The ball returned once again to the Trail Blazers, with Gan Guoyang firmly in control, and the Trail Blazers were in no rush.
The game was firmly in their hands, and time was running out for the Suns.
In the 90s, three-pointers were generally mediocre, and trailing by a dozen points in the final minutes was a chasm.
But Barkley was unwilling to give up, directing his teammates to defend against the Trail Blazers’ offense and launching another counterattack.
Barkley charged ahead, received the ball, and forcefully drove to the basket, going for a layup!
The result, however, was Lewis poking the ball away from behind!
Barkley gestured to the referee that it was a foul on the hand.
But the referee didn’t call it, instead, the Trail Blazers launched a counterattack.
Gan Guoyang cut down the middle, receiving a pass from Sabonis.
A two-handed dunk! It’s good!
With this shot, Gan Guoyang scored his 46th point of the game.
At this point, his stats were 46 points, 22 rebounds, 12 assists, and 11 blocks.
An all-around performance, an all-around set of stats.
This shot practically shattered the Suns’ hopes of a comeback.
Barkley stood with his hands on his hips, sweat pouring down.
He looked up at the clock, only two minutes left.
Barkley still didn’t give up, taking a shot from the outside for three, but it missed.
With stamina waning, such gamble shots were purely reliant on luck.
Phoenix Suns fans finally lost heart, losing the second game as well.
Charles Barkley’s performance was worthy of his MVP trophy.
But the MVP was merely a threshold to challenge Ah Gan.
The Suns gave up their resistance, and both teams ran down the final seconds.
The final score settled at 110:101, with the Trail Blazers securing a 9-point away victory to even the series.
Gan Guoyang achieved the first quadruple-double in NBA playoff history.
As he himself said, he was at the peak of his career.
Meanwhile, Charles Barkley, dejected after the loss, returned to the locker room, avoiding reporters and locking himself in the treatment room to cool his burning knees.
Tonight, Barkley scored 42 points, with 15 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 7 assists, an equally astounding performance, but still a notch below Ah Gan.
Whether in terms of stats, efficiency, or court performance, he met the challenge but not the winning standard.
The game was intense and spectacular, but Barkley knew that throughout the game, the Suns never truly got close to the Trail Blazers.
Their best chance at a comeback was when Gan Guoyang’s shooting was off in the third quarter, but they missed it.
Lack of sharpness was one factor, and on the other hand, the Suns simply couldn’t break through the Trail Blazers’ defense with a rush.
Ah Gan’s touch may have been off, but just look at his blocks tonight, his defense tonight, it’d be no exaggeration to call it impenetrable.
blocks, is this something a human can achieve? Can a human produce these stats?
Barkley pondered a series of questions, detail issues, technical issues, stamina issues, and so on.
He was intently reviewing the game, unaware that Paul Westphal had entered.
"Charles!" Westphal called out, snapping Barkley back to reality, "The ice is melting."
Barkley looked down at the ice in the tub, indeed it was nearly all melted, he’d been soaking for a while.
"Relax Charles, you played amazingly tonight, we’re tied 1-1, back to square one. Heading to Portland, we’ll take the away game and the series."
Paul Westphal comforted Barkley, urging him to look forward.
Theoretically, Westphal wasn’t wrong, the series was just beginning.
From the performances in the first two games, the Suns were qualified to arm wrestle with the Trail Blazers.
The Suns held the home-court advantage, and it wasn’t decided yet who would win, Barkley need not be discouraged.
Barkley nodded, neither denying Westphal’s words nor agreeing with them.
After a moment of silence, he told Westphal: "Against Ah Gan, every game has to be an all-out win effort, don’t assume you can win back in the next match, much less assume winning in Portland. I know him, he... he won’t give up."
Westphal pondered Barkley’s words, acknowledging Barkley wasn’t the type to back down after one loss.
But what did he mean by that? Would Ah Gan keep getting quadruple-doubles? Would the next games be tougher?
Westphal didn’t see it that way; he thought, going off their second game’s performance, the Trail Blazers already struggled.
Barkley said no more, adjusted his mindset, and went out to face the reporters.
Discussing his and Gan Guoyang’s incredible performances tonight, Barkley jokingly said: "I am the best basketball player on Earth. Ah Gan? Ah Gan is from Mars, how else could he get a quadruple-double? Is that a humanly possible statline?"
Quadruple-doubles have happened in the NBA, previously achieved by Ah Gan’s mentor Nate-Sermonde, and Hakeem Olajuwon with block quadruple-doubles.
Irving Robertson also once achieved a steal quadruple-double, but those were in the regular season; in the playoffs’ intensity and competition, Gan Guoyang was the first with a quadruple-double.
The Western Conference Finals were tied 1-1, with the Trail Blazers and Suns back to square one, reclaiming home-court advantage.
On the other side, the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat, everyone thought the Bulls would even the series like the Trail Blazers.
But unexpectedly, the Miami Heat claimed another win at home, leading the Bulls 2:0!
In this clash, Michael Jordan scored 36 points, but Hakeem Olajuwon, with 30 points, 16 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 3 steals, led the Heat to a 98:94 home victory over the Bulls.