Chapter 457: Drunk Oden, Second Longest Winning Streak
Chen Yan did not feel any regret about his 50 plus streak ending.
Even if he had dropped 50 again, all it would have done was move him past Kobe. Wilt Chamberlain's record of 7 straight 50 point games still stood like a wall, and in this era, that kind of run was almost unreal.
A day later, Phoenix was back home, hunting win number 23.
Their opponent was the Atlanta Hawks.
The streak itself was already a headline, but the league found another hook for the night: the first real NBA meeting between the 2007 No. 1 pick and the No. 2 pick.
Chen Yan vs. Greg Oden.
They had faced each other before, in the NCAA title game. That night, Chen Yan did more than win, he tore the game open, led his team to the championship, and broke Bill Walton's NCAA Finals scoring record.
Oden, meanwhile, had missed an entire year to injury, so even though he was technically not new to the league, this season was his true rookie season.
During warmups, the two chatted near midcourt.
"Greg, compared to you, I'm basically a veteran now," Chen Yan joked.
Oden laughed. "Man, I see you everywhere. Your highlights, your interviews, your stats. You're a star in this league already."
"You've got that same potential," Chen Yan said politely. "How's the recovery?"
"I'm fine to play."
The answer was casual, almost dismissive, but the truth was heavier. Oden had been dealing with injuries from top to bottom for too long. Hands, feet, waist, back, it always seemed like something.
Chen Yan hesitated, then asked anyway. "Still drinking?"
He knew Oden liked to hit the bottle, and their agent, Bill Duffy, had been losing sleep over it.
Oden grinned like it was the simplest thing in the world. "If I play bad, I drink after to vent. If I play good, I drink after to celebrate."
Chen Yan stared at him for a beat.
So either way, drink.
A lot of fans liked to say Greg Oden was destroyed by injuries alone. But Chen Yan knew better. The injuries broke his body, and the lack of discipline finished the job. Still, Chen Yan was not in a position to lecture him. They were acquaintances, not family, and you cannot rebuild someone's life with a few sentences in warmups.
…
When the game tipped, Oden looked slow.
He had not fully adjusted to NBA pace, and his timing was always half a second late. The crowd came in expecting Oden vs. Chen Yan, but by the end of the 1st quarter, it was clear the real matchup was Oden vs. Stoudemire.
Stoudemire hit him with 13 points in the opening quarter alone.
10 of them came directly against Oden.
Oden's defensive tools were real. Size, wingspan, mobility, bounce, the frame of an elite rim protector. But against an established interior scorer like Stoudemire, tools were not enough. He was too raw, too upright, too unsure of his angles.
During the break, Stoudemire turned to his teammates, voice loud and confident.
"I'm on fire. Feed me more."
Nash and Chen Yan both nodded.
In the 2nd quarter, Phoenix made it a Stoudemire game. The read was simple.
If Oden sat in the paint, Stoudemire popped out and drilled mid range shots.
If Oden stepped up, Stoudemire put his shoulder down and drove.
Oden's athletic profile was elite, but his technique betrayed him. Before the halfway point of the 2nd quarter, he picked up his 3rd foul.
After that, he played like a man walking through a minefield. Sometimes he did not even fully extend his arms, afraid of picking up the 4th. It only made things worse. Stoudemire smelled hesitation and feasted on it.
Stoudemire finished with 38 points, and the Suns won 111 to 99.
Chen Yan and Nash played supporting roles for once, but Chen Yan still stuffed the stat sheet: 21 points, 8 assists, 8 rebounds, 3 steals, and 2 blocks.
Nash added 14 points, 9 assists, and 4 rebounds.
For Atlanta, Josh Smith was the best player on the floor for them. The high flying forward put up 24 points and 10 rebounds.
Oden ended with 7 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 fouls.
The impression he left was brutal. Stoudemire had made him look small, even though he was the biggest body in the building.
Hawks fans tried to cope with the easy answer: he is still adapting.
But comfort is not always convincing, even to the people saying it. The season was almost halfway done. At this point last year, Chen Yan was already dropping 50 plus, already hitting game winners, already dragging games into his orbit.
If Hawks management said they felt no regret, it would be a lie.
All they could do was hope Oden developed fast, the same way history had forgiven another controversial draft choice. In 1984, the Rockets passed on Jordan and took Hakeem Olajuwon, and Olajuwon rewarded them with back to back titles.
But could Oden really become Olajuwon?
The comparison was harsh for a reason. Olajuwon put up 20.6 points, 11.9 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks as a rookie.
Oden's current numbers sat at 9.1 points and 7 rebounds.
And the more the world demanded greatness from him, the heavier his mind became. Fate gave him a powerful body, but not a powerful mentality.
After the loss, he went to the bar again.
It was how he escaped reality, and how he hid from pressure.
…
On January 15, after a day of rest, Phoenix pushed for win number 24.
Before tipoff, there was good news and bad news.
Bad news: they were playing in Denver, in the altitude.
Good news: Carmelo Anthony was out with an injury.
Denver's lineup was led by Chauncey Billups.
This season, after Billups and Allen Iverson swapped teams, the Nuggets took a clear step forward. It was not about who was better, it was about fit.
Iverson was built to be the engine of a roster full of defenders, a team that needed one relentless scorer to carry the offense.
But Denver did not lack scorers. They needed someone to organize, to steer traffic, to make scoring easier for everyone else.
That was Billups.
The 1st quarter stayed tight.
In the 2nd quarter, D'Antoni adjusted. He saw Denver's outside shot was dead, 0 for 5 from 3 in the opening quarter, and he went straight to a 1 2 2 zone.
The idea was simple: pack the paint, cut off drives, and dare them to live from 3.
Phoenix only treated Billups as a true perimeter threat, since his 3 point shooting had hovered around 40% in recent seasons.
Denver fired anyway.
They took 25 threes and made 5.
J.R. Smith went 1 for 8. The league called him a microwave scorer, but on nights like this, he was a microwave that only burned the kitchen.
Phoenix pulled away and won 116 to 101, taking the road game without much drama.
Stoudemire stayed hot again, scoring 30 points and 8 rebounds on 11 of 18 shooting.
And Chen Yan showed a different kind of dominance, posting a triple double: 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.
With that win, the Suns' streak reached 24 games.
Second longest in NBA history.
Since the league began, only 1 team has ever won 30 plus straight games in a single season. The record belongs to the Lakers, all the way back in 1971 to 1972, when they won 33 straight.
That streak still stands.
And right now, Phoenix was the closest anyone had been to touching it.
.....
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