Yes.
Once both teams raised their defensive intensity, the role players on both sides began to cool off.
But the stars who had already found their rhythm, the Heat Big Three and "The Emperor" Blake, were still playing at a high level.
Miami couldn't stop Blake.
Phoenix couldn't stop the Heat Big Three either, especially LeBron and Wade.
So just as that fan had said, if neither side could stop the other team's stars...
then it would come down to offense.
"Step!"
LeBron took a step forward and prepared to attack.
When he saw Blake guarding him, he immediately passed to Wade on the other side.
"Smack!"
Wade caught the ball.
Paul George, Phoenix's second-best defender, stepped up to meet him.
Wade barely even looked at him.
He exploded forward with one lightning-fast step.
"Skrrt!"
Then he suddenly stopped and stepped back.
George's balance shifted instantly.
"Swish!"
Wade buried the mid-range jumper.
Phoenix pushed the other way.
"Thump, thump, thump!"
Blake held the ball at the top of the arc, facing "CB4" Bosh.
The instant the ball settled into his right hand, Blake burst to the right.
"Skrrt!"
Then he stopped on a dime and pulled the ball back between his legs.
Bosh was completely shaken off.
"Swish!"
Blake calmly knocked down the mid-range jumper.
"Whoosh!"
Chalmers quickly inbounded from the baseline and fired the ball ahead to Wade.
Wade caught it in stride, attacked straight down the middle, then suddenly tossed a high lob behind him.
"Step!"
LeBron came flying in from behind.
"BOOM!"
Alley-oop slam!
"Wow! There's the LeBron-Wade connection again! That's how dangerous those two are!"
Van Gundy shouted.
On the court, Nash immediately took the inbound pass and fired a full-court outlet.
The ball sliced through the defense like a surgeon's knife and found Blake perfectly in stride.
"Step!"
One step inside the free-throw line, Blake gathered the ball and took off.
He ignored Chalmers standing in front of him, glided through the air, and hammered home a vicious one-handed dunk.
Miami came right back.
Wade attacked George one-on-one and drew Blake over as help.
Wade immediately passed to LeBron at the free-throw line.
LeBron bulldozed straight through Curry.
But...
"Step!"
Frye rotated over just in time.
"Whoosh!"
LeBron immediately moved the ball again, finding Bosh on the right side of the lane.
Bosh caught it and went straight into a mid-range jumper.
"Swish!"
Good.
Phoenix possession.
"Whoosh!"
Blake attacked Bosh off the dribble and drew a double-team from LeBron.
But instead of passing immediately, Blake kept driving, forcing the entire defense to collapse on him.
Then...
"Whoosh!"
he pulled the ball back out to Curry on the perimeter.
"Whoosh!"
Curry rose for three.
"Clang!"
Miss.
The rebound?!
Frye tipped it out.
Blake and LeBron both charged toward the loose ball.
Blake snatched the rebound right over LeBron, took one hard step as if he were going to drive, then immediately rose for the jumper.
"Whoosh!"
Mid-range shot over LeBron.
"Step!"
LeBron contested immediately.
But Blake got off the floor so quickly, and with his advantage in height and wingspan...
even "King James" couldn't block the shot despite being right in his face.
Would it go?
"Swish!"
Yes!
"Wow!"
Van Gundy shook his head.
"He grabs the rebound over LeBron, then immediately rises and shoots right over him.
"That is an incredibly difficult shot.
"But 'The Emperor' Blake makes it anyway.
"He's unbelievable!"
Van Gundy simply couldn't stop praising Blake.
Mike Breen nodded.
"Once the defensive pressure increased, this game completely turned into Blake against the Heat Big Three.
"LeBron attacks first, Wade follows, and Bosh is right behind them.
"On almost every Miami possession, one of those three finds a way to put the ball in the basket.
"They're superstars for a reason. Their individual ability is unquestionable.
"For Phoenix, George, Curry, and even Nash have cooled off somewhat.
"They can still score, but they're not going to convert every opportunity.
"But they have Blake.
"Whenever the Suns' offense breaks down, 'The Emperor' becomes their anchor and finds a way to score.
"When any member of the Heat Big Three tries to attack Blake directly, things don't go nearly as smoothly.
"So Miami moves the ball, avoids him, and attacks mismatches against the other Suns defenders.
"That's where the Big Three's talent really shows. Once they get the matchup they want, scoring suddenly looks easy.
"And then there's 'The Emperor' Blake.
"With his overwhelming individual ability, nobody Miami throws at him can stop him.
"All the Heat can do is hope he misses.
"Looking at the game right now, this really has become an offensive shootout between 'Superhero' Blake and the Heat Big Three playing the role of the 'villains.'"
"Exactly!"
Van Gundy nodded emphatically.
"Even before the game began, we saw Suns fans all over the arena dressed as superheroes.
"They had one thing in mind.
"They wanted to see Blake push his individual dominance to the absolute limit, become the 'superhero,' and use his own offense to take on the Heat Big Three, the 'villains,' almost single-handedly.
"And right now...
"that's exactly what he's doing.
"He's playing the role of the 'superhero' and trading blows with the Heat Big Three all by himself.
"This game is incredible!"
The commentators were completely fired up.
On the court...
"BOOM!"
LeBron found himself matched up against Curry.
He used his strength to bump him aside, accelerated past him, and stormed into the paint.
Then he rose for a powerful one-handed tomahawk slam, his body twisting through the air in a C-shaped arc.
He hammered the rim.
"Whoa!"
The sheer violence of the dunk sent waves of gasps through the arena.
But Phoenix answered immediately.
At the top of the arc...
one step behind the three-point line...
"The Emperor" Blake rose suddenly over "CB4" Bosh and launched a deep three.
"Whoosh!"
The ball sailed just over Bosh's fingertips.
It seemed almost guided as it arced toward the rim.
"Swish!"
Nothing but net.
Blake answered Miami's dunk with a deep three of his own.
"Wow!"
"That's a direct answer from 'Superhero' Blake!"
In the stands, a fan dressed as Wolverine pumped his fist and shouted.
His girlfriend, dressed as Wonder Woman, cheered just as loudly.
"Blake is awesome!!!"
"Our 'Superhero' Blake is here!"
A fan dressed as Thor waved his hammer in the air and roared.
Spider-Man swung the rope in his hand and shouted excitedly:
"LeBron, Wade, and Bosh are like the villains in a movie!
"The final bosses!
"They're powerful and dangerous!
"And if you want to beat villains like that, you need a superhero to stand up!
"'The Emperor' Blake is the Suns' superhero!
"Come on!
"'Superhero' Blake, take down the villains, protect the league, and bring Phoenix its first championship in franchise history!!!"
"Yeah!"
"Let's go, Blake!"
Iron Man, Batman, the Hulk, and every other fan dressed as a superhero jumped to their feet and roared, cheering for "Superhero" Blake!
...
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