Chapter 88 Don't Let Phoenix Take A Victory Away From Dallas

"Don't let Phoenix take a win away from Dallas."

This was the headline that the Dallas media put in the newspaper before Game 3 started. They didn't want the Suns to take away the victory in their home court, not even one game.

After the plane landed, Zheng Yang walked out of the airport wearing sunglasses, and a large group of fans and media were there to greet them holding banners.

"King, don't let them take away a win in Dallas, okay?"

A slightly fat fan shouted loudly. Zheng Yang stopped after hearing it, then walked up to him and nodded.

"Hey guys, when you guys come back here next time for us, this series will be over."

After saying that, he grinned and left.

The fan was stunned for a moment, then immediately reacted and continued shouting.

"I'll be waiting for you here then."

The next time the Mavericks come back from Phoenix will be after Game 5. If they want to end this series after Game 5, they must win three games in a row.

This sounds totally impossible!
Because their opponent is the Suns, who ranked first in the league in the regular season, and they just lost to them by 10 points in the last game.

But... these words came from Zheng Yang's mouth, which made them feel inexplicably convinced.

They believed that whatever Zheng Yang said, he would definitely do.

No matter how difficult it is, everything is possible.

……

Zheng Yang's answer also appeared in the newspaper the next day, attracting the support of all Dallas fans.

They will always support the Mavericks, whether they are the core of the team or the water cooler administrator, they are heroes of this city.

No one was surprised why the fans shouted at Zheng Yang instead of Nowitzki. It seemed like a natural thing to do.

Since Zheng Yang came to Dallas, especially this season, he has deeply left his mark on this city.

Of course, everyone likes Nowitzki, he is also a great contributor to the team, but compared to Zheng Yang, Nowitzki lacks the personal charm!
They prefer to regard Zheng Yang as the spiritual leader of the team.

G3 started on May 5th, and on May 13th, the league announced the most valuable player of this season, commonly known as the MVP.

Judging from the final result, Nash defeated O'Neal by a slight margin and won the MVP of the 04-05 season.

It was really dramatic that the point guard who could only get a "cheap contract" during the offseason last season actually won the most valuable honor during the league's regular season this season.

God knows how complicated Cuban’s mood is at this moment!

Of course, if Nash had really stayed in the Mavericks last year, there might not have been this world-famous "Son of the Wind".

When Nash learned the final result, the first person he thought of was not anyone else, but Zheng Yang.

He remembered the night before he signed with the Suns, he called Zheng Yang.

This is what Zheng Yang told him when talking about his signing.

"If you go to the Suns, you're going to have a whole new career."

He did not force him to stay for the sake of his own championship. If he had really kept Nash last year, Nash would have a very high chance of staying.

Because he really likes the Mavericks team and the city of Dallas.

With Nash, the Mavericks will be a perfect team, and he will be more suitable for this team than Jason Terry.

There is really no suspense about this year's championship.

But he didn't. He truly stood in Nash's shoes and put himself in his shoes. If Zheng Yang hadn't said this at the time, he might not have made the decision that would change his life.

So he was really grateful to the other party.

They will be brothers for life.

O'Neal, who lost the MVP, complained bitterly in front of reporters and strongly expressed his dissatisfaction to the fans and the league.

How could he lose to that skinny, short point guard?

This isn't fair.

But now no one cares about O'Neal's mood. Everyone just wants to know how Nash will perform in G3 with the buff of MVP?
And can this Suns team win another victory on the road?
If this is achieved, it will be a great boost to their morale.

On the evening of May 5, the American Airlines Center was packed with people. At first glance, it looked like a huge crowd, and the atmosphere was quite astonishing.

Tickets for this game were also sold out early. Some tickets were priced doubled by scalpers, but fans still rushed to buy them.

Instead of spending money on buying gifts for the goddess, it is better to fulfill a childhood basketball dream and go to watch a game of your favorite team in person, and it’s a playoff game.

That will be a memory that will last a lifetime.

The scheduled game time has arrived, players from both sides are ready to go on the court, and the game begins.

The Suns had the ball in the first round. They could not launch a fast break in this offensive round, so Nash had to choose a positional battle.

The Suns' first choice in positional warfare is always the pick-and-roll between Nash and Stoudemire. It's like the truth, it will always be your first choice.

Their intention was very obvious, so after the pick-and-roll, the defender in front of Nash changed from Chou to Zheng Yang, while Stoudemire was not only accompanied by Dampier, but also Nowitzki.

In this series, Dampier was definitely the most active player in the team. He really tried his best to defend Stoudemire. Although he was a bit slow, he still tried his best to keep up with Stoudemire.

He doesn't want to be the weak link of the team. He wants not only a big contract but also a championship.

There is no teenager who loves basketball who would not want to hold up that glittering golden trophy. It represents all the honors and represents that you are the best team in the league this season, and you are a member of this team.

Stoudemire's receiving environment was not good, and Nash did not pass the ball rashly, but he keenly noticed that Shawn Marion was ambushing in the bottom corner, and he was in an absolute open opportunity.

Nash's pass followed closely, and after blocking Stoudemire and preventing him from successfully breaking through, Nowitzki immediately rushed to the bottom corner, while Shawn Marion was flicking the basketball away from his fingertips.

The basketball drew a perfect arc in the air and then fell into the basket.

3-0!

The Suns took the lead!
Old Nelson frowned, but he didn't yell at the players. They were already under enough pressure and couldn't be pressed any further.

Besides, it was just a three-pointer and the game had just begun. There was no need to lose composure because of it.

Looking back, Nowitzki was double-teamed by Stoudemire and Shawn Marion on the left side of the basket. Seeing that the Mavericks had no intention of helping Nowitzki with a pick-and-roll, D'Antoni on the sidelines smiled.

According to the current situation, the Mavericks did not take any corresponding countermeasures against the Suns' G2 arrangement.

That means that G2's result will most likely be repeated today.

Thinking of this, D'Antoni couldn't help but smile, and the stone in his heart finally fell to the ground.

The playoffs are not only about the individual abilities of the players, but also about the coaching abilities of the coaches on both sides. They are just like playing chess, you make one move, I make another, and the game continues. Whoever has a higher coaching level can better bring out the abilities of the players in their hands.

The reason why many coaches are criticized for their poor coaching ability is because their on-the-spot reaction is too slow and they are controlled by others at every step.

D'Antoni was worried today whether old Nelson would come up with any unexpected tricks, but now it seems that the other party is a bit stubborn.

Stubbornness comes at a price, and losing the game is the biggest price.

The game was still going on, and Zheng Yang, who received the pass from Jason Terry, did not care about the situation on Nowitzki's side.

It just so happened that Stoudemire's defense against Nowitzki made their inside loopholes even bigger, so Zheng Yang's breakthrough seemed extremely easy.

3-2!

The fans in the audience cheered loudly. They had never thought that their voices would return intact when they came here today. Even if it was a very ordinary goal, they would cheer the loudest for the home team.

They want to let the Mavericks players know that they have the most loyal and enthusiastic fans in the entire league.

It was the Suns' turn to attack again. Since the Mavericks retreated in time, Nash's fast break failed and they had to fight a positional battle again.

Due to previous experience, after finishing the pick-and-roll with Stoudemire, Nash didn't even think about passing the ball to him, but continued to pass the ball out.

Zheng Yang also hurried over to fill the defensive loopholes of Nowitzki.

This time, it was Quentin Richardson who received the pass from Nash. He adjusted himself and took a three-point shot, but this time he missed.

Instead, the Mavericks, who protected the rebounds, launched a fast break counterattack. Zheng Yang dribbled the ball past Shawn Marion easily and then made a slam dunk.

As mentioned before, after the Mavericks lost Nash, their fast break threat is not as high.

But that is relative to their original level. In fact, their fast break, or Zheng Yang's fast break, is still an important weapon for the team to score points steadily.

……

As the game progressed, D'Antoni realized something was wrong. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 25:32, and the Mavericks were leading them by 7 points.

Although this was only the first quarter, there was still a long time to go and many variables, but the sudden change in the game when he was sure to win made him feel a little anxious.

He found the data sheet and looked at the team's statistics in the first quarter.

They fully implemented D'Antoni's strategy in the first quarter. On the offensive end, they shot eight three-pointers. On the defensive end, Nowitzki only took three shots in the first quarter, made one and scored two points.

But why is their team still falling behind?

Looking more closely, although the Suns took 8 three-pointers in the first quarter, they only made 3. This hit rate is not bad, but compared with their previous performance of nearly 50%, it is indeed somewhat unsatisfactory.

In addition, Nowitzki only scored 2 points, but Zheng Yang scored 16 points in the first quarter alone, scoring half of the team's points.

And his shooting percentage was quite high, making 12 of 7 shots and 2 of 2 free throws, easily scoring 16 points.

Others like Dampier, Big Ugly, and Jason Terry all scored higher than usual.

Although one person may only score two or three more points, the extra points scored by these several people combined are higher than what Nowitzki usually gets.

D'Antoni knew the reason for the lag in the first quarter, but he didn't think there was something wrong with his strategy. He thought it was just an accidental event.

It's just that the Mavericks had a better touch in the first quarter, while theirs was a little worse.

As long as they get their touch back, they will be able to easily reverse the score.

Therefore, during the intermission, he continued to emphasize to the players the opportunities for outside shots, especially three-pointers, as well as the restrictions on Nowitzki on the defensive end.

He still couldn't believe that the Mavericks' offense could always stay on track without Nowitzki!

Nash, who was sitting on the bench to rest, felt that they should focus more on Zheng Yang in defense.

He is the one who determines the ceiling of the Mavericks.

But a team should not have two voices, especially during the game, when there is not much time left for them to discuss. Whether D'Antoni is right or wrong, they should execute it.

The score in the first quarter also surprised old Nelson, but at the same time he made up his mind to continue to implement his previous ideas.

If they want to double-team Nowitzki, let them double-team Nowitzki. The Mavericks and the Kings will tell them the answer.

The head coaches of both teams were very determined, and the timeout ended but the game continued.

In the first offensive round, Jason Terry wanted Nowitzki to score two goals. After all, although he was licking Zheng Yang, he couldn't lose the team's second player.

This bowl of water is not level, but we can’t spill it!

But as soon as Nowitzki received the ball, Stoudemire and Shawn Marion immediately double-teamed him, forcing Nowitzki to only score the ball.

Zheng Yang received the pass from the opponent on the three-point line and took a three-point shot at a forty-five-degree angle on the left, and the basketball went into the net.

This is Zheng Yang's sweet spot. His three-point shooting percentage at the 45-degree angle on both sides is higher than the average.

The fans continued to shout Zheng Yang's nickname "King", "King", "King"...

Nash continued to advance with the ball. Just when Zheng Yang was about to defend after crossing half court, he suddenly made a ground pass. Everyone then noticed that Shawn Marion had cut into the Mavericks' inside line at some point.

After receiving the pass, he dunked the ball and recovered two points.

It is worth mentioning that when Nash passed the ball, Shawn Marion had not yet fully entered the inside, and when the basketball was passed in, he happened to appear in that position.

In other words, Nash anticipated Shawn Marion's thoughts and was in sync with his ideas.

Being able to accurately find the position of teammates on the court and predict their thoughts...

This is awareness, this is basketball IQ, and even more so, basketball talent.

This is the difference between a good point guard and a bad point guard.

"You can't have only two eyes on your head. I guess your head is covered with eyes. Otherwise, how could you find so many opportunities?"

When running back to the opponent's half, Zheng Yang smiled helplessly. It was obviously a joke.

Nash also cooperated and said, "You actually discovered my secret. No one has ever discovered it before. Haha!"

The conversation between the two was also noticed by the fans on the sidelines. Although they didn't know what they were talking about, judging from their smiles, they were both very happy chatting.

This reminded Mavericks fans of last season, when you could always find Zheng Yang and Nash joking around on the sidelines, and even when they were being interviewed, they occasionally played tricks on each other.

At that time, they were the favorite couple of Dallas fans. I really miss them when I think about it!

It’s a pity that that beautiful time has passed. Now Zheng Yang and Nash have put on different jerseys and have become opponents from teammates.

I hope they can all be happy in their respective teams!

This is the most heartfelt wish from Dallas fans.

(End of this chapter)