Chapter 561: Howard's Frustration
Nash covered his face and dropped to the floor, and the Suns immediately swarmed around him.
Everyone was worried. Nash had a history of nose injuries, and nobody wanted to see that issue flare up again in the Finals.
The team doctor hurried onto the court, motioning for the players to give Nash some space before crouching down to ask a few quick questions.
About 30 seconds later, Nash got back to his feet. He looked fine and did not ask to come out.
The replay on the big screen clearly showed Howard shoving Nash while fighting for the rebound.
By any reasonable standard, it could have been ruled a flagrant foul.
But since Nash was able to continue, the referees chose not to escalate it.
With Nash still on the floor, Orlando inbounded again.
Alston caught the ball a step inside the arc and held it without dribbling, scanning the floor for movement.
Turkoglu cut toward the middle without the ball, and Alston immediately fed him.
Turkoglu took the pass and stepped in. Grant Hill stayed glued to him, and Diaw was already sliding over to trap. Seeing no opening, Turkoglu quickly swung the ball to Lewis in the corner.
The Suns' rotation was late for a split second, and Chen Yan decisively left Courtney Lee to close out on Lewis.
Lewis was far more dangerous than Courtney Lee from that spot. Leaving him open was asking for trouble.
Lewis was startled by Chen Yan's aggressive closeout and chose not to shoot. Instead, he swung it to Courtney Lee on the wing.
Nash instantly left Alston at the top of the arc and rushed to contest Courtney Lee.
Lee gave a shot fake, took one dribble, then kicked it back out to Alston.
That decision was questionable. He should have either risen right away or moved it immediately. That extra dribble gave Phoenix more time to recover.
The Suns still rotated hard on the next pass, with the veteran Hill burning energy to close out.
Alston rose over the contest for 3.
The whistle sounded the moment the ball left his hand.
A 3 point shooting foul.
Hill could only shake his head and turn away. Another soft whistle.
D'Antoni exploded on the sideline, waving his arms and barking at the officials. When his players were getting hit with questionable calls, the coach had to stand up, even if he knew it probably would not change anything.
Alston made 2 of 3, cutting the score to 7 to 4.
Phoenix came back on offense.
Nash brought the ball up calmly. After Alston's last free throw, Orlando had already retreated and set its defense, so there was no transition opening.
Courtney Lee was locked up with Chen Yan on the wing.
Tonight, Lee clearly wanted to prove something. He was trying to be more physical, more aggressive, more noticeable.
In the previous game, he had been yanked for Pietrus late, and for a starter, that was hard to swallow.
Chen Yan could feel the extra intensity.
But so what?
He had dealt with much worse than this.
Watching from home, Kobe shook his head at the television.
"Too soft," he muttered. "That defense is too soft."
Vanessa, who had heard him talking to himself from the bedroom, walked into the living room.
"Baby, what's soft?"
Before Kobe could react, she pounced on him.
Vanessa casually turned off the TV. She did not care who Kobe was criticizing on screen. All she knew was that Kobe himself was still plenty tough.
Kobe surrendered quickly enough. In his eyes, Game 4 already looked more like an exhibition than a real fight. Phoenix was going to win this one anyway.
Back on the court, Nash glanced at Chen Yan, who had already carved out position, but chose not to force the pass. Instead, after using the screen, he moved it to Stoudemire, who was in a cleaner spot.
Stoudemire caught it and knocked down the mid range jumper.
That was his comfort zone.
With a few games of rust behind him, his touch was finally beginning to return.
9 to 4.
Kenny Smith nodded from the broadcast table.
"The Suns have too many ways to score. Chen Yan dropped over 50 last game, but Orlando still cannot sell out completely on him. If they do, somebody else is going to make them pay."
Orlando came right back.
Howard caught the ball at the line. The moment he turned to pass, Stoudemire wrapped him up with both arms.
The whistle came immediately.
Only then did everyone realize what Phoenix was doing.
Hack a Howard.
Howard trudged to the free throw line again.
"I believe you'll make this one," Chen Yan said on the way by. "All the fans are watching."
It was pressure, plain and simple.
Howard bricked the first one, then made the second.
At last, his first free throw of the night.
He looked miserable.
In the previous games, Phoenix had not hacked him when he was actually spending time practicing free throws before tipoff. Now that he had stopped focusing on them, they suddenly turned it into a weapon.
It felt personal.
On the next Suns possession, Orlando was already back and organized.
Courtney Lee kept harassing Chen Yan, battling him off the ball. After a brief tussle, Chen Yan slapped Lee's hand away and sprinted toward the 3 point line.
In his mind, the sequence was already perfect.
Catch, rise, fire, swish.
Instead, Diaw made a beautiful off ball cut.
Nash, as always, found the best scoring option on the floor. He rifled a bounce pass, hard and low, straight into Diaw's hands.
Diaw took a hop step, slipped inside, and banked it home.
11 to 4.
Phoenix had multiple scorers going. Everyone except Nash had already gotten on the board.
Orlando went back to Howard in the post.
This time Howard established position so deep it almost looked unfair. But just as he turned, Grant Hill came flying in and slapped down hard on his wrist.
Howard yelped and headed to the stripe again.
At first he still thought Grant had just made a normal swipe at the ball.
He had not yet realized Phoenix had fully committed to the strategy.
Howard missed both.
Again.
For D'Antoni, one miss was a win. Two misses were a jackpot.
Barkley burst out laughing at the table.
"Dwight Howard's free throw percentage is starting to catch up with Shaq."
The whole booth cracked up. Barkley had managed to roast two players with one line.
Phoenix slowed it down on the next trip. Orlando's transition defense had been too sharp to run on consistently.
Nash walked it up and let the half court offense develop.
Lee kept bodying Chen Yan, but Nash never forced the pass. Instead, he worked through the action and let the ball find the best opening.
The Suns were getting quality looks, moving the defense, scoring inside and out. Orlando, on the other hand, kept dragging Howard to the line where he looked more frustrated every trip.
By the end of the first quarter, Phoenix led 28 to 20.
Howard had gone just 2 for 8 from the free throw line, a miserable showing.
A lot of fans joked that Howard must have been out with women before the game, because otherwise there was no way his hands and feet could look that soft.
.....
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