Chapter 506: Goodnight Killer, Sayonara!
D'Antoni called timeout immediately.
Utah's last possession had taken only 5 seconds, which meant 32 seconds were still left on the clock.
One offensive possession lasted 24 seconds. For Phoenix, that meant the next shot had to fall. If it did not, they were in real danger of getting beaten on a buzzer beater.
The atmosphere turned tight everywhere.
In front of televisions across the world, university cafeterias packed with students fell briefly silent after Korver's 3 tied the game. Most fans were pulling for the Suns.
Everyone was waiting to see one thing.
Who would take the next shot?
Out of the timeout, D'Antoni made a subtle adjustment. He sent Jordan and Novak onto the floor. The Suns' 5 man unit became Nash, Chen Yan, Novak, Stoudemire, and Jordan.
The roles were obvious.
3 perimeter players with range.
2 athletic bigs inside to chase rebounds.
Chen Yan moved to the sideline to inbound the ball. With his height, vision, and passing touch, he was the safest option to trigger the play.
The arena was deafening.
Jazz fans screamed without pause, trying to shake Phoenix's concentration and disrupt the inbound.
Nash curled near the logo, with Deron glued to him. Deron was spending the last of his energy just trying to stay attached.
With Chen Yan inbounding, Nash immediately became the most dangerous receiver on the court.
Chen Yan did not force the pass to him.
He turned and fired it to Novak instead.
Novak caught it high, holding the ball above his head and using his size to shield it. In a moment like this, there was no room for loose dribbles or hesitation. Novak knew exactly what kind of ball handler he was. He was not about to improvise now.
Chen Yan stepped inbounds, took the return pass from Novak, and attacked instantly along the sideline.
Sloan had just pulled a trick on the previous possession.
D'Antoni answered by refusing to follow the standard script.
Neither coach wanted to simply hold for the final shot.
Chen Yan accelerated down the side, and Utah's defense collapsed almost immediately. The moment he took his first step, he drew multiple eyes. Then, just as the help converged, he half spun and kicked the ball back out to the top.
Novak caught it above the arc and let it go without hesitation.
The ball rose with beautiful rotation.
It looked perfect.
But it rattled off the rim.
The Jazz crowd inhaled in fear before erupting again. Novak had buried a similar game winner in the regular season, and that release had looked every bit as clean.
Boozer sprang up like a beast breaking loose and secured the rebound.
The score remained tied.
This time, possession belonged to Utah.
There were 27 seconds left.
Sloan called another timeout.
Fans at home, frustration exploded from countless television screens and packed cafeterias.
"Why pass it?"
"Take the shot yourself!"
"The game is on the line!"
"Just shoot it!"
The reactions were understandable. In the eyes of many fans, that was Chen Yan's shot. D'Antoni had drawn up a late game play with him as the primary option, and the pass had been Chen Yan's own read. He had seen the defense collapse and chosen the better look for Novak.
It was the right basketball play.
It just did not go in.
After the timeout, Phoenix subbed Novak out.
Not because he had missed.
Because now they had to get one stop, and D'Antoni wanted his best defensive group on the floor.
Utah came out with the ball, and Deron brought it over himself.
No one on the Jazz side rushed.
The clock kept draining.
Nash picked him up high and applied constant pressure, bothering him every step of the way.
With 10 seconds left on the shot clock, Deron finally made his move.
He drove hard.
But his first burst was not enough to shake Nash cleanly. He hesitated, crossed over, and still could not create real separation.
The fatigue was obvious now.
Deron drifted to the wing with the ball and bounced it inside to Boozer, who had sealed his man and established position.
Utah had gone to the one place they trusted most.
The moment Boozer caught it, a purple flash cut across his field of vision.
Before he could process it, a violent slap smashed down onto the ball.
The ball ricocheted off the floor.
Boozer bent to recover it, but Chen Yan was already there first.
He snatched it cleanly.
A steal.
At the biggest moment of the game.
Boozer had no time to be angry. He immediately spun and sprinted back on defense.
Chen Yan did not call timeout after the steal.
Sometimes getting into a set after a timeout was actually more dangerous than playing through the flow. D'Antoni did not call one either. He trusted Chen Yan completely.
That was the highest level of trust a coach could show a star.
Chen Yan crossed into the frontcourt and slowed.
7.5 seconds remained.
The Suns still had 1 timeout in their pocket, but no one touched it.
He stopped at the top of the arc and controlled the rhythm himself.
Utah stayed home.
No double team came.
At that stage, doubling was too risky. Not even in Jordan's Finals years had teams always dared to send 2 at the final possession. One wrong rotation there and the game ended on the spot.
Kirilenko took the assignment alone.
5.
Chen Yan drove.
Kirilenko's long arms waved constantly in front of him. He was not even hunting the steal. He only wanted to interfere with the eventual release as much as possible.
Chen Yan crossed over to his left.
He accelerated again.
Then came the hard pound dribble.
He planted and stepped back behind the 3 point line.
A step back.
It was not Chen Yan's most common finishing move, which made it even harder to anticipate.
By the time Kirilenko lunged forward, the shot was already gone.
There was almost no interference at all. Kirilenko had elite static tools, but Chen Yan had created too much room.
The red light came on while the ball was still in the air.
Then the net snapped.
Swish.
A dagger.
Straight through the heart.
For one instant, the arena seemed to go mute. Every Jazz fan was holding their breath.
Then the reality hit.
Phoenix had scored.
The game was over.
Viewers around the world, packed cafeterias and dorm rooms erupted into chaos. The reaction bypassed language entirely. Fans screamed, shouted, and pounded tables. Game winners always produced the strongest rush, and no matter how many of them Chen Yan made, people never got tired of watching them.
Rockets fans were celebrating too. The Jazz were still their most hated opponent. For years, EnergySolutions Arena had felt like some unconquerable nightmare. Now that nightmare had been stabbed straight through.
Inside the arena, Jazz fans stood frozen.
Many simply stared at the court, unable to believe what they had just seen.
Suns players burst off the bench and stormed onto the floor.
Before his teammates swallowed him up, Chen Yan made 1 celebration first.
He pressed both hands together beside his ear, tilted his head, and closed his eyes.
A goodnight gesture.
A goodnight to the entire EnergySolutions Arena.
A goodnight killer.
Sayonara.
.....
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