Chapter 553: You Want to Dance Too? Single Celled Organism
On the Suns' next possession, the Magic dropped into a 2 to 3 zone.
Nash immediately called for a screen to break the shape of the defense, and Stoudemire popped into the middle for a mid range jumper.
It missed.
Tonight, Stoudemire looked like he had only one thought in his head, attack.
Alston brought the ball across half court, signaled for the set, then used a screen and slipped into the lane with a behind the back dribble. But he was not an elite perimeter attacker like Chen Yan or Kobe. He lacked the size and explosion to finish cleanly once the paint got crowded.
Buried in traffic, Alston tried to sling the ball back out to the perimeter.
Courtney Lee reached for it.
The pass kept rising.
And rising.
It sailed straight into the second deck.
Alston immediately raised a hand, owning the turnover. Van Gundy's beard twitched on the sideline, his frustration obvious, but there was not much he could do. Even an unstable Alston was still more reliable than the alternative.
Jameer Nelson, who had been in even worse form, sat on the bench. Van Gundy had briefly considered giving him minutes in Game 1 of the Finals to help him find a rhythm, but Nelson had played so poorly that both he and Van Gundy were hammered by the media afterward. In Game 2, Van Gundy had benched him outright. Since the Magic had nearly stolen that game, there was little chance Nelson would see meaningful minutes tonight either.
The Suns nearly turned it over on the other end.
Diaw caught the ball on the low block and looked for Chen Yan cutting through the lane. Courtney Lee nearly disrupted the pass. Diaw gathered himself, abandoned the feed, and went to work instead, turning into a soft half hook.
Clang.
It rolled off.
The Suns were struggling to find an offensive rhythm early, and the crowd in Orlando exploded in approval.
The Magic pushed back.
Alston slowed at the left wing outside the 3 point line, waiting for his teammates to get into position. Howard sealed deep and got the ball exactly where he wanted it.
Nash immediately retreated a couple of steps, ready to bring a second defender.
D'Antoni's plan for Howard was simple, attack him with quick double teams. Howard's post game was still raw, and his vision out of the post was nowhere near elite. Against that kind of center, aggressive help was usually profitable.
But Howard broke script on this trip.
After one hard dribble, he spun baseline.
Normally, big men avoid the baseline because the space gets tight fast and the options shrink. But Howard trusted his body more than his reads.
The Suns' defense instantly collapsed. Chen Yan, Diaw, and Stoudemire all closed in on him at once.
Howard had nowhere to shoot, yet he still used his absurd athleticism to sling the ball back out.
Courtney Lee caught it in rhythm and buried the open 3.
0 to 5.
Phoenix came right back.
Chen Yan used a screen from Stoudemire and drove left. The moment Howard switched out, Chen Yan dropped his shoulder and attacked the paint.
Too fast.
Turkoglu slid over from the weak side to help. Chen Yan did not veer away. He went right into the body, looking to force the whistle.
There was clear contact in the air. He still managed to toss the ball up.
No call.
The Magic went the other way, dumped the ball back to Howard, and he missed a short hook through contact. This time the whistle came, and Stoudemire was tagged with a foul.
Stoudemire hopped in place in disbelief, furious. If he had touched Howard at all, it could not have been more than a brush.
Fans watching back home immediately started complaining.
The whistle was leaning hard tonight.
Howard split the free throws.
6 to 0.
Faced with the tone of the officiating, Chen Yan answered in the only language he trusted, buckets.
On the next trip, Phoenix cleared a side for him on the strong wing.
He caught Nash's pass, turned hard, and drove straight into Courtney Lee's chest, backing him down one power step at a time.
Bang.
Bang.
The sound of bodies colliding echoed through the building.
Courtney Lee was not weak, but Chen Yan's two quick turns before the post up had already knocked his footwork off balance. Once that happened, Chen Yan was able to move him.
Lee fought back hard on the next bump.
That was contact the refs could have called.
They stayed silent.
Chen Yan did not wait for help from the whistle. He just kept going.
After forcing Lee backward, he suddenly turned into a shot fake. Lee bit and jumped.
Chen Yan spun the other way with beautiful footwork, rose in space, and knocked down the mid range jumper.
2 to 6.
Orlando came back to Howard again.
This time, all four Magic shooters spread wide beyond the arc to let Howard work in single coverage, the classic inside out setup once built around players like Shaq and Yao.
But Howard was not those guys. His post package was too limited. Once the defense took away his first option, he rarely had a polished counter.
He leaned into Stoudemire, drove toward the middle, and flipped up a short floater.
Miss.
This time the whistle stayed quiet. If the officials called every bit of contact on Howard's power drives, the game would never end.
Stoudemire secured the rebound and gave it to Nash. Orlando's transition defense got back cleanly, so Phoenix had to flow into the half court.
Nash swung it to Chen Yan on the wing. Chen Yan palmed the ball with one hand and gave a deceptive shot fake, his huge hands making the motion even more convincing.
Even after getting fooled on the prior possession, Courtney Lee still leaned forward instinctively.
That tiny step was enough.
Chen Yan ripped through and blew by him.
Lee recovered fast and lunged back into position. His coordination was excellent.
Then Chen Yan crossed right back across his body and left him spinning in place.
The arena gasped.
Chen Yan got downhill and met Howard at the rim.
Howard planted himself, ready to send the shot into the crowd. Chen Yan had dunked on him before, sure, but Howard was still an elite shot blocker with freak size and bounce. He demanded respect.
Chen Yan slowed.
Then hop stepped to Howard's other side.
Howard slid with him.
Chen Yan pushed the ball forward just enough to make Howard jump.
Howard came down and sprang right back up, showing off that ridiculous second leap.
Chen Yan still did not shoot. Another fake.
Howard was completely out of the play now.
Chen Yan stepped through and laid it in softly.
The move was clinical, almost cruel.
Fans watching around the world exploded. Howard, for all his physical dominance, had just been played like a puppet.
Barkley laughed on the broadcast.
"Howard wanted the block so bad he started reacting to every shadow."
Kenny Smith grinned.
"That is what great scorers do to elite defenders. They make them guess, then punish every wrong answer."
Chen Yan glanced over his shoulder as he ran back, almost as if asking Howard a silent question.
You want to dance too?
The answer was already on the scoreboard.
.....
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