After a bunch of crazy gas and contests, Blake Griffin took ho the dunk contest crown, Curry won the three-point shootout, although Lin ca close in both competitions.
anwhile, Jas Harden... well, he completely lost his mind when he got back to the villa.
The dude was exhausted — lying there, dead to the world — with absolutely zero interest in partying anymore.
The celebration trip for going to the NBA had officially turned into a full-on basketball training camp.
While they were ssing around on 2K in the villa, Blake suddenly turned to Lin Yi, controller in hand, and blurted out,
"Yo, Lin, we gotta train together this sumr."
Lin Yi paused the ga.
"That ain't a bad idea. Gotta ask the guys if they are down", Lin replied.
Stephen Curry, chilling next to them, jumped in, "Actually, that's a good idea. We should all train together this sumr."
In the NBA, rookies usually jump into sumr training before their first season, fixing their weak spots. So dudes just slack off after getting drafted high, but the smart ones — they hit the ground running.
Lin Yi thought about it. Honestly, it wasn't a bad plan. He needed people to practice with — guys who would push him hard.
Griffin, Harden, DeRozan... pretty good basketball partners, if you asked him.
anwhile, Harden was lying on the couch, half-dead, mumbling to himself,
"Hell no. When sumr cos, there's no way I'm getting dragged into this crap."
Earlier on the trip, Lin Yi created a group chat on AIM ( AOL Instant ssenger) and pulled them into it called 09 Rookie Class.
Everyone got admin rights. The goal? Watch each other's backs once they get to the league.
Forget waiting for big brothers to look out for them — they were gonna look out for themselves.
Before leaving Hawaii, Blake clapped Lin Yi on the back and grinned,
" I'm not giving up on being the No. 1 pick, you know."
Lin Yi just smiled.
Honestly, he didn't care about going first.
He cared way more about which team picked him.
Steph just wanted to end up in New York.
The draft was getting closer. The real battle was about to start.
...
April 19, 2009.
The first round of the NBA playoffs kicked off.
Lin Yi flew to Portland to catch the Rockets vs. Trail Blazers in Ga 1.
Even though McGrady was out, Yao Ming was an absolute beast.
In just 24 minutes, Yao went 9-for-9 from the field, 6-for-6 from the line, dropped 24 points, and snagged 9 rebounds — all while barely breaking a sweat.
Lin Yi thought: Man, if it weren't for Brandon Roy going supernova, this series would've been a straight-up sweep.
Portland just had nobody who could guard Yao.
And with Artest bringing that junkyard dog energy, plus Brooks and the rest stepping up...
The Rockets were looking strong.
This was Lin Yi's first ti seeing an NBA ga live — and damn, you could feel the difference.
Everything was faster, harder, louder. His blood was straight-up buzzing watching from the stands.
And the best part? Yao Ming had hooked him up with free tickets.
Later, Lin Yi was headed to Houston — Yao really liked him and wanted him to soak in the NBA atmosphere early.
No way Lin Yi was gonna miss that.
This might be Yao's last big playoff run, and Lin Yi knew it.
Even though he'd quietly warned Yao to take it easy and protect his knees, Lin Yi couldn't help but worry.
The second round against the Lakers... that intensity was gonna be a whole different animal.
Too many injuries had piled up over the years.
And honestly? Rick Adelman's coaching didn't help.
Speeding up the Rockets' offense wore Yao down even more — he had to sprint up and down the court like a guard.
And while speeding up was why the Rockets could beat the Blazers, it was a double-edged sword.
Lin Yi rembered Ga 3 of this series vividly.
Yao only got seven shots. Seven.
You've got a walking cheat code in the post, and you barely use him.
Adelman seriously made Lin Yi wanna pull his hair out sotis in the past.
The crazy thing?
So people in the past even hyped up Adelman as a top-tier coach.
Lin Yi was like, Bro... without the right players, all your Princeton Offense BS ans nothing.
Popovich? Now that was a coach.
Always tweaking the system to fit the players, not the other way around.
That's why almost every good coach after 2010 had so Spurs DNA in them.
anwhile, old-school guys like Adelman just stuck to their dusty playbooks.
No adjustnts, no creativity, just stubbornness.
Watching the Warriors later pull out the Death Lineup— tweaking their whole identity mid-playoffs — that was real coaching.
Being flexible, not married to one damn system.
Lin Yi sighed and chuckled.
.....
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