Chapter 245: A Gorgeous Team Performance, Defeating The Nuggets!
If Van Gundy makes people think of rigid basketball, then the first thing that comes to mind with D Antoni is freedom.
Open offense, open style. D Antoni always gives his players a lot of room to play, letting them read the game and react, which brings out their imagination on the floor.
He spent time coaching in Europe. He liked the efficient shooting there, but he did not like how complicated the tactics were. Put that together with his love of speed, and the Suns run and gun system was born.
That style puts big demands on the players.
First, you need guards with a very high basketball IQ, guys who can see the game, shoot, and attack off the dribble.
There are not many guards like that in the league. The Suns have two.
Nash and Chen Yan both fit exactly what D Antoni wants, and together they make one of the best backcourts in the NBA.
On the court, the game rolled on.
Carmelo Anthony forced his way inside against Raja Bell, but Amar e Stoudemire slid over and sent his shot off the glass.
Diaw put his body on Camby, and before Kenyon Martin could leave the ground, Chen Yan came flying in from the outside and snatched down the defensive rebound.
Those extra points he had put into his rebounding were paying off. His reads off the rim and his timing were clearly sharper.
The moment he landed, Chen Yan pushed the ball himself.
He sprinted straight up the floor, heading right for the Nuggets paint.
Seeing him coming full speed, the veteran Anthony Carter stepped in just behind the free throw line, braced himself, and covered his chest, ready to draw a charge.
The idea was sound. The problem was that Chen Yan could change direction at full speed like a sports car sliding through a turn.
He triggered his Shadow Trace step, sliding around Carter at the last moment and gliding in for the layup.
Fans blew up online and in the arena.
"Here we go again, the killer eurostep!"
"He does not slow down for it, he goes even faster. That is crazy!"
"His body control is unreal!"
"Do not try to foul him in transition, or you will just become part of the highlight!"
They had already seen that move many times this season, but it still never got old.
The Nuggets came back on offense.
Anthony Carter brought it up, trying to run the set, while Iverson curled off a screen to the top.
Catch, rise, release.
The look was clean, but the ball hit the rim and bounced out.
As soon as the shot left his hand, the Nuggets players turned and sprinted back. They all knew that if the Suns got one more easy fast break, George Karl on the sideline was going to explode.
Diaw grabbed the rebound and fired a strong one hand outlet to Nash near the three point line.
Nash pushed up with his eyes locked on Chen Yan, who was streaking in from behind. With a quick flick of his left hand, Nash sent the ball forward.
The Nuggets defense was already set this time, so Chen Yan did not force a wild drive. He leaned toward the paint, then slammed on the brakes and pulled the ball back out, drawing both Iverson and Anthony Carter with him.
Just when it looked like he was going to settle into a half court isolation, Chen Yan snapped a bounce pass backdoor to Nash, who had cut behind Camby.
Nash caught it and rose, drawing Camby with him.
In midair, Nash twisted and wrapped the ball around Cambys body, slipping a pass under his arm.
Camby, the shot blocking king, could not even get a hand on it.
He was still turning when Stoudemire caught the pass in stride and took off, exploding up for a violent dunk that shook the rim.
On TNT, Kenny Smith was almost out of his chair.
"Look at that ball movement!" Kenny shouted. "Three guys, three touches, and they carved the whole defense up!"
Barkley nodded. "That is beautiful basketball. Nash, Chen, Amar e, they are playing like they are in a layup line and the Nuggets are just watching."
Denver tried to respond, but their urgency only made things worse.
Anthony Carter tried to use Kenyon Martin in a simple two man action. Carter wanted a screen. Martin read it like a handoff. The two ran into each other, Carter lost his balance, and the ball popped loose.
Nash pounced on it and pushed the other way.
As he crossed half court, he flipped the ball ahead. Chen Yan rose, snatched it with one hand, and without landing swung it behind his head.
The pass hit Raja Bell in stride. Bell took three easy steps and laid it in without a contest.
"Showtime!" Kenny laughed. "The Suns are putting on a clinic!"
Barkley shook his head and grinned. "That is how you break another teams spirit. Steal, hit ahead, behind the head pass, layup. Nuggets are getting run out of the gym right now."
The fans in the arena were going crazy. On the bench, the Suns players all stood up and mimicked Chen Yan's behind the head pass in sync, making the moment even funnier.
After scoring six quick points in the quarter, Chen Yan had shifted gears.
Now he was focused on creating for everyone else.
That was his game. Sometimes he killed you with scoring, sometimes with passing and spacing, depending on what the team needed and how the defense played him. It was never just about his mood.
"Time out!"
George Karl finally had enough and signaled to the scorer's table.
On the Suns bench, the mood was the opposite.
"Good pass!"
"Nice cut!"
"Keep pushing the pace!"
"That is our game. Do not let them breathe!"
The starters traded high fives and quick shouts, feeding off the energy.
On the Nuggets side, heads were down. The Suns style was fun for the crowd, but for the team on the wrong end, it felt like getting put on a poster over and over.
Out of the timeout, nothing really changed. The Nuggets still looked a step slow. The Suns kept running and kept sharing the ball, and Denver just kept losing track of shooters and cutters.
In the final two minutes of the second quarter, Phoenix turned the pressure up even more.
The Suns had Nash, Chen Yan, Azubuike, Barnes, and Stoudemire on the floor.
The Nuggets stayed with Iverson and Melo, along with Nene, Kleiza, and Camby.
Anthony Carter stayed glued to the bench. George Karl knew he needed his playmaking, but the defensive drop off was just too big.
Phoenix attacked again.
Nash crossed half court and used an Azubuike screen. As the defense shifted, he swung the ball back to Azubuike, who immediately swung it again back to Nash.
Nash did not even pause. He fired it to Barnes at the top.
Barnes kept it moving, dribbling sideways and flicking the ball on.
The ball snapped around the perimeter so fast that the Nuggets were still rotating while it was already in Chen Yan's hands on the right wing.
Chen caught it at about a sixty degree angle outside the arc. He took a step like he was going to keep moving the ball, then suddenly pulled it back, raised up, and shot.
Kleiza had guessed pass and never jumped.
"Swish."
Pure.
Chen smiled and pointed back at his teammates. Passing like that always made the shots feel better.
As the lead grew, the Nuggets got more anxious. Their shot selection slipped, and their misses piled up.
With thirty four seconds left in the half, Diaw decided to have some fun.
He pointed and waved like he was calling a set, then without even looking threw a wraparound pass behind his back.
The ball hit Chen Yan right in the hands.
Chen could have taken the shot, but he saw something better. With a quick flick, he fired it into the middle.
Azubuike had already cut hard from the corner. He caught the pass just inside the free throw line, took one powerful step, and rose for a two hand dunk.
Another clean sequence of passes. Another loud finish.
The Suns offense looked like a wave. Once it started rolling, it just kept coming.
After the dunk, Azubuike slapped Chen's hand hard, grinning.
He had been rough in Game One, clearly feeling the playoff nerves. In this game he had finally broken through and found himself again. That was exactly what Chen Yan wanted to see from him.
When the red light finally lit up at the end of the half, the lead had ballooned all the way to twenty five.
Nuggets fans had known dropping a road game was possible.
They just had not expected to see their team fall apart this fast.
If Game One had been Chen Yan's solo show, Game Two was the Suns entire team putting on a beautiful performance.
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