Chapter 811: Beating the Referees
The shot dropped through the net.
0.8 seconds remained.
New York had no timeouts.
The Knicks would have to inbound from the backcourt.
Yet not a single New York player immediately walked toward the baseline.
Everyone was surrounding the officials.
The Knicks had seen the play clearly.
To them, James had taken 4 steps.
The final movement had even looked like a hop step, with both feet coming down before he finished.
The entire bench was signaling for a travel.
James, meanwhile, was arguing for something completely different.
He believed Battier had fouled him.
James spread his arms and complained to the referee, apparently convinced the basket should have counted as an and 1.
The Knicks bench could only stare.
The man had just gotten away with what they believed was an obvious travel.
And he still wanted a free throw?
That was almost impressive.
The referee ignored him.
Allowing the basket to stand had already created enough pressure.
Calling an additional foul might have caused the situation to completely explode.
Battier eventually regained his composure and walked toward the baseline.
He inbounded to Curry.
With almost no time remaining, Curry turned and launched a desperation shot.
It was nowhere close.
Buzzer.
Regulation ended.
Overtime.
The Knicks walked toward their bench with frustrated expressions.
That final Miami basket had clearly affected them.
Even during the break, the controversy remained the dominant topic.
Kenny Smith watched the replay again.
"That is going to be debated. There is a lot of movement there before LeBron gets the shot up."
Barkley shook his head.
"I know one thing. New York better forget about the whistle now. The call is not changing. They have 5 more minutes to win the game."
Fans were nowhere near as diplomatic.
"That was not basketball. Was he running with the ball?"
"Chen thought he had figured out every possible way LeBron could finish. Apparently there was still another one."
"You cannot defend that. You think the man is done taking steps, and suddenly he has another."
"Even at a pickup game, people would be arguing over that one."
"How are you supposed to block somebody if he can land and keep going?"
The arguments continued as overtime began.
Miami's defensive strategy remained unchanged.
Chen Yan was still the priority.
Double him.
Force the ball away.
Make somebody else beat them.
New York's first basket in overtime came from David West.
He received the ball near the free throw line and calmly knocked down a mid range jumper.
123 to 121.
Neither team scored on the next 2 possessions.
Fatigue was becoming obvious.
Both teams had played at tremendous intensity for 48 minutes, and the extra period immediately exposed their tired legs.
Shots that had been dropping during regulation began hitting the rim.
Nearly 2 minutes passed before another field goal fell.
Curry crossed half court.
Pass.
Move.
Receive again on the wing.
He rose from beyond the arc.
Swish!
126 to 121.
Miami answered by attacking the basket.
Wade drove hard into the paint and drew a foul.
He stepped to the free throw line.
Swish.
Swish.
126 to 123.
New York responded immediately.
David West received the ball inside.
Back down.
Turn.
Spin toward the basket.
Reverse layup.
Good.
128 to 123.
West had now scored 4 of New York's 7 overtime points.
His foul trouble during regulation had kept him on the bench for long stretches.
Ironically, that now worked in New York's favor.
While nearly everyone else was exhausted, West still had relatively fresh legs.
Barkley nodded.
"Miami is still throwing everything at Chen, but this is what makes New York dangerous. David West is stepping up now."
Kenny agreed.
"And Curry already hit a big shot. People forget that New York has more than 1 elite offensive player. David West is an All Star level player, and Curry is already playing at that level even though he has not officially made the team yet."
Miami quickly inbounded.
The Heat were running out of time.
James pushed the ball across half court.
He tried to connect with Wade.
Miscommunication.
The pass was exposed.
Chen Yan reached in.
Smack!
Steal.
Chen immediately passed toward Curry on the right wing and sprinted forward.
Curry advanced beyond the 3 point line.
Then he looked up.
Chen was flying toward the rim.
Curry lofted the ball high.
Perfect height.
Perfect distance.
Chen rose.
1 hand caught the ball in midair.
Boom!
He slammed it through.
130 to 123.
The Knicks bench erupted.
Miami's defense had barely recovered before New York struck again a few possessions later.
The Knicks set up their elevator action.
Chen burst through the opening.
Catch.
Rise.
3 pointer.
Swish!
133 to 123.
That became Chen's final basket of overtime.
It was also New York's final score of the night.
Miami still had 2 minutes remaining.
But trailing by 10, the Heat could not complete another comeback.
The final buzzer sounded.
New York Knicks 133.
Miami Heat 126.
The Knicks had survived an exhausting offensive battle and escaped Miami with another victory.
