Recaps

Lin Qi built a new development system for Kevin Garnett by replacing Chris Ford with Rick Adelman and hiring Tom Thibodeau to shape Garnett’s offense and defense. Unsure whether Boston could replicate or surpass the development Garnett would have received in Minnesota, Lin Qi decided to ask Kevin McHale for help.

• Lin Qi thanked Chris Ford for leading Boston to the Eastern Conference semifinals and helped him find a new coaching position before parting with him on good terms.
• Lin Qi recruited Rick Adelman by showing him Garnett’s high-post play and offering him tactical autonomy and data resources.
• Lin Qi hired Tom Thibodeau as lead assistant and defensive head coach, giving him defensive analytics and a mandate to build a switching defense around Garnett and the team.
• Lin Qi planned for Willie Anderson to challenge Garnett physically and Sam Cassell to fuel his competitiveness as Boston built Garnett’s development system.
• Lin Qi worried that taking Garnett from Minnesota had removed the environment Kevin McHale would have built for him, and he decided to ask McHale for help.

Lin Qi assembled a team of elite coaches and consultants to develop Kevin Garnett’s post play, shooting, and fundamentals while secretly preparing him to become a perimeter threat. As Garnett absorbed their lessons in Boston, Lin Qi wondered whether his careful training would make him even greater or transform him into someone new.

• Lin Qi persuaded Kevin McHale to teach Garnett low-post footwork despite having drafted Garnett ahead of McHale’s Timberwolves.
• Lin Qi hired Jack Sikma, Chip Engelland, and Pete Newell to train Garnett’s big-man shooting, shooting mechanics, and fundamental footwork.
• Lin Qi told the scouting director that Garnett should practice three-pointers daily, envisioning him eventually drawing centers away from the paint.
• During the offseason, McHale, Sikma, Engelland, and Newell trained Garnett while Adelman, Thibodeau, Willie Anderson, and Sam Cassell prepared to work with him.
• Lin Qi watched Garnett absorb the training and considered how his development might surpass or change the player he remembered.

Lin Qi watched Garnett struggle against veteran players at training camp, then encouraged him to explore his versatility and required him to practice three-pointers. Tracy Murray taught Garnett how to shoot with confidence, as Lin Qi anticipated that the league would eventually value players like him.

• Garnett arrived early and practiced alone before nervously greeting the veterans as they arrived.
• P.J. Brown and Radja outmuscled Garnett in the first scrimmage, but Garnett quickly adjusted by using his speed and footwork.
• Lin Qi praised Garnett's understanding of defenders and told him he could play more positions than he realized.
• After practice, Garnett worked on elbow jumpers and later practiced three-pointers to meet Lin Qi's requirement of attempting one per game.
• Tracy Murray corrected Garnett's shooting form and taught him to focus on making the next shot, and Garnett finally made one.
• Lin Qi told Adelman that the league would someday reward a player like Garnett.

Lin Qi found Kevin Garnett alone in the gym, homesick and reluctant to spend money on a call home. He arranged for the Celtics to pay for a phone in Garnett’s apartment, leaving the young player grateful while keeping his deep, time-spanning connection to Garnett secret.

• Lin Qi noticed that Garnett stayed in the gym after practice and found him holding a pay phone receiver without calling anyone.
• Lin Qi sat with Garnett and learned he wanted to call his mother and childhood friends but worried about waking them and the long-distance charges.
• Lin Qi arranged for a telephone to be installed in Garnett’s apartment and told him the team would cover the bill as a team benefit.
• Garnett thanked Lin Qi, who left while keeping secret that he had known and followed Garnett for more than twenty years.

Lin Qi opened the Celtics’ scrimmage to the media, where Garnett struggled with the NBA’s pace and information, the wings clashed, and Sam Cassell learned to yield to the team offense. After Garnett showed a glimpse of high-post vision, Lin Qi’s analytics group posted its first player assessment, leaving the locker room stunned by the unnamed player ranked first.

• Lin Qi invited Boston’s media to watch a scrimmage between Adelman and Thibodeau’s green present-focused team and white future-focused team.
• Garnett struggled to process the NBA’s complex actions and was repeatedly outmaneuvered by Radja and the green team.
• Finley and Eddie Jones traded scoring plays and defensive stops, sparking fierce competition between the wings.
• Adelman reminded Sam Cassell of his failed isolation in Game 7 against the Knicks, after which Cassell began passing to the high post.
• Garnett paused at the high post and passed to Finley’s cut for a basket, prompting Lin Qi to note Garnett’s first sign of high-post vision.
• Lin Qi’s analytics group posted its first scrimmage assessment, and the players were shocked when an unexpected name ranked first.

