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Chapter 362: NBA Eastern Conference Finals
🕑 Added 2025-09-27 15:17:33 +0000 UTCTourists hoping for a typical New York night out got something else entirely: a sea of Knicks fans in No. 44 jerseys streaming toward Madison Square Garden.
Even upscale shops along Fifth Avenue joined the frenzy. One luxury boutique flashed a cheeky promotion: “For every steal by Lin tonight, we’ll knock $100 off your bill.”
Owner James Dolan had thrown every resource at building the moment, and local media churned out one rousing story after another. Tonight, the city’s heartbeat was at the Garden.
Back in China, CCTV cleared its schedule—no table tennis, no badminton—to air the game live at 8:30 a.m. Beijing time. Agents for several pop stars quietly tried to score seats, hoping to ride the Knicks' popularity for exposure.
But tickets? Forget it. Gold might have been easier to find.
When the Heat’s bus pulled up, a new banner caught LeBron James’ eye:
“One Man, One City!”
He frowned.
Wade gave his teammate a quick pat on the back. “Ignore it, Bron. Just noise.”
LeBron nodded, but Miami’s locker room buzzed with tension. Pat Riley knew New York’s home-court edge could decide the series—they needed at least one win in the Garden.
Then the referee list came through: Joey Crawford.
Riley exhaled sharply. The league office was sending a message. No funny business.
He’d toyed with the idea of shaking New York by roughing up their lone superstar, but tonight wasn’t the night.
..
Over on TNT, Charles Barkley grinned into the camera. “Lin Yi made First Team All-NBA as a rookie, he’s the MVP this season, and now everybody wants to see him knock out the Heat and head to the Finals.”
Analyst Jeff Van Gundy chuckled. “Charles, translation: the kid’s incredible.”
.
During warm-ups, Lin Yi exchanged a few words with veteran official Joey Crawford.
Crawford tapped him lightly on the hip. “Stay sharp, protect yourself out there.”
Lin smiled. He knew all about Miami’s reputation for hard fouls. “Don’t worry, Joey. I can handle a little bump.”
In truth, Lin half-hoped Pat Riley might order some rough tactics. As long as his teammates stayed healthy, he could take the hits—and in the social media era, any knock he absorbed would only fire up the fans.
Glancing toward the broadcast booth, Lin spotted Jeff Van Gundy and couldn’t help but grin.
Maybe tonight’s the night the Van Gundy jumps into a scuffle again, he thought.
The Knicks had even offered Van Gundy an assistant role under D’Antoni. For the former head coach, watching New York return to the Eastern Conference Finals stirred more than a little nostalgia.
...
Madison Square Garden had the feel of a movie premiere. Celebrities, athletes, and public figures with New York addresses filled the seats, and the storyline was irresistible: Miami’s Big Three squaring off against Lin Yi and the single-core Knicks.
When the player introductions began, the Garden roared. The Heat were showered with boos. And when Lin Yi’s name was called, the noise spiked so high that reporters and commentators jammed their fingers.
“Barkley, you hear me? Taylor Swift’s doing the anthem tonight,” Van Gundy tried to shout over the din.
Barkley just shook his head. “Can’t hear a thing, man.”
Tay Tay, as the fans dubbed her, had agreed to sing after a nudge from Lin Yi himself. Years earlier, a 12-year-old Swift had sung an NBA anthem at Philly—tonight was a full-circle moment.
Lin Yi stayed quiet during the Star-Spangled Banner, humming the March of the Volunteers to himself. Oddly, he thought he heard another voice in his head singing along.
When Swift finished, she kept the mic.
“I’m honored to be here,” she said, scanning the packed house.
“Before tip-off, I’d like everyone to watch a short film. I saw it yesterday—it reminded me how easy it is to take things for granted.” She glanced toward Lin Yi, and the crowd, sensing something special, settled into silence.
Swift returned to her seat as the lights dimmed. On the Heat bench, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade exchanged puzzled looks. Coach Erik Spoelstra wished Pat Riley were closer. What are the Knicks planning?
Around the league, friends of Lin Yi—Curry, Cousins, DeRozan, Favors, Wall, Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian—leaned forward to see what came next.
The big screen flickered to life. First came a line from Curry and Knicks legend Allan Houston: “We all love superheroes. But only legends surpass time.”
The crowd chuckled, expecting a slick highlight reel.
Instead, the film opened on Lin Yi’s missed shots, his slumped shoulders, the quiet frustration of long nights. Then came O’Neal grinding through extra practices, teammates training through pain, Lin on the bench with ice packs, refusing to sit out.
“Shaq, what’s your dream?” a voice asked.
“A championship,” came the reply.
“Then let’s do it together.”
Their handshake filled the screen, then gave way to clips of every Knicks player, every late-night practice, every fan who kept faith through the lean years. Familiar faces—Olsen, a young die-hard supporter—flashed by.
Finally, Knicks owner James Dolan appeared. “One man guards a city. One city stands behind a man. Lin isn’t a franchise player,” he said, bowing slightly. “He’s just our Lin—a Knick.”
What had started as a Lin Yi tribute was, at his request, turned into a team story. No superhero edits, just hard work and the quiet strength behind their run.
Then Dolan added something no one expected: an apology to Patrick Ewing. “Patrick, I’m sorry. We failed you once. Tonight, we need your support.”
The cameras cut to Ewing, suited and teary-eyed, and to Charles Oakley—long barred from the Garden—sitting beside him. Old grudges suddenly felt small.
Dolan knew this wasn’t just about the present. If the Knicks wanted to keep Lin Yi for the long haul, they needed to show the franchise had a heart as well as a checkbook.
Jeff Van Gundy left the commentary table to hug members of that fabled ’99 Knicks team. The building shook with applause.
Ewing took the microphone, voice thick with emotion. “What I couldn’t finish, Lin,” he said, turning toward the young star, “I hope you can.”
The Garden erupted. MVP chants thundered through the rafters—first for Ewing, then for Lin Yi, and finally for the entire Knicks squad.
“M-V-P! M-V-P!”
On a night when the Heat came to play spoiler, New York’s heroes had already claimed the stage.
