Chapter 461: Super Center Numbers
"The Suns' conversion rate in transition is insane early," Kenny Smith said. "Boston has to treat the first 6 seconds like a fire alarm."
Charles Barkley was already irritated. "I'm still trying to figure out why you would start both Kendrick Perkins and Glen Davis at the same time. That is a gift wrapped fast break package. Coach Rivers, what are we doing?"
Kenny immediately hit him with a grin. "Hey, Charles, you were a big man when you played, and you're even bigger now."
Fans at home burst out laughing.
Barkley snapped back, animated. "My weight never touched my athleticism. I could run and jump. Look at them, Kenny. Look at them."
Kenny shrugged. "Charles, you're a Top 50 all time player. They're role guys. You can't hold them to your standard."
"I'm not holding them to my standard," Barkley insisted. "They do what they do. I'm saying the lineup is rigid. You can't play heavy and slow against Phoenix and act surprised when you're sprinting back every possession."
Chen Yan calmly knocked down the free throw.
14 to 3.
The game was tilting fast, and Doc Rivers burned a timeout before it turned into a runway.
He saw the same thing Barkley was yelling about. Perkins and Davis were getting stranded in transition, and every stop was turning into a track meet.
Out of the timeout, Rivers went smaller and quicker, swapping Perkins and Davis for the more mobile Kris Humphries and Gasol.
It came with a tradeoff. Boston gained speed, but they sacrificed rebounding control.
…
Boston came out on offense.
Durant tried to work free for a catch, but Derrick Rose was already attacking before Durant could even settle into position. Durant's early rhythm had been off, and teammates were not going to wait forever while the Suns ran away with the game.
Rose crossed over, exploded to his right, and left Nash a step behind.
Nash had a reputation for "no defense," not because he refused to compete, but because he could not physically survive these matchups. He was 191 cm, his vertical was only about 60 cm, and he had never dunked in an NBA game.
Trying to guard Rose one on one was like trying to stop a motorcycle with a bicycle bell.
Rose turned the corner and charged the rim. Diaw rotated late, but Rose climbed anyway, core locked, hanging in the air for a reverse layup that floated around Diaw's contest.
14 to 5.
On the next possession, Phoenix coughed up the ball.
Rose's hands were quick, his eyes even quicker. He stole it clean, sprinted to the restricted area, and hammered a 2 handed dunk.
14 to 7.
Boston was still behind, but TD Garden sounded completely different now. Rose's burst woke the building up. People were on their feet, and you could feel that restless Boston energy creeping back into the floorboards.
Rose wore No. 4 in Boston, not his preferred No. 1. The Celtics had too many retired numbers, too much history on the rafters. Rose embraced it anyway, tying the number to the "4" that kept showing up in his life, his birthday, his family, his closest circle, and his faith.
Durant had his own number compromise. He wore No. 35 for years to honor his coach Charles Craig, who was killed at 35, but in Boston that number belonged to the late Reggie Lewis. So Durant took No. 5, and carried the meaning in silence.
…
Phoenix slowed it down.
Nash held the ball at the top, calming the pace like a conductor who refused to panic. A lot of stars would try to answer a young guard's run with ego. Nash answered with structure.
He directed traffic, then swung it to Chen Yan. Stoudemire stepped up to screen. The other 3 Suns spaced out to the perimeter.
Chen Yan used the screen to slip past Tony Allen, then changed direction at full speed to beat Humphries. He finished on the move with a left handed layup, smooth and seamless, like the defense never existed.
Rose came right back.
This time he used the screen and rose into a pull up 2, clean and confident.
16 to 9.
After the bucket, Rose and Chen Yan exchanged a look. Neither wanted to blink first.
Durant, meanwhile, felt like the world had shifted under his feet.
This was supposed to be his showcase.
Somehow it had turned into a Rose versus Chen Yan sprinting contest.
Rose stole the spotlight early. He put up 12 points and 3 assists on 5 of 7 shooting in the 1st quarter.
Kenny Smith glanced down at the stat line. "Derrick's going to have a night."
Barkley laughed. "He's not going to have more of a night than Chen."
Kenny checked the other sheet and his eyebrows jumped. "Oh my God. Chen Yan has 15 points and 5 rebounds."
15 points in a quarter was normal for Chen Yan.
5 rebounds in a quarter was not.
After Rivers went small, Phoenix quietly leaned into a pre planned wrinkle. Chen Yan told teammates to put bodies on people, and he crashed the glass himself. Without Perkins and Davis parked in the paint, the rebound lanes opened up, and Chen Yan attacked them like they were open space.
The broadcast treated it like a hot stretch. The truth was simpler. It was strategy.
Even better, Chen Yan did not just collect rebounds. He turned them into offense instantly.
When Nash rebounded, the fast break belonged to him. When Chen Yan rebounded, the break turned into a different kind of threat. He could push it faster than Nash, he could pass, he could finish, and he could pull up if the defense retreated.
Nash benefited too. Instead of initiating 9 out of every 10 breaks, he was now doing it about 6 out of 10. The rest of the time, he could sprint to space and become a pure shooter, something that would have been unthinkable years earlier when the entire system depended on him holding the ball.
By halftime, Chen Yan had 11 rebounds.
Not empty rebounds either. He even had 2 offensive boards, proof that he had timing and instinct, not just teammates doing the dirty work.
At the break, Phoenix led 67 to 52.
A 15 point cushion on the road.
…
Boston refused to fold in the 3rd.
Durant finally nailed a 3 from the top, and Rivers even ran a stretch with 2 point guards, Rose and Rondo, taking turns attacking the Suns' defense. The Celtics played with that young team energy, relentless, fearless, and loud.
D'Antoni had to call timeout.
Coming out of it, Phoenix found the counter immediately. They hunted mismatches, especially when Boston had both Rose and Rondo on the floor. Offensively it could work, one scored, one passed. Defensively it was blood in the water.
Two guards under 190 cm were too easy to target, and Phoenix had too many ways to force the switch they wanted.
By the end of the 3rd, the Suns led 98 to 82.
Chen Yan grabbed 4 more boards in the quarter, pushing his total to 15, already a new personal best.
…
In the 4th, Chen Yan stayed on the floor. Phoenix wanted to bury the game with pace and turn it into garbage time.
Rose would not let it die quietly.
He hit 2 straight 3s, cutting the deficit to 10 and keeping TD Garden alive.
Durant, though, was still struggling. He was 6 for 18. If not for Rose, the Celtics would have been out of reach much earlier.
The game stayed competitive until the final 2 minutes and change, when Boston finally waved the white flag and pulled the starters.
Durant did not want to leave without firing. On his way out, he launched 2 more 3s, both off iron.
Both misses dropped right into Chen Yan's orbit, gifting him 2 more rebounds like an apology.
Final score, Suns 131, Celtics 111.
A 20 point road win.
In past years, Phoenix talked championships like it was a slogan.
This year they did not need to talk.
Scoring 130 plus without overtime told the whole league everything it needed to know about their firepower.
Kenny wrapped it up. "Another Suns win. They're still sitting on top, and even the Lakers are getting left behind. This offense is insane. Nobody wants to see them in a series."
Barkley nodded, then smirked as Kenny read the box score.
"Phoenix had 6 guys in double figures," Kenny said. "Nash had 25 points and 8 assists. Amar'e Stoudemire had 26 points and 7 rebounds. Azubuike had 14. Barea had 11. Barnes had 10. And Chen Yan put up 41 points and 20 rebounds."
Kenny laughed under his breath. "If you only saw the numbers, you'd swear the Suns signed a super center overnight."
.....
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