Chapter 560: A Powerful Dunk, Nash Goes Down
It was another deep 3.
Chen Yan had already buried plenty of those in this series. For the Magic players and their fans, his long range sniping was not just a physical blow. It was psychological warfare.
When you watch someone keep drilling shots from that far out, over and over again, what you feel is not shock anymore.
It is despair.
Orlando came down on offense.
The Suns set up in a 3 2 zone, with Nash at the top, Chen Yan on the left, and Grant Hill on the right. Phoenix was still committed to taking away the perimeter first.
As long as Orlando could not hit from outside, D Antoni believed they had no chance.
As for Howard in the paint, his scoring package was still too limited. Even if he played above his usual level, he could not match the explosive scoring Chen Yan brought, and D Antoni did not see him as a threat on that level.
Alston fed the ball to Howard from the top.
Howard took 1 dribble near the free throw line and drove immediately.
There was no setup to it, no deception, no rhythm change. It was raw force.
His footwork was still stiff. He was relying almost entirely on athletic talent.
Stoudemire stayed glued to him and got enough of the play to bother the attempt.
The ball hit the glass and kicked out.
At the same time, the whistle blew.
The officiating somehow looked even more tilted toward Orlando than it had in the previous game. The referees gave Howard a foul call on a play that barely needed one.
The whistle came through for the Magic, but Howard did not.
He missed both free throws.
The first one was short. On the second, he added more force and hit the rim.
Howard had never been a reliable foul shooter, and with no rhythm yet, missing both was not surprising.
Stoudemire secured the rebound and pushed it ahead to Nash.
The Magic got back quickly. Early in the game, everyone still had fresh legs and sharp focus.
Nash paused at the right 45 degree angle beyond the arc, used a teammate cutting behind him as cover, changed direction to the middle, and launched a 3.
That was Suns basketball. Whether in transition or in the half court, if the shot was there, they took it. If they could run, they ran.
Lewis switched onto him and flew out too hard, chopping straight into Nash's forearm.
The contact was loud and obvious, but the referee swallowed the whistle.
The shot bounced off the rim, and Howard came down with it. Nash wanted to complain, but Orlando had already pushed the other way. After a few quick passes, Alston slipped in for a layup.
3 to 2.
Phoenix had just been hit with a counterpunch.
Back on offense, Nash brought it up again in a hurry.
He called for a screen again, and Stoudemire came high. Nash went the other way this time.
His drive had real bite to it. The previous no call had gotten under his skin, but he still kept his head. Before the defense could fully close around him, he kicked the ball out to Chen Yan.
Chen Yan caught it and lifted the ball immediately. Courtney Lee lunged out.
The moment Lee committed, Chen Yan put it on the floor and exploded past him.
Lee tried to recover, but his body had already shifted forward. His feet could not obey his brain fast enough.
He went down hard.
Ankle breaker.
Lee hit the floor full of regret. He never should have shaded so far toward Nash.
Chen Yan blasted down the baseline and got inside. Lewis rotated over, but Chen Yan hit him with a sharp turn.
Lewis had been sitting on the baseline, and that turn beat him clean. He was left behind with nothing.
Howard rotated from the paint, but Chen Yan got off the floor too fast. Howard was barely lifting when Chen Yan was already above him.
Boom.
A violent poster dunk.
The finish was brutal, but everything before it was beautiful too.
Howard got dunked on face to face and lost every bit of dignity on that play.
Chen Yan threw everything he had into it. In his mind, this was the last game of the season. There was no reason to conserve energy, and no reason to hold anything back.
On the Suns bench, players were grabbing at each other just to keep from storming onto the floor.
Chen Yan turned and ran back on defense, striking a jet taking off pose. The meaning was obvious.
Once he took off, nobody was stopping him.
Alston crossed half court with Nash glued to him.
That dunk had electrified Phoenix. Everyone on the Suns side was flying around defensively now.
The sudden pressure rattled Orlando. Their ball movement nearly turned into a giveaway, and the possession ended with Turkoglu forcing a mid range shot that missed.
Howard crashed for the board, but Stoudemire did his job this time and locked him behind him. Diaw rose and grabbed the defensive rebound.
Diaw pushed it ahead to Grant Hill.
Hill took off immediately.
That was another advantage of this Suns lineup. All 3 perimeter players could initiate offense.
Nash and Chen Yan both sprinted past half court, and suddenly it was a 3 man break.
Hill on the left, Nash on the right, Chen Yan down the middle.
Hill got 1 step inside the arc and hit Chen Yan in stride.
Chen Yan did not shoot it.
He did not swing it to Nash either.
Instead, with a slick touch, he tapped it right back to Hill.
Hill gathered, took 2 steps, and laid it in.
7 to 2.
Orlando came back the other way. Alston handled it, with Lewis, Turkoglu, and Lee spaced outside while Howard dug in down low.
Alston did not wait for Howard to seal fully. He tried to change direction and get around Nash himself.
Nash beat him to the spot.
That had always been the truth about Nash's defense. His body limited him, but his awareness never did. He had always known how to read angles and draw contact.
Alston adjusted well. He did not force the drive. He planted his right foot and spun back.
His spin was different from Chen Yan's. Chen Yan turned like a blade, fast and sudden. Alston did not have that level of burst, so he needed to decelerate before the spin.
Nash stayed with him.
Alston leaned in and tried to finish.
The ball hit the glass, rolled onto the rim, and came off.
Alston had failed to score over Nash, but Orlando's possession was still alive.
Howard exploded upward and tipped the offensive rebound.
Rebounding and boxing out had never been Stoudemire's greatest strengths. Expecting him to erase Howard on every play was unrealistic.
As Howard rose, Nash got blasted off his feet right in front of him.
Nash had followed the play into the lane. The second Alston missed, he was ready to chase the rebound himself. Then he got hit by a massive force, his vision went dark, and he crashed to the floor.
Howard tipped the ball first but did not control it cleanly. He batted it around twice before finally getting both hands on it.
Stoudemire stepped up again, and Howard spun past him.
Just as Howard prepared to go up strong, Chen Yan flashed in and stripped the ball clean.
Orlando kept possession because the ball went out of bounds, but Chen Yan had just blown up what looked like a sure 2 points.
After the whistle, both teams finally noticed someone still on the floor.
Nash was down on the baseline, both hands covering his face, clearly in pain.
.....
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