On the 15th, the Knicks took care of business at home with a clear win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
On ESPN, Chris Webber cracked a joke.
"The last time the Knicks were on a losing streak was about ten months ago," he said. "Anthony still has room to grow, but he gave us a lot to like tonight. I hope he keeps building on this."
To be clear, Webber was not talking about Carmelo. He meant Anthony Davis.
This game had real weight. It was Davis' first career matchup against Lin Yi, and for the first time, the Anti-Lin crowd felt they might have found the right kind of player.
The box score did not jump off the page. Davis finished with 7 points and 5 rebounds. But those 7 points included one play that made the arena buzz.
Davis grabbed a rebound, pushed the ball himself, and covered the floor in long strides. His handle was rough around the edges, but when Paul reached in, Davis slipped past him with a quick behind-the-back dribble.
Once he crossed the three-point line, he took three huge steps and went up strong. For a split second, Knicks fans saw a familiar outline. Tall frame. Long stride. Same confidence.
Watching from the court, Lin Yi kept covering his face with one hand.
He realized something uncomfortable. His influence on Davis ran deep.
Statistically, Lin Yi owned the matchup. He scored over Davis again and again. The gap on paper was obvious.
But within the flow of the game, Davis held his ground better than expected. His hustle and energy were relentless. He stayed connected and fearless.
The problem was everything else.
Strength. Experience. Skill polish.
In all of that, Davis still trailed by a wide margin.
Still, Cleveland had found a real cornerstone.
In Lin Yi's memory, Davis was a monster. In this timeline, he was even more intriguing. His mid-range and three-point shooting had come earlier. The percentages were not stable yet, but the intent was there.
Every night, Davis studied Lin Yi's game film. He did not want to live off lobs. He wanted to create his own offense.
Lin Yi knew where this was heading. Davis would keep growing. His listed height would creep closer to 213 centimeters in shoes. Once he added muscle, he might become the face of the Anti-Lin movement.
That thought made Lin Yi sigh.
After encouraging Giannis to come to the United States, the NCAA had somehow produced another Lin Yi through Davidson.
Cleveland was still tanking.
If Stern decided to smile on them again with another first pick, and if LeBron ever chose to come home, the roster would be terrifying.
"Even without LeBron, this group could compete for titles within the next ten years," Lin Yi thought.
After the game, despite taking a clear loss, Davis looked energized. College basketball had offered him no real resistance. Now he had a target.
Lin Yi.
Later that night, Carmelo had dinner with Lin Yi and shook his head.
"Anthony is a strange guy," Carmelo said. "We invite him out, but the rookie says no. Says he needs to sleep early so he can wake up at four and look at the Cleveland sky. You and Kobe are contagious mothaf***kers."
Lin Yi went quiet.
Another one of those types?
Bricking shots without hesitation. Absolute belief. Full Kobe influence.
Lin Yi almost felt proud.
Cleveland's locker room was unstable, but with Carmelo anchoring things, that chaos turned manageable...or not.
He looked out for Davis. Everyone saw it.
Carmelo's biggest regret was never getting the chance to play with Lin Yi. Now, he saw a new kind of hope in Davis.
A week earlier, against Indiana, Roy Hibbert had backed Davis down and barked at him.
"Don't ain't special, kid. You being the number one pick means s**t."
Hibbert figured he had taken enough punishment from Lin Yi. Bullying a Lin fan should be easy.
He misjudged the situation.
Carmelo stepped in immediately and shoved Hibbert away. Hibbert was taller and broader, but he froze.
He did not say a word.
J.R. piled on from the side.
Carmelo yelled. "You ain't built like that, my guy. You ain't."
Hibbert stood there in silence.
It hurt. But fighting back was not an option.
Who did people think Carmelo Anthony was?
Sure, he was not known for passing. Sure, people joked that his entire bag was pull-up jumpers. Sure, some fans loved calling him Iso Melo.
But Anthony and the old Steve Francis shared one thing that could not be taught. They were street.
As Melo liked to put it, "When I was already out there surviving, you were still learning how to walk."
After that moment, Hibbert completely shut down. He did not say another word to Davis for the rest of the game.
Later, Lin Yi told Klay to take Melo out to a nightclub or something. Watching Melo walk away, Lin Yi suddenly felt it.
Anthony's career path had shifted, too.
This league was no longer the NBA Lin Yi remembered.
And yet.
"Why does this feel kind of exciting?"
Lin Yi did not dread Davis' growth. He welcomed it.
Without rivals, the future would feel empty.
Maybe this was what it meant to stand at the top.
. . .
Not long after the Knicks handled Cleveland, news came in from Los Angeles.
The Lakers beat the Charlotte Bobcats 101 to 94.
After a rough start to the season, the Lakers were quietly riding a four-game winning streak.
Kobe finished with 27 points on 10 of 27 shooting. After the game, he looked genuinely upbeat.
"We're starting to find our rhythm," Kobe said. "Dwight and I are fine. He's an elite defender."
Winning has a way of covering cracks.
That streak pushed the Lakers back into the Western Conference playoff conversation. In a good mood, Kobe treated the team to a big dinner in Charlotte.
Over the meal, the conversation shifted to Christmas Day.
The Lakers would host the Knicks.
Commissioner Stern was going all in on promoting Lin Yi. Even though Christmas was still weeks away, the hype was already boiling.
Dwight Howard chewed on a piece of beef and grinned at Kobe.
"Relax," he said. "Lin won't score on me."
The confidence was not baseless.
Howard had faced Lin Yi plenty of times in the East. Lin had hurt him, but Howard believed that was more about weak defensive support behind him.
Deep down, Howard wanted to be the face of the Lakers. He just felt the timing was not right yet.
Once I show everyone that Lin can't get past me, he thought, they'll have no choice but to build around me when Kobe is gone.
Laughing and joking at the table, Howard kept those thoughts to himself.
Kobe had a different motivation.
He wanted a sixth ring. Not for noise or debate, but for Jerry Buss.
Jim Buss had recently told him that Dr. Buss's health was declining.
The bond between Kobe and the Buss family ran deep. They believed in him before the world did.
And there was something else.
Shaquille O'Neal now had the same number of championship rings.
For someone who had spent his entire career competing with Shaq, Kobe had no intention of stopping there.
This was Kobe Bryant.
Backing down was never part of the script.
The Lakers had to win on Christmas Day.
. . .
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