Chapter 246: 3:0

"You're so tall!"

As Wade Dong dribbled, he had to look up to see Obry's face, and he said, "But your body is a bit thin."

After Obry spread his arms, Wade Dong felt like there was a wall in front of him, although it wasn't very thick, it still blocked his view.

Shooting a three-pointer in front of such a tall player was indeed challenging.

...

Wade Dong dribbled slowly, and Obry was a bit nervous while defending him.

When Wade Dong rose to fame, Obry admired him, especially this season, as Wade Dong had won almost all the awards, which made Obry worship him. However, he never imagined that one day, he would be defending Wade Dong one-on-one on the court.

Wade Dong crossed over Obry twice with his dribble, easily getting past him.

Obry's lateral movement was obviously slower, and he almost stumbled as he tried to catch up.

But when Wade Dong broke through to the basket, Griffin had already come to help defend!

This was Coach Lue's tactic - to use Obry to limit Wade Dong's three-pointers, and then Wade Dong would have no choice but to drive to the basket, at which point Griffin would help defend in the paint.

Wade Dong had a physical confrontation with Griffin in the air and then made a layup.

The score was now 12:9!!!

Five minutes into the first quarter, the Suns led the Clippers by 3 points.

Coach Lue stood on the sidelines and loudly encouraged Obry, "Just defend like this and don't let Wade Dong shoot any three-pointers!"

In the previous game, Wade Dong made 14 out of 17 three-pointers, with an 82% three-point shooting percentage, which really scared Coach Lue. He was now thinking that since he couldn't limit Wade Dong's scoring, he would try to turn his three-pointers into two-pointers, which would reduce the damage.

The Clippers had possession.

With Griffin, Jordan, and Obry, their frontcourt was very crowded.

While defending, Wade Dong patted Green's shoulder and said, "Go and double-team Paul with Curry, and leave the paint open."

Coach Lue's tactic had an obvious flaw, which was like the saying, "One monk carries water to eat, two monks carry water to eat, three monks have no water to eat."

With so many big men in the paint, it disrupted Paul's rhythm!

So as long as they could defend Paul, they could shut down the Clippers.

When Green came to double-team Paul, Coach Lue's face darkened, as Wade Dong had immediately seen the flaw in his tactic.

Wade Dong didn't know Obry, but when Obry defended him, he searched his mind and found that Obry didn't have an offensive skill package. Even Huang Yu, when he appeared, had his skill package automatically added by the system.

However, Obry only had a defensive skill package and no offensive skill package, which meant that his offensive ability in the NBA was essentially non-existent.

Seeing Paul being double-teamed, Griffin had to come out and set a screen. Paul finally broke free from Curry's defense, but he still didn't have a clear shot, and with Jordan being defended by Gortat, the only person left open was Obry.

"Oh..."

Paul sighed lightly and passed the ball to Obry.

Obry caught the ball and hesitated for a moment, but he was still open. Paul, seeing Obry's hesitation, shouted, "Shoot!"

Opportunities are fleeting.

If Obry didn't dare to take the shot, Paul could guess with his toes that Wade Dong would easily steal the ball from Obry.

"Oh!"

Obry responded and raised his long arms to throw the ball towards the basket.

Slap!!!

This close mid-range shot still hit the back of the rim, which was quite strange.

Wade Dong easily grabbed the defensive rebound and then initiated a fast break.

He passed to Curry, who passed to McGrady. McGrady received the ball and made an easy reverse layup.

The score was now 14:9!!!

The Clippers attacked again, and the same situation as before occurred. However, Paul wouldn't pass the ball to Obry again, as he was being double-teamed, so he had to pass to Crawford, who faced McGrady's defense and took a rushed shot.

G~~~

The shot missed again, and Wade Dong grabbed another rebound.

Then, when Wade Dong attacked, facing Obry's defense, he abandoned the three-pointer and drove to the basket again.

Swish!!!

He made an easy layup, avoiding Jordan's defense.

The score was now 16:9!!!

"Timeout!"

Coach Lue had no choice but to call a timeout.

He had come up with a clever strategy, hoping to disrupt the Suns' rhythm by taking advantage of their unfamiliarity with Obry.

However, this tactic obviously didn't work, as Wade Dong immediately saw through both Obry and Coach Lue's tactic.

...

After the timeout, Coach Lue benched Obry, who had been called up from the D-League at the end of the season. In his first playoff appearance, he played for only 3 minutes and contributed 0 points, 0 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, and 0 blocks.

He was truly inferior to Wade Dong's college teammate, Li Pei.

Coach Gentry also used this timeout to substitute Thompson for McGrady, and he made no further lineup changes.

Wade Dong was very stable in the playoffs.

Moreover, he was also acting as a coach on the court, and Coach Gentry even felt that he only needed to sit on the bench and wait for the game to end.

The first quarter ended.

The score was 29:21!!!

The second quarter ended.

The score was 57:42!!!

The third quarter ended.

The score was 76:71!!!

In the third quarter, Wade Dong played for five minutes and then rested. During the time Wade Dong was off the court, Paul led the Clippers to a comeback, and they started to close the gap.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Wade Dong returned to the court.

Paul organized the offense, and Jordan received the pass. He made a fake shot, which fooled Gortat.

"Wow~~~"

Such a delicate move was rarely seen from Jordan.

With the Clippers starting to close the gap, the fans' emotions were also high, and they all cheered.

Then...

As Jordan was about to shoot, Wade Dong flew from behind him and swatted the ball to the backcourt.

After swatting the ball, Wade Dong landed and sprinted towards the backcourt, catching up with the ball. He then held the ball with both hands, took a step, and jumped.

Bang!!!

He made a powerful two-handed dunk!

This dunk extinguished the Clippers' comeback momentum...

Time kept passing.

Beep!!!

As the referee blew the whistle, the game ended.

The final score was 97:86!!!

The Suns won on the road against the Clippers, leading the series 3:0.

They only needed one more win to advance to the Western Conference Finals, where they would await the winner between the Thunder and the Spurs.

Game stats:

Wade Dong: 32 points, 13 rebounds, 11 assists, 6 steals, 3 blocks.

Curry: 21 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 steal, 0 blocks.

Paul: 26 points, 3 rebounds, 9 assists, 4 steals, 0 blocks.

Griffin: 29 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks.