After making the substitution decision, Skiles spoke up before anyone could react. Rarely did he prepare to deliver a motivational pep talk. Influenced by Chen Yu over the past two years, he had read quite a few psychology books. He started paying attention to player motivation and learned to dish out these pep talks.
"This season, we have fought hard through all eighty-two games. When the playoffs arrived, many media outlets wrote us off. But we won our way here. I know our true strength, and this is not our real performance. We are the Suns, the first team of the new century to three-peat. We have played the toughest games and defeated the most stubborn opponents. So I do not believe Pioneer can win this game. Don’t they think they have this in the bag?"
Skiles pointed toward the visiting team’s locker room.
"But we are going to tell them that even down one to three, we can still turn the tables and win. Everyone, think about your sacrifices this season, especially Dirk!"
Skiles looked toward Nowitzki. Throughout the entire season, Dirk had barely missed any regular-season games and had continuously undergone special training. One could only imagine how much he had sacrificed.
"We have twenty-four minutes left. Get out there, win the game, and tell the whole world that this isn’t over. Everything is just beginning!" Skiles roared the final sentence with fiery passion.
Fortunately, his speech did not fall on deaf ears. The response was excellent. Just as Skiles had said, after working so hard for an entire season, who would be willing to just get eliminated like this?
"Let’s go!" Skiles waved his large hand, signaling them to head out. He intentionally held Hardaway back. "Anfernee."
Skiles had just started when Hardaway interrupted him. "Don’t be nervous, Scott. I understand."
Hardaway merely smiled, leaving everything unsaid but fully understood. Looking at his former teammate, Skiles let out a soft sigh and opened his arms to hug him.
The game resumed.
Phoenix Suns’ lineup change not only shocked Rivers but also startled the four men fiercely debating inside the TNT Studio.
"What are the Suns doing? Are they giving up on the game?" Barkley hollered. He was a Suns legend, after all, and he did not want to see them get eliminated just like that. Yet at this critical life-or-death moment, they had voluntarily changed their formation and benched Chandler. They were practically abandoning the paint altogether. It was far too extreme.
Kenny Smith also frowned, expressing his inability to comprehend this move. Everyone believed that the best way to counter Pioneer’s run-and-gun tactic was to avoid getting dragged into their rhythm. Let them be fast, while you patiently play your own game. If you truly tried to match their speed, you would only be run off the court and die an even uglier death.
"Scott is crazy!" Barkley continued to holler, finally adding, "This kind of game is so ugly. Nobody plays defense, and dropping sixty points in a single half is completely meaningless."
The men had just been engaged in a heated discussion. They had argued that Pioneer dropping sixty points in a half was terrifyingly extreme and didn’t even count as real basketball. Unexpectedly, the Suns had turned right around and started doing the exact same thing.
"Chen, you should be blamed for this. You started this terrible trend," Barkley even threw a long-distance jab at Chen Yu.
Pioneer’s rebuild, from personnel to tactics, was single-handedly managed by Chen’s team. And unfortunately, the rebuild was so successful that they had made a real name for themselves. This was exactly what made the run-and-gun tactic world-famous, corrupting the entire league.
Far away in Monaco, Chen naturally heard Barkley’s complaints. On the video call, Nelson joked, "Chen, aren’t you going to call Charles and argue back?"
"I can’t be bothered with him." Chen adjusted his lounging position and looked at the Suns players walking onto the court.
Now it was all up to Hardaway. With this adjustment, they had no choice but to speed up. And once the pace quickened, it would all depend on Anfernee’s ability to control the floor. Being purely fast was simple, but being fast and organized was difficult.
Neither team had a proper center on the floor anymore, and they were also dealing with Nowitzki and Milicic, two highly unconventional interior players. For a moment, the paint was practically empty.
Hardaway surprisingly ran a pick-and-roll with Nowitzki. With a single crossover, he drove straight to the basket. Milicic turned and chased after him, amazingly not completely losing his defensive position. Hardaway threw a behind-the-head pass. Nowitzki stayed right in step, casually dropping the ball into the hoop with a slow euro-step. Then everyone quickly scrambled back on defense, and Hardaway lunged straight at Nash.
Facing this kind of half-court press, Nash chose to pass, executing wide cross-court swings. Iguodala and Dior both had excellent ball-handling skills, making it difficult for them to turn the ball over on passes. Through these wide transfers, Pioneer could still push the ball past half-court as quickly as possible and get on the run. Milicic truly played like a guard. He could loop around the baseline and pull up for a shot a full meter behind the three-point line.
This type of game was genuinely awkward to watch, completely devoid of tradition. However, as he watched, Chen suddenly noticed an issue.
"Aaron, have you noticed that after we removed our center, our rebounding protection and interior defense didn’t drop off too much?"
Logically speaking, an empty paint should be perfect for driving to the rim. Yet, the Suns’ driving efficiency hadn’t improved significantly. The same was true for Pioneer. Nash was also a master at driving to the basket. This was somewhat abnormal.
"It looks like there’s no stationary rim-protecting center under the basket, but Dirk and the others turn around so quickly that they completely make up for the interior void. And it’s not just turning around; their lateral movement to block off drives is also extremely fast. Their rebounding protection is great as well."
Chen noticed that while the restricted area was empty, whenever a perimeter player drove inside, both Milicic and Nowitzki were capable of quick lateral blocks or timely turnaround help defense. This was because both of them were remarkably fast, unlike those clunky, traditional centers. Moreover, with their excellent wingspans and outstanding leaping abilities, their rim-protection skills were honestly not bad at all. As for basic rebounding, they handled it quite well because Marion and Dior, who had stepped up to fill the gaps, were also capable rebounders.
Nelson had evidently noticed this too. He nodded in agreement. "That’s right. At first, I was worried our interior defense would collapse, but surprisingly, it didn’t. In fact, they’ve been defending reasonably well."
Chen didn’t elaborate further. He vaguely formulated a few ideas, but they remained hazy, slipping past his immediate grasp. He decided to focus on the game first.
After the substitution adjustment, the Suns’ offense had visibly ascended to another level. They had gained an extra offensive weapon. Furthermore, unlike Pioneer’s heavy reliance on three-pointers, the Suns focused primarily on mid-range jumpers, making their offense significantly more stable. Thus, as the game progressed, the Suns shockingly began to chip away at the deficit.
When the pace was too fast, turnovers were inevitable. And the Suns were doing a decent job of controlling their mistakes. Whenever Pioneer missed a few consecutive shots, the Suns immediately seized the opportunity to close the gap.
By the end of the third quarter, the score was 82 to 84. The Suns had practically tied it up. They had erupted for a full thirty points in that single quarter.
"Terrifying!" Chen couldn’t help but grin.
In just three quarters, the two teams had racked up a combined 160 points. If they had been playing slow-paced teams like the Spurs or the Pistons, the entire game’s total score might have only been eighty points.
The camera panned across both benches. On Pioneer’s side, Rivers pulled his players together, speaking with a thoroughly anxious expression.
Rivers was genuinely starting to panic. What had looked like a guaranteed victory in the first half had somehow been clawed back by the Suns, bringing everything right back to square one. Was Pioneer really going to blow back-to-back games and be forced into a Game 7? The critical issue was that if they lost two straight, what guarantee was there that they could win the third? Losing two consecutive games would only mean that the Suns had fully figured out how to defeat Pioneer.
So if they lost Game 7, his name would likely be etched in NBA history for all the wrong reasons. Before this, there had only been six instances in NBA history where a team successfully came back from a 3-1 deficit. And it had never once happened in the West Finals. During the 1979 comeback, the Spurs were still in the East. Therefore, if Pioneer lost, it would absolutely set an unprecedented milestone.
Amidst Rivers’ agonizing anxiety, the fourth quarter began.
Rivers had limited coaching ability and lacked sharp on-court adjustments, but after watching from the sidelines for so long, he abruptly realized a glaring issue. Once Pioneer opted for their current playstyle—maximizing their offensive ceiling at the expense of defense—the resulting offensive firepower unleashed by the Suns was far stronger than he had imagined. He had banked on winning the game through sheer offense, never expecting the Suns to possess an even higher offensive ceiling.
The final quarter transformed entirely into Nowitzki’s personal showcase. In that single quarter, he shot two for four from the three-point line and four for five from mid-range. Without taking a single free throw, he aggressively racked up fourteen points.
In the first half, Pioneer had put up an impressive three-point shooting percentage. No one expected the Suns to catch absolute fire from deep in the final quarter. In a single quarter, the Suns shot a terrifying fifty percent from three, hitting five out of ten attempts. The Suns once again erupted for a massive thirty-two points in the quarter. Not only did they prevent Pioneer from regaining the lead, but they also expanded their own advantage.
The final score was 114 to 109. With a five-point margin, the Suns secured yet another victory.
The two teams were genuinely heading to a Game 7!
Rivers’ face turned a sickly shade of pale.

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