"Bang, bang, bang!"
Steve Nash brought the ball up the court, initiating the Suns' first possession of the game. When he reached the top of the key, he saw Blake Su make a reverse cut toward the rim.
"Whoa!"
Would he pass it to him?
No.
Just as everyone's attention shifted to Blake Su's backdoor cut, Steve Nash fired the ball straight to Curry in the opposite corner. Curry caught it and immediately launched a three.
"Swish!"
A clean make.
On the next possession, Blake Su's off-ball movement once again drew plenty of attention. Steve Nash reacted quickly and found Curry on the other side, where no one was paying attention to him.
"Swish!"
Curry cut inside and finished with an easy layup.
Curry scored five straight points to open the game, giving the Jazz an immediate warning.
At the commentary table, Jon Barry tapped the desk with his finger and said, "Blake Su isn't just a strong individual scorer. His off-ball threat is also huge. The Jazz don't dare relax against him for even a second."
"Heh."
Mark Jackson smiled. "Exactly. Because Blake Su is such a dangerous on-ball attacker, even when he doesn't have the ball, the Jazz have to keep their eyes glued to him.
"And Steve Nash is excellent at finding opportunities.
"Curry, as a shooter, is also very good at moving without the ball and finding openings. With all three of those factors working together, scoring becomes much easier for the Suns."
As he was speaking.
"Swish!"
Blake Su, who had been playing off the ball, caught it at the right side of the arc, used a wide crossover in front of his body to shake off Kirilenko, and raised up for a three.
Quick release.
"Swish!"
Straight through the net.
On the change of possession, Deron Williams attacked Steve Nash one-on-one and finished a layup, finally ending the Jazz's scoring drought. But Blake Su brought the ball back up the floor.
"Screech!"
From the top of the arc, one step beyond the three-point line, he suddenly pulled the trigger again. Kirilenko, who was defending him, rushed up in a panic, but it was already too late.
Deadly accuracy.
"Swish!"
Blake Su's three-point arrow pierced the net once more.
Curry hit two shots in a row. Blake Su hit two shots in a row. The Suns opened with an 11-2 run, catching the Jazz completely off guard.
Playing at home, the Suns seized control from the very beginning.
And more than that, the Suns, who excelled at run-and-gun basketball, were best at turning one burst of momentum into a larger advantage. With Steve Nash continuously feeding them the ball, both Blake Su and Curry were fully unleashed.
Especially Curry.
With Blake Su drawing defensive attention all over the floor again and again, Curry received too many good looks. Paired with his excellent shooting touch, he dropped an astonishing 17 points in a single quarter.
Blake Su also added 13 points.
As a team, the Suns exploded for an incredible 41 points in the first quarter. As for the Jazz, their offense was actually fairly solid. They scored 26 points in the quarter, which was not low at all.
At the end of the first quarter.
Suns 41, Jazz 26.
Although the Jazz had played decently in the first quarter, the Suns were simply too sharp, taking an unreasonable 15-point lead in just one quarter.
In the second quarter, the bench rotations came first.
George, Goran Dragić, and the others performed steadily as well. After 4 minutes and 17 seconds of rotation time, the Suns still maintained their 15-point lead.
For the Suns' relatively weak bench, that was already very good.
"Beep, beep!"
Alvin Gentry called a timeout.
The starters from both sides returned to the floor.
"Swish!"
"Swish!"
As soon as the starters came back, Curry, whose hand was still hot, drilled two straight threes and scored six points in a row, instantly pushing the lead past 20.
The key was that Curry was having so much fun that after hitting those two threes, he happily shook his head from side to side. It was still very subtle, but when Blake Su saw it, he sensed a bit of the future head-shaking Curry.
"That guy, Curry."
Blake Su smiled. As his teammate, he was naturally happy for him.
But for the opponent, already trailing by more than 21 points, seeing that kind of celebration was obviously unpleasant.
Especially for Al Jefferson.
He had just been pulled out and shot over by Curry, and he was not happy about it at all.
The game continued.
"Clang!"
Deron Williams missed an open transition three that could have stopped the bleeding. For the Jazz, that only made things worse.
Change of possession.
"Whoosh!"
Blake Su accelerated up the court with the ball. Kirilenko could not keep up at all. In the frontcourt, Deron Williams sprinted back at full speed, getting into position to interfere with Blake Su as much as possible.
"Whoosh!"
Blake Su passed with the flow of the play.
On the left side, Curry caught the ball and cut in. He made a sudden stop, accelerated in one step, got past Millsap, and attacked the rim directly.
Only Al Jefferson was already waiting under the basket.
"Thud!"
Just as the excited Curry flew in for the layup, Jefferson, full of anger, sprang up like a tree shooting out of dry ground and swatted the ball away with one hand.
A huge block.
And with the impact of the body contact, Jefferson's block sent Curry tumbling onto the floor.
"Roar!"
After knocking Curry down, Jefferson raised both arms and roared at Curry beneath him, showing off and fiercely venting the frustration in his heart.
However, at the same time, just as the ball he had swatted away was about to fall into Kirilenko's hands, Blake Su suddenly darted out from behind him and snatched it away first.
"Whoosh!"
One step of acceleration, straight to the basket.
"Thud!"
He planted one foot inside the free-throw line and rose up just as Jefferson was still roaring at Curry. Jefferson's pupils shrank sharply. By the time he reacted, Blake Su was already pressing down over his head.
"Boom!"
Blake Su smashed the ball into the rim and brutally dunked over him.
"Thud, thud, thud!"
The huge force from the collision sent the completely unprepared Jefferson stumbling backward. His legs gave out, and he fell hard onto the floor.
Blake Su had dunked Jefferson straight down.
And if that first dunk could be blamed on Jefferson showing off and not paying attention, then on the very next offensive possession, Blake Su shook off Kirilenko again.
"Step!"
With a hop step into the paint, he rose right in Jefferson's face. With both of them jumping at the same time, Blake Su crushed him with absolute leaping power and explosiveness, once again dunking over him by force.
"Boom!"
On two straight offensive possessions, Blake Su dunked over Jefferson twice. One of those brutal poster dunks even sent Jefferson crashing to the floor.
The electrifying dunks instantly made the arena erupt with deafening cheers.
"Wow."
At the commentary table, Jon Barry smiled and shook his head. "Jefferson blocked Curry and was just about to roar and show off, but before he could even get started, Blake Su dunked over him and knocked him down.
"And then, on the very next possession, he got dunked on again. This time it was straight to his face, unreasonable and overwhelming, a complete athletic mismatch. Jefferson couldn't do a thing about it."
"Hahaha!"
Mark Jackson laughed. "A center blocking a guard's layup is normal. But after blocking Curry, Jefferson just had to stand there, shout, and show off.
"He just had to pick on Curry.
"Well, there you go. That's what happens when you pick on Curry!"