June 5th, Dallas. American Airlines Center.
Game 3 of the 2011 NBA Finals was about to get underway.
Back in his own building, Mark Cuban looked completely in his element. At Madison Square Garden, under the glare of New York fans, he had kept a lower profile. But tonight? He was all smiles, mixing with Mavericks supporters like the mayor of the arena.
The stands were awash in blue, even if the Mavs were technically wearing white at home. The atmosphere was deafening—Dallas had waited a long time for this stage, and they weren't about to waste it.
The Knicks, meanwhile, came in with a slight twist to their lineup: Tony Allen was promoted to the starting five. The message was clear—limit Dallas' perimeter shooting or risk getting buried under a barrage of threes.
And the numbers told the story. The Mavericks had averaged over 22 attempts from deep in the playoffs, connecting on nearly 40%. Through the first two Finals games, they were hitting at that same clip—18 makes on 45 attempts. For a team already balanced on both ends, that accuracy made them dangerous.
Lin Yi knew it firsthand. In the memory of his previous life, Dallas' three-point shooting had been almost absurd. Against Miami, they once shot 13-for-19 from deep in a decisive game. No space? No problem—they still found a way.
Sure, the old saying goes that defense wins championships. But in the modern NBA, another truth was beginning to echo: live by the three, win by the three, and die by the three.
Lin Yi's rise had only accelerated that shift. With his own outside game reshaping defenses, teams around the league were being forced to adapt—whether they liked it or not.
Still, the Mavericks weren't one-dimensional. Carlisle had crafted a system that blended spacing, balance, and patience. They could beat you with jumpers, cuts, or simple execution. This Finals wasn't the grind of Celtics-Lakers from a year ago; it was a chess match of spacing and pace.
On CCTV, Yu Jia set the tone:
"This one could shape the entire series. With the 2-3-2 format, the Knicks really can't afford to drop both games in Dallas."
Su Junyang agreed:
"Exactly. Two keys for New York tonight: hit the open looks, and for heaven's sake, don't give Dallas too many."
Zhang added his piece:
"Lin Yi can't be the only one. The others have to step up. You can't lean on one guy forever."
As the lights dimmed, the starting fives flashed across the big screen:
Knicks:
Chandler
Lin Yi
Gallinari
Tony Allen
Billups.
Mavericks:
Okafor
Nowitzki
Marion
Ellis
Kidd.
The roar that followed shook the building.
Lin Yi rose for the opening tip and beat Okafor cleanly. First possession—straight to work. Backing down Marion, he turned over his shoulder and dropped in a soft Skyhook. Two-nothing Knicks.
Dallas answered quickly. Ellis ran a pick-and-roll with Nowitzki, attacked the seam, and swung it back to Dirk.
Pump fake, one dribble, rise, release—splash.
First triple of the night.
"M-V-P! M-V-P!" the crowd thundered, showering their hero with love.
Next trip down, Lin Yi got the ball again. D'Antoni paced on the sideline. Everyone knew Lin's isolation efficiency was off the charts—but there was also a reason Dallas had rolled out something close to the Jordan Rules against him.
Yes, he could score 30, 40, maybe even 50. But basketball isn't played with one ball for one man. Fatigue, rhythm, and pressure would chip away eventually. And even if he poured in points all night, if the Knicks' structure broke down, what did it matter?
The Knicks weren't the Iverson Sixers. They had depth. They had balance. The Finals wouldn't be decided by one man's box score—it would hinge on execution, rotation, and trust.
Still, Lin Yi was locked in.
He scored again on Marion, 4–3 Knicks.
Carlisle, however, remained expressionless, almost daring Lin to keep going.
On the next Dallas possession, Kidd calmly pulled up from the top of the arc—swish.
4-6 Mavericks.
The building erupted again, a reminder that experience and poise still mattered.
But Lin Yi wasn't backing down. Marion bodied him, leaning, clawing, doing everything he could. Lin Yi barely noticed. A few hard dribbles, a sudden burst, and then—
Bang!
One-handed slam over Marion.
6–6. Tie game.
It wasn't just two points—it was a statement.
On the Knicks' bench, Shaquille O'Neal leaned forward, his booming voice lower than usual.
"Lin's out there searching for cracks, trying to smash through the wall Dallas has built around him."
Lou Williams, sitting nearby, raised an eyebrow.
On the court, the truth was simple: if the ball goes in, it's a good shot. But Lin Yi wasn't chasing numbers tonight. He wasn't just trying to score—he wanted to rip the ceiling off the American Airlines Center.
After the Game 2 loss, Lin stayed behind in the locker room with Shaq. Just the two of them.
