicks had a non-stop flight to Dallas waiting.
To be honest… Cuban really knows how to spend.
Carlisle wasn't exactly lounging in luxury—he was in a tough spot. The Knicks were on a back-to-back, sure, but the Mavericks were on a back-to-back-to-back. The schedule this season was brutal. They'd already given up the top spot in the West to the young Thunder a week ago, and at this point, Carlisle clearly prioritized keeping the team healthy over chasing wins.
So in Lin Yi's little blessed land of Dallas, the Knicks cut through the Mavericks without much resistance. But the game did have one highlight: Lin Yi blocked Irving once.
With most of Dallas's key players sitting, Irving was basically given free rein. And he didn't hold back—driving hard from the opening tip and even hitting consecutive shots over Lin Yi in the first quarter.
Lin Yi frowned.
Damn it… this kid is sneaky as hell.
He'd noticed a pattern: if Chandler came to double-team, Irving would back off. But if Chandler helped elsewhere, Irving would attack decisively every single time.
Paul and Chandler just chuckled silently—they knew exactly what Lin Yi was thinking.
To be fair, Lin Yi wasn't slacking on defense. The first two times, he'd been defending the spaces. But by the third, he was fully committed to contesting the shot. Still… Irving's layups were tricky, rhythm-based, and unpredictable. Uncle Drew's footwork and finishing moves made him hard to read; finding the right moment to block wasn't as simple as Lin Yi had imagined.
But in the second quarter, Lin Yi finally got his moment.
McGrady used his long arms to force Irving into a corner. Just as Irving went up for a floater, Lin Yi, eyes locked, soared and threw down a sky-high block.
This was a highlight.
The block instantly reshaped the narrative. Suddenly, Lin Yi's earlier defensive lapses were forgotten, and Irving, the confident scorer, became the punchline on YouTube.
"Guess the guards are taking over," Lin Yi sighed. And honestly, that was his biggest takeaway from the 2011–2012 season: the center position was slowly starting to lose its dominance.
The 2008, 2010, and 2011 number one picks were all point guards. Small-ball was creeping in, and the next wave of elite guards was already emerging.
On the 6th, the Knicks flew to San Antonio to face one of Texas's three powerhouses: the aging Spurs.
...
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