Chapter 362: Shrugs Are Contagious, but Setbacks Are Unforgiving!
"TIMEOUT!"
Chen Yan's barrage from deep forced Cleveland to burn another stoppage. The building was loud, the moment was boiling, and Mike Brown finally made the adjustment he had been resisting.
The Cavaliers huddled.
"Any time Chen catches it in the frontcourt, we trap him," Brown said, voice tight. "Get the ball out of his hands. No more of this. Everyone understand?"
Heads nodded all around.
Brown knew the risk. If they doubled Chen Yan, it would leave Steve Nash or Amar'e Stoudemire breathing. Those were not the kind of people you wanted wide open. But if Cleveland kept letting Chen Yan play one on one, the night was headed toward the same ending as Game 2, a monster stat line and another loss.
Mike Brown was not a tactical wizard. He was a manager, a stabilizer, and most of all, the coach who gave LeBron James the keys and stayed out of the way. Tonight, that was no longer enough.
…
Out of the timeout, Cleveland ran its offense.
James came off a pick and roll and fired the ball to Daniel Gibson in the corner.
Gibson caught, shot faked, and actually shook Nash for a step. He drove into the lane, saw Stoudemire sliding over, and floated one up high.
The move was clean. The finish was rushed.
Clang.
Chen Yan dropped back, grabbed the rebound, and turned it into gasoline.
There was no time to trap in transition.
He blew past half court, crossed Varejão out of his stance, then spun off Larry Hughes like water slipping through fingers. Two defenders gone in 2 beats.
Smooth was the only word that fit.
Open floor. Layup steps.
And then the shadow arrived.
LeBron James.
He had been stalking that moment for the block, the signature chase down that made arenas roar and opponents swallow their pride. Chen Yan's dribble had slowed just enough for James to see the angle, and from the broadcast view, James was floating higher, longer.
The crowd rose, ready to explode.
At the last instant, Chen Yan changed the ending.
He hung for a fraction, switched hands in midair, and moved the ball to the other side, using the rim as his shield.
James was at rim level, but the rim itself took the block away.
The ball kissed the iron, bounced 3 times, and fell.
70 to 62.
It was not just athleticism. It was timing, awareness, and nerve. A duel of bodies, and a duel of minds, and Chen Yan won both.
Cleveland answered with urgency.
James attacked off a screen, took contact, missed, and still got the whistle. He stepped to the line and hit both.
70 to 64.
…
Phoenix came back, and Nash refused to waste Chen Yan's heat.
He fed him, then added a handoff and a screen, trying to force the matchup they wanted.
Gibson jumped up, then Hughes came around, and suddenly the trap arrived.
Mike Breen's voice lifted with the moment. "Here it is, the double team. What does Chen Yan do with it?"
Chen Yan took a hard step back on a diagonal, buying space before the trap fully closed. He was not retreating to reset, he was retreating to create a passing lane.
He twisted in the air and fired the ball out.
Nash was waiting at the top, wide open.
Swish.
73 to 64.
Assist plus 1.
Mark Jackson approved immediately. "That's the right play. When they commit 2, you punish them."
Jeff Van Gundy followed with a dry edge. "And the problem is, punishing them is easy when your punishers are Steve Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire."
Cleveland tried to answer. James hit a midrange to stop the bleeding.
73 to 66.
But their new plan had a cost. To fully choke Chen Yan's drives, they started cheating from the weak side, abandoning the far corner to protect the paint.
Chen Yan adjusted instantly.
He stopped forcing the issue into bodies and started weaponizing his gravity. The ball moved quicker. The reads became sharper. In the 3rd quarter alone, he piled up 4 assists, and even the passes that did not become assists bent Cleveland's defense until it cracked.
Phoenix kept control.
After 3, the Suns led 85 to 74, up 11.
Chen Yan's line was ridiculous for a full game, and he still had a quarter to play, 38 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds. He had hit 5 3s in the quarter.
Phoenix carried that double digit lead into the back half of the 4th, but Cleveland refused to die quietly.
They scored, they defended, they clawed.
They just could not close it.
With 3:17 left, Phoenix led 103 to 91.
Cleveland called a long timeout.
And LeBron finally lit the match himself.
He clapped, stepped into the middle of the huddle, and shouted at everyone.
"Wake up. Empty the tank. Fight for your pride, fight for the people in these seats, fight for your families. We have no room left. Do not let them go up 3 to 0. Do not let them bury us."
Then he threw his hand up.
Everyone stacked hands.
The Cavaliers broke the huddle with their shout, and for a moment, it felt like belief might actually be enough.
…
The next possession proved it was not just noise.
James drove and kicked to Gibson. Gibson drove and dumped it to Ilgauskas. Big Z finished with a dunk.
On the other end, Stoudemire tried to answer, got sloppy, and Ilgauskas met him at the rim, swatting it away.
James took the outlet and ran. Late in the 4th, legs burning, he still had lift.
He took 2 long strides and hammered a tomahawk dunk.
The arena erupted.
Cleveland surged into a 12 to 4 run over the next stretch, and suddenly the gap was only 4.
The game tightened into a fist.
…
James called for a screen again.
Raja Bell fought over, bracing for the drive, but James powered through the contact and shoved space open. Bell hit the floor, exhausted, worn down by 3 games of trying to wrestle a stronger man without getting crushed.
James went straight into the paint, took contact from Diaw in midair, and finished anyway, plus the foul.
He hit the free throw.
106 to 107.
One point.
LeBron had scored 10 of Cleveland's 14 points in that stretch. In a do or die game, he was playing like a man trying to rip the series back with his hands.
The camera caught his eyes. Hard. Focused. That stare that made people believe something inevitable was coming.
And then, before the moment could become his, Chen Yan answered.
Swish.
A pull up 3 from 2 steps beyond the arc, with 1 minute left, and Phoenix only up 1.
No hesitation. No safety. Just a shot that said, your comeback ends here.
The Cavaliers' momentum snapped like a string cut clean.
Cleveland brought it up again. The ball had to be in James's hands, but the action broke down into a moment of uncertainty. Off the pick and roll, the pass went to Ilgauskas.
Big Z did not want that responsibility. He hesitated, looking to return it to James.
James, at the same time, was thinking backdoor.
A rare misread, a half second of disconnect, and it was enough.
Raja Bell jumped the lane and stole it.
Bell pushed it forward. His job was done. The finish belonged to Chen Yan.
Chen Yan sprinted into open court like he had been launched.
Gibson reached for the ball as Chen gathered, but Chen Yan swept through, lifted, and laid it in with a smooth arc, then looked back as it dropped.
106 to 112.
Cleveland called timeout.
Chen Yan leaped and chest bumped Raja Bell in celebration.
Across the court, LeBron stood with his hands out again, staring at his teammates as if the air itself had betrayed him.
…
Out of the timeout, 45 seconds left, down 6.
Cleveland needed speed and precision. James used 2 straight screens at the top and rose for 3.
The arena held its breath.
Clang.
Then the bounce turned kind.
Swish.
109 to 112.
But the celebration lasted only a heartbeat. Cleveland was still down 3 with 37 seconds left.
Phoenix came down, and Cleveland loaded up on Chen Yan.
Nash saw it instantly and called for Stoudemire.
The classic action, the classic connection.
Screen, roll, bounce pass.
Stoudemire laid it in.
109 to 114.
Cleveland's next possession turned ugly. Another mistake, another scramble. James fired a 3 and missed. Ilgauskas and Varejão fought for the rebound, and the ball went out.
The Cavaliers' shoulders sagged.
Even in the stands, the mood shifted, hope draining in real time.
Phoenix inbounded, and Cleveland fouled Nash on purpose.
Nash walked to the line and did what Nash always did.
Swish.
Swish.
109 to 116.
The lead went to 7, and Cleveland was out of time.
They rushed a shot. Gibson missed again. The sound of the miss hit the arena like a door slamming considering the score, considering the comeback, considering how close it almost became.
Hands went to heads. People stared. Some fans just froze.
LeBron shook his head. He had emptied the tank. He had dragged them back with pure force. And still, the ending did not change.
109 to 116.
The buzzer sealed it.
Phoenix took Game 3, and with it, a 3 to 0 lead that history had never allowed anyone to escape.
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