Chapter 503: Falling Behind
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
All 3 free throws dropped cleanly.
Chen Yan scored 3 points at the end of the half, helping the Suns take a 59 to 52 lead into the break.
As he walked toward the tunnel, Jazz fans on both sides booed him relentlessly, with many shouting that he was a cheat. In their eyes, those final 3 free throws were a trick, more acting than basketball.
Chen Yan could only shake his head. It had been a normal shot attempt. Was it his fault that their defender had flown at him like that?
During halftime, D Antoni was far from pleased. Phoenix still held the lead, but they had not taken control of the game. Their run and gun rhythm had never fully materialized, and too much of the offense had fallen on Chen Yan alone.
The rebounding problem was even worse. The Suns were down by 10 on the glass at halftime, and Boozer alone had already grabbed 16 rebounds.
A huge chunk of Utah's scoring had come from second chance opportunities and broken play scrambles.
D Antoni felt the Suns had played poorly in the first half.
On the other side, Sloan was also unhappy.
Utah had defended with more physicality than in the previous game, yet his players had picked up fewer fouls. That part, at least, was exactly what he had expected before Game 3. At home, the whistle would be looser. What he had not expected was that all of that contact would only make Chen Yan more dangerous.
Chen Yan already had 28 points at the half. At that pace, 50 plus was very much on the table.
Sloan realized Utah could not keep surviving on chaos alone. To start the second half, he sent Korver onto the floor in place of Brewer, hoping to strengthen the team's perimeter firepower.
If Korver got hot, it would open driving lanes for Deron and post touches for Boozer.
In the first half, Phoenix had shrunk the floor so aggressively because Utah simply had not punished them from outside.
Coming out of the locker room, Chen Yan made a point of driving and kicking even more. He understood that if the other Suns did not come alive in the second half, this game would become very difficult.
The idea was right.
The result was not.
It was not because Chen Yan could not break the defense or make the read. It was because his teammates simply were not making shots, especially Stoudemire. In the second half, Stoudemire took 2 more jumpers from the high post, and both of them missed badly.
Seeing Phoenix continue to sputter, Utah copied the Suns' first half formula and packed the paint tighter and tighter. Even when Chen Yan got into the lane, there was no clean runway left.
He was good enough to twist through traffic and finish, but no player can live on circus layups every trip down the floor. The harder the shot, the lower the percentage. And those acrobatic finishes also take a huge toll on the body.
On the perimeter, Sloan assigned Kirilenko to Chen Yan with a very specific job description: take away the jumper, live with the drive, and trust the help behind him. Kirilenko's static tools were ridiculous, and that wingspan alone could bother almost anyone.
The entire third quarter, Utah consciously tried to funnel Chen Yan into drive and kick situations. Since Phoenix's outside shooting was cold, D Antoni briefly thought about using Novak.
It was only a thought.
He did not dare. The Suns were already losing the rebounding battle, and putting Novak on the floor in a game like this would have been an open invitation for Utah to devour every miss.
Novak averaged only 1.7 rebounds this season. He was a big man who hated physical play. In a game this rough, using him was practically the same as surrendering the glass.
The Suns' offense stalled badly in the third.
Utah seized the opening. Their defense stayed physical, and on offense they kept scoring through structure and repetition.
By the 9 minute and 36 second mark of the 4th quarter, the Jazz had already pushed the lead to 7.
Seeing Phoenix lose its rhythm, D Antoni called timeout.
"We came to Salt Lake City to sweep, not to sightsee," he barked. "If you keep playing like this, the game is over."
That snapped the Suns back to attention.
Then he started rapping the tactics board with his finger.
"Chen, use the screen and look for perimeter shots. If the 3s don't fall, they'll keep packing the lane. We need them to respect the line. We can also pull up in transition. Utah is retreating fast, but they're usually collapsing inside the arc first. That is a window. Shoot it. If we miss, our trailers will already be in position to crash the glass. That gives us a better chance on offensive rebounds than trying to box out from a dead stop."
On Utah's bench, Sloan was just as animated.
"Well done. Keep playing this way. Keep the fight. Fight for every rebound. Run more cuts. Attack the paint. On defense, switch fast on the pick and roll. Don't give Chen any clean looks."
Sloan had already guessed what Phoenix would try after the timeout. He expected Chen Yan to start hunting 3s off action.
On the broadcast, Kenny Smith read it the same way.
"Utah has been better in the second half. Not because they're more talented, but because they're bringing more force to the game. They're fighting for every loose ball, every rebound, every little edge."
Barkley nodded and added, "Phoenix has to wake up. Right now, if Chen doesn't start putting real pressure on them again, this thing can slip away."
Out of the timeout, Nash immediately got the ball to Chen Yan on a handoff after crossing half court.
Chen Yan followed D Antoni's instructions and called Stoudemire up for the screen.
There was no point trying to just rise over Kirilenko in isolation. AK 47 stood 206 centimeters tall and had that absurd 228 centimeter wingspan. On top of that, he was guarding Chen Yan with the jumper as his top priority. Forcing one over that kind of length without an advantage would have been asking for trouble.
Stoudemire set the pick. Boozer switched. Kirilenko looped around and came straight at Chen Yan from the side.
Trap.
For an ordinary guard, the simple read would have been to slip the pass to Stoudemire.
That was the obvious play. The safe play. The correct play.
But Stoudemire had been ice cold all night. Creating another jumper for him would only waste the possession and probably chip away at his confidence even more. The playoffs were only beginning, and Phoenix needed him mentally ready for the long run.
Chen Yan did not even glance at Stoudemire.
He gave a slight shot fake as if preparing to fire a deep 3.
Boozer and Kirilenko both shifted their feet to contest.
In the same rhythm, Chen Yan split them, threading the ball through the gap and gliding between the double team.
He had not ignored the coach's plan. He had simply read something better.
Now Millsap was the last line.
Chen Yan took off, absorbed the contact, floated, adjusted, and kissed the ball in.
75 to 80.
After he landed, he spread his arms and looked at the referee, asking where the whistle was.
On the last game's floor, that kind of contact would have drawn free throws. In Salt Lake City, those calls had vanished. The home court difference was obvious.
If Deron had taken that same hit, the whistle would have sounded immediately.
Chen Yan knew the call was not changing. That gesture was not for a reversal. It was for the next one. Even on the road, the refs could not let the game drift too far in one direction.
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