Chapter 504: Going Against the Grain, Only by Relying on Yourself
"Wow. Another Crossing Move. At this point, Chen Yan and that move are basically inseparable," Kenny Smith said on the broadcast.
Barkley laughed. "They ought to rename it the Chen Yan Crossing Move. I have never seen anyone use that move this efficiently."
Kenny nodded. "Chen plays with his head. The moment the defender changes, he changes too. That is why his crossovers always look so clean and so easy."
Utah came back on offense.
At this point, the Suns no longer dared to collapse too far into the paint. Korver was a real threat from 3, and while Deron was not an elite outside shooter overall, he could still make pull up shots from deep off the dribble.
The Jazz swung the ball around the perimeter a few times before feeding Boozer inside.
Boozer put up a contested shot, but it bounced out.
His stat line looked impressive tonight, 18 points and 19 rebounds at that moment, but his touch had been ordinary. Most of his scoring had come from cuts, hustle plays, and put backs.
Chen Yan retreated, secured the rebound, and handed the ball to Nash.
Nash did not push the break. He raised a hand and signaled for everyone to slow it down.
Phoenix flowed into a half court set. Nash gave the ball to Chen Yan and let him attack.
Stoudemire came up to screen, and Chen Yan drove right.
Utah switched again. Boozer ended up in front of him, while Kirilenko came around the screen from behind.
This time, Chen Yan made the pass to Stoudemire.
Stoudemire caught it at the top of the arc, but instead of shooting, he put the ball on the floor and tried to attack downhill. Kirilenko rotated over immediately.
That was exactly why Utah felt comfortable trapping Chen Yan so aggressively. Kirilenko covered a ton of ground, moved well, and had the length to survive against bigger players.
The first action went nowhere, so Chen Yan circled behind Stoudemire for another handoff.
The instant he received the ball, he lifted it and lined up the rim.
Kirilenko did not rush right away. He had already been burned once and did not want to get faked out again.
Only when he clearly saw Chen Yan leave the floor did he spring forward.
He was late.
The contest barely mattered.
Swish!
Chen Yan drilled the pull up 3 with that smooth, effortless rhythm of his.
78 to 80.
He held up 3 fingers as he ran back on defense.
That shot was huge. The gap was down to 2.
Utah came down looking for a response.
Deron wanted the answer himself.
If he could score right there, it would steady the game and lift the building again.
He called for space. Everyone cleared out and let him isolate Nash at the top.
Deron dribbled with his right hand, then suddenly crossed over in front, using the change of direction to get by Nash before stepping into a soft floater just inside the free throw line.
78 to 82.
The shot dropped, and the arena exploded.
Sloan stood with his hands on his hips. He had been on the verge of calling timeout, but now he held it back.
The little fat man had just scored on Nash, but Nash showed no interest in answering that way.
That was one of the biggest differences between him and other stars.
Nash rarely played with spite. He almost never chased revenge baskets. He always put the team first and winning above everything else.
At the top, he ran a pick and roll with Stoudemire. Meanwhile, Chen Yan used Diaw as a screen to cut from the wing to the corner, then burst again and flew up to the slot.
The two stage cut pulled at the help defense.
Nash bounced the ball inside to Stoudemire rolling down the lane.
Stoudemire caught it, took 2 hard steps, and finished high off the glass.
"Stoudemire, finally," Barkley shouted.
Kenny nodded. "That is what stars do. A role player with a night like this might stop wanting the ball. Stoudemire still has the confidence to attack."
On the next trip, Deron walked it up while calling the action with his hands.
Korver came off a screen, but Chen Yan stayed glued to him. He knew exactly what kind of player Korver was. A catch and shoot specialist. If he could not catch cleanly, he was neutralized.
Korver did not force it. He back cut toward the baseline. Boozer's screen clipped Chen Yan and bought Korver a moment, but Stoudemire switched out quickly to take him away.
Korver never got the shot, but the movement created a mismatch inside.
Deron saw it immediately and fed Boozer in the post.
Boozer caught it and, eager to score, skipped the power move. He turned right away and tried to go to the rim.
Slap!
Chen Yan read the turn perfectly and slapped the ball loose.
Boozer yelled and threw his hands into the air, but the referee gave him nothing. The strip was clean.
For all the talk about Chen Yan being a dirty player, he was actually very clean most nights. He did not rely on cheap tricks. Yes, he had gotten into a couple of high profile fights in his first 2 seasons, but both of those came after the other side started it. He was reacting, not instigating.
After the steal, Chen Yan took long strides up the floor, and Phoenix was off to the races.
In transition, he saw everything. He hit Nash on the diagonal cut.
Nash rose into a transition 3.
Wide open.
Swish!
81 to 82.
The lead was down to 1, and the Suns bench jumped to its feet.
The camera caught Chen Yan shrugging at the officials again.
He believed Boozer had fouled him on the previous drive, but still there had been no whistle.
By then, Chen Yan understood the tone of the game. If Phoenix wanted to win tonight, they were going to have to finish through everything. No easy calls were coming.
Sloan called timeout with a dark look on his face.
He could feel the momentum shifting, and he did not like it one bit.
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Transmigrated into The Legendary Mechanic
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