Lin Qi used video of the intrasquad scrimmage to show how Magic Johnson’s defense and off-ball positioning made him the green team’s most useful player despite his modest statistics. The players accepted the analytics, and Kevin Garnett began to see how defense could determine games.

• Lin Qi replayed the scrimmage to explain why P.J. Brown ranked highly despite scoring only six points.
• Lin Qi showed how Magic Johnson’s off-ball seal helped disrupt Radja’s attempt and prevent a scoring opportunity.
• Lin Qi showed how Magic Johnson cut off David Wesley’s fast-break pass, allowing the green team to recover and stop the attack.
• Lin Qi played more clips demonstrating how Magic Johnson’s positioning and strength anchored the green team’s defense, while Parish praised the recognition of uncredited work.
• Sam Cassell stopped objecting, and Kevin Garnett realized that exceptional defense and off-ball play could make him a game-changing anchor.

On opening night at the FleetCenter, Lin Qi’s revamped Celtics faced the Bucks and their star Glenn Robinson. After a rough start, Adelman’s modern offense helped Boston take a 54-46 halftime lead.

• Lin Qi watched the championship banners and viewed the new Celtics as a fresh start amid Boston fans’ doubts about the rebuilt team.
• Kevin Garnett joked with Sam Cassell and eased the locker room’s tension before his first NBA game.
• Glenn Robinson powered the Bucks to an early 7-0 lead, while Vin Baker and other veterans tested Garnett with hard physical play.
• Garnett responded to the Bucks’ rough treatment by taunting them and kept talking throughout the game.
• Adelman used Radja as a high-post passing hub and relied on Wesley Person and Tracy Murray’s three-point shooting to exploit the Bucks’ defense.
• The Celtics surged ahead and led the Bucks 54-46 at halftime.

The Boston Celtics defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 104-93 in the new FleetCenter’s season opener, as their physical defense and fast small lineup secured the win. Lin Qi celebrated the team’s promise while recognizing that its young players still had plenty of growing to do.

• Glenn Robinson drove the Bucks’ offense, but P.J. Brown, Magic Johnson, and Kevin Garnett combined to contain his bruising attacks.
• Rick Adelman fielded a fast lineup with Garnett at center, forcing Milwaukee’s big men into exhausting sprints.
• Sam Cassell found Murray in the corner, and Murray’s fifth three-pointer put Boston ahead by nine in the final minutes.
• The Celtics won 104-93, and Garnett celebrated his NBA debut with the team in the locker room.
• Lin Qi reviewed the players’ performances and considered the team’s remaining growing pains and challenges ahead.

The Celtics overcame a sixteen-point deficit against the Nets after Adelman sent out a fast, switch-heavy lineup, with Tracy Murray’s shooting leading the comeback. Lin Qi celebrated the victory but worried that growing success would intensify competition for playing time and touches, especially between Eddie Jones and Michael Finley.

• The Celtics’ starters struggled against the Nets’ defense and fell sixteen points behind by the third quarter.
• Adelman replaced most of the starters with Sam Cassell, Eddie Jones, Wesley Person, Tracy Murray, and Kevin Garnett, who pressed and switched across the floor.
• Garnett disrupted the Nets’ offense while Murray caught fire from three-point range, helping the Celtics erase the deficit and take the lead.
• Cassell steadied the Celtics against a final Nets rally, and Boston completed the road comeback.
• The Celtics celebrated Murray as “Microwave,” while Lin Qi reflected that the team’s success could sharpen conflicts over roles and touches between Jones and Finley.

The Celtics won comfortably, but Eddie Jones and Michael Finley’s rivalry erupted as both young wings began ignoring the team’s offense and each other. The chapter ended with Adelman watching the victory expose a dangerous rift in his team.

• Finley resented Jones’s growing status and his own limited role in the Celtics’ offense.
• Finley kept the ball instead of passing to an open Jones and scored a contested layup during a third-quarter break.
• Jones retaliated by ignoring Finley when he was open, then rejected a screen and made a difficult pull-up jumper.
• Jones and Finley continued trading isolation baskets without passing to each other, while Adelman worried about the damage to his system.

