Chapter 440: Christmas Turns into Blacksmith Day?
Before tipoff, head referee Joey Crawford pulled the other 2 officials aside near the baseline.
"Kobe and Chen Yan are going to go at each other," Crawford said quietly. "This is a clash of titans. The game will be physical, it will be emotional, so we have to be ready. Keep the standard under control. Do not let it get out of hand."
It was not just Crawford's opinion. It was David Stern's, too. The commissioner knew exactly what the league had put on the schedule. A nationally watched Christmas Day game, Suns versus Lakers, Chen Yan versus Kobe. The last thing the NBA wanted was sloppy whistles that killed the rhythm, or worse, a situation that ruined the show.
After brief greetings at midcourt, the ball went up.
Kevin Garnett won the opening tip, and the first touch went straight to Kobe. He took 1 dribble, then swung it to Derek Fisher to bring it up and set the offense.
Fisher crossed half court and immediately ran pick and roll with Marcus Camby, driving left off the screen. Camby did not roll. He popped out to a step beyond the free throw line. Phil Jackson's opening script was clear, he wanted Garnett attacking early.
But Diaw fought Garnett with a half front denial, and for a moment Garnett could not get the entry. Fisher spun out of his drive and snapped the ball to Camby at the high post.
Camby hesitated. Stoudemire did not rush him. So Camby lifted his hands and fired a long mid range jumper.
His form was strange, like a crooked machine gun. He was right handed, yet he insisted on bringing the ball to the left side of his face, elbow pointing almost straight up, everything looking awkward. Whether nobody ever fixed it, or he simply never listened, the result was the same.
"Swish!"
2 to 0, Lakers.
Phoenix answered immediately.
Stoudemire caught at the high post, pumped twice, then exploded with 2 hard steps. He absorbed contact and finished a high layup off the glass.
2 to 2.
Camby was known as a long, springy center with elite reach and timing, but he was not built for wrestling matches. He loved letting guards drive in, then erasing shots from the weak side. Against true power post scorers, he could get moved. Against face up bigs like Stoudemire, he usually felt comfortable.
Which made that finish even louder.
The crowd roared, and the Suns bench stood to clap.
Fans saw those 2 first buckets and assumed the game would turn into a fireworks show.
Instead, those were basically the only clean makes anyone got for the next 3 minutes.
Camby took 2 more open mid range attempts and missed both. The first make started to look like a lucky bounce, and you could see it in his body language, shoulders tightening, face stiffening.
Phoenix could not find its rhythm either. The Suns looked tense, rushed, and strangely heavy. Normally, they played like a track meet. Tonight, every shot felt like it was being lifted through wet cement.
The Lakers were just as cold.
By the end of the first quarter, the score was an almost unbelievable 21 to 20.
If you hid the jerseys, you would swear this was Spurs versus Pistons on Christmas.
Chen Yan had 7 points on 2 for 5 shooting. Kobe had 5 points on 1 for 6, plus free throws.
Neither star could find a groove.
The broadcast kept cutting to Taylor Swift in the stands, and plenty of fans took that as an invitation to create their own theories. If Vanessa had been there, the cameras probably would have found her too.
Meanwhile, the happiest men on the floor were Trevor Ariza and Raja Bell.
Ariza looked at Chen Yan's misses and convinced himself it was all defensive pressure. Raja Bell watched Kobe clank jumpers and felt like he could lock him up without even showing his full toolkit. That is the private joy of elite defenders, when your matchup goes cold, you feel richer than if you scored the points yourself.
But the overall product was ugly.
A Christmas Day showcase had turned into a brick laying contest.
Up in the booth, Charles Barkley laughed in disbelief.
"These dudes got magic," Barkley said. "They turned Christmas into Blacksmith Day."
Kenny Smith sighed. "Somebody has to hit a shot eventually, right?"
Fans at home felt the same. The only hope was that both teams would warm up, and that Kobe and Chen Yan would finally give the crowd what it came to see.
…
The second quarter became a bench battle.
Both second units shot slightly better than the starters, but only slightly. When the starters returned, the short rest did nothing. The rims still sounded like anvils.
Kobe kept hunting rhythm jumpers from both sides. Chen Yan adjusted, using his burst to attack the paint and draw contact instead of forcing a cold jumper.
"Clang!"
"Clang!"
Kobe kept hammering the US Airways Center rim. His will was stronger than anyone's. He had lived by that mentality for years. Miss 20, then shoot the 21st anyway.
Phil Jackson did not stop it. With the whole team cold, letting the star search for his touch was a reasonable choice.
Chen Yan's approach was more practical, but it was not much easier.
Garnett and Camby were elite rim protectors, and Ariza's length was always in the driving lane. Without speed and spacing, breaking that wall in the half court was brutal.
And because the Lakers could not fear Phoenix jump shooting, they shrank the floor. Their bigs waited in the paint like they were already in position for the next possession. Every drive became a collision.
Phoenix scored only 19 in the second quarter.
The Lakers scored only 24.
At halftime, Los Angeles led 45 to 40.
In the locker room, D'Antoni made a decision.
He believed Phoenix was playing too tight. If they kept grinding like this, it would be a slow death. So he chose a gamble, loosen the defense slightly, encourage the Lakers to shoot more, and try to create more possessions. If both teams were going to miss anyway, Phoenix at least wanted to miss faster.
It was risky.
If the Lakers suddenly caught fire, they could bury Phoenix in 1 wave.
But the gamble hit.
The Lakers came out for the second half and missed all 3 of their first possessions.
Phoenix immediately ran.
They pushed 3 fast breaks and converted 2 of them.
The loudest was Chen Yan, grabbing a defensive rebound, going coast to coast alone, then finishing with a Euro step reverse dunk.
The arena, flat for nearly a half, exploded.
That was why people paid for a Christmas ticket.
Chen Yan roared toward the stands, feeding off the noise. The home crowd answered on the next possession with a chant that shook the building.
"Defense!"
The air finally felt alive.
Then Kobe answered.
The moment Phoenix turned the volume up, Kobe demanded the ball at the horn for isolation, ignoring the roar like it was background music.
Raja Bell played him from behind in a textbook stance. Kobe's ugly first half had made Bell confident. He truly believed he could stop this.
Kobe caught in triple threat, pump faked twice, then drove right and slid sideways. Bell stayed attached. Kobe dribbled once, stopped at the free throw line, and pump faked again.
Bell did not bite.
Fisher drifted to the wing, showing his hands for a pass, but Kobe never looked at him.
Kobe pivoted on his left foot and spun the other way.
Mamba Step?
Not quite.
In the middle of the spin, Kobe fired the ball hard off the backboard, then exploded into the lane.
Garnett set a perfectly timed screen on Stoudemire behind the play, and suddenly there was nobody at the rim.
Kobe rose untouched.
"Bang!"
A self alley oop dunk, clean and vicious.
Raja Bell froze, caught in the worst kind of defense, the kind where you do everything right and still end up watching a highlight.
The Lakers bench jumped up, towels whipping through the air.
Kobe landed and stared straight at Chen Yan.
Message delivered.
Your dunk was nice.
Here's mine.
Chen Yan did not flinch.
He started waving for the ball before Nash even crossed half court, signaling with both hands like he was trying to pull the possession out of the air.
The crowd leaned forward.
After 2 quarters of bricks, the game finally turned.
And everybody in the building could feel it.
It was about to get personal.
.....
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