Sports Medicine Master System

Compared to the anxious Mavericks coaching staff, Skiles and his crew were much calmer.

After all, they were down one Hardaway.

Even if they really lost this game and gave up home-court advantage, it wouldn’t be a big deal.

Besides, Chen Yu had assured him that Hardaway would be able to return smoothly for the playoffs.

And a completely healthy one at that.

That was enough.

The Suns’ goal this year had always been the championship. The Mavericks? To be honest, they had never really been on their radar.

Because the Mavericks relied on their outside three-point shooting, and their overall defense was poor.

The Suns, on the other hand, had J Kidd on the perimeter. You could say their perimeter defense was top-tier in the league.

They were especially effective at shutting down Nash, which gave them a huge advantage against the Mavericks.

So even if they did lose home-court advantage, they would just win it back in the playoffs.

Right now, Skiles stood on the sidelines, his mind preoccupied with how to adjust their interior defense.

Lafrentz could shoot threes, a complete reversal from Nowitzki.

Nowitzki was posting up low, while he was always drifting outside to shoot.

Off the bench, there was also a big man from China named Wang Zhizhi, who, surprisingly, also liked to drift outside to shoot.

So, Skiles felt they needed someone who could defend out on the perimeter.

This game was basically a preview of the first round of the playoffs. They had found a problem, and it had to be solved.

In the playoffs, any small problem could become the deciding factor in a win or a loss.

Therefore, during the halftime break, Skiles made an adjustment.

He moved Olajuwon back to the five-spot and had Ewing guard Nowitzki.

If Lafrentz wanted to drift outside, fine. Olajuwon would go with him. In his prime, Olajuwon could defend almost half the court.

As for whether Ewing could guard Nowitzki after the switch, that wasn’t even a question.

If he tried to attack in the low post, Ewing would eat him alive.

The two old-timers looked at each other and simply nodded in silence.

After their previous conflict, the two had completely come to terms with things. They would do whatever the team needed without a single complaint.

Skiles nodded, watching them with a gratified expression. He couldn’t help but sigh internally. ’Olajuwon and Ewing... they’ve never played such a rich man’s game.’

He then looked at Gugliotta. "Tom, you need to score more."

The starters were fine; the main issue was the bench. With a bunch of old-timers whose scoring ability was limited, they had to rely on Gugliotta to play like the multi-million dollar player and former Wolf King he was.

Gugliotta heard the dissatisfaction in Skiles’s voice and nodded.

He had been moved back to the bench again last time and had felt resentful about it for a while, but he eventually got over it. Chen Yu had talked to him about this more than once, and one thing he said had left a deep impression.

"You were a substitute to begin with."

It was a bit heartless, but it was the truth.

Before Robinson was traded, he had been a substitute. He was just back in his original position now.

As the second half began, Old Nelson frowned immediately upon seeing the Suns’ adjustment.

Their previous discussion had ultimately devolved into a rant about the Suns: a rant about how the Suns had used Chen Yu to attract Olajuwon and Ewing, and a rant about how a bunch of veterans over thirty-five had somehow managed to play the entire season healthy.

Now, seeing Ewing leap up and nearly block Nowitzki, Old Nelson felt the urge to rant all over again.

The Suns’ twin towers were just something else.

They could just swap positions and still be a perfect fit.

’And Ewing, how old is he? Weren’t his legs already shot when he entered the league? How can he still jump like that?’

Then, when he saw Olajuwon show off his Dream Shake in the low post, leaving Lafrentz completely spun around before scoring with ease, Old Nelson practically ground his molars to dust.

Even Ewing hadn’t scored that easily.

"Hakeem is just too well-rounded," the Silver Fox next to him sighed softly, his face a mask of helplessness.

Old Nelson nodded in agreement. A player who could both attack and defend, paired with Ewing... it was just ridiculous.

It may have seemed like a small positional adjustment, but the effect was lethal. The Mavericks’ offense was suddenly smothered and went cold.

In just over four minutes, the Suns went on a 10-2 run against the Mavericks, seizing the lead in one fell swoop.

The opponent had made their move. Old Nelson knew it was his turn to make one too.

To counter the Suns’ frequent drives to the basket, he first subbed in Shawn Bradley.

A 7’6" monster.

Unfortunately, the effect was limited. Because of the new defensive three-second rule, he could no longer camp under the basket with impunity as he used to, stretching his arms up to practically block the entire rim.

He couldn’t just stand there like a statue; he had to move, and this exposed his weakness: his slow foot speed.

Last season, he had averaged 2.8 blocks per game, second in the league. This season, for that very reason, his blocks per game had plummeted to just 1.2.

Moreover, the Suns’ drives weren’t mindless. They would only penetrate after a screen or when a gap opened up under the basket. Much like the Kings, they would patiently move the ball and look for opportunities to cut.

What was worse, he was completely unable to defend Olajuwon.

Tall and lanky, he was frighteningly clumsy against Olajuwon and couldn’t keep up with his footwork at all.

Old Nelson was even worried that his high center of gravity would get him so faked out by Olajuwon’s moves that he’d break his back.

After just a few minutes, Old Nelson subbed him out.

Then, Old Nelson surprisingly put Edondo Najula, the "King of Mexico" who was only 6’8" tall, in at the five-spot.

Seeing Najula, who was just over two meters tall, gritting his teeth and bodying up on Olajuwon, even Chen Yu, watching from the sidelines, couldn’t help but crack a smile.

’This is just brutal!’

But he defended fiercely and with extraordinary effort. Just from his intensity, it looked like he was ready to go to war with Olajuwon. For the first few minutes after he came on, he actually made Olajuwon a little uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, Olajuwon quickly adjusted.

Toughness? Olajuwon came from the era of the ’80s and ’90s; there was nothing he hadn’t seen.

That era was far more brutal than today’s game, especially for some of the shorter guys who managed to establish themselves in the paint. They relied on their ferocity.

Like Barkley, for example, or Rodman.

’Compared to them, you’re not even in the same league when it comes to ferocity, Najula.’

"I feel like we have a great shot in the first round," Chen Yu said, turning his head to Nelson.

Watching the whole game, especially the second half, it felt like the Suns were dominating the Mavericks.

And the key thing was, the Suns were doing it without Hardaway.

If Hardaway were on the court, the Mavericks probably would have been blown out long ago.

Both Nowitzki and Nash were contained. If it weren’t for Finley playing decently, the Mavericks wouldn’t have even had a lead in the first half.

Nelson nodded in agreement. "We get past the first round, and then we face the Kings. The Kings are no pushovers."

A flash of worry crossed his eyes.

This year’s Kings team had an offense so potent that it made many people in the league feel, ’So this is how basketball can be played.’

Unreserved, selfless ball-sharing, all sorts of cuts and catch-and-shoots—it flowed like quicksilver, so brilliant it felt unreal.

"I think they’re manageable," Chen Yu said after a moment of thought. "I read an analysis from someone who said the Kings actually won’t go far and won’t pose a threat to the Lakers. So our biggest opponent in the playoffs is still the Lakers."

The report was written by Wojnarowski, the same guy whose article about the story behind the eighth-seed upset had earned Chen Yu the title of honorary consultant for an anti-doping organization.

After that, Chen Yu had taken notice of the guy and would occasionally read the reports he wrote for ESPN.

Late in the season, he wrote a report titled "The Hidden Dangers Behind the Kings’ Brilliant Offense."

The report said that this season’s Kings had produced an unbelievably brilliant offense, making the Princeton name famous throughout the league. But he also predicted that the Kings wouldn’t go far in the playoffs because their defense wasn’t good enough.

He even did a detailed analysis, saying that Bibi had a solid frame for nothing, as his defense was absolutely terrible.

It was the same with Peggy; he was a big guy, but his defense had never been good.

Weber, once a black hole on the court, had found his place in the Princeton system. But his lack of professionalism meant that even if he could grab a lot of rebounds, it couldn’t hide the fact that his defense was fundamentally mediocre.

As for Divac, he was just a crafty old veteran. Whether or not he could defend an opponent depended entirely on the referees’ help.

On the bench, Bobby Jackson and the Turk were just shooters. If it weren’t for Doug Christie, their points allowed per game wouldn’t be ranked 14th in the league, but 24th!

So the Kings were a classic case of great offense, weak defense. They could get good results in the regular season, but come the playoffs, that wouldn’t be enough.

It would come down to defense, to who was tougher, who was more unreasonable.

In that respect, the Kings were sorely lacking.

This season, the Kings had played the Lakers 4 times and lost 3. The one game they won, it was only by 6 points, and that was with Kobe having an abysmal shooting night and the entire Lakers team going 4 for 19 from three.

Nelson nodded thoughtfully, his gaze turning to the court. He sighed, "I hope it ends well. Patrick is just so desperate for a championship."

This season, the nearly 40-year-old Ewing had sacrificed so, so much to maintain his condition.

Chen Yu nodded silently.

The media was always saying the Suns were lucky this year, that their squad of veterans had gone the whole season without any serious injuries.

But who knew how much his own team had put in behind the scenes, or how much Ewing and the others had sacrificed?

Just think about O’Neal. He’d said mid-season that he was going to lose weight, but so far, the scale hadn’t budged. A player like that, not proactive enough about his self-discipline and training, was drowning in championships. Comparing him to Ewing in that regard, you really felt for Ewing. He truly deserved a championship.

As they were speaking, Ewing let out a roar on the court, turned, and charged out, swatting Adrian Griffin’s floater against the backboard with a resounding slap.

The moment he landed, seeing the ball about to roll out of bounds, he dove for it without a moment’s hesitation and saved it.

He was hustling like anything but a 40-year-old man.

And that one play seemed to be a microcosm of the entire game.

Then, in the final three minutes, Mario Elie—who had been bricking shots all game and hadn’t made a single three-pointer—suddenly found his touch. He drained two consecutive threes, completely extinguishing the Mavericks’ hopes of a comeback.

89-80. The Suns won by 9, securing home-court advantage.

Old Nelson stood on the sidelines, helplessness written all over his face.

’A headshot!’

They’d lost home-court advantage. If Hardaway made a smooth return for game one, then based on the Mavericks’ performance tonight, their playoff chances were looking truly grim.