Chapter 787: A Meaningful Smile
New York quickly inbounded the ball and pushed forward.
Yao Ming had already been forced to work hard in the opening minutes. Every time Brooklyn transitioned to defense, he had to sprint back because the Knicks were playing at an relentless pace.
Chen Yan received the ball with Gerald Wallace pressing tightly against him.
Deron Williams immediately came over as the 2nd defender.
"The Nets are starting to double Chen," Kenny Smith observed.
"It makes sense," Barkley replied. "He has scored on consecutive possessions. If you keep letting him play 1 on 1, you are asking him to find his rhythm."
Chen Yan immediately recognized the coverage.
He did not hold the ball.
Instead, he passed it straight back to Curry.
Curry caught the ball beyond the 3 point line and looked toward the rim.
Deron immediately recovered toward him.
Curry did not shoot.
He attacked.
Deron had just sprinted back toward Curry, leaving his center of gravity leaning forward. He could not reverse his momentum quickly enough.
Curry blew past him.
Yao Ming stepped up from the paint to help.
Curry calmly slipped the ball to DeAndre Jordan.
DeAndre was completely open.
He caught the pass, took 1 step, and exploded upward.
Slam!
Brooklyn came back on offense.
Deron crossed half court and immediately fed Anthony.
Anthony established position with his back to the basket.
New York responded with a double team of its own.
Anthony had started the game well, and the Knicks were not going to give him easy isolation opportunities on every possession.
Caught between 2 defenders, Anthony raised the ball high and fought to get the pass back outside.
Deron caught it.
He did not shoot immediately.
He paused.
Adjusted.
Then fired.
Miss.
Calling it an adjustment was generous.
It looked more like hesitation.
Only a few possessions earlier, Deron had been playing with complete confidence after dunking over Curry.
Then Chen Yan had dunked over him.
After that, Chen Yan had erased his attempted revenge dunk at the rim.
Those 2 plays had clearly affected him.
For the next several minutes, Brooklyn remained committed to double teaming Chen Yan.
Chen Yan did not score.
In fact, he did not even attempt a shot for roughly 3 minutes.
From the outside, it appeared that the Nets had successfully taken him out of the offense.
In reality, Chen Yan was controlling the game.
Every time the double team arrived, he immediately moved the ball toward a teammate in a better position.
Sometimes the pass directly created the basket.
Other times it initiated the action that eventually produced the score.
Either way, New York kept generating quality opportunities.
Chen Yan certainly had the ability to attack double teams.
He could even rise over 2 defenders and shoot if necessary.
But forcing difficult shots consumed enormous amounts of energy.
When his teammates were playing well, there was no reason to make basketball unnecessarily complicated.
With 5 minutes and 7 seconds remaining in the 1st quarter, New York led 21 to 14.
Nelson began changing the lineup.
Curry, Battier, DeAndre, and David West went to the bench.
Barea, Yi Jianlian, Al Harrington, and Kenyon Martin entered.
Chen Yan remained on the floor with 4 reserves.
Both teams opened up offensively over the next few minutes.
The pace increased.
Points accumulated quickly.
New York's lineup was mobile and dangerous on offense.
Defensively, however, there were obvious weaknesses.
Anthony immediately targeted Yi Jianlian.
Yi possessed excellent size, athleticism, and respectable foot speed.
What he lacked was the defensive experience necessary to contain a scorer as skilled and versatile as Anthony.
Brooklyn continued sending 2 defenders toward Chen Yan.
Al Harrington became the biggest beneficiary.
Shortly after entering the game, he buried 2 consecutive 3 pointers.
Shooters loved playing beside Chen Yan.
His passes usually arrived at exactly the right moment.
Playing next to someone who attracted that much defensive attention naturally created cleaner looks and better shooting percentages.
With 1 minute and 56 seconds remaining in the 1st quarter, New York led 30 to 24.
Brooklyn had possession.
Yi had struggled to contain Anthony.
Chen Yan signaled for them to switch assignments.
Anthony immediately noticed.
And just as quickly, he changed his approach.
Against Yi, Anthony had relied mostly on face up attacks, using his footwork and skill to create openings.
Against Chen Yan, he abandoned that strategy.
Now he wanted contact.
Chen Yan had no problem with that.
He stepped forward and met him physically.
Anthony had clearly enjoyed himself over the previous 2 years.
He was noticeably heavier than he had been 2 seasons earlier.
Chen Yan could feel the difference the moment their bodies collided.
Anthony established position and demanded the ball.
Once the pass arrived, he immediately began backing Chen Yan down.
Then he used a powerful jump step to work deeper into the paint.
Anthony understood the matchup.
Chen Yan could jump.
So Anthony gave him no room to jump.
He kept his body pressed against Chen Yan and forced his way underneath the basket.
Finish.
30 to 26.
New York came back on offense.
The moment Chen Yan touched the ball, Brooklyn immediately sent the double team.
No hesitation whatsoever.
Chen Yan passed straight to Yi Jianlian.
Yi could shoot from the perimeter, so the Nets immediately rotated toward him.
Yi raised the ball.
Shot fake.
Then he put it on the floor with his right hand and took 1 strong step inside.