"Shaq, did you ever feel this way? Like the whole league was pressing down on you when you were at your peak?" Lin asked, his tone curious.
Shaq didn't hesitate. He knew exactly what Lin was getting at. "Honestly? Yeah. Even with all the fights and arguments, I had Kobe. Say what you want, but the guy was reliable."
Lin rolled his eyes. "So you're telling me this is about you and Kobe again?"
Shaq cracked a grin but quickly grew serious. He studied Lin, who had fallen silent in thought. "Listen, Lin. Basketball can't be won by one man. It just doesn't work that way."
Lin nodded slowly. "True enough."
"The Jordan Rules were designed to cage monsters like him. When I was at my peak? I wasn't comfortable dunking since people were hanging on me, plus the Hack-a-Shaq didn't help," Shaq said with a chuckle.
Lin Yi shrugged. "But I'm not Michael or you."
Shaq tilted his head, a flicker of worry in his eyes. The kid sounded almost too humble, too self-critical.
Then Lin looked up, his eyes clear. "Because I'm Lin Yi."
The room went quiet. Even Shaq didn't have a comeback for that.
..
After a couple of early possessions, Lin Yi locked eyes with Coach D'Antoni. No words, just a quick look. D'Antoni exhaled, patted Shaq and Wilson Chandler on the shoulder, and called for a timeout.
When Lin had first pitched his idea, D'Antoni had been skeptical. "But our rotations are already maxed out defensively. Unless Dallas suddenly goes cold, how can we possibly hold them?"
Lin's answer had been calm, but firm: if we don't change, we're finished.
And now, out of the huddle, the Knicks showed their hand.
Shaq at center. Tyson Chandler at the four. Gallinari and Wilson on the wings. And Lin Yi, at point guard.
Carlisle blinked. "What the hell…?"
This wasn't just gimmickry. Tyson Chandler's mobility let him cover the paint. Shaq's bulk would shield Lin in pick-and-rolls. Gallinari and Wilson Chandler stretched the floor, both long, both capable of switching. And Lin himself, all 7' of him, would orchestrate as the oversized quarterback.
"Point guard at this stage, isn't that risky, Chuck?" Kenny Smith muttered on the TNT broadcast.
"No… this is something else," Barkley said, shaking his head. "Lin's not out here trying to prove he can play every position like Magic. He's got something in mind."
The ball went live again.
"Double screen up top!" the commentators blurted together on what they saw.
Chaos. Lin Yi brought the ball forward, two screens forming a wall. For the first time all night, Dallas' defensive shell cracked.
Ellis found himself switched onto Lin and looked up at the giant dribbling toward him. His expression said it all: how the hell am I supposed to stop this?
Lin whipped a pass inside, perfectly timed. Shaq barely had to move—just a soft touch finish.
8–6 Knicks.
Carlisle barked for a quick inbound, but New York had already retreated. Tyson and Wison Chandler spread wide, their wingspans blotting out passing lanes. Gallinari closed on Kidd, and Lin stood anchored in the middle, reading every angle.
Four defenders, moving like a net.
Kidd, once the most fearless floor general in the game, hesitated. He thought about pulling up. He thought about forcing it inside. But every option looked like a trap.
Lin's scheme wasn't improvised—it was deliberate. He knew Carlisle had the Mavs drilled to perfection, but if New York didn't bend the rules of the series, they'd never see the O'Brien Trophy.
Kidd, after some unsuccessful drives, tried to lob it to Nowitzki—but Lin exploded off the floor, fingertips grazing the pass, forcing the turnover.
Wilson sprinted out like a wide receiver. Lin Yi, quarterback in sneakers, launched a bullet pass that hit him in stride. Easy layup.
10–6 Knicks.
The crowd groaned. Carlisle immediately burned a timeout, huddling with his assistants, scratching at his hair like a man trying to solve an impossible puzzle in thirty seconds.
On TV, the broadcast cut to a McDonald's commercial. Fans at home barely had time to process what they'd seen.
When the screen returned, Carlisle was pacing, his face tense. The mask of calm he usually wore was gone.
Meanwhile, on the Knicks bench, Shaq bellowed, his voice full of vigor:
"On One, Two, Three, Knicks!"
"KNICKS!"
"LET'S. GO!"
When Carlisle called the timeout, he wasted no time sketching adjustments on the board. His message was clear: tighten the paint, shrink the floor, don't get pulled into chasing shooters that don't exist.
Back on the floor, Dallas tried to steady themselves. Dirk Nowitzki rose with that signature one-legged fade, the shot floating as if on air, and knocked it down. The crowd exhaled—finally, a basket to settle things.
But here came New York again.
Lin Yi brought the ball up, signaling the familiar high double screen. Carlisle had drilled his men during the huddle: Shaq and Chandler don't stretch the floor. Stay compact. Protect the rim. Let them shoot if they dare.
And yet, even with Okafor and Nowitzki holding their ground, Marion suddenly felt like a man trapped in a vise. Shaq muscled in on one side, Tyson Chandler leaned from the other, and Lin Yi was reading the floor above it all.
It was suffocating.
Marion thought bitterly, What am I supposed to do, sprout wings?
Lin didn't hesitate. One hard dribble, rise, release—swish.
13–8 Knicks.
On the sideline, Carlisle's assistant muttered, "We can't give him that much room to shoot."
Carlisle shot him a glare. "You think I don't know that?"
But the problem wasn't just Lin. Every matchup was bent out of shape. The Knicks had forced Dallas into playing uphill on every possession.
Carlisle tried a quick fix, sending DeShawn Stevenson in for Monta Ellis to add size and grit on the perimeter. For the moment, Stevenson at least didn't get bulldozed.
Still, the Mavericks' offense lost its rhythm. Kidd drove the lane but, wary of Shaq looming under the rim, rushed his layup. It rimmed out. The veteran guard didn't just miss—he looked rattled.
Lin snagged the rebound, pushing forward. The Dallas crowd knew this silhouette—the same 7' frame that had stolen their breath in the All-Star Dunk Contest years before.
Kidd hustled back, thinking to foul and kill the break. But Lin suddenly whipped the ball one-handed up the court, like a quarterback firing downfield again.
Tyson Chandler soared in, hammering home another dunk.
15–8 Knicks.
Commentators everywhere scrambled for words. On CCTV, Coach Zhang cut straight to the point:
"Every pass feels like it has eyes. This is passing at its most beautiful."
It didn't need a flowery explanation. The vision, the timing, the authority—it was obvious.
For Knicks fans, it was a déjà vu of Magic Johnson stepping in at center for an injured Kareem decades ago for the Lakers.
Meanwhile, Billups sat quietly on the bench, unaware that fans online were half-jokingly plotting for him to take an injury just to open up more of this story. If Chauncey had heard, he'd have probably smacked them with his shoe.
..
Back on the court, Kidd calmed himself. He slowed the tempo, waved his teammates into a set, and told them to breathe. If Dallas rushed, New York would run them out of their own building.
And Kidd was right—Lin Yi had already sniffed it out.
"They've figured it out," Lin muttered to himself.
Because here was the shocking truth: the Knicks, with an average height of over 205 cm, were running faster than the Mavericks. Shaq might have been lumbering, but Lin, Gallinari, Chandler, and Wilson were sprinting the floor like gazelles.
It was about strangling Dallas' lungs.
Every possession forced Dirk into endless shuttle runs. Every trip down wore Okafor thinner. Carlisle thought Lin was breaking matchups—he was breaking stamina.
Finally, Dallas found a crack. Okafor pulled high to screen for Kidd, Stevenson slid into space, and hit a three.
15–11.
Kidd let out a breath. At last.
But the Knicks wasted no time. Ball inbounded, Lin Yi was already storming across halfcourt. Marion tried to pressure him early, hands high, but Lin casually went behind the back, slipped past, and kept rolling downhill.
Kidd stepped up, bracing himself. The veteran prided himself on strength—point guards rarely ever just shoved him aside.
Until now.
Lin didn't just beat Kidd; he displaced him, shouldering through like a bulldozer. Kidd staggered back, stunned.
"What the…" he muttered under his breath.
Okafor rotated late, stepping up to challenge. But Lin never even looked at the rim. Without glancing, he flicked the ball over his shoulder.
Right into Tyson Chandler's hands.
Boom!
Another dunk shook the rim.
Dallas fans groaned. Commentators sighed in disbelief. Was this a dunk contest or the Finals?
Carlisle tried to stay composed. He ordered the Hack-a-Shaq, figuring fouls were better than being humiliated.
But before Dallas could drag Shaq to the line, Lin Yi adjusted. The Knicks ran, slipped, passed, and avoided the trap entirely. They danced around the fouls like matadors sidestepping a bull.
Scoreboard: 21–14 Knicks.
And just like that, the lineup was gone. Lin pulled the squad back, and D'Antoni rotated back to the regular group. Carlisle cursed under his breath.
"Fine. Worth it. Burned fouls, they won't risk that lineup again."
Except… Lin wasn't done.
With the quarter winding down, he drew contact on the perimeter, lifting the ball high to a three.
The first quarter ended 35–25 Knicks.
..
Lin Yi had discovered his forgotten passion for playing point guard.
During the break, he made up his mind: once the suspension period came, he'd spend serious time learning how to run an offense. More versatility meant more possibilities. And for someone like him, why limit the options?
Across the court, Carlisle was quietly fuming. The Knicks had pulled out something he never saw coming. The lineup wasn't just difficult to replicate—it was downright unfair. Because at its core wasn't a scheme, or spacing, or personnel. It was Lin Yi.
Carlisle clenched his jaw. This isn't scientific.
New York wasn't playing by the rules anymore.
He thought of the old saying: when the wind is at your back, smile; when it blows against you, grit your teeth. And right now? He was chewing gravel.
Lin Yi, meanwhile, realized this version of the Death Five had a particularly sharp edge against Dallas. Against Miami, maybe not—those Heat stars could counterattack and overwhelm even this lineup.
But against the Mavericks? Too many of their weapons—Ellis, Terry, Barea—were either undersized or underpowered.
The Warriors once showed that small can be mighty. Tonight, the Knicks were proving that tall could be untouchable.
.
Billups, Marbury, and Livingston huddled around Lin Yi, passing on their guard instincts, their little tricks of the trade.
"Gallo likes it here," one said, pointing to a spot on the wing.
"Tyson likes the pass just a split-second earlier," another added.
"Keep Marion busy; he hates chasing," the last chipped in.
Lin Yi couldn't absorb it all at once, but he filed the details away. He could feel himself learning on the fly.
For the first time, the Mavericks' bench unit looked rattled in this series. The Knicks, meanwhile, were gaining momentum like a snowball rolling downhill. Yes, Lin's stamina burned quicker as a point guard, but the advantage they were building made every drop of sweat worth it.
And the more he did it, the more Lin Yi felt this position suited him. Playing the one wasn't just about dribbling or passing—it was about vision, control, and keeping your mind sharp every second.
It was like discovering a new world.
..
In the stands and front offices, coaches and general managers were scribbling notes, whispering into each other's ears.
Three takeaways were already clear:
The three-pointer's role in modern basketball was only going to grow.
Lin Yi wasn't just talented. He was outside the boundaries of conventional basketball logic.
And finally, the game itself was shifting—modern tactics couldn't be trapped in the past anymore.
..
By halftime, the Knicks had built a 16-point cushion, 58–42. It was the first time in the Finals that the margin had stretched beyond 15.
Back in New York, deputy GM Javier Stanford leaned back in his chair. He wasn't going to distract Lin Yi mid-Finals, but a thought nagged him: If we can find a mobile, athletic center to replace an aging Shaq… imagine how much stronger this lineup could be.
.
The Mavericks fought back in the third, but the Knicks didn't roll the Death Five out again. Shaq's body couldn't take that pounding forever, not at 39. Just when Dallas seemed ready to close the gap, though, Billups reminded everyone why he was nicknamed Mr. Big Shot.
Two cold-blooded threes. Silence in the American Airlines Center.
If Kidd's philosophy was to control the game, don't force it, Billups' was the opposite: If it's open, I'll take it.
Denver had once been his home, but in New York, Billups looked reborn. He was that kind of player—you might forget him in stretches, but just when you did, he'd stab you with a dagger.
The Mavericks came at the Knicks with sword and shield. The Knicks answered with a hammer. By the time Dallas realized they weren't in a duel anymore, their blade was already cracked.
The best way to stop Nowitzki's late-game heroics was simple: don't let the game stay close.
Final score: Knicks 114, Mavericks 101. Game 3 went to New York, who reclaimed home-court advantage.
Lin Yi barely even realized it until someone mentioned it post-game: he'd logged a triple-double.
25 points. 15 rebounds. 12 assists. 2 blocks.
That put him in elite company—only Kidd, Duncan, and Rondo among active players had managed a Finals triple-double.
He recalled that LeBron James would someday rack up the most in Finals history. But for now? Lin Yi had his first. And a win.
Dirk had been brilliant again—32 points, 9 boards—but it wasn't enough.
The questions were mounting for Dallas. Carlisle knew the stakes now. If they dropped Game 4, it would be 3–1. And in NBA history, no team had ever clawed back from that in the Finals.
…
Elsewhere, Cousins was sprawled on the couch watching with Curry.
"That's Lin for you!" Cousins shouted proudly, pumping his fist.
Curry nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he really is good."
..
And so, after Game 3, the headlines wrote themselves. The Reaper was back, and his brand of unorthodox basketball was forcing the entire league to reconsider what was possible.
The Knicks didn't celebrate too hard—Game 4 loomed after just one day's rest. But for the now in this series, they'd seized control.
...
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