Whether it was an accident no longer mattered. The fact was, it was broken, and it wasn’t getting fixed anytime soon.
Inside the TNT Studio, Barkley didn’t explicitly say the Spurs were using off-court tactics, but he kept going on about the floor and the hoops at the North Shore Garden Arena, even bringing up Jordan’s pizza. It was clear he was being snarky about the Spurs.
Of course, the power outage at the Phoenix Suns’ hotel from two years ago was also brought up.
In the conference room, no one looked happy.
On paper, the sweltering arena should have been fair to both teams. It might have even been more advantageous for the Phoenix Suns.
After all, if it got too hot, the players’ performance would suffer, and their minutes would have to be reduced. In that scenario, the Phoenix Suns, with their deeper bench, should have had the upper hand.
But once the game actually started, Chen Yu realized that wasn’t the case.
First of all, the Spurs were clearly prepared. Their starters took shorter rests, and when they did come off the court, their breaks were staggered perfectly.
And as soon as a player was subbed out, someone on the sidelines would immediately begin targeted cooling measures.
When the camera panned over the Spurs’ bench, Chen Yu even saw several open coolers placed around and under the chairs, probably filled with ice to circulate cool air.
On the Phoenix Suns’ side, however, it was an away game. There were some things they couldn’t have prepared even if they’d wanted to.
Seeing this, Chen Yu refused to believe the Spurs hadn’t done it on purpose.
Then there was O’Neal.
O’Neal was really struggling today. He was a big guy who already sweated a lot, and to make matters worse, he was wearing a protective mask.
Playing in a mask is actually very uncomfortable. It’s stuffy, and you sweat. The sweat then drips down the inside of the mask, getting into your eyes. It’s sticky, and you can’t even wipe it away.
It was manageable with the AC on, but playing in a mask without it was pure torture.
And in this game, the Spurs continued their strategy against O’Neal from the last game: play physically, and foul him if they couldn’t stop him.
All these factors combined to make O’Neal’s performance a disaster.
To make matters worse, his backup, Sabonis, wasn’t in good shape either, and Perkins was too young to fill the gap.
At the end of the half, the Phoenix Suns were trailing 46 to 54, down by 8 points.
But in the second half, not only did the deficit not shrink, it grew wider.
Skiles stood on the sideline, the back of his shirt soaked with sweat. He glanced at O’Neal, who had his head tilted back while Carter tended to his nose, then looked back at the court where Duncan was toying with Sabonis, whose footwork was as slow as a grandmother’s dance. Gritting his teeth, he signaled for a timeout.
"Shaq, you’re not going in." Seeing O’Neal look at him pitifully, Skiles gave a wry smile and waved him back to the bench. He then scanned the team and said, "We’re changing the lineup."
He grabbed the tactical board and started scribbling on it.
’If we lose both away games and go down 0-2, the risk is huge.’
Given O’Neal’s condition today, Skiles had only one option: change the lineup.
McDyess moves to the five, Marion to the four.
Miller’s out, Posey’s in.
Miller’s performance had been decent this season, but at his age, he was far from his peak. In an arena this hot, he wasn’t playing well either.
Hardaway moves to the two, and we’re bringing in Payton to run the point.
"We need to pick up the pace." Skiles looked up at the players, gritting his teeth. "We’re suffering, but so are they. Everyone’s just trying to hang on, and it’s a matter of who breaks first. Their starters have played more minutes than ours. If we push the tempo, they’ll be the ones to crack."
Going small on the inside was all about increasing their speed.
"Anfernee, I need you to score more, you understand?" Skiles’s gaze fell on Hardaway as he spoke in a serious tone.
Bringing in Payton was meant to free up Hardaway to focus solely on offense.
Hardaway crunched on some ice cubes and nodded forcefully.
He’d developed the mindset of a superstar over the past two years. As the star player, he knew he had to step up when the team was in its toughest spot.
"Hurry up, wipe yourselves down with towels, cool off. Everyone, if we beat the Spurs, this year’s championship is still ours. A three-peat." He held up three fingers, his meaning obvious.
’Damn Spurs. They didn’t even prepare enough ice.’
However, during halftime, Chen Yu had specifically called to remind them not to wipe down with ice, as it would affect their physical state. He told them to use warm water instead, which was more effective for cooling down while also maintaining their body’s condition.
The players looked at each other and nodded.
In everyone’s eyes, as long as they got past the Spurs, there would be no one left to challenge them.
The East?
The Phoenix Suns had never considered the East a threat.
The game resumed.
Seeing the Phoenix Suns’ new lineup, Popovich, who was on the sideline pulling at his collar to cool down, narrowed his eyes.
’This lineup change is too sudden.’
Before he could think any further, the game was back on.
Having gone smaller, the Phoenix Suns were playing at a blistering pace.
It was still the pick-and-roll. Hardaway went around McDyess’s screen and drove straight to the basket.
He caught the pass, came to a sudden stop, and hit a floater.
The Phoenix Suns immediately fell back on defense.
McDyess puffed out his cheeks, battling hard against Duncan, not giving an inch in the physical matchup.
However, Duncan’s experience and skill were clearly a cut above.
Seeing that Duncan was about to score, McDyess didn’t hesitate to wrap him up and pull him down from mid-air.
