With December rolling in, Lin Yi was seriously tempted to go egg David Stern's house.
Four more back-to-backs in one month? Really?
The Knicks' schedule was brutal.
Lin Yi gritted his teeth and kept the complaints to himself. After all, he wasn't a moody teen like Justin Bieber. Daydreaming about smashing eggs was already showing admirable restraint.
It was times like these that he felt the brutality of the NBA schedule.
On December 1, after just two days of rest, the Knicks were back at Madison Square Garden for what felt like their 800th must-win of the season.
So... why was this one critical?
Well, sure — their opponents were legit. The Phoenix Suns were sitting second in the West, still dangerous, and very much not a team you could coast against.
But more than that, this one was personal.
This was D'Antoni's old team.
And in basketball, that always adds spice.
After Shawn Marion left, the Phoenix was down to just Steve Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire. But somehow, they still made it work.
This version of the Suns? Less top-heavy, more depth. They were winning with hustle and a scary-deep bench. You had Jason Richardson throwing down dunks, Grant Hill looking like a vampire had stolen his age, and Channing Frye suddenly turning into a stretch-five sniper. And then there was Leandro Barbosa — Brazil's lightning bolt.
Honestly, Phoenix was starting to feel like a place where players just got reborn.
Take Frye, for example. Dude used to be labeled a soft big man who never shot from deep. Before this season? He'd made just 20 threes — total.
This year?
He was launching 15 a game like it was nothing. Okay, maybe not that many, but it felt like it. His three-point makes this season have already surpassed the total from his entire career before.
And then there was Grant Hill, who was known for ankle injuries, now basically made of vibranium. All he ever needed was the Suns' medical staff.
Reuniting with Nash before the game, Coach D'Antoni looked... complicated. Emotions all over the place. The guy had had his best coaching years in Phoenix, posted the league's best record, and ran the flashiest offense in the NBA. But no ring. Never the ring.
People had ripped him apart back then. "D'Antoni can't coach defense," they said. "All he does is run and gun."
Eventually, the criticism drove him out.
And yet — irony alert — it didn't take long for the Suns to quietly go back to his style.
Suns fans couldn't help but feel the twist: they had blamed D'Antoni for everything, only to crawl back to his playbook later. Classic.
Lin Yi got it. D'Antoni had always been the scapegoat. But the truth? As long as Steve Nash was your point guard, your team had to run. It was how he played. The moment you slowed it down, Nash's lack of defense stuck out like a sore thumb.
People in the future would try to compare Curry and Nash on defense. But honestly? If Nash had even half the defensive chops that Steph had during his 2017–18 peak, the Suns might've won it all.
Offensively? Nash was a magician. A 180 Club guy — four times! Watching those Suns games, you almost forgot it was basketball. It was art.
Then you'd watch them in the playoffs and think, "Oh... right. That defense."
But tonight's game wasn't a big deal just because of Phoenix.
It was a big deal for Lin Yi for a very different reason.
His badges — they were close to leveling up.
Only four more rebounds, and his Rebounding Maniac badge would jump from bronze to silver.
Just two more post moves, and his Dreamshake badge for center would level up too.
Unlike full attribute upgrades, which came one step at a time, badge leveling was instant. It was the kind of progress that felt good — like, controller-vibrating-in-your-hands good.
And thankfully, Nash didn't disappoint.
Even at 35, the guy still cooked defenses like it was 2005. Still smooth. Still surgical. Still zero interest in defense.
Which was just how Lin Yi liked it.
...
By the time the game tipped off, you could tell it was gonna be a track meet.
Coach Alvin Gentry might still be young, but he'd clearly inherited D'Antoni's run-and-gun 'til your lungs explode philosophy. Both teams were bombing threes, pushing pace like the clock was broken, and barely pretending defense existed.
D'Antoni, of course, was in his element.
The Knicks had been pick-and-rolling teams into oblivion, and the Suns were still running their classic Nash-Stoudemire two-man game. First quarter? A straight-up shootout. Buckets flying from all angles in the Garden.
At the end of one, it was 34-37, Knicks up by three.
Even the CCTV broadcast crew couldn't help but laugh.
"These two teams," Su Junyang joked on-air, "they're playing like defense is illegal. But man, it's fun to watch."
And he wasn't wrong. It was a highlight reel on fast-forward.
Then came the second quarter — and with it, Lin Yi's personal upgrade arc.
Just a few minutes in, the system pinged him:
[Rebounding Maniac: Bronze → Silver]
[Dreamshake: Bronze → Silver]
Boom. Two badges, leveled up.
That left only one badge still stuck in bronze: Limitless Range.
Nine more super-deep threes.
And Lin felt like he'd already launched a small country's worth of them. Unfortunately, not everyone had Curry's touch—or his cheat-code jumper. Draining logo threes on demand? Not exactly easy mode.
While absorbing the new instincts and skills flooding into his head from the badge upgrades, Lin snuck a glance at the progress bar for it.
Some ways to go..
Meanwhile, back on the court, the Knicks were giving the Suns' bench unit a serious reality check.
To be blunt: Phoenix's second unit got cooked.
It wasn't about talent. It was a straight-up mismatch of play styles. The Knicks' pressure, pace, and floor spacing completely suffocated Phoenix's backup crew.
Honestly, who was supposed to guard Lin Yi?
Channing Frye?
Robin Lopez?
Grant Hill with those ankles??
No disrespect, but none of them had the tools to handle Lin's mix of size, footwork, and deceptive post fakes.
People always said D'Antoni didn't know how to coach defense, but they forgot it was D'Antoni who turned Marion into a do-everything defensive monster. He understood defense — he just preferred offense.
Compared to the old man, Gentry's version of run-and-gun still looked like it was stuck in beta.
Sure, the Suns were still a solid Western team. But that championship DNA? It wasn't there anymore. Not with that roster. Not with that bench.
Midway through the second, Lin Yi started hunting logo threes again. He knew he needed to start chipping away at that badge progress — even if it meant hearing Clyde Frazier sigh into the mic every time he launched one from 35 feet.
Still, he mixed it up, too.
Near the end of the quarter, he got the ball in the paint and went to work. Hit Stoudemire with a half-spin, fake, pause, fake again — got Amar'e jumping like he'd just seen a ghost — and calmly flipped it in from the other side of the rim.
Classic Dreamshake.
The new silver-level version of the badge was already showing. The fakes? Smoother. The timing? Nasty. It was like he suddenly had a whole new bag of tricks in the post.
The rebounding badge was showing out too.
Third quarter, Gallinari tossed up a corner three that looked shaky the second it left his hands. But Lin?
He read it like a book.
Darted into the paint, got inside position like he had a GPS on the ball, and just exploded for the putback dunk.
Badge bonus? Activated.
The upgraded rebounding badge gave him better reads, better timing, and a real edge in chaos under the glass. Offensive boards were suddenly feeling like free points.
Fourth quarter rolled around, and the Knicks fully broke the Suns open. Game over.
Well — almost.
Lin Yi managed to launch three more ultra-deep threes before the final buzzer. Only hit one, but hey, progress is progress.
After the game, walking off the court, he muttered to himself:
"Next game... might have to channel my inner future Curry. Time to start stealing some of his moves."
Final score: Suns 112, Knicks 129
Knicks: 14-4
Another win in the books. Another five-game win streak.
And for Lin Yi, two badges closer to greatness.
...
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