NBA: Basketball Legend.

Chapter 427: Chapter 427: The Cunning Player, Two Easy Wins

Chapter 427: The Cunning Player, Two Easy Wins

Utah opened the possession with Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer running a pick and roll, then swung it out to Mehmet Okur on the perimeter.

Okur rose for a 3, and Stoudemire exploded to contest. He did not block it, but he got high enough to crowd Okur’s sightline. The shot caught the front rim and bounced out.

Okur’s release was slow. It worked against giants like Yao Ming who could not get out to the arc in time, but against a mobile big like Stoudemire, clean 3 point looks were hard to come by.

Diaw turned, secured the rebound, and fired an outlet the moment he landed.

Nash pushed with that effortless glide, sliced into the paint, and whipped the ball outward. Chen Yan trailed the break, caught, took 1 step, and rose.

Kirilenko’s long arm was already there. He jumped to contest, textbook positioning, hand in Chen’s face.

Chen still pulled up over him and buried the 3.

32 to 50.

On the replay, Kirilenko’s defense was perfect. The timing, the angle, the distance, he did everything right. It still did not matter.

In a live thread on a forum, fans spammed reactions in real time.

”There’s nothing you can do about that shot.”

”That’s his signature tough make, he just throws it over you.”

”The scariest part is once Chen finds rhythm, defense becomes optional.”

”Kirilenko was right there too.”

”Right there? Even if he was inside Chen, he still couldn’t stop it.”

After that 3, Chen quietly drifted to the sideline.

His shoelace had come untied.

He crouched, tied it, and jogged back in. Deron did not seem to notice Chen slipping behind him and kept dribbling forward.

Chen Yan’s eyes narrowed.

If not now, then when?

He accelerated, reached in from behind, and stole the ball clean.

Deron froze for a second, confused.

What the hell?

When did this guy get behind me?

Chen Yan was already sprinting the other way. Deron cursed under his breath as he shrugged toward his teammates.

Damn it. Sly bastard.

Only Kirilenko chased.

Chen glanced back with his peripheral vision, crossed into the restricted area, and deliberately slowed down. The moment Kirilenko got close enough to contest, Chen sprang.

Boom.

A violent poster.

He had waited for Kirilenko on purpose, then dunked right through him. Slowing down to invite the defender into position, then finishing over him, it was the purest expression of confidence, in skill, in athleticism, and in sheer nerve.

After landing, Chen looked at Kirilenko and let his expression speak for him. He enjoyed the frustration on a defender’s face after being completely overpowered.

Kirilenko’s shoulders sagged. Fans would joke later that even an AK47 could misfire in front of Chen Yan.

The lead had hit 20, and Jerry Sloan had no choice but to burn a timeout.

...

During the break, Mike Breen and Jeff Van Gundy replayed the sequence.

”Chen is like a phantom thief,” Breen said with a chuckle. ”He just quietly takes the ball right out of Deron’s hands.”

Van Gundy shook his head. ”Deron’s complaining his teammates didn’t warn him. Sure, someone could have called it out, but as a point guard, you have to see the floor. You cannot wait for other guys to tell you what’s happening behind you.”

”And after he lost it,” Breen added, ”he didn’t chase right away. That’s an effort issue.”

...

Out of the timeout, Sloan called for a pick and roll dive. Deron ignored it.

He waved everyone away and demanded an isolation, going straight at Nash.

”Run the pick and roll, do not force it,” Sloan barked from the sideline, but Deron pretended not to hear him.

Deron had grown into Utah’s star, and with that came overconfidence. The rebellious side started showing, the belief that the game should revolve around him, every possession, every time.

Sloan was thinking long term. He wanted Deron taking smarter shots, controlling volume, preserving his body, setting a pattern for a long career. Deron saw it differently. He felt restricted. He wanted the unlimited green light that other star guards around the league seemed to enjoy.

His jumper fell anyway, the ball bouncing softly on the inside rim before dropping.

Sloan did not smile.

It was a bucket, but it was also defiance, and a direct challenge to the coach’s authority.

The tension between mentor and star pupil was obvious.

Deron kept hunting isolations over the next stretch, trying to win the game by himself. But he was not that kind of takeover player yet. His results were only moderately efficient.

Phoenix, meanwhile, stayed Phoenix. The ball moved. Nash and Chen Yan kept creating. Stoudemire had another quick burst late in the second quarter, the result of being fed nonstop. At some point, even Amar’e looked like he was getting full.

...

Utah adjusted coming out for the second half, bringing in Kyle Korver, a pure shooter.

The impact was immediate.

Korver hit consecutive 3s, 1 from the baseline, 1 from the left 45. His gravity gave Utah a small flicker of hope. His 3 point percentage this season hovered near 40%, elite territory.

But Phoenix answered with 3s of their own.

You are not the only team with shooters.

Nash calmly ran a pick and roll, pulled up from the top, and drilled it.

He had not shot much all night, but ignoring him was a mistake nobody could afford. Nash was a famous member of the 180 Club, and his touch did not disappear just because he chose to pass first.

Then Chen Yan hit.

Then Raja Bell hit.

Then Steve Novak hit.

Raja Bell was above 40% this season. Nash was at 43.1%. Chen Yan was at a terrifying 45.5%.

And Novak was the most absurd of all, sitting at 50.1%, over 50%.

Part of that was context. Phoenix created clean looks. Teammates drew double teams, and Novak benefited from wide open catch and shoot chances. The other part was volume. He only took about 2 3s per game, and almost all of them were uncontested.

Utah was stunned.

They had 1 elite shooter.

Phoenix had a whole squad.

The gap stretched again in the third. In the fourth, the Suns relaxed defensively and allowed Utah to trim the margin, but it never threatened the outcome.

Final score, Phoenix 113, Utah 91.

Chen Yan played 34 minutes and finished 10 for 15 from the field, 4 for 6 from 3, and 6 for 6 at the line.

30 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals.

Nash added 9 points and 16 assists. Together, Nash and Chen totaled 24 assists, and the biggest beneficiary was obvious.

Stoudemire erupted for a game high 43 points.

In the locker room, talking to reporters, Amar’e could not stop smiling.

”Tonight I just kept scoring, and scoring again,” he said, still riding the adrenaline. ”I gotta thank my teammates, Steve and Chen. Whenever I got an opening, the ball showed up right away. Sometimes I swear the basketball got a tracking device. I love this feeling. I told those 2 guys, if they pass me the ball like that every night, I might win MVP.”

The locker room laughed. Winning did that. It made everything feel lighter.

After the game, the media did not treat it like a major story, and there was not much praise aimed at Chen Yan.

For most shooting guards, 30 plus 5 plus 5 would be headline material.

For Chen Yan, it felt routine, almost expected.

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