Before sending him in, Skiles had specifically pulled McDyess aside and told him to play a little dirtier.
’If the Spurs can play dirty, why can’t we?’
Duncan let out a cry of pain and nearly landed flat on his butt.
The whistle blew.
Duncan didn’t overreact. His composure was unnerving as he shook out his arm and walked to the free-throw line.
He made one of two.
’McDyess’s foul wasn’t small; he’d twisted his arm a bit.’
The Phoenix Suns inbounded quickly. Hardaway and three others were already streaking down the court like arrows.
Taking advantage of the Spurs’ unset defense, the ball was quickly passed to Marion in the corner.
He pulled up and shot.
Going for the three.
This was also part of Skiles’s plan.
Fewer drives to the basket. If there was a decent look from the outside, take the three.
After all, four of the players on the court had three-point range.
’We’re trying to catch up, we’ve gone small, and we can’t afford to double-team Duncan to death. Even if we can’t stop the two, we can slowly close the gap with threes.’
The ball bounced in.
Skiles clapped excitedly, yelling for them to hold on.
He glanced at the clock. If they could just hold on for another eight minutes and close the gap, O’Neal would be fully rested for the final three minutes. Those last three minutes would be a bare-knuckle brawl.
The clock ticked down, minute by minute.
Back in Phoenix, as Payton drained a three-pointer on a fast break, Brian cheered excitedly and said, "Scott’s lineup change is working wonders."
The others in the room nodded in agreement.
As Chen Yu cheered, a thought suddenly popped into his head.
’With hand-checking rules relaxed, the perimeter has opened up. It feels much more favorable for shooting threes.’
’And no matter how you look at it, the offensive efficiency of a three-pointer is higher than a two.’
’It’s a good thing the Phoenix Suns have been stockpiling shooters for the past two seasons and have made three-point shooting a regular part of their training.’
The starters were hunting for threes, and so were the backups.
Kovol, Miller, Stockton controlling the floor... The veteran didn’t get many opportunities in the playoffs, but he didn’t care. He was always on the bench, conserving his energy, waiting for a chance to contribute.
And in this game, his chance came.
Dribbling against Parker, he used a series of rhythm changes and then suddenly passed.
The ball squeezed through a seam in the defense and was delivered precisely to Kovol in the weak-side corner.
He was wide open.
Kovol didn’t waste the brilliant pass, draining the three-pointer.
Scenes like this kept repeating.
In just over three minutes on the court, Stockton led the bench unit, dishing out four assists and clawing back three points from the Spurs.
With three minutes left in the game, the Phoenix Suns were trailing 87 to 88, behind by just one point.
"We’ve got this."
When he saw Skiles call a timeout and O’Neal get up to check in, the knot in Chen Yu’s stomach finally loosened.
At that moment, Chen Yu completely understood Skiles’s plan.
’The media always says he lacks in-game adaptability. But just look at this game. Isn’t this brilliant?’
Daring to go small, giving O’Neal ample rest, and chasing the score with three-pointers... a coaching move that was both incredibly bold and incredibly smart.
O’Neal entered the game, channeling all his anger about the broken AC. The first thing he did was power through Duncan for a two-handed slam dunk.
And with him just standing under the basket, the Spurs’ ability to penetrate was instantly cut in half.
In the final moments, O’Neal took over the game like a king returning to his throne.
Having played just over 40 minutes in such a hot game, Duncan was gasping for air, completely exhausted. He was no match for O’Neal.
Within three minutes, O’Neal led the team on a 10-3 run, putting the Spurs away for good.
In the conference room, Brian and David Griffin high-fived in celebration.
"Chen, you think we should ’accidentally’ break our AC too?" Brian asked suddenly after an excited hug with Chen Yu.
"Or shut off the hot water in their locker room?"
A mischievous, scheming glint shone in Brian’s eyes.
"Give me a break."
Chen Yu sat back down.
’Only teams that can’t win play those kinds of dirty, off-court tricks.’
’If we just play normally, are the Spurs even a match for the Phoenix Suns?’
Just as he was thinking this, Chen Yu’s phone vibrated.
He pulled it out and saw it was a text from Ronaldo.
The message apologized for bothering him and then asked if Chen Yu had any plans or would be out of town on the 26th. It said he was coming to the United States on a private jet to have Chen Yu help him tune up his body.
Chen Yu blinked, and then it hit him.
’May 27th is the Champions League final.’
In the second leg of the Champions League semifinals held in early May, Porto, the ultimate dark horse, had miraculously eliminated Super Laco 1-0 to advance to the final.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid had relied on a brace from Ronaldo to narrowly eliminate Chelsea 3-2 on aggregate, setting up a final showdown with Porto.
Ronaldo hadn’t contacted him during the semifinals. Chen Yu had been busy and hadn’t given it much thought. He never expected that, on the eve of the final, Ronaldo would imitate these NBA teams and fly thousands of kilometers on a private jet to Phoenix just to get his body tuned up.
Chen Yu suddenly remembered when he was leaving Monaco, Ronaldo had mysteriously told him he had a way to win. ’So this was his plan?’
’Instead of having me go to Spain, he’s coming directly to the United States.’
’That’s pretty extreme. Thousands of kilometers!’

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