Chapter 785: Deron Steals the Show
At the opening tip, DeAndre Jordan beat Yao Ming and knocked the ball toward New York.
Curry brought it across half court and immediately initiated the offense.
Battier and Chen Yan crossed paths while moving through the set.
Brooklyn was guarding Chen Yan extremely tightly, preventing him from receiving the ball on the 1st action.
Battier kept the possession moving.
Chen Yan suddenly reversed direction and curled toward the wing.
This time, the pass reached him.
Gerald Wallace was defending Chen Yan.
Compared with Anthony Morrow, Avery Johnson believed Wallace had a better chance of slowing him down.
That was true.
Relatively speaking.
For Chen Yan, however, the identity of the defender made little difference.
Nobody could truly stop him anyway.
The moment Chen Yan caught the ball, he wasted no movement.
1 hard dribble sideways.
Sudden stop.
Pullup.
Wallace stayed right in front of him and contested the shot well.
Chen Yan's rhythm was simply perfect.
Swish!
The ball sliced cleanly through the net.
Wallace immediately understood what kind of night this might become.
Chen Yan had attacked him with a pullup jumper on the very 1st possession.
His offensive intentions could not have been clearer.
Chen Yan was following the same strategy he had used in Game 2.
Establish his own scoring first.
Then use the defensive attention he created to activate the rest of the team.
Brooklyn came back on offense.
Music thundered through the arena as the home crowd rose to its feet.
The atmosphere inside the Nets arena was every bit as intense as Madison Square Garden tonight.
This was a rivalry game against New York.
The fans had been standing and cheering since the opening possession.
Anthony controlled the ball at the top of the arc.
Battier defended him closely.
Anthony took 2 dribbles.
Battier shaded him sideways, trying to keep him from reaching his preferred mid range areas.
Anthony could shoot the 3 off the dribble, but that was not his most dangerous weapon.
He felt the rhythm disappear and suddenly jumped as though he were going to pass.
Battier reacted immediately and got a hand into the passing lane.
The deflection was successful.
The recovery was not.
The ball bounced right back toward Anthony.
Fewer than 10 seconds remained on the shot clock.
Anthony attacked.
He put the ball in his left hand and drove hard into Battier.
From the wing, Chen Yan began dropping toward the paint, preparing to close the driving lane.
Anthony saw him.
For an elite scorer, awareness mattered as much as technique and physical strength.
Timing could decide everything.
Anthony gathered near the elbow.
Then he turned his back and rose into a fadeaway jumper.
Battier's defense was almost identical to Wallace's defense against Chen Yan on the previous possession.
Right in his face.
Perfect contest.
It still did not matter.
Swish!
2 to 2.
That was the reality of defending a superstar scorer.
Sometimes you knew exactly what he wanted to do.
Sometimes you defended the possession perfectly.
And sometimes the shot went in anyway.
New York inbounded immediately.
Curry launched a long pass toward Chen Yan.
The instant Chen Yan caught the ball, Brooklyn's defense began collapsing toward him.
That was his gravity.
Chen Yan did not hold possession.
He caught the ball with 1 hand and instantly flicked it toward the middle.
DeAndre Jordan was sprinting down the lane behind him.
He caught the pass, planted both feet, and exploded upward.
Boom!
1 handed slam.
4 to 2.
The force in DeAndre's legs was obvious the moment he left the floor.
He had learned his lesson from the previous round.
On road trips now, he no longer opened his hotel room door carelessly when someone knocked late at night.
When it was time to sleep, he put on headphones or inserted earplugs and ignored everything outside.
The Knicks continued playing the same way they had throughout the first 2 games.
Fast.
Relentlessly fast.
Brooklyn knew exactly what New York wanted to do.
The problem was finding a way to stop it.
Several of the Nets core players were not especially fast.
Their best answer was to control the pace on offense and prevent the game from turning into a track meet.
Deron Williams slowly dribbled across half court.
That was a specific instruction from Avery Johnson.
Slow everything down.
Disrupt New York's rhythm.