It was 1 of the fundamental moves in Yi's offensive arsenal.
Nothing complicated.
But combined with his size and athleticism, it became difficult to defend once he reached the paint.
Brooklyn's defense collapsed.
Yi jumped.
Instead of forcing the difficult shot, he looked for the pass.
"Yi!"
Chen Yan's voice came from behind him.
Chen Yan had already relocated without the ball to the diagonal space behind the play.
Yi twisted in the air and fired the pass back out.
Chen Yan caught it and immediately rose.
There was no time for Brooklyn to form another double team.
Gerald Wallace rushed toward him.
Too late.
Wallace got off the floor, but he could not reach Chen Yan's release point.
Chen Yan fired over him.
Swish!
32 to 26.
"That was beautiful basketball," Kenny said. "Yi penetrates, draws the defense, and finds Chen relocating behind the play."
Barkley grinned.
"And this time Yi gets to return the favor. Usually Chen is the one setting everybody else up."
Brooklyn returned to Anthony.
He fought aggressively for deep position inside.
Chen Yan refused to simply let him establish himself near the basket.
If Anthony caught the ball there, stopping him would become extremely difficult.
Chen Yan played halfway around his body, attempting to deny the entry pass.
Deron recognized the opening and threw a lob.
Anthony cut behind Chen Yan.
For once, Deron and Anthony were perfectly synchronized.
Anthony caught the pass near the basket.
He lowered his body.
Then he exploded upward for a powerful dunk.
At the same instant, Chen Yan recovered.
A large hand descended from above.
Bang!
The dunk was crushed.
Deron's pass had been excellent.
Anthony's decision had been completely reasonable.
The problem was Chen Yan.
His recovery speed and explosiveness were absurd.
Even after being beaten initially, he could erase the mistake almost instantly.
Anthony's strength prevented Chen Yan from controlling the block cleanly.
The ball struck the floor once and bounced toward the sideline.
Chen Yan immediately chased it.
Anthony reacted slightly later but refused to surrender possession.
He dove toward the loose ball.
Both stars reached it almost simultaneously.
The ball was knocked out of bounds.
The referee pointed toward Brooklyn.
Nets ball.
It had been a true 50 percent possession.
On Brooklyn's home floor, the marginal call went to the Nets.
Chen Yan did not waste time arguing.
Brooklyn prepared to inbound.
There were still 11 seconds remaining on the shot clock.
Anthony received the pass.
1 dribble with his right hand.
Then a huge step back toward the side.
He rose over Chen Yan.
The shot arced high.
Swish!
32 to 29.
Anthony immediately showed his emotion.
That was an extremely difficult jumper.
More importantly, he had made it directly over Chen Yan after having his dunk rejected moments earlier.
A measure of revenge.
The home crowd came alive.
"Defense!"
"Defense!"
"Defense!"
The chants rolled through the arena.
For the 1st time, New York's reserves could feel the pressure building around them.
That was part of Playoffs basketball.
Talent mattered.
Execution mattered.
But so did the ability to remain composed when thousands of opposing fans were screaming at you.
Yi Jianlian made a mistake on the next possession and turned the ball over with a bad pass.
His lack of Playoffs experience showed.
Gerald Wallace recovered the ball and immediately sent it ahead to Deron.
It was Brooklyn's 1st true fast break of the night.
And perhaps fittingly, the Nets looked uncomfortable running it.
Deron attacked the paint.
Then lost control.
The ball slipped directly into Barea's hands.
Barea happily accepted the steal.
He immediately lowered his center of gravity and accelerated forward.
Deron attempted to reach in.
Bad decision.
Barea flew past him.
At his height, Barea already played extremely low to the floor. Once he lowered his stance even further, trying to steal the ball from him head on became nearly impossible.
Deron had simply been too eager.
Barea pushed the break while surveying the floor.
New York had numbers.
He flicked a right handed pass toward Chen Yan.
Chen Yan caught the ball 1 step beyond the 3 point line.
He did not dribble.
He immediately raised the ball into his shooting motion.
Anthony sprinted toward him.
The moment Anthony left the floor, Chen Yan calmly lowered the ball again.
Anthony knew instantly.
Fake.
He had bitten completely.
Chen Yan stepped into the airborne defender.
Contact.
Whistle!
Chen Yan twisted in midair and threw the ball toward the basket.
He deliberately increased the arc.
The shot floated at an awkward angle.
Backboard.
In!
For a moment, the entire arena went silent.
New York's bench erupted.
"And 1!" Magic Johnson exclaimed. "Chen Yan has a chance at a 4 point play."
"He has drawn more 4 point plays than anyone in the league this season," Magic continued. "He has already set the NBA single season record."
Once the home fans recovered from the shock, boos poured down.
Some screamed that Chen Yan had manufactured the contact.
Others accused him of hunting for the foul.
Chen Yan did not seem bothered.
Standing amid the hostility, he slowly smiled.
It was not a celebration.
It was not laughter.
Just a small, meaningful smile.
Several fans sitting near the court suddenly became quieter.
For some reason, that smile felt more unsettling than any trash talk Chen Yan could have given them.
....
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