On paper, the Wizards were no match for the Suns.
But they had Jordan, after all.
During the last All-Star Ga, Jordan had looked a bit old against Hardaway. His aging legs couldn’t keep up with Hardaway’s pace.
But that was just an exhibition ga, and you could never underestimate Jordan’s competitive spirit and skill.
"It’s a bit of a ss out there," Nelson said with a frown, sitting next to Chen Yu.
Skiles was already on the sideline, pacing back and forth with his arms crossed, looking agitated.
Chen Yu nodded in agreent. He could see it too. The offense wasn’t the biggest problem; it was the defense.
The hope had been that playing Ewing and Olajuwon together would create a "one plus one is greater than two" effect.
But in reality, the result wasn’t even one.
The two had almost no coordination on the defensive end and were constantly letting players get by them.
Even Jordan, on two injured legs, had managed to drive to the basket and score three consecutive tis.
Nelson continued, "Hakeem has stopped attacking. Is he unhappy about playing the four?"
At the end of the first quarter, Olajuwon had only taken a single shot, as if his terrible performance was a form of silent protest.
At halfti, the score was 54-53, with the Suns leading by just one point.
Given the disparity in strength between the two teams, the Suns should have been leading by at least ten points.
As the players left the court, Olajuwon stalked toward the locker room, his face taut and expressionless, without saying a word.
Ewing wore the sa expression. His face was so grim it looked like a storm cloud. He hadn’t played well either, seeming a bit rushed. He had taken nine shots in the first half but only scored six points.
He had thought that his matchup, Jahidi White, was too short, and that he should be able to have his way with him. But it turned out the guy had weight—a solid 130 kg—and youth on his side. The force of his play for a mont gave Ewing the illusion he was facing O’Neal.
Then there was Gugliotta. He had been taken out of the starting lineup and was clearly unhappy about it. In his nine minutes off the bench, he hadn’t taken a single shot.
If it weren’t for Hardaway exploding for 19 points in the first half, the Suns might even be trailing.
The Suns’ locker room atmosphere used to be decent.
There weren’t many rookies, just a team full of veterans. After so many years in the league, they were relatively savvy.
If they had a bad ga, they would talk it out with each other.
If the discussions got heated, they might bicker and argue.
But no matter how intense the argunts got, they always stayed within the locker room.
This was especially true for players like Ewing and Olajuwon, who ca up in the eighties and nineties. They had seen plenty of team troublemakers and knew that once the doors closed, fights could even break out. Nothing that happened in a locker room was new to them.
But now, the atmosphere in the spacious locker room was terrifyingly tense.
Everyone was keeping to their own little corner, minding their own business.
"Chen." Skiles beckoned to Chen Yu.
Chen Yu and Nelson walked over.
A few people from the coaching and dical staff were gathered together, their expressions varied.
"Chen, you know psychology. What do you think is wrong with them?" Skiles asked in a low voice.
Even a fool could see that sothing was wrong.
He had only wanted to try adjusting the starting lineup, but who would have thought it would trigger such serious consequences?
Chen Yu had a good idea of what the three of them were thinking. But guessing was one thing; figuring out how to fix it was the key.
After a mont of thought, Chen Yu asked, "Scott, I want to ask what you’re thinking. Do you want to stick with this current adjustnt?"
Giving up and switching back before even finishing one ga would be a case of changing orders overnight, which would do even more damage to the team.
If this adjustnt was genuinely helpful and necessary for the team, then experiencing so turbulence was normal.
From designing a tactic, to implenting it, to finally getting results—so teams needed an entire season to adapt and adjust.
So, it all depended on what Skiles was thinking.
Skiles stood with his arms crossed, thinking silently.
He was well aware of the Suns’ goal this season. To put it bluntly, they were aiming for the championship.
And to get out of the West, they had to consider how to deal with the Lakers.
Or more specifically, how to deal with O’Neal.
Expecting the current Olajuwon or Ewing to stop O’Neal one-on-one was simply impossible.
Skiles had been pondering this problem all season. After much thought, his mind went to the ’99 season, when the Spurs eliminated the Lakers and won the championship.
The Spurs had ford a "Twin Towers" lineup in the frontcourt and successfully eliminated the Lakers to win the title.
So this ti, with Ewing unhappy about his position, Skiles had seized the opportunity, wanting to form the Suns’ own Twin Towers.
In Skiles’s vision, Ewing would use his top-tier defense to battle and wear down O’Neal in the paint, while Olajuwon would leverage his experience and range to fully utilize his offensive abilities.
With the introduction of the defensive three-second rule, even if they couldn’t completely shut down O’Neal, it would be enough as long as O’Neal couldn’t shut down the Suns’ frontcourt either.
"That’s right. I want to make this adjustnt," Skiles nodded.
He had even planned out the bench rotation. He’d have Teylon Hill fill in at the five, and just let Gugliotta float on the periter. He could be used as a high-post shooter.
This whole arrangent, for both starters and the bench, balanced offense and defense. It should be better.
Chen Yu understood. "Then don’t worry about them. Stick to your plan," he said. "Right now, they haven’t psychologically adapted to the position change. Nothing you do at this mont will get through to them. So you should just wait. Either they’ll adjust on their own, or the conflict will erupt completely. That’s when you can step in and resolve it."
It’s better to wait for a conflict to fully reveal itself before trying to solve it.
"Scott, you’re what they call a system coach. Show them so of that head coach authority. Don’t go easy on them just because they were once superstars," Chen Yu added teasingly.
Scott was supposed to be a system coach. That kind of coach doesn’t care about star power, runs a tight ship, and prioritizes winning above all else.
Last year, Chen Yu had seen that this was Skiles’s style. His word was law on the team. If soone didn’t perform, they were imdiately benched from the starting lineup.
But this season, facing stars of Olajuwon and Ewing’s caliber, he had clearly lost his nerve.
Skiles rolled his eyes at Chen Yu, a wry expression on his face. He nodded and said, "Fine. We’ll stick with it for this ga and see how it goes."
The tense halfti break ca to an end.
In the second half, Ewing was more active.
It was understandable. He was the one who first voiced his dissatisfaction with his position. Now that he had gotten his wish and was starting at center, a poor performance would be a slap in his own face.
However, the problem of poor coordination remained. Olajuwon had the awareness to provide help defense, but he was always a step slow and had almost no chemistry with Ewing.
Fortunately, the Suns still had their offense.
The final score was 97-94. Thanks to Hardaway’s outstanding 34-point performance, the Suns managed to scrape by with a narrow victory.
Ewing had 10 points and 7 rebounds.
Olajuwon had 4 points and 5 rebounds, a performance that could only be described as disastrous.
Chen Yu wasn’t at the post-ga press conference, so he didn’t know what questions the reporters asked there. But when the locker room opened to the dia, a large group of reporters surrounded Olajuwon and Ewing, asking them how they felt about the position change and their performance afterward.
Chen Yu was standing nearby. It was obvious both n were seething inside, but they showed none of it to the reporters. They simply stated that it was the coaching staff’s arrangent and that they would do their best to execute it.
Normally, after a ga, Chen Yu would take the ti to have a brief chat with all the players.
Everyone was used to this. After packing up their things, they headed to the psychology chat room one by one.
But when they arrived at the door, they found it closed.
"Chen has already gone ho. No chat today," Nelson said with a smile, sending everyone away.
The players looked at each other in confusion. A few of them frowned, their expressions looking as if they were constipated.
Today, of all days, they had a particularly strong urge to vent.
But who would have thought that Chen Yu would stand them up, refusing to give them the chance to unload?
At the back of the crowd, Olajuwon glanced at Ewing, who was a few steps away, then quickly looked away, hoisted his bag, and turned to leave.
Only after everyone had left did Nelson push open the door to the chat room.
Inside, Chen Yu was on his phone, sending ssages to arrange the next day’s work schedule for his clinic.
"So, how were their expressions? Priceless, right?" Chen Yu asked, looking up.
Nelson nodded, then after a mont’s thought, added, "Chen, I’m starting to realize you psychologists are terrifying, especially when it cos to manipulating people’s minds."
Chen Yu stood up and patted Nelson’s shoulder. "First of all, I’m not a psychologist. It’s just a hobby."
Nelson gave a wry smile. ’If he’s this good as a hobbyist, wouldn’t he be even more terrifying if he studied it professionally?’ he thought.
"I’m heading out."
Chen Yu waved and walked out of the room.
In the following days, Chen Yu completely stopped the psychology chats. Even when Hardaway ca to him proactively, Chen Yu wouldn’t bring up the topic of the lineup change.
However, Chen Yu was constantly observing the players’ changes.
It was obvious that at the beginning, all the players could see the conflict brewing between Ewing and Olajuwon.
At that ti, everyone was anxious, afraid that sothing would go wrong.
It was like a company suddenly changing a departnt head; the regular employees would naturally worry about how the change might affect them and the company’s future.
They were also waiting for managent to respond.
But then, they discovered that managent wasn’t doing anything. They were just sticking to the new arrangent, and it wasn’t affecting them. So, as far as they were concerned, the matter was settled. It was over and didn’t concern them.
With his silence, Chen Yu had handled the other players. But Olajuwon and Ewing weren’t so easily managed.
The two of them had never had a great relationship to begin with.
They had always been rivals.
In the 1984 NCAA Championship ga, Ewing led Georgetown University to victory over Olajuwon’s University of Houston, securing the only championship of his career.
After entering the league, both beca top-tier centers and were constantly compared by the dia.
Then ca 1994. With Jordan on his first retirent, Ewing finally led the Knicks past the monuntal obstacle of the Bulls and into the Finals.
And then they ran into the Olajuwon-led Rockets.
After a seven-ga series, Olajuwon had the last laugh.
And that was the closest Ewing ever ca to a championship ring.
If Jordan was Ewing’s lifelong nesis, then Olajuwon was undoubtedly the one who shattered his championship dream.
A loud BANG snapped Chen Yu out of his thoughts.
He looked up and saw Ewing.
At his feet, a drink bottle lay crushed, its contents spilled all over the floor.
All the players in the locker room stared at Ewing in surprise, their faces a little stunned.
"Shit! Do you have any idea you’re playing like a pile of shit?!" Ewing roared, pointing an angry finger at Olajuwon across the room.
Olajuwon shot to his feet in an instant.
The atmosphere in the locker room instantly beca as tense as it could possibly be.
But in that mont, amidst his astonishnt, Chen Yu smiled.
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