Lin Yi was fortunate to reach the 10,000-point milestone on his 24th birthday.
And more importantly, it did not turn into a Milestone of Sorrow.
The Pacers were not an easy stepping stone. From the opening tip, Frank Vogel had already set the tone, quietly adjusting his defensive scheme to target Lin Yi with layers of help, rotations, and physical matchups that forced every possession into contact.
If Lin Yi's milestone had stolen the headlines, the actual game would have deserved just as much attention. This was, in effect, a clash between the top teams in the Eastern Conference.
After the Knicks dropped two straight, the Pacers entered this matchup with a 9–1 record and first place in the East. Their identity was already clear.
Defense first.
They were holding opponents to just 91.8 points per game, the best mark in the league at that stage.
In an era driven by pace and spacing, Indiana built something different. Every possession felt like it had to be earned twice.
Vogel made a simple call in practice that turned out to be decisive. He accepted that David West would have his hands full and instead committed fully to crowding Lin Yi's driving lanes, trusting the rest of the system to survive the damage.
Lin Yi noticed it early.
He remembered the early-season optimism around Indiana, when analysts wondered whether this group could push toward a historic win total. The core was intact, the defense was sharp, and the locker room was still unified before later changes and internal tensions would reshape it.
Right now, they were still whole and dangerous.
The second quarter confirmed it.
After absorbing the initial Knicks surge, the Pacers settled into their rhythm and dragged the game into their preferred tempo. Possessions slowed, bodies collided, and the lead that looked comfortable early on shrank to single digits.
On the floor, Lin Yi could feel it immediately. Paul George was locked in, moving with that quiet intensity that made every off-ball cut feel like it mattered.
Younger players like this have always had something to prove when facing established stars. Today, Lin Yi was that target.
The Knicks, for the first time in a while, stopped looking relaxed.
The difference was obvious.
Talent can decide matchups. Effort decides nights like this.
Even in a league full of elite scorers, not every team is willing to match that level of physical commitment for 48 minutes. Indiana was.
In the third quarter, the game tightened further. New York's offense stalled for long stretches, and Indiana briefly cut the margin to within five.
When Klay picked up his fourth foul and headed to the bench, the momentum felt even more fragile.
That was when Vince Carter stepped in.
At 36, he was no longer the player who could take over entire stretches of games with athletic bursts, but he still understood rhythm better than most. Three clean pull-up threes in a short span stabilized the Knicks when they needed it most.
Those possessions gave New York enough breathing room to stay level heading into the final quarter.
Then Lin Yi took over.
Rested, re-centered, and fully aware of what the game required, he attacked with control rather than volume. The Pacers kept sending bodies, but the spacing finally opened in small windows that he was quick to exploit.
Eighteen points in the fourth quarter followed, each one slowly breaking Indiana's resistance.
For all their structure, there are moments when structure simply runs out of answers.
Roy Hibbert, watching from the bench in a suit, had already reached a quiet acceptance phase. Whatever was being said on the court no longer concerned him.
Vogel's frustration was visible now. The system had done its job, but the final layer still belonged to the same problem every team eventually faces.
Some players force you to make choices you no longer want to make.
By the final minutes, the Pacers were still competing, but the outcome had shifted. The Knicks had enough separation to close it out, and Lin Yi's final stretch ensured that the night would be remembered for the milestone, not the struggle behind it.
No empty-stat narrative. No late collapse.
Just a hard win against a team built to make every possession uncomfortable.
As the buzzer sounded, the scoreboard reflected the reality of the night. The milestone had been reached, but it had not been given.
101–110.
The Knicks held off the Pacers at home, but it was far from comfortable. Lin Yi finished with 52 points on 18-of-26 shooting, including 4-of-6 from three and a perfect 12-of-12 from the line. It was his second 50-point game of the season already.
It was his birthday, yet somehow he still felt like the busiest person in the building.
Still, the milestone mattered. 10,000 career points. Even Lin Yi allowed himself a moment of satisfaction before slipping away from the postgame media obligations and heading home.
That feeling lasted until he opened the door.
Home was supposed to be a break.
That idea did not survive long.
Ever since Olivia was born, Lin Yi had quietly discovered that hierarchy inside the house no longer worked the way it used to.
Sleep schedules, training plans, recovery routines. None of it mattered when the real boss of the house decided it was time to cry.
And for reasons Lin Yi still could not explain, the only person who consistently worked was he.
"Only me?" he muttered, rocking her gently. "So I'm on duty again."
Olsen, watching from the side, smiled lightly. "She just prefers you."
"That's not comforting," Lin Yi replied, though his tone was soft.
At four in the morning, instead of training, he was pacing the room with a bottle in one hand and a child in the other.
He sighed.
"So this is what retirement feels like before retirement."
The words came out half joking, half exhausted.
Still, when Olivia finally fell asleep, the house quieted again.
Olsen had prepared a small birthday cake.
Nothing extravagant, just something quiet to mark the day properly.
For a brief moment, Lin Yi actually stopped moving.
Holding his daughter in one arm and sitting beside his wife, he looked at the cake and exhaled.
"Honestly," he said, "thank you for everything. I couldn't have done this without you"
Olsen raised an eyebrow. "I know"
"I would never," Lin Yi said immediately.
Lin then took a big bite from the cake
"Strawberry," he said, nodding. "Good choice."
Elizabeth drew closer to him, her eyes gleaming with affection and mischief. She delicately picked a stray drop of icing from his cheek with her fingertip, then brought it slowly to her lips, licking it off in a sensual, lingering motion that held his gaze.
"Why don't we tuck her in before giving a personal gift~" she said suggestively, her voice low and inviting as she rose and headed upstairs with graceful steps.
"Insatiable woman," Lin said with a fond chuckle before following her.
. . .
. .
.
Then came a knock at the door of reality the next morning.
Oakland.
The Warriors had already boarded their flight.
Undefeated. 10–0 to start the season.
And now they were heading to New York.
. . .
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