What was it like watching Weber play in his prime?

Many in the media would exhaust their vocabulary heaping praise on the most versatile big man in the league.

While he couldn’t be a defensive anchor like Duncan or Garnett, he was an outstanding athlete with incredible range. He could even operate out by the three-point line, setting screens and facilitating for others. When the mood struck, if he found himself wide open, he could even knock down a three.

In his fourth year in the league, he even shot nearly 40% from three at one point.

He could play inside and out, excelled at mid-range jumpers, and was skilled at facing up from the low post. With a wide array of post moves at his disposal and a powerful build, anyone taller than him wasn’t as fast, and anyone faster wasn’t as strong.

He could seemingly do it all, and putting up 20 and 10 was as easy as eating and drinking for him.

On top of that, he could also dish out around five assists per game, along with blocks and steals.

But in that moment, Weber suddenly remembered that before he had entered the league, the title of the most versatile big man had belonged to the 39-year-old veteran standing before him.

’That’s right. Thirty-nine years old.’

A sense of helplessness washed over Weber as he stared at the old-timer who was sticking to him, not giving an inch.

’He can still run!’

Weber could hear Olajuwon’s heavy breathing, but no matter how he moved, Olajuwon always managed to show up right beside him.

He caught the ball with little time on the shot clock. Weber immediately went to work, spinning and driving to the right, but it was just a fake. He changed direction with a crossover step, trying to squeeze past Olajuwon on the left.

But he couldn’t budge him.

It felt like hitting a brick wall. The tough contact forced Weber’s movement to deform.

He lowered his body, preparing for another fake.

But Olajuwon didn’t fall for the fake at all. Instead, he timed it perfectly, leaping up at nearly the same time as Weber and extending his arm to disrupt the hook shot.

"Rebound!"

He yelled out before he even landed.

Behind him, Ewing leaped up, boxing out Divac to snatch the rebound.

But the moment he landed, Divac let out a pained cry and flopped backward dramatically.

The whistle blew at the same time.

Clutching the basketball, Ewing angrily yelled at the referee, "He flopped! Didn’t you see that?"

The referee kept a straight face. Confronted by a former league superstar like Ewing, he wisely averted his gaze. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"That’s enough," Olajuwon said, turning to pull Ewing back.

That was just how Divac played. Although Olajuwon didn’t respect it, there were always a few of those crafty guys in the league, and that was the skill they relied on to make a living.

Divac walked to the free-throw line and calmly sank the shots.

The Suns took possession.

In reality, especially in the playoffs, the Suns were running an offense similar to the Kings’.

Constant passing and ball sharing.

When Olajuwon was at the power forward position, he, like Weber, had to come up to the high post to set screens and facilitate.

The only difference was that the Kings shot a high volume of three-pointers, relying on their outside shooting, while the Suns focused primarily on driving to the basket for layups or fouls.

Weber stuck close to Olajuwon.

Hardaway made his move, using a screen from Olajuwon to drive straight to the basket.

But he changed direction on the drive, pulling the defense’s attention to the right side of the rim, then suddenly threw a bounce pass to Olajuwon, who was trailing the play perfectly.

Weber was right there with him.

But Olajuwon came to a sudden stop, faking a shot.

The move was so realistic that Weber went for the block on sheer reflex.

The instant he committed, Weber realized he had been tricked.

Sure enough, Olajuwon pulled the ball back, ducked low to slip past Weber, and scored with a finger-roll.

A shiver went down Weber’s spine as he suddenly remembered that when it came to footwork under the basket, the man before him, the inventor of the Dream Shake, was the absolute master.

On the sideline, a sharply dressed Adelman glanced up at the scoreboard.

to 19.

The Kings were down by three.

And crucially, there was only a minute and a half left in the first quarter.

In other words, after nearly a full quarter of play, the Kings had somehow managed to score fewer than 20 points.

This was highly unusual.

Based on their regular-season scoring average, the Kings should have put up at least 26 points in a quarter.

In the first quarter, when they were at their freshest, the Kings had frequently dropped 30-plus points this season if they got hot.

To be held to this score could only mean one thing: the Suns’ defense was tough as nails.

The high-intensity defense was clearly making the Kings uncomfortable and throwing them off their game.

Beside him, the white-haired Pete Carril asked, "Rick, is it time to make some substitutions?"

They’d been playing this whole time, and the starters hadn’t rested for a single minute.

Adelman didn’t reply, first turning his head to look at the opposing bench.

The Suns hadn’t made any substitutions yet; it looked like they fully intended to play their starters for the entire quarter.

In Adelman’s mind, Skiles wasn’t the type of head coach to run his starters into the ground.

Even for the playoffs, using his starters this much was a bit extreme.

’Does he really have that much faith in Chen Yu’s abilities?’

Adelman’s gaze fell on Chen Yu, who was sitting in the second row of the bench.

He had, of course, studied the Suns’ first-round series against the Mavericks and had noticed that Olajuwon and Ewing played very long minutes yet were still able to maintain ample stamina.

He suspected it was Chen Yu’s doing. There had been media reports during the season that Chen Yu had a special knack for maintaining his players’ conditioning.

’Otherwise, how could this group of veterans have made it through the entire season in such good health?’

After a moment’s thought, Adelman was the first to make a substitution.

He put in Bobby Jackson for Bibi.

Bibi had a strong build, but J Kidd was taller, stronger, notoriously good on defense, and possessed a top-tier ability to read the game that was equal to, if not better than, Bibi’s.

As a result, Bibi’s performance had been atrocious so far: 0-for-3 from the field without a single point to his name.

Subbing Bibi out would also let him catch his breath.

Then Adelman also subbed out his center, Divac.

He was another 34-year-old veteran.

Banging against a tough guy like Ewing in the paint, he’d already given the performance of a lifetime and needed a breather as well.

The younger Scott Pollard came in.

He didn’t offer much in the way of scoring, but he was diligent and willing to do the dirty work.

Seeing the Kings make substitutions, Skiles immediately did the same.

But to Adelman’s surprise, Skiles subbed out J Kidd and Marion.

Olajuwon and Ewing, the two veterans who most deserved a substitution, were left on the court.

Mario Elie and Dan Majerle were brought onto the court.

Hardaway shifted to the point guard position to handle the ball.

With one minute left, Skiles wanted to get two quick three-pointers and see if he could widen the scoring gap.

The plan worked.

Freed from Doug Christie’s constant harassment, Hardaway could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

Hardaway’s playmaking was different from J Kidd’s. J Kidd was a traditional point guard, a floor general who could always get the ball to the right spot and control the rhythm of the game.

Hardaway, on the other hand, had more flair. He preferred to use his individual talent to draw the defense’s attention before hitting an open man with a sudden, unexpected pass.

With a simple change of pace, Hardaway shook Bobby Jackson and drove straight for the basket.

In an instant, Hardaway’s drive and Olajuwon’s cut to the basket drew the full attention of the Kings’ defense.

Mid-drive, Hardaway raised his arm, faking a pass.

Bobby Jackson flinched, instinctively turning his head to cover Olajuwon.

Then, to his surprise, he found that Olajuwon didn’t even have the ball.

When he looked back, Bobby Jackson realized that Hardaway had already sent the ball to the corner behind him.

The pass was so slick it made Bobby Jackson’s head spin.

Mario Elie stood there. Peggy couldn’t close out in time and could only watch as he shot the three.

He drained it.

Come playoff time, these veterans didn’t get many minutes, but like a night-blooming cereus, they saved up all their energy just for that one moment to blossom.

to 25, end of the first quarter.

The Suns’ score wasn’t particularly high, but they had held the Kings’ offense to an extremely low level.

This performance made Kevin Johnson in the NBC studio exclaim that the Suns were really giving it their all.

The two veterans, Olajuwon and Ewing, had played the entire quarter.

Especially Olajuwon, who was running all over the court after Weber, looking nothing like a 39-year-old veteran.

"The Suns’ defense is unexpectedly strong. I said it during their series against the Mavericks—the Suns are a very resilient team. If the Kings don’t find a way to solve it, they’re going to be in danger this game."

Just as Kevin Johnson had said, Adelman’s biggest headache right now was how to crack the Suns’ defense and get the Kings’ fluid offense flowing again.

Subconsciously, he felt there was no way the Suns could maintain this level of defense for the entire game.

Defense is draining. It can even negatively impact your offense.

But when he saw Olajuwon still on the court at the start of the second quarter, Adelman’s brow furrowed tightly.

’He’s working him to death.’

On the Suns’ bench, Ewing sat on the sidelines, panting like an ox.

"Relax. Deep breaths," Chen Yu said, squatting in front of Ewing and massaging his calves.

The constant running and high-intensity contact meant the calves were the first place to fatigue.

For this game, Skiles’ strategy was all about defense.

It was a test to see if they could defeat the Kings by relying on defense alone.

So, after discussing it with Chen Yu, he had created a very demanding rotation schedule.

Olajuwon and Hardaway would play the entire game, depending on the situation.

One was the defensive anchor, the other the offensive core, guaranteeing the Suns’ floor and ceiling.

During halftime, Chen Yu would focus the limited time he had on those two to alleviate their fatigue.

As for Ewing, he would rest for five minutes in the second quarter. During that time, Chen Yu would seize the opportunity to give him a massage on the sideline, relaxing his body to ensure he had enough stamina to finish the game.

As for J Kidd and Marion, they were younger, so they would just have to tough it out.

Who would dare attempt such a rotation if not for Chen Yu’s methods for rapid fatigue recovery?

And the results were obvious.

In the second quarter, the Suns maintained their lead.

Although the Kings hit a few three-pointers, those shots were mostly the result of individual effort, not from the open looks created by their vaunted Princeton offense.

to 49.

At the end of the half, the Suns still held an 8-point lead.

The Kings, who boasted the most explosive offense in the entire league, had only scored 41 points by halftime, silencing the entire Arco Arena.

Adelman watched Weber walk off the court, equally silent.

In the first half, Weber’s performance was terrible. Not only had he failed to orchestrate the team’s offense, but he himself had only scored seven points.

’2-for-10 from the field. It’s insane.’

But when Adelman remembered it was Olajuwon guarding Weber, he felt a sense of relief.

’That seems about right, I suppose.’

After all, Weber’s draft comparison had been Olajuwon.

When Li Gui meets Li Kui, it’s only natural to be suppressed.