The Warriors had come ready to trade punches.
Cousins caught the ball at the elbow, backed Lin Yi down a step, then spun into a rugged fadeaway jumper.
Nothing fancy.
Just brute force.
Swish.
Charles chuckled on the TNT broadcast.
"That's old-school basketball. Cousins loves that move."
Kenny nodded.
"Using his strength beautifully. He's become much more polished offensively."
Kevin Garnett might have been fading with age in Brooklyn, but his influence was still everywhere. The league's gritty power forwards had learned plenty from the Big Ticket.
Legends don't disappear overnight; they leave pieces of themselves behind.
Back on the other end, Nash brought the ball up again. Lin Yi immediately stepped up to set the screen.
Charles leaned forward.
"This is where Steve Nash is still so special. Watch how patient he is."
Nash glided around the pick.
Curry fought over.
Cousins hesitated.
For one split second, neither Warrior committed.
That was all Nash needed.
Without even turning his head, he whipped a pass toward the rim.
"No-look pass!" Kenny called.
Lin Yi caught it in stride.
David Lee rotated over.
Too late.
Still airborne, Lin Yi waited until Lee fully committed before flicking the ball behind his head.
Another no-look pass.
Markieff Morris was so open he almost looked surprised, but instead of forcing Morris to finish, the Warriors' weak-side defense collapsed. The ball came right back to Lin Yi.
One gather.
One violent leap.
BANG!
Lin Yi hammered it home with both hands.
David Lee absorbed the contact and stumbled backward several steps.
Madison Square Garden exploded.
Chuck raised his voice.
"Oh! Lin Yi with authority!"
Kenny laughed.
"That's vintage Suns basketball."
"Nash and Stoudemire made a living off that action for years."
"Now it's Nash and Lin Yi."
As they jogged back, Lin Yi reached over for a high five.
Nash slapped his hand with a grin.
"Nice pass."
"Had to impress," Lin Yi replied.
The Warriors answered with another attack.
Curry came off a high screen from Cousins and turned the corner.
He saw daylight.
For half a second.
Then a shadow swallowed everything.
Lin Yi rotated from the weak side.
SMACK!
The ball ricocheted off the glass.
Kenny said through the broadcast.
"That's what makes him different."
"You think you've beaten the defense..."
"...then suddenly there's a seven-footer waiting for you."
Lin Yi secured the loose ball and immediately fired it ahead.
Nash was already sprinting.
Or, at least, sprinting by Steve Nash's standards.
The nearly 40-year-old guard looked like he had rediscovered ten years of youth.
Lin Yi smiled to himself.
Looks like there's still some gas left in the tank.
Nash crossed half court.
The Warriors retreated frantically.
Everyone expected him to slow down.
He didn't.
Without gathering the ball, Nash flicked a one-touch pass across the lane. The pass was so quick that several Warriors defenders froze. It reached Klay Thompson perfectly in rhythm.
Klay blinked once.
Then rose into his shooting motion.
Bang!
Three-pointer.
9-12, Knicks.
Charles Barkley called it immediately.
"Thompson... for three... And it's good!"
Watching from home, countless fans who had grown up idolizing Nash couldn't help smiling.
The legs weren't what they used to be.
The speed wasn't either.
But the vision?
That had never left.
The Knicks weren't finished.
On the next Warriors possession, Klay anticipated Curry's crossover perfectly.
Clean steal.
He immediately pushed the ball ahead.
Nash was already filling the middle lane.
Without breaking stride, Nash dribbled across half court.
Curry recovered just in time to cut off the lane.
Or so he thought.
At the last possible instant, Nash threaded the basketball between Curry's legs.
Markieff Morris caught it in stride and soared for a one-handed bash.
19-14.
Kenny Smith exclaimed.
"Oh! What a pass by Nash!"
Madison Square Garden erupted once again.
Some assists created points.
Others created memories.
Steve Nash had always specialized in the second kind.
The TNT cameras immediately found two familiar faces on the Knicks bench.
Chris Paul.
Shaun Livingston.
Both stared at the replay on the overhead screen.
Paul slowly turned toward Livingston.
"...Did you see that?"
Livingston nodded.
"I saw it."
Another pause.
"I still don't know how he did it."
Even Paul couldn't argue.
Sometimes experience was simply irreplaceable.
Mark Jackson had seen enough.
The Warriors called a timeout.
With 9:56 remaining in the opening quarter, Steve Nash had already recorded 3 assists in just over two minutes, and the Knicks had seized complete control of the game's rhythm.
Nash bent over with his hands on his knees, breathing steadily. A smile slowly spread across his face. It had been a long time since basketball had felt this easy or this fun.
Lin Yi walked over and gave the veteran guard a light pat on the back.
"See? You've still got plenty left."
Nash laughed.
"I'll remind you of that tomorrow morning when my back refuses to get out of bed."
The two shared a grin.
Watching from the sideline, Mike D'Antoni folded his arms and looked at the pair. One had been the engine of his greatest Suns teams, the other had become the centerpiece of the Knicks dynasty.
"If those two had played together in their primes..." D'Antoni muttered.
"...that would've been something."
Assistant coach Dan chuckled.
"Mike, now you're just making everyone else jealous."
D'Antoni smiled without replying.
He listened.
Madison Square Garden had become deafening.
Every crisp pass.
Every cut.
Every extra rotation.
The Knicks were putting on a basketball clinic. Offense had always been the easiest way to win over a crowd.
Unless, of course...
Your name happened to be Larry Brown.
. . .
MSG Network
Mike Breen couldn't hide his excitement.
"Steve Nash has completely changed the pace since checking in."
Walt "Clyde" Frazier nodded enthusiastically.
"Vintage Nash, Mike. He's slicing and dicing, probing and dishing. The maestro is orchestrating beautifully."
Breen smiled.
"And the Knicks are feeding off that energy."
. . .
Following the timeout, Mark Jackson immediately adjusted his lineup.
Andre Iguodala checked in.
Andrew Bogut checked in.
DeMarcus Cousins and David Lee headed to the bench.
The Warriors had plenty of depth, and Jackson wasn't afraid to use it.
Iguodala slid to power forward, sacrificing size for versatility.
As play resumed, Curry brought the ball across half-court before giving it up to Iguodala. Klay Thompson stayed glued to him. Curry never stopped moving.
Baseline.
Corner.
Wing.
Another screen.
Then another.
Mike Breen called the action.
"Curry is working tirelessly without the basketball."
Clyde chuckled.
"Scampering and darting, Mike. He's always relocating. You lose sight of him for one second, and he'll make you pay."
Finally, Curry slipped free.
The pass arrived.
Catch.
Release.
Swish.
"Bang!" Breen shouted.
"Chef Stephen Curry from downtown!"
12-14.
Curry didn't celebrate. He turned and ran back on defense.
Lin Yi watched him with a faint smile. He knew that look.
The Baby-Faced Assassin had officially arrived.
. .
On the next possession, Nash and Lin Yi went back to the high pick-and-roll. Lin Yi immediately signaled for the ball after the switch. Nash delivered it without hesitation.
Curry was suddenly staring at nearly seven feet of trouble.
Charles Barkley laughed before the play even unfolded.
"Oh no..."
"That little fella's in trouble."
Bang.
Lin Yi backed Curry down once.
Bang.
Another step.
Bang.
Curry fought hard, but there was only so much he could do against nearly fifty pounds of size.
Kenny Smith laughed.
"Ouch, and Lin and Curry are considered brothers."
Seeing Curry trapped underneath, Kawhi Leonard rotated over. The instant Kawhi committed, Lin Yi fired the ball back out.
No hesitation.
Nash caught it.
One quick touch pass.
Danny Green was waiting at the left wing.
Wide open.
Mike Breen's voice rose.
"Green for three..."
"Bang!"
12-17.
Clyde clapped his hands.
"Excellent ball movement. Sharing and caring. The Knicks carving up the defense."
Mark Jackson immediately signaled for another timeout.
Walking toward the bench, Curry rubbed his chest and muttered under his breath.
"Damn, Lin wants to merk me tonight."
On the TNT broadcast, Barkley burst into laughter.
"I don't know what Stephen did to Lin this summer, but his friend, Lin, is treating him like he owes him money."
Kenny grinned.
"Welcome to being the defending champs' biggest rival."
Hundreds of miles away in Houston, James Harden watched the game after finishing a workout.
He shook his head with a smile.
"Friendship?"
"Yeah..."
"That's definitely over for forty-eight minutes."
. . .
. .
.
Nash deserved more than a game ball after that first quarter.
He deserved a standing ovation after that first quarter.
The 39-year-old veteran looked like he'd turned the clock back a decade. By the end of the opening period, he already had 6 points and 6 assists, orchestrating the offense with the same calm precision that had once made Phoenix one of the most feared teams in basketball.
Mike Breen smiled as another replay rolled across the screen.
"Steve Nash has been sensational."
Walt Frazier nodded.
"Vintage virtuosity, Mike. He's probing, penetrating, then facilitating. He's got the Warriors mesmerized."
"He doesn't have the same speed anymore," Breen added, "but his basketball IQ hasn't aged a day."
. .
Charles Barkley shook his head.
"I forgot how ridiculous Nash was."
Kenny Smith laughed.
"He already has six assists."
"If Golden State hadn't adjusted late in the quarter, he might've had ten."
Charles grinned.
"At this pace, he'd be threatening thirty."
Kenny immediately pointed at him.
"Now you're exaggerating."
Charles shrugged.
"Maybe."
"...But only a little."
. . .
Watching from the floor, Lin Yi couldn't help smiling.
If Steve Nash were ten years younger...
The thought alone was terrifying.
A prime Nash paired with Lin Yi would've forced opposing defenses to choose how they wanted to lose.
Switch?
Lin Yi punished the mismatch.
Trap?
Nash picked them apart.
Stay home?
Lin Yi rolled to the rim untouched.
Basketball was sometimes that simple. The All-Star Game had already proven it. He and Derrick Rose had shared the floor for only a few minutes, yet the Western Conference looked completely overwhelmed.
Sometimes one action was enough.
Run it over.
Run it again.
Keep running it until the defense finds an answer.
And if they never did...
Why stop?
Unfortunately, Steve Nash wasn't twenty-nine anymore.
He was thirty-nine.
Ten productive minutes were already a luxury.
Every extra possession came with a cost.
. . .
Golden State adjusted quickly.
Late in the first quarter, Andre Iguodala began switching aggressively onto Lin Yi whenever Nash called for a screen. Andrew Bogut stayed planted in the paint instead of chasing.
The message was obvious.
Beat us from outside.
Don't live at the rim.
The adjustment worked.
Despite New York's beautiful offense, the scoreboard remained tight.
34-38. Knicks.
MSG Network
"They've made the adjustment, Clyde," Breen observed.
"They're shrinking the paint."
"And daring the Knicks to become a jump-shooting team."
Frazier nodded.
"Excellent anticipation by the Warriors. They're rotating and recovering, forcing hesitation instead of penetration."
. . .
Standing near the scorer's table, Lin Yi glanced across the floor.
This Warriors team...
...was even better than he anticipated.
Even if Chris Paul had been healthy, Lin Yi estimated the Knicks would only have about a seventy-thirty edge in a seven-game series.
And that was saying something. Teams normally had less than a five percent chance of beating a healthy and firing Knicks.
And the scary part?
Golden State wasn't finished growing.
Kawhi Leonard was only in his third season.
Middleton was still improving.
Curry hadn't even reached his peak.
The thought was enough to sober anyone up.
A dynasty wasn't declared.
It was earned.
Until the Knicks actually built one, nobody inside the locker room had the right to talk about dominating the league.
. . .
. .
.
Mark Jackson opened the second quarter by turning to his bench.
Harrison Barnes.
Marreese Speights.
Jordan Crawford.
Fresh legs.
Fresh energy.
Speights looked intimidating enough to scare most opponents. Unfortunately, appearances could be deceiving. Lin Yi knew that once the pressure increased, Speights' confidence often disappeared just as quickly.
On the Knicks' side, Rudy Gobert continued receiving valuable minutes with Tyson Chandler sidelined. The rookie still had plenty to learn, and most observers agreed on one thing. He needed to get stronger.
His seven-foot-one frame and enormous wingspan already discouraged plenty of drives, but physically, he still looked more like a project than a finished NBA center.
Lin Yi had offered him one piece of advice.
"Grow a beard."
Gobert blinked.
"...A beard?"
Lin Yi nodded with complete confidence.
"Trust me. People stop calling you skinny once you have a beard."
Gobert wasn't convinced.
Lin Yi shrugged.
"Half the league looks tougher because of facial hair."
Whether the advice had any scientific basis remained highly questionable.
Gobert decided to grow it anyway.
. .
Golden State briefly grabbed the lead early in the second quarter.
D'Antoni resisted the urge to bring Lin Yi back immediately. This wasn't the kind of game where you emptied the tank in the second quarter. The fourth quarter would decide everything.
When Lin Yi finally returned, the Knicks rolled out a one-star, four-shooter lineup.
Steve Nash.
Danny Green.
Kyle Korver.
Klay Thompson.
Lin Yi.
Pure spacing.
Maximum pressure.
But Golden State had already adapted. Every time Nash and Lin Yi initiated the pick-and-roll, Iguodala switched aggressively. Bogut stayed near the basket.
The Warriors were practically inviting Lin Yi to settle for contested pull-up jumpers.
Breen broke it down.
"Excellent defensive discipline by Iguodala."
Frazier nodded.
"Deflecting and disrupting. He's taking away the easy options."
TNT
Charles smiled.
"Andre's earning every dollar tonight."
Kenny agreed.
"He's making Lin work."
"And that's about all you can ask for."
. .
Even so, Lin Yi was still doing everything he could. By halftime, he had already collected four blocked shots.
But basketball was never a one-man sport.
Golden State's passing became sharper with every possession.
Curry no longer forced difficult shots. Instead, he embraced the role of facilitator, constantly rewarding teammates who made the extra cut or the extra pass.
Kenny nodded approvingly.
"That's growth."
Charles leaned back.
"Which makes Golden State even scarier."
. . .
At halftime, the scoreboard read:
Warriors 64, Knicks 68.
A score like that usually gave people the impression of a pure offensive showcase.
A classic shootout.
A game where defense was just something teams mentioned in interviews.
But anyone who actually watched the first half knew that couldn't be further from the truth. This wasn't a game without defense. This was a game where both teams were playing at an extremely high level.
Every possession was a battle.
Every mistake was punished.
The Warriors' offense was built around spacing, movement, and constant pressure. Their ability to create open looks was already ahead of its time.
Of course, compared to the future Warriors dynasty, Mark Jackson's version was different.
The biggest difference wasn't simply Draymond Green becoming the team's central playmaker.
It was how Stephen Curry was used.
Under Steve Kerr, Curry would eventually become completely unleashed.
He wasn't just a point guard running an offense.
He was the offense.
Every screen, every movement, every possession was designed to maximize the chaos he created.
But under Mark Jackson, Curry was still closer to a traditional point guard. A floor general with a ridiculous shooting ability. He controlled the pace, organized the offense, and punished defenders who dared to go under screens.
Both systems had their strengths.
Players like Stephen Curry were rare.
Curry didn't have the overwhelming physical gifts of LeBron James.
He didn't have Kobe Bryant's ability to score from every spot on the court through sheer skill and footwork.
But that was exactly what made him terrifying.
Curry didn't break defenses by overpowering them.
He broke them by forcing them to make impossible choices.
Give him space?
Three points.
Chase him too aggressively?
He slips past you.
Stay close?
He drags you through five screens until your legs stop working.
Of course, a player like Curry had weaknesses.
But place him in the right system, surround him with the right teammates, and those weaknesses became almost impossible to exploit.
In Lin Yi's previous life, the Splash Brothers won countless games they had no business winning simply because their style could turn a normal possession into a disaster for the opponent.
And this Warriors team?
It was already showing those signs.
They had athletic wings.
Multiple shooters.
Players who could attack mismatches.
If Curry's scoring wasn't working, he could simply change roles and become a creator.
That was the scary part.
You could slow him down.
But you couldn't take him out of the game.
Lin Yi sighed internally.
Damn, Don Nelson.
If only the Warriors had traded Curry to New York back then.
...
After the first half, the player who impressed the most besides Lin Yi was undoubtedly Steve Nash.
Tonight, the 39-year-old point guard finally reminded everyone why he was a two-time MVP.
The "old Nash can't create anymore" narrative was slowly disappearing.
He wasn't just throwing simple passes.
He was controlling the entire rhythm of the game.
Every screen, every hesitation, every pass had a purpose.
For the first time in a long time, people weren't looking at Nash as a veteran trying to survive.
They were watching Steve Nash.
The magician.
The conductor.
The player who could make an offense feel effortless.
To begin the third quarter, the Knicks made a major adjustment.
Draymond Green.
Lin Yi.
Wilson Chandler.
Klay Thompson.
Shaun Livingston.
A smaller lineup.
A faster lineup.
The Knicks' own version of the "Death Lineup."
When Mark Jackson saw the five players walking onto the court, his expression became complicated.
For a moment, he understood exactly how Gregg Popovich must have felt dealing with the Knicks' constant experiments.
What exactly was small about this lineup?
There was no traditional center.
But there was Lin Yi.
There was no traditional power forward.
Then the players besides him could switch and could defend multiple positions.
The Warriors had built a team designed to challenge the league's future. Unfortunately for them, the Knicks had already started preparing for that future.
During halftime, Lin Yi had made his message clear.
They couldn't rely only on offense.
If New York wanted to win this game, they needed to win the defensive battle.
Other teams might not understand what this Warriors team could become.
Lin Yi did.
He knew what was coming.
This was the team that would eventually change basketball. The Knicks couldn't wait until the Warriors became a monster before taking them seriously.
A dynasty was not built by defeating yesterday's opponents. It was built to prepare for tomorrow's challengers.
And as the third quarter approached, nobody inside Madison Square Garden realized it yet. The most exciting stretch of the game was still waiting. The Knicks and Warriors were about to show the world something special.
The future had arrived early.
. . .
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