Chapter 601: The Craziest Month in NBA History
On December 25, the Suns hosted the Los Angeles Clippers.
It was supposed to be an ordinary regular season game. The Suns and the Clippers were not opponents on the same level. Although the Clippers were not dead last in the Western Conference, they were still near the bottom of the standings.
The Clippers were a strange team. On paper, their roster did not look that bad, yet they could never turn that talent into results.
The reason was simple. They had no foundation, no identity, and no true soul as a franchise.
Whenever people mentioned Los Angeles, the first team that came to mind was always the Lakers. Even local Los Angeles fans did not truly recognize the Clippers, and over time, that perception had become almost impossible to change.
A team without a fan base was always going to have a hard time succeeding.
Los Angeles was the second largest city in the United States and the center of the entire West Coast. It was famous across the world for its Mediterranean climate, racial and cultural diversity, Hollywood entertainment industry, and vast metropolitan area. It gathered superstars from every corner of the globe and had become one of the best symbols of wealth, fame, and extravagance.
In many cities, having 1 top professional sports team was already enough.
But Los Angeles and its surrounding metropolitan area had 11 professional teams.
The 4 major American leagues each had 2 teams in the Los Angeles area: the NFL's Rams and Chargers, MLB's Dodgers and Angels, the NHL's Kings and Ducks, and the NBA's Lakers and Clippers. In addition, Los Angeles also had 2 Major League Soccer teams, the LA Galaxy and LAFC, along with the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.
Among all these professional teams, the Clippers occupied the most awkward position.
It was not as if they had just arrived. The Clippers had moved from San Diego to Los Angeles back in 1984. By now, they had been part of the city for almost 40 years. With that much time, any normal franchise should have built at least a loyal local fan base.
The reality was different.
The Clippers' popularity in Los Angeles ranked dead last among the city's professional teams. They even trailed behind college basketball programs like UCLA and USC.
Fans were unwilling to support them for a very simple reason. In their eyes, the Clippers were the Lakers' local rival.
To Los Angeles fans, the Lakers were their own child. The rival of their child was naturally their enemy. In that sense, the Clippers could not even be considered the city's adopted child.
There was a reason Los Angeles loved the Lakers so deeply.
In 1960, the Lakers moved from icy Minneapolis to Los Angeles, becoming the NBA's first West Coast team.
Over the next 60 years, the Lakers won 12 shining championship trophies and became the most successful professional team in the Los Angeles area. Their long line of legendary superstars also gave the city endless pride.
The Clippers, on the other hand, had become one of the least successful teams in NBA history. In their 50 years of existence, they had never reached the NBA Finals. They had not even reached the Conference Finals.
Their foundation was poor, their results were poor, and their management was an even bigger disaster.
Because of their consistently dreadful records, the Clippers had received many high draft picks. Their ability to cash in on those opportunities, however, was almost tragically bad.
In 1984, during the famed Golden Generation draft, the Clippers selected point guard Lancaster Gordon with the 8th pick and missed John Stockton, the NBA's all time leader in both assists and steals.
The following year, they used the 3rd overall pick on Benoit Benjamin, a big man who averaged 11 points per game for his career. In doing so, they missed Chris Mullin, Detlef Schrempf, who later became a 2 time Sixth Man of the Year, Charles Oakley, Joe Dumars, the leading scorer of the Bad Boys era Pistons, and Karl Malone, who ranked 2nd on the NBA's all time scoring list.
In 1988, the Clippers landed the 1st overall pick and selected Danny Manning, who underwent 3 ACL surgeries during his NBA career. That kind of luck was almost impossible to repeat.
In 1989, they used the 2nd overall pick on Danny Ferry, who averaged only 7 points per game for his career, missing Glen Rice, Tim Hardaway, and Shawn Kemp.
In 1995, again holding the 2nd overall pick, the Clippers selected Michael Dickerson, a player who spent his entire career looking like a blue collar role player. The next 3 players selected after him were Jerry Stackhouse, who once averaged 29.8 points in a season, Rasheed Wallace, and Kevin Garnett.
By 1998, the Clippers wasted another 1st overall pick by selecting the infamous bust Michael Olowokandi. They passed on Antawn Jamison, Vince Carter, Jason Williams, Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, and several other future stars.
It was not until 2009 that the Clippers finally seemed to make good use of a 1st overall pick by selecting the highly anticipated Blake Griffin.
Unfortunately, Griffin missed the entire season without playing a single game.
In the eyes of fans, the Clippers seemed born to be supporting characters. No matter what they did, they always remained far away from success.
Before the game, Clippers head coach Mike Dunleavy was interviewed by reporters. When asked about Chen Yan's streak of 3 straight 70 point games, he replied, "3 consecutive games with 70 plus points is astonishing. I don't even know what words to use to describe it, because I have never seen anything like it. This is a great achievement in NBA history, and even in the history of sports."
"Have you prepared any special tactics tonight to stop Chen?" a reporter asked with a mischievous smile.
Mike Dunleavy nodded firmly. "Of course. We will do everything we can to stop him."
Mike Dunleavy kept his word.
That night, Chen Yan did not score 70 plus.
Of course, that had little to do with Dunleavy tactical arrangements.
The Suns' firepower caused the Clippers to collapse completely before the 3rd quarter was even over. Chen Yan checked out early in the 3rd with 44 points, barely breaking a sweat.
After the game, domestic and international media described Chen Yan's performance as him "only scoring" 48 points. Fans also felt that Chen Yan had been a little off tonight.
This plunged many scorers around the league into deep self doubt.
If 44 points counted as an off night, then what were they supposed to be doing?
Retiring?
In the next game against the Warriors, Chen Yan continued his scorching form. He poured in 61 points and led the Suns to a 134 to 125 win over Golden State.
Although the Warriors were near the bottom of the Western Conference this season, they were one of the few teams that did not look overwhelmed by the Suns in terms of on court energy. They even briefly took the lead in the 3rd quarter.
Watching the Warriors play, some domestic fans could not help thinking of an old saying.
A reckless fool can sometimes beat a master.
The Warriors' style was chaotic and undisciplined. They did not care what tactics the opponent used. They simply ran, fired, and fought head to head.
That kind of style usