Gregg Popovich treated Lin Yi to a plate of the city's famous tacos at a well-known spot in San Antonio. After the late meal, they wandered along the Riverwalk, letting the quiet stretch of water carry their thoughts.
Compared to New York's constant noise, San Antonio felt unhurried—almost gentle.
Popovich pointed across the river and said, "Back in 2007, when we had our championship parade, the fans lined both sides of this place. The host asked me how I felt. I told him, 'We're pretty damn good.'"
Lin Yi watched the old coach get lost in the memory and couldn't help thinking that he'd dodged a bullet: good thing the Knicks had taken the title last year. If LeBron James had been walking here with Popovich tonight, the old man's nostalgia would've cut a little too deep. After all, in 2007, the Spurs swept James's Cavaliers 4–0.
They hadn't talked much basketball over dinner, but the river loosened Popovich's mood. "You know, Lin… I used to wonder what it'd be like if I coached you. How I'd shape your game."
Lin Yi raised a brow. Popovich continued, "I'd probably make you more structured than you are now. But who knows if you'd be where you are today."
Popovich was a funny contradiction. Everyone talked about the Spurs' discipline, yet one of the wildest, most unpredictable players in the league—Manu Ginóbili—flourished under him. Ginóbili took shots that made Popovich want to pull his hair out, but Pop never clipped his wings.
He'd once joked, "Before he shoots, I want to trade him. After he makes it, I want to cook him breakfast."
Under Popovich's watch, the Spurs had brawled with the Pistons, traded haymakers with the Suns' run-and-gun squads, and outgunned the Heat with threes. He admired Lin Yi not only for his talent but also for the way he carried himself—steady, decisive, and capable of anchoring a franchise.
Lin Yi's friendly personality hid a spine of steel. On matters of principle, he never budged. Popovich actually liked Lin's response in that tense game against the Celtics; he considered it the right kind of edge. He himself had spent a lifetime barking at referees, and Steve Kerr—who learned plenty from him—would later become one of the league's most generous contributors to the referee fine fund.
In this league, you had to protect your own ground. Bowen, Horry, those guys had been enforcers for a reason. No one thrived by being too nice. As Lin once said, nobody listens to a loser preach about virtue.
Eventually, Popovich circled back to Lin's outrageous shooting range. "Lin, I heard you actually practice those super-long threes in training?"
Lin Yi nodded. It wasn't like denying it would help. His long-range attempts this season had been anything but conventional.
Truthfully, he felt a little helpless about it. Those easy, clean looks from his rookie year? Gone. Defenders kept pushing him further and further back. The defence had practically forced him into becoming a long-distance marksman.
Popovich chuckled. "If the league ever adds a four-point line, you'd win the scoring title every year."
Lin Yi glanced up at the sky. Funny—wasn't that what people in the future said about Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson?
...
After strolling with Popovich for half an hour, Lin Yi happily bid farewell to the old man. As he headed to the airport to meet up with the team, Coach D'Antoni looked at Lin Yi with a worried expression.
"Don't worry, Coach, I really can't get used to living here," Lin Yi told D'Antoni.
To reassure Coach D, Lin Yi even chatted with D'Antoni about tactics for a while.
Only then did D'Antoni relax.
Lin Yi knew D'Antoni was concerned about him, so he nodded repeatedly in agreement.
On the 9th, the Knicks flew back to the East. In Milwaukee, they enjoyed a delicious venison feast, dominating the Bucks led by brick-laying Brandon Jennings.
Speaking of which, the Knicks surprisingly achieved a four-game winning streak during this brutal four-game road trip, something the entire Knicks team never expected before setting out.
In addition, in the second half of the season, Wilson Chandler and Shane Battier's playing time also increased. Coach D'Antoni was already starting to prepare for the playoffs. Now, whenever there was an opportunity to practice, D'Antoni would let everyone play to get a feel for the game.
Tony Allen, one of the Knicks' championship heroes from last year, also returned to the rotation, which immediately created a sense of crisis among the Knicks' rookies.
Recently, Klay Thompson rarely went out to play before games. The internal competition within the Knicks was just that intense: either earn your spot with skill, or watch the game from the bench.
On the 11th, the Knicks, back at their home court, Madison Square Garden, easily defeated the 76ers.
After the game, 76ers star Andre Iguodala was very dissatisfied with the team's current situation, believing the team lacked ambition he vaguely aired during his post-match interview.
Unfortunately, Iguodala's salary was too high during this period; otherwise Lin Yi would have considered poaching him from the 76ers.
On the 12th, the Knicks had to play a back-to-back road game against the Bulls. The Bulls were currently ranked third in the Eastern Conference. Before the game started, Bulls star Derrick Rose was constantly icing his legs.
Lin Yi felt that Tom Thibodeau was truly courting disaster... Although Rose's playing time had already dropped to an average of 36 minutes per game this season, in some crucial games, Rose's rest time was pitifully short.
And besides loving to overplay his starters, Thibodeau was also very stubborn... This season, NBA teams had all started to increase their three-point attempts, but the Bulls were the only team that remained unchanged.
The Bulls averaged only 16.7 three-point attempts per game this season, ranking second-to-last in the league. If it weren't for the Bulls' strong defense, Lin Yi felt that even if Rose hadn't declined, they wouldn't have achieved their current record.
How rigid was Thibodeau?
Lin Yi remembered that in the future, during the 2017-18 season, when three-point attempts across the league had generally surpassed 30 per game, Thibodeau's Timberwolves were a breath of fresh air, only attempting around 22 three-pointers per game. As a result, after their key scorer Jimmy Butler got injured, the Timberwolves nearly dropped out of the playoff picture.
Getting back to the main topic, before this game, Lin Yi also discovered that Thibodeau had prepared a big gift for him.
Because Thibodeau had assigned Joakim Noah to defend him...
As for how Lin Yi knew it would be Noah guarding him?
"Just wait, in this game, I'll show you what defense is," Noah said menacingly to Lin Yi before the game started.
Just as D'Antoni loved to study fancy offensive schemes, Thibodeau always had his own quirky ideas when it came to defense.
Noah's eyes were wide with hunger, looking as if he was going to devour Lin Yi during the jump ball.
...
Please do leave a review and powerstones, helps with the book's exposure.
Feel like joining a Patreon for free and subscribing to advanced chapters?
Visit the link:
[email protected]/GRANDMAESTA_30
Change @ to a