Chapter 344: Wearing Down Kobe, On the Verge of Collapse
The second quarter started fast.
Neither team blinked. Both coaches stuck with the starters again, refusing to follow the usual script of letting bench units soak up minutes.
The pressure was too heavy for that.
Los Angeles was facing elimination, lose and the season ends on the spot.
Phoenix had the opposite fear. They did not want this series going back to Los Angeles for Game 7. If there was a door to close tonight, they wanted it shut, locked, and bolted.
Phoenix opened the quarter with the ball.
Nash, Diaw, and Chen Yan ran a crisp give and go. The ball pinged once, twice, then Chen Yan caught it in stride, took 1 step into the lane, and finished an easy layup.
22 to 34.
On the TNT call, Kenny Smith liked what he saw.
"That's good basketball," Kenny said. "They're not forcing hero shots early in the quarter. They're cutting, moving it, getting a clean finish."
Charles Barkley grunted approval.
"Phoenix is playing like they got a plan," Charles said. "And the plan is, make the Lakers chase them all night."
Los Angeles came back down.
Fisher walked it over half court. Nash, clearly dealing with his back, did not put heavy pressure on him.
Fisher swung it to Kobe on a handoff, then set a screen.
Nash switched onto Kobe.
The matchup was unfair on paper, size, strength, everything. Nash did not care. He crowded Kobe anyway, daring him to drive but refusing to give him a clean jumper.
Kobe shielded the ball, snapped into a crossover, and blew past Nash clean.
But the knee was there. The explosion was not.
He got into the paint, then Stoudemire and Diaw converged together.
Slap.
They met him hard, aggressive, right in the air.
The whistle blew.
D'Antoni clapped on the sideline, loud and sharp.
"Good. Keep it up. Be physical," he barked.
That was the point. Make every possession cost Kobe something.
Kobe went to the line.
Swish.
Swish.
24 to 34.
2 points, but nothing came easy.
Phoenix answered with another team action. Chen Yan cut, drew attention, and dropped the ball into Stoudemire's hands.
Stoudemire rose and hammered it down.
24 to 36.
The lead stayed in double digits.
Phoenix was scoring through movement and connection. The Lakers were leaning harder on Kobe's isolations, and the burden was starting to show.
Kobe attacked again through Raja Bell's pressure and drove into the paint.
Phoenix collapsed. Everybody loaded up, ready to meet him.
Kobe read the crowd, sensed the trap, and pulled up near the free throw line for a quick jumper.
Clang.
Still cold.
Diaw grabbed the rebound and immediately fired a long outlet to Chen Yan streaking ahead.
Another fast break, Chen Yan's favorite kind.
Only Fisher was back.
Old Fish stepped into the restricted area and, as Chen Yan came at him, covered himself with both hands, bracing to sell an offensive foul if Chen Yan tried to power through.
Chen Yan glided into a euro step, slipped around him, and finished with a smooth layup.
Swish.
24 to 38.
The lead stretched, but Kobe did not show panic. He kept telling himself to stay calm. Forcing it would only make it worse.
Los Angeles came down again.
This time Kobe did not demand a pure isolation. He called for a screen, then twisted and hit Garnett at the high post.
Garnett rose and buried a quick jumper.
26 to 38.
D'Antoni snapped at his guys, warning them not to lose their assignments. Kobe was the head of the snake, but the Lakers had more than 1 set of teeth.
Phoenix pushed again.
Diaw inbounded quickly. Nash advanced with pace. The Suns were taking control of tempo, steering the game into the speed they preferred.
Chen Yan ran off a baseline screen looking for a catch. Posey stayed attached, fighting him for every inch.
Chen Yan used it against him. He stopped hard, spun, and disappeared for a beat.
Nash saw it and lofted the pass perfectly.
Their chemistry was obvious now, built over a full season.
Chen Yan caught, took 1 step, pulled the double team, and kicked it to the corner without hesitation.
If Game 5 was Chen Yan ripping the game apart by himself, this one was different. The Suns were shooting well, and when Phoenix shooters were hot, Chen Yan had no problem turning into a creator. When everyone touched the ball, the game became easier.
Raja Bell was waiting in the corner like a thief.
He rose and hit the open 3.
Swish.
26 to 41.
Bell pointed at Chen Yan with a grin. Beautiful pass. Keep feeding it.
Playing next to Chen Yan created open looks all night. If your shot was right, the scoreboard moved fast.
Los Angeles answered.
Kobe drew attention, which gave Garnett space to post up.
Even with Kobe's jumper off, no defense could afford to ignore him. That gravity gave Garnett a clean window.
Garnett turned and hit the jumper.
28 to 41.
Phoenix was rolling, but nobody was stopping the Lakers completely. Not in a game like this.
Phoenix came back down and ran Nash in a pick and roll with Bell.
The switch put Nash on Kobe.
Nash attacked the matchup with wide crossovers, but he could not get past Kobe. That was not the real goal anyway.
The goal was to make Kobe defend.
Make him slide.
Make him work.
Make the knee talk.
With 13 seconds on the shot clock, Nash drifted left, then handed the ball to Chen Yan while screening Posey.
Kobe switched again, stepping into Chen Yan's airspace.
Everyone could see what Phoenix was doing. They were using the same targeting strategy they had used all series.
But this time the target was not a weak defender.
It was Kobe, their best perimeter defender.
Phoenix was forcing Kobe into constant switches, constant movement, constant wear.
Kobe knew it too.
He did not back down.
He dragged the aching knee, stayed in front, and fought step for step.
Chen Yan took a small step back, then waved everyone away.
Clear out.
He wanted Kobe 1 on 1.
He dribbled into a series of crossovers, then snapped a behind the back move and attacked Kobe's injured side.
Kobe did not bite on the fake. He tried to slide with him.
He could not.
Chen Yan's first burst was too fast, and with the knee limiting Kobe's movement, the gap opened immediately.
Chen Yan accelerated again, got the lane, and before Garnett could fully rotate, he floated it up from just outside the restricted area.
Swish.
28 to 43.
On the way back, Chen Yan let it fly.
"You can't guard me," he said. "No matter how many times you try, it's the same."
Trash talk had been part of this series from the beginning. They competed hard, and they talked hard.
Kobe did not flinch.
"Talk to me when you win an MVP," he said, calm as ever.
Chen Yan smirked.
"You're right, Mr. MVP," he said. "In a few days you'll be holding that trophy, watching me play in the Finals from your TV."
That line hit.
Kobe's eyes sharpened, and the fight in him flared.
Next possession, he demanded the ball and went straight into isolation.
Exactly what Phoenix wanted, more work, more pounding on the knee, more possessions where Kobe had to create from scratch.
The plan was smart.
The problem was the opponent.
Kobe was the kind of player who found extra fuel when the situation turned ugly.
Against Raja Bell, Kobe caught, jabbed, and used a footwork reset that was pure Kobe, subtle, surgical, impossible to read. After shifting his base, he faked back to the basket, then created the space he wanted.
Perfect separation.
He rose into a 45 degree mid range fadeaway, banked it in.
30 to 43.
After the make, Kobe shot Chen Yan a look that burned.
Message received.
Phoenix did not slow down.
Nash brought it up and fired the ball to Chen Yan.
Chen Yan took 1 step and launched a drifting 3 over Posey.
The shot was tough, but the rhythm was clean.
The Suns bench lifted their arms early, like they already knew the answer.
Swish.
30 to 46.
Phoenix erupted, players on the bench celebrating together like they had just hit a punchline.
Charles Barkley laughed into the mic.
"Oh yeah, it's contagious now," Charles said. "Chen Yan got everybody acting like they're him."
Kenny stayed focused.
"That's the danger," Kenny said. "When role players start shooting with that kind of confidence, the math becomes brutal."
Phil Jackson did not wait.
"TIMEOUT," he called immediately.
The Zen Master's face was tight and grim.
Being down was not what scared him.
What scared him was that the Lakers were scoring, and the gap was still getting bigger.
If the game kept moving like this, Los Angeles was not just losing.
They were heading toward collapse.
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