With Billups out for the season and Livingston sidelined for two months, Coach D'Antoni decided to activate McGrady. On the 20th, in the Knicks' home back-to-back against the Hawks, McGrady came off the bench as Paul's backup.
For McGrady, once an NBA scoring champion, the past two years had been humbling. Reality can be cruel — if you don't adapt, it breaks you.
His body was nowhere near what it used to be, so D'Antoni kept things simple.
On offense, he wanted T-Mac to play like Livingston — use his size to post up smaller guards and act as a secondary playmaker.
On defense, D'Antoni didn't expect miracles. He just asked him to contest shots, not chase every drive. After all, this wasn't the young McGrady flying through the air anymore.
And in his season debut, McGrady did exactly what was asked. In 13 minutes, he put up 6 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists — solid numbers for someone who hadn't played meaningful minutes in a long time.
"Clearly, injuries can't stop these Knicks!" Barkley declared after New York's win over Atlanta.
Kenny Smith nodded, visibly impressed. McGrady's box score wasn't spectacular, but the way he moved and read the game looked better than anything he'd shown in the last two seasons.
"While a lot of teams are scrambling for trades or signings, the Knicks just… look inward," Kenny said, turning to Shaq. "Shaq, you've been part of this Knicks team before. What's the secret? How do they always seem to help players find their confidence again?"
Before O'Neal could answer, Barkley flexed his arm with a smirk, making Shaq roll his eyes and cough twice before collecting himself.
"The Knicks probably have the best team atmosphere I've ever been in," Shaq pondered a bit before saying. "Coach D'Antoni knows how to use his players, and Lin… man, Lin always cracks jokes and makes sure that everyone is comfortable during practice or games. When you play in that kind of environment, it's hard not to perform well."
Barkley grinned and leaned back. "Yeah, that's what a real MVP does. Lin's still my pick for MVP this season."
"…"
Shaq, meanwhile, silently swore that one day he'd write an autobiography exposing all the behind-the-scenes chaos of this Lin Yi Fan Club they call a TV station.
McGrady's comeback was a success, and Lin Yi had his own upgrade. Against the Hawks, his Dream Footwork badge leveled up from gold to amethyst.
Now, only Rebounding Maniac and Limitless Range remained at gold.
With the amethyst Dream Footwork unlocked, Lin gained a few new tricks in the post — moves that felt almost like cheating. He even started wondering if, by continuing to evolve his Ankle Breaker, he could somehow stay as agile and flexible while bulking up.
Most big men are slimming down these days… he thought. But if I can pull this off, I could just live in the low post and dominate anyone who comes near me.
To Lin Yi, that sounded like the perfect plan for the future. In a league where traditional big men were vanishing, who would stop him once the paint was all his?
...
On the 21st, the Knicks finally got a day off. Billups and Livingston's injuries had already kept the medical team busy, but lately, the doctors were more confused than anything.
Was Lin Yi even human?
They'd told him countless times to ease off the intensity during mid-season, but Lin always brushed it off with lines like, "How can I get better if I don't put in the work?" or "I need to see New York at 3 A.M."
What could they say to that? The team doctors could only look up helplessly and sigh.
Back to business — before the upcoming All-Star Weekend in Orlando, the Knicks were set to face the Mavericks at home and the Heat on the road. Clearly, Stern had gone all-in for ratings again.
Lin had planned to take it easy during the All-Star break, even skipping all the individual competitions this year. If the schedule had been kinder, he could've gotten nearly ten straight days of rest.
His mindset wasn't that different from most Chinese office workers — take your annual leave right around National Day, stack a few weekends, and you basically get half a month off.
But reality had other plans.
Because no matter how early you hand in that leave request, the boss can always stamp it Denied.
Still, what was supposed to be an anticipated rematch of the NBA Finals lost a bit of shine when the Mavericks announced before tip-off that both Nowitzki and Stoudemire were sitting out.
This season, Dallas had started managing minutes carefully — Nowitzki skipped most back-to-backs, and Stoudemire rested depending on how he felt.
To be fair, Stoudemire was thriving in this timeline. Without the devastating injury from Lin's past life, he was healthy and explosive again. The Mavericks' system, filled with pick-and-rolls, suited him perfectly. Even though Irving wasn't exactly a playmaking maestro, Kidd's mentorship helped him run solid drive-and-kick sets.
Stoudemire's scoring touch was still elite. Before that injury in Lin's original timeline, he'd carried the Knicks on his back, averaging nearly 30 a game and keeping them in the playoff hunt. It was only after Anthony arrived — and took over much of the offense — that his numbers dipped closer to 25.
A lot of people used to say Stoudemire couldn't play without Nash, but that wasn't really true. Once he developed a reliable mid-range jumper, he could go toe-to-toe with Duncan and Garnett for a bit.
So, when Dallas decided to rest their stars before facing New York, Lin couldn't help but feel a little targeted.
It was like everyone in the league was scheming to conserve energy to make his life harder in the playoffs.
He clenched his fist and silently swore that once he hit his peak, he'd pay them all back — with interest.
And when that day came, he'd flash a smile and say, "The future's yours."
...
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