NBA: Journey To Become Unplayable.

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...

The Knicks had just swept the Heat, and Knicks fans were still busy celebrating when an even bigger surprise dropped — before the second round of the playoffs even began.

When the NBA announced the 2009–10 season awards, one man dominated the headlines, crashing social media and sparking another frenzy of takes, memes, and debates.

That man was, of course, Lin Yi.

Weibo's servers ground to a crawl as fans flooded it with reactions, hot takes, and celebratory posts.

Because Lin Yi had done it again.

...

The least surprising award, of course, was Rookie of the Year. Lin Yi swept the voting unanimously — no one dared insult the fans' intelligence by pretending otherwise.

He also led the All-Rookie First Team, joined by Steph Curry, Tyreke Evans, Jonny Flynn, and Darren Collison.

The Second Team: Jonas Jerebko, James Harden, Brandon Jennings, DeMar DeRozan, and Taj Gibson.

Most Improved Player went to Aaron Brooks of the Rockets, much as Lin Yi remembered. Gallinari was in the conversation, but Brooks' leap in production was hard to deny.

Sixth Man of the Year went to Jamal Crawford. Knicks guard Lou Williams publicly grumbled about being overlooked, arguing his efficiency was much better than Crawford's. Lin Yi could only shrug — he knew the league wouldn't pile too many awards on one team.

And sure enough…

Mike D'Antoni won Coach of the Year for the second time in his career. He was practically glowing in his press conference, thrilled to have one-upped even Popovich in that category. Naturally, D'Antoni couldn't resist bringing up Lin Yi in nearly every answer.

"With a guy like Lin on your team," he said, chuckling, "sometimes you feel like all you need to do is stay out of the way."

Lin Yi watched the interview later and laughed. If he didn't already know that he was a rookie, he might've believed he was Michael Jordan the way people talked about him.

...

David Lee was named to the All-NBA Third Team. Lin Yi figured the league wanted to spread the accolades around a little, but to be fair, Lee deserved it. He'd outplayed Andrew Bogut statistically and helped anchor the Knicks all year.

As expected, the Regular Season MVP went to LeBron James.

The Cavaliers had the league's best record, and James was at the peak of his pre-Decision dominance.

Still, Lin's late-season tear — including ten straight triple-doubles — was so absurd that it siphoned off a chunk of first-place votes, leaving James with a more contested MVP than he'd probably expected.

Lin Yi grinned at the thought. James was still his biggest obstacle to becoming the guy in the league, but Lin was already eroding his aura. He knew one thing about this league:

Brotherhood wins headlines for a moment. But legacies? Those are built alone.

The MVP might've eluded him this time, but Lin Yi was already thinking about the bigger picture.

...

Then came the All-NBA Teams:

First Team: Lin Yi, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Kevin Durant

Second Team: Dwight Howard, Carmelo Anthony, Steve Nash, Deron Williams, Dirk Nowitzki

Third Team: Amar'e Stoudemire, Tim Duncan, David Lee, Joe Johnson, Pau Gasol

Lin Yi became the first rookie since Tim Duncan to make First Team All-NBA — and just the sixth player in history to do it, joining Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, Larry Bird, Tim Duncan, and now Lin Yi.

But even that wasn't the most impressive part.

Lin Yi was also named to the All-Defensive First Team, making him the first rookie in NBA history to earn both honors in the same season.

The All-Defensive Teams:

First Team: Lin Yi, Dwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Rajon Rondo

Second Team: Gerald Wallace, Tim Duncan, Dwyane Wade, Thabo Sefolosha, Josh Smith

Nobody had ever done this before. Nobody.

It was a masterstroke by David Stern, who recognized that while MVP belonged to James this season, the league couldn't afford to undersell the Lin Yi phenomenon.

Naming Lin Defensive Player of the Year outright might've been too much too soon — even Dikembe Mutombo hadn't done that — so the league gave Howard the DPOY while letting Lin crash the First Team defense.

And with that, Lin Yi had already accomplished something historic. Rookie season, First Team All-NBA, First Team All-Defense — and arguably the league's most talked-about player.

This time, it was historic.

You have to understand — the only player even close to what Lin Yi just did was Tim Duncan… and even Duncan only made Second Team All-Defense as a rookie. Lin Yi? First Team.

And when you added Rookie of the Year and All-NBA First Team to that? Lin Yi became the clear winner of this year's award season. Three major honors in his debut season — setting the stage for his future quest to be one of the greatest ever.

Countless Chinese fans were in awe. For the first time, a Chinese player had cracked the All-NBA First Team.

..

Steph Curry had been about to call Lin Yi, hoping to share the joy of making the All-Rookie Team together… but after a moment, he decided against it.

Even among their draft class, the consensus was: better to just leave Lin alone. No need to give him another chance to flex.

So yeah… everyone went dark. Logged off.

Everyone except Blake Griffin.

Griffin was stunned when the awards were announced — and even more stunned when Lin Yi called him.

"Hey, Blake! I just won Rookie of the Year!" Lin's voice was calm, but you could almost hear the smirk on the other end. "You'd better work hard next year, man!"

Griffin swallowed his pride.

"Yeah… I will. Congrats, Lin."

Lin Yi continued, unhurried.

"Oh, by the way — did you see I also made the All-Rookie First Team?"

"Yeah… saw it. Congrats."

"And the All-Defensive First Team? You caught that, too, right?"

Griffin hesitated.

"…Yeah…"

And then, just as Griffin thought he was free:

"Oh, and did you see the All-NBA First Team? Yeah, I'm on that too."

Griffin was speechless.

Lin Yi sighed theatrically, adding salt to injury.

"Honestly, it's not that impressive. Some people even say I should've won MVP — now that's just crazy, right?"

Griffin: …

"Oh, and leading my team to the second round of the playoffs in my rookie year? Not bad. Not bad at all. Anyway — good luck next season, Blake!"

Griffin hung up the phone, staring blankly at the basketball in his hands. For a long moment, he didn't move. Then, with a deep breath and a quiet determination in his eyes, he strode into his gym.

He lined up his first shot, his focus sharpening. Only then did he notice — he'd grabbed his Shiba Inu by mistake. The dog yelped softly as Griffin set it down gently, shaking his head with a faint, rueful smile.

"Don't worry, Lin," he murmured under his breath. "I'll catch up. Someday."

Later that night, he jokingly renamed the dog "Victory" — a small, private reminder of the gap he still needed to close, and the work ahead of him.

Meanwhile, the media were already in a frenzy.

The second round hadn't even started yet, and headlines were flying: James winning MVP, Lin Yi rewriting history as the first rookie ever named First Team All-Defense, Knicks vs Celtics looming large.

For the press, it was gold.

Lin Yi was mobbed by reporters the moment he left the court after training.

"Lin, you just became the first rookie in NBA history to make First Team All-Defense. What does that mean to you?"

Lin smiled warmly.

"It's incredible. Honestly, I'm still processing it. I just want to thank the voters for believing in me, and I'll keep working hard to live up to everyone's expectations."

Then came the inevitable Celtics question.

"The Knicks face Boston in the second round. Do you think you can lead your team past the Celtics?"

Lin paused, letting the weight of the question hang in the air for a moment. He leaned into the mic, his trademark grin curling at the corners of his mouth.

Everyone braced for a memorable quote — maybe "never underestimate the heart of a champion" or something equally dramatic.

Instead, his voice was calm but confident:

"Why not?"

The reporters blinked. Lin glanced around the room, his smile growing just a little wider.

"They're good — no question about that. Championship DNA, great players, great coach. But we're here for a reason too. We're young, we're fearless, and we believe in each other. You don't beat a team like Boston by being scared of their name. You beat them by stepping up and playing your game. So yeah… why not us?"

A ripple of murmurs and nods ran through the press row.

By the time Lin Yi stood up and walked away, flashing a casual wave, one grizzled reporter chuckled quietly and scribbled into his notebook:

"Kid's got style… and the fire to back it up."

And just like that — Lin Yi had set the tone for the series. Again.

...

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