Lin Qi used the Celtics’ matchup with Orlando to redirect Eddie Jones and Michael Finley’s rivalry into a shared defensive challenge. The two wings worked together to shut down Orlando’s perimeter threats, helped Boston win, and ended the game with a handshake.

• Eddie Jones and Michael Finley remained locked in a tense rivalry over the Celtics’ limited wing minutes.
• Lin Qi rejected a suggestion to trade one of the wings and decided to redirect their competitive fire toward an opponent.
• Before Boston’s game against Orlando, Thibodeau assigned Jones to guard Penny Hardaway and Finley to guard Nick Anderson, telling them to help and switch for each other.
• Jones and Finley began covering for one another after Finley stopped Hardaway’s drive and Jones intercepted the loose ball.
• The Celtics’ coordinated defense contained Orlando’s perimeter players and helped Boston defeat the previous season’s Eastern Conference champions.
• After the final buzzer, Jones and Finley slapped hands amid the crowd’s cheers.

Lin Qi watched Jones and Finley turn their rivalry into coordinated defense, then recognized how fragile a team’s chemistry could be despite its strength on paper. He saw an early-December road game against Dana Barros and the Philadelphia 76ers approaching as a test of the history he had altered.

• Jones and Finley apologized for their selfish play and agreed to cover for each other on the court.
• Lin Qi left the players to celebrate, believing their defensive rivalry had become a productive competition.
• Lin Qi reviewed reports showing the Celtics’ defense among the league’s top five and Radja thriving as a passing hub.
• Lin Qi questioned his reliance on talent and statistics after realizing that pride and competition could tear the team apart.
• Lin Qi noticed the upcoming game against Dana Barros and anticipated that his former player’s revenge would test his rewritten timeline.

Kevin Garnett faced Karl Malone for the first time and learned how badly the veteran could overpower and outlast him. The game left Garnett shaken by Malone’s physical strength, relentless stamina, and fearsome reputation.

• Before the Celtics-Jazz game, Thibodeau warned Garnett to keep quiet around Malone, but Garnett ignored him and mocked Malone during warm-ups.
• Malone struck Garnett with an elbow, scored a turnaround jumper, and drew more taunts from the rookie on the next possession.
• Sam Mitchell restrained Garnett and warned him that provoking Malone could put the Celtics’ entire frontcourt in danger.
• Malone dragged Garnett through relentless pick-and-roll play and physical battles until Garnett was exhausted by the timeout.
• Garnett saw Malone standing straight and barely winded, and his confidence in his own stamina collapsed.

After the Celtics lost to the Jazz, Kevin Garnett wondered how Karl Malone had built such an inexhaustible body. Seeing Malone perform his meticulous postgame stretches, Garnett realized that his stamina came from years of relentless work and discipline.

• The Celtics lost as Karl Malone's dominance left Kevin Garnett unable to make an impact.
• In the locker room, Garnett asked Sam Mitchell how Malone had become so strong and tireless.
• Mitchell explained that Malone built his strength through punishing farm work and warned Garnett not to waste his own gifts.
• After the game, Garnett spotted Malone alone in the tunnel, carefully following his postgame stretching routine.
• Watching Malone, Garnett understood that the veteran had made exhaustion and pain part of his daily routine through perseverance.

Lin Qi reviewed the Celtics’ 9-6 start and the data-backed success of their new system, while recognizing the team’s weaknesses. He turned his attention to their coming game against the 76ers, where Dana Barros’s breakout would test Lin Qi’s trade and his belief that he could shape history.

• The Celtics finished November 9-6, prompting Boston media to reconsider Lin Qi’s rebuild and the team’s fast, switch-heavy style.
• Dean Oliver and Jeff Sagarin presented a report showing Garnett’s elite switching defense, the effectiveness of Adelman’s offensive combinations, and P.J. Brown’s major defensive impact.
• Adelman and Thibodeau accepted that Lin Qi’s data analysis could complement coaching experience and help the Celtics stay ahead of opponents.
• Lin Qi reviewed December’s schedule and focused on the Philadelphia 76ers, where Dana Barros had become a 20-point scorer after leaving Boston.
• Lin Qi reflected on having delayed Barros’s rise for a year to trade him for future assets, then awaited Barros’s return to Boston as a chance to confront history.

Dana Barros returned to Boston and led the Philadelphia 76ers to a victory over Lin Qi’s Celtics, proving himself as a star while confronting Lin Qi about trading him away. Lin Qi acknowledged his guilt and left reflecting on the limits and consequences of reshaping another person’s fate.

• Dana Barros scored freely against the Celtics, repeatedly stopping their comebacks and leading Philadelphia to a road win.
• Lin Qi urged the Celtics to learn from the loss and remember how Barros had outplayed them.
• In the players’ tunnel, Barros asked Lin Qi why he had traded him despite knowing he could become a star.
• Lin Qi told Barros he believed he deserved a chance to lead a team, and Barros left still promising to beat the Celtics again.
• Lin Qi reflected that he had changed Barros’s path but could not control his talent, destiny, or the hurt his decision had caused.

The Celtics faced the Rockets in Houston, where Garnett challenged Hakeem Olajuwon but struggled against his strength and Dream Shake. After Olajuwon scored on him with a fake, he calmly advised Garnett not to jump first.

• Before the game, Cassell warned Garnett about Olajuwon and urged him to hold his ground.
• Garnett opened aggressively with two blocks and a fast-break dunk, but Olajuwon’s physical play drew two fouls and sent him to the bench.
• Garnett returned in the second quarter as the Celtics trailed by nine and guarded Olajuwon in the low post.
• Olajuwon used a shoulder fake and pivot to make Garnett jump, then banked in a shot.
• Olajuwon told Garnett, “Don’t jump first,” leaving the young defender with a lesson he knew was right.

Kevin Garnett struggled against Hakeem Olajuwon, who calmly dissected his defense and exposed his immaturity. After the Celtics lost, Garnett began turning the humiliation into resolve as the team headed for San Antonio.

• Garnett challenged Olajuwon to another post-up, but Olajuwon methodically tested his lateral movement and scored with a spin move.
• Olajuwon told Garnett, “I’m a man,” leaving the nineteen-year-old speechless and forcing him to recognize how inexperienced he was.
• During the timeout, Lin Qi urged Garnett to become the kind of superstar opponents could not stop even when they knew what he would do.
• The Rockets beat the Celtics, and Garnett scored eleven points, then kept practicing Olajuwon’s spin and repeating “lateral movement” in the locker room.
• Olajuwon praised Garnett to Sam Cassell as tough to handle, and Garnett grinned when Cassell passed along the remark.
• On the bus, Garnett admitted to Lin Qi how deeply Olajuwon’s words had hurt him, while Lin Qi watched him turn the shame into resolve for the next stop in San Antonio.

Lin Qi and the Celtics traveled to San Antonio, where Garnett struggled against David Robinson and Boston lost to the Spurs. Lin Qi watched Robinson with the knowledge that a coming injury would shape the Spurs’ future and his own draft-pick plans, but he privately hoped he had remembered wrong.

• Lin Qi recalled trading for San Antonio’s top-three-protected 1997 first-round pick and anticipated that Robinson’s coming injury could send the Spurs toward a disastrous season and the draft lottery.
• At the Alamodome, Garnett tried to unsettle Robinson with trash talk, but Robinson scored calmly and shut down his attempts in the paint.
• Robinson blocked Garnett during the third quarter, then helped him up and warned him to play more carefully.
• The Celtics lost to the Spurs, and Garnett admitted in the locker room that Robinson was unlike anyone he had faced before.
• Lin Qi saw Robinson kindly greeting arena cleaners and signing autographs, then silently hoped the injury he expected would never happen.

After a bruising road trip left Kevin Garnett shaken, Lin Qi and Rick Adelman devised a perimeter-based tactic to exploit Horace Grant and the Orlando Magic. Lin Qi encouraged Garnett to embrace his unique abilities, and the Celtics arrived in Florida ready to test their new approach.

• Lin Qi watched Garnett struggle through shuttle drills and told Rick Adelman to move him to starting power forward rather than rest him.
• Lin Qi outlined a two-phase plan to draw Grant away from the paint with Garnett’s threes, then let Garnett drive when Grant closed out.
• Adelman expanded the idea into a play using Sam Cassell, Johnson, and Jones to create mismatches and open lanes against the Magic.
• On the flight east, Garnett admitted he felt far behind Malone, Olajuwon, and Robinson, but Lin Qi urged him to build on his own height, speed, and court vision.
• Lin Qi gave Garnett the finished tactical diagram and told him to use his daily three-point practice against Orlando, reigniting Garnett’s ambition.
• The Celtics landed in Florida, while Shaquille O’Neal remained unaware of the new threat awaiting him.

The Celtics used a new tactic to exploit Shaquille O’Neal and Horace Grant’s interior defense, giving Kevin Garnett open three-point shots. Garnett made two in a row and then blocked Grant’s post-up shot, leaving Boston with momentum against Orlando.

• Before the game, Lin Qi urged Garnett to patiently execute their plan and use the three-point shot he had practiced.
• The Celtics opened with Sam Cassell, Eddie Jones, Willie Anderson, Kevin Garnett, and Magic Johnson, and Garnett made an open three after Orlando collapsed on Cassell’s drive.
• After Shaquille O’Neal answered with a one-handed dunk, Garnett made another open three when Grant again sagged to help inside.
• Grant backed Garnett down in the post, but Garnett timed his jump and blocked Grant’s hook shot, securing the ball with one hand.

Kevin Garnett provoked Horace Grant into losing his composure, then attacked the Magic’s defense after the timeout. The chapter ended with Garnett evading Grant and Shaquille O'Neal to score a high floater.

• Garnett blocked Grant’s shot, then passed ahead to Eddie Jones for a fast-break dunk that gave the Celtics an 8-2 lead.
• Garnett taunted Grant until Grant shoved him, but Sam Mitchell held Grant back before the confrontation escalated.
• Lin Qi told Garnett not to take things too far, and Garnett said he wanted to break the Magic’s defense rather than get suspended.
• After the timeout, Grant lunged at Garnett beyond the three-point line, and Garnett slipped past him toward the basket.
• Garnett floated the ball over O'Neal’s outstretched hand, and it dropped through the net.

The Boston Celtics narrowly defeated the Orlando Magic after Kevin Garnett adapted from scoring to playmaking and helped stop Shaquille O'Neal's final shot. The win broke Garnett's rookie-wall slump and restored his confidence, though Lin Qi knew opponents would soon adjust to the team's surprise tactics.

• O'Neal and Penny Hardaway led the Magic's second-quarter comeback with forceful post play and perimeter scoring.
• After halftime, Grant guarded Garnett more tightly, while Garnett responded by passing, driving, and finding other ways to help the Celtics score.
• The teams stayed close in the fourth quarter as Garnett, Sam Cassell, Jones, and Radja helped the Celtics match the Magic.
• In the final seconds, Garnett double-teamed O'Neal and helped Johnson secure the rebound, preserving the Celtics' one-point lead.
• Garnett finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals, and 3 blocks, and Lin Qi watched him regain his confidence in the locker room.

After Kevin Garnett’s breakout game drew national praise, Lin Qi and Rick Adelman decided that starting him would hurt the Celtics’ winning formula and limit his development. Lin made Garnett the centerpiece of a newly empowered second unit and challenged him to earn a starting spot by beating the starters in a scrimmage, setting the team up for an intense internal rivalry.

• Lin Qi asked Rick Adelman what would happen if Garnett remained in the starting lineup, and Adelman argued that the rookie was not ready to replace the established big men.
• Lin Qi announced that Garnett would leave the starting lineup and told the reserves they would become a second unit with their own plays and a meaningful role.
• Lin Qi made Garnett the second unit’s centerpiece and required the team to run every possession through him.
• Lin Qi told Garnett he would earn a starting spot if his second unit beat the starters in a scrimmage.
• Garnett challenged Cassell and the other starters, while Cassell and Radja dared him to prove himself on the court.

During two intrasquad scrimmages, Kevin Garnett learned to direct the second unit rather than force every play himself, though the veteran starters still beat them both times. Lin Qi watched Garnett’s growth and planned to help him reclaim a championship for the Boston Celtics once his ability matched his ambition.

• The starters crushed Garnett’s second unit 32–14, but Garnett demanded another scrimmage.
• Eddie Jones intercepted Garnett’s predictable pass for a dunk, and Dino Radja stripped the ball from him in the post as the second unit fell behind again.
• When the starters trapped him, Garnett passed to Wesley Person for an open three and realized his role was to command the offense, not take every shot.
• Garnett organized screens and passes that brought the second unit back within two points, but the starters countered with a precise play and Ervin Johnson scored beneath the basket.
• Garnett nearly stopped the starters’ final pick-and-roll, but Radja passed to Jones for the winning three, leaving the second unit with its second loss.
• Adelman praised Garnett’s transformation, while Lin Qi said Garnett still needed to grow before he could help the Boston Celtics reclaim a crown and build a dynasty.