"Damn it!"
Marion cursed furiously after Blake drilled the three right over him.
What angered him wasn't simply the fact that Blake had made the shot. It was that Blake had passed up a wide-open look and deliberately waited for Marion to come defend him.
Then, with Marion right in his face, Blake had pulled up and buried the three anyway.
That was blatant disrespect.
It was outright humiliation.
How could Marion not be furious?
"Whoa!"
The Suns fans in the stands erupted in astonishment.
Anyone paying attention could tell Blake had deliberately humiliated Marion, but the home crowd loved every second of it.
After all, Blake had struggled throughout the first half and endured plenty of taunting from Mavericks fans.
The Suns fans hadn't enjoyed hearing any of that either.
So watching Blake pass up an open shot, wait for Marion to defend him, then bury a three in his face...
That felt damn good.
"Hmph!"
The more Marion thought about it, the angrier he became.
He stepped in front of Blake again. As one of the Mavericks' top perimeter defenders, he was determined to shut Blake down.
"Thud!"
Marion stepped up aggressively.
Even though Blake was standing a full meter behind the three-point line, Marion still rushed out, intent on taking away every possible offensive option.
But Blake barely even looked at him.
With Marion crowding him, Blake simply rose up and launched another ultra-deep three.
"You're getting blocked!"
Marion's eyes hardened as he jumped with everything he had.
But even at full extension, he still came up just short.
The ball sailed over his fingertips.
"Swish!"
Nothing but net.
On the next possession, Blake was in almost the exact same spot.
Another ultra-deep three.
Marion was once again right in his face.
"Whoosh!"
Blake fired.
"Damn it!"
Marion had contested with everything he had, yet still couldn't reach the shot.
He cursed furiously and turned away, screaming inside.
Then, behind him...
"Swish!"
Blake's ultra-deep three ripped through the net again.
Another completely unreasonable make.
"Wow..."
Inside the broadcast studio, Mike Breen exclaimed, "He's pulling up for contested threes right in Marion's face, and these aren't ordinary threes either. They're extremely difficult shots from well beyond the arc.
"If Marion can't even bother him on those, then there's simply no way he can contain Blake."
Van Gundy nodded with a faint smile.
"Marion was never capable of shutting Blake down in the first place.
"At the end of the last game, Blake only started missing because his legs were gone and his stamina had dropped.
"Those misses came from Blake himself. They had nothing to do with Marion's defense.
"And now the key is that Blake has hit three straight threes.
"He's completely shaken off that first-half slump and entered his own rampage mode.
"The Suns are about to make a serious run."
"Let's hope so."
And this time, the two commentators were exactly right.
With 9:11 left in the quarter, Blake ran along the baseline and curled out to the left wing, where Nash found him with the pass.
Marion was standing right in front of him.
But...
"Whoosh!"
Blake caught the ball, turned, and once again acted as if Marion wasn't even there.
He rose immediately for three.
That was the message.
I'm going to shoot this right over your head.
And you can't stop me.
You can't block it.
There's nothing you can do.
"Swish!"
Straight through the heart.
Another three for Blake.
"Aaaah!"
Marion roared in frustration, nearly losing it.
At last, he had to admit the obvious.
He simply could not guard Blake.
Not now that the "Monster Rookie" had found his touch and regained his rhythm.
So the Mavericks began double-teaming him.
But once Blake had found his form and entered rampage mode, stopping him was never going to be that simple.
With 7:33 left, Blake had the ball at the top of the key with Marion and Nowitzki trapping him.
He glanced toward Curry on the wing as if he were about to pass.
Instead, he suddenly pushed the ball forward.
"Whoosh!"
Blake exploded between Marion and Nowitzki, splitting the double-team and charging straight into the paint.
One step inside the free-throw line, he planted and launched himself into the air.
"Thump!"
Chandler jumped from beneath the basket to challenge him.
But Blake's explosiveness and leaping ability were terrifying.
He came soaring in like a warrior descending from the sky.
"BOOM!"
Blake hammered the ball down over Chandler.
"Oh my God!"
"Not even halfway through the third quarter, Blake has already hit four threes and scored 16 points!
"He's completely taken over!"
"Blake from the left corner. Another three!
"Is it good?!
"Yes! Yes! Yes!
"His fifth three of the quarter!
"Nineteen points in the third!
"Blake is tearing the Mavericks apart!"
"They're pressing him on the perimeter, doubling him, crowding him, but Blake isn't rattled at all!
"He bursts to one side and simply outruns one defender!
"Stops on a dime!
"Then steps back again!
"From the left wing, another step beyond the three-point line!
"He rises and fires over Nowitzki!
"Nowitzki is right in his face!
"Can this possibly go in?!
"No way, right?!
"My goodness!
"It's good!
"It's good!
"IT'S GOOD!
"Blake hits another absolutely ridiculous extended three!
"That's his sixth three-pointer of the quarter!
"Twenty-two points in the third!
"Blake has once again tied the playoff record for three-pointers in a single quarter!
"He has completely taken over this game!"
"Another double-team!
"No, wait! Three defenders are surrounding him!
"Is Blake still going to force it himself?!
"No! He kicks it out to Nash!
"Who's Nash looking for?
"Curry?
"No!
"Nash immediately throws the ball toward the rim!
"What is this?!
"An alley-oop?!
"Wow! Blake is flying toward the basket!
"But Marion is still in front of him!
"BOOM!"
Blake rose over Marion, caught the lob above his head, and slammed it down right over him.
"Oh my God!
"That was brutal!
"Twenty-four points in the quarter!
"Blake is completely unstoppable!"
"The Suns have the final possession of the third quarter!
"Who gets the ball?
"Blake!
"They run the clock down to seven seconds!
"Once again, Blake launches a ridiculous three right over Nowitzki!
"This one...
"Finally misses!
"But Paul George grabs the rebound!
"He doesn't hesitate for even a second and fires the ball back out!
"Blake is retreating toward the perimeter and leaps high to catch it!
"3.3 seconds left!
"Blake comes down with the ball near the logo!
"He glances at the clock!
"No hesitation!
"He launches from near the logo!"
Nowitzki had already given up on trying to contest it.
In his mind, there was only one thought.
There's no way.
Absolutely no way this goes in.
But...
But...
"Oh my God!
"IT'S GOOD!
"Blake gets a second chance and buries the three!
"At the very end of the third quarter, he drills a near-logo three at the buzzer!
"Another ultra-deep three!
"Blake has hit seven three-pointers in this quarter!
"Twenty-seven points in a single quarter!
"Twenty-seven points in one quarter of a playoff game!
"Blake...
"He's gone absolutely superhuman!"
...
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