Force the Knicks to defend in the half court.
Yao Ming established position inside.
Curry immediately dropped into the restricted area to help with the double team.
Yao caught the entry pass but did not force a shot.
Instead, he facilitated.
Pass back outside.
Deron caught the ball beyond the 3 point line and looked at the rim.
Shot fake.
Then he stepped forward and attacked with his left hand.
Deron's 1st step was not particularly explosive.
Curry stayed with him.
David West rotated over as well.
The 2 defenders were about to close the lane.
Deron suddenly showed a pass fake.
Both defenders reacted.
In the next instant, Deron rose and twisted beneath the basket.
Reverse layup.
In.
The crowd erupted.
Deron had fooled both Curry and David West on the same play.
"That was beautiful," Kenny Smith said. "Deron got 2 defenders leaning with the fake and finished on the other side."
Barkley nodded.
"That looked like the old Deron Williams right there. If he can play like that for 4 quarters instead of just giving Brooklyn a good stretch here and there, this team becomes a lot more dangerous."
New York quickly inbounded again.
Chen Yan brought the ball across half court.
Curry received it beyond the 3 point line.
Shot fake.
Deron reacted.
Curry took 1 dribble forward and pulled up from the mid range.
Miss.
Curry did not dwell on it.
He immediately turned and sprinted back on defense.
New York's fast pace was never going to produce a basket on every possession.
That was not the point.
The Knicks wanted more possessions.
More opportunities.
More pressure.
Over the course of a full game, increased possession volume usually meant more chances to score.
Anthony secured the rebound.
Unlike New York, he showed absolutely no urgency.
He casually dribbled the ball across half court.
From 1 step beyond the arc, Anthony continued moving right.
He did not accelerate.
If anything, he slowed down as he approached the 3 point line.
Battier saw Anthony begin turning his body sideways.
Post up?
Battier immediately lowered his center of gravity and prepared to absorb the contact.
Instead, Anthony continued dribbling forward.
Battier quickly turned to follow.
Then he ran straight into Yao Ming.
Screen.
Anthony took advantage of the separation and immediately rose for a mid range jumper.
Swish!
4 to 6.
The entire possession looked strange.
If it was a 1 man fast break, Anthony had moved at the speed of someone taking an evening walk.
But technically, he had carried the ball from the backcourt into the frontcourt by himself and finished the possession before Brooklyn set its normal offense.
New York came back the other way.
Chen Yan attacked the paint.
He spun past Gerald Wallace.
Brooklyn's defense immediately collapsed from every direction.
Chen Yan whipped a stylish behind the back pass toward DeAndre Jordan.
The pass itself was beautiful.
DeAndre was not ready for it.
He had expected Chen Yan to force a difficult layup.
When the ball suddenly reached him, DeAndre nearly lost possession.
His recovery was rushed.
His finish was even more rushed.
He simply threw the ball toward the rim.
Clang!
Miss.
Yao Ming secured the rebound and passed to Deron.
Deron looked ahead.
Only Curry stood between him and the basket.
That was enough information.
Deron accelerated immediately.
The 2 guards were not in the same weight class.
The difference in strength was even more obvious once contact arrived.
Deron attacked Curry directly.
He powered through him in the air and rose toward the rim.
Boom!
1 handed dunk!
The arena exploded.
The roar from the home crowd became overwhelming.
Nelson immediately called timeout.
He had no intention of allowing Brooklyn's momentum to build any further.
Deron pounded his chest as he headed toward the bench, still riding the adrenaline from the dunk.
He had been relatively quiet through the first 2 games of the series.
Tonight, fueled by the home crowd, Deron Williams had clearly decided that he would not remain in the background.
Kenny Smith smiled as the replay appeared.
"Deron has been aggressive from the opening tip. First the reverse layup, now he powers through Curry for the dunk."
Barkley nodded.
"This is the Deron Williams people remember from Utah. Chen Yan and Carmelo might be the biggest names in this series, but so far tonight, Deron is stealing the show."
....
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