The home crowd could only watch in disappointment.
More importantly, the series now stood at 3 to 0.
Miami was staring into the abyss.
Chen Yan's final numbers were extraordinary.
65 points.
9 assists.
6 rebounds.
2 steals.
2 blocks.
He shot 23 of 39 from the field.
Despite facing double teams for most of the night, Chen still converted roughly 58 percent of his shots.
From beyond the arc, he went 9 of 16.
At the free throw line, he was perfect.
8 of 8.
After the game, Chen walked through the tunnel toward the locker room.
Several fans called his name and held out items for autographs.
He ignored them.
Under normal circumstances, Chen would have stopped for a few seconds.
Tonight was different.
He was exhausted.
The box score looked superhuman.
The physical cost had been equally enormous.
Being trapped repeatedly by James and Wade was no joke.
A normal NBA All Star might have struggled just to receive the basketball against that kind of pressure.
Chen had spent the entire game fighting through it.
Changing direction.
Splitting traps.
Using defenders against each other.
Running from the backcourt to the frontcourt.
Creating shots from impossible angles.
He had outthought, outmaneuvered, and ultimately outlasted Miami's defense.
65 points.
And a road victory.
Barkley looked almost exhausted just watching the highlights.
"If somebody watched Chen for the first time tonight, that person probably became a fan. That was the kind of performance you remember for years."
Kenny nodded.
"There were shots tonight that should not have been available. Wade was there. LeBron was there. Sometimes both were there. Sometimes there were 3 defenders. Chen still found ways to score."
Barkley leaned back.
"That is dominance. Not just scoring a lot of points. Dominance is when the other team knows exactly what you want to do, throws everything at you, and you still do it."
Miami finished with 5 players in double figures.
James had 36 points and 7 assists.
Wade scored 31 points with 5 rebounds.
Pau Gasol finished with 16 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 blocks.
Channing Frye scored 15.
Chalmers added 10.
New York also had 5 players reach double figures.
Behind Chen's 65, Curry recorded 24 points and 5 assists.
David West scored 16.
Battier had 11.
Barea added 10.
Nelson had shortened his rotation considerably tonight.
Most of New York's scoring came from the core group.
Far away from Miami, David Stern looked at the result and shook his head.
It had gone wrong again.
He had never intended for the officials to blatantly hand Miami the game.
He merely wanted the Heat to receive enough favorable calls to make the series more competitive.
Instead, New York had still won.
Even the officials could only feel helpless.
James had attempted 24 free throws.
He had made only 15.
There was only so much opportunity anyone could provide.
If James had converted a few more of those attempts, the game might never have reached overtime.
Fans immediately noticed the numbers.
Some joked that if Chen had received 24 free throw attempts, he might have threatened 80 points in a Playoffs game.
At the post game press conference, Spoelstra looked exhausted.
"Chen Yan was unstoppable tonight."
There was little point pretending otherwise.
"We tried different defenders and different coverages. We trapped him. We changed our help. Nothing consistently worked."
Spoelstra paused.
"He was the biggest reason we lost."
James refused to concede the series.
"It is not over."
His expression remained serious.
"We have another game in front of our fans. We are going to fight."
A reporter raised his hand.
"LeBron, on the final possession of regulation, do you believe you traveled?"
James spread his hands.
"No."
The reporter waited.
James continued.
"I have been making that move my entire career."
The reporter then turned toward Wade.
"Dwyane, did you think LeBron traveled?"
Wade barely reacted.
"I did not see it clearly."
He shrugged.
"I was focused on my own positioning. The official did not call anything, so I assume it was a legal play."
The reporter smiled.
Wade certainly knew how to avoid answering a dangerous question.
On the Knicks side, almost every interview eventually became a conversation about Chen Yan.
His teammates praised him repeatedly.
Chen himself was unusually quiet.
Not because he suddenly wanted to be modest.
He simply wanted to sleep.
Among all the praise, Curry delivered the most memorable answer.
A reporter asked him, "Stephen, how did Chen keep breaking Miami's double teams tonight? Does he practice that regularly?"
Curry answered immediately.
"I do not know."
The reporter looked confused.
Curry continued.
"I cannot tell you how he breaks double teams in practice."
A small smile appeared.
"Because in practice, we usually triple team him."
The room burst into laughter.
By the end of the night, praise for Chen had spread everywhere.
Fans said he had reached another level.
Before, Chen Yan could beat the opposing team.
Tonight, apparently, he could beat the referees too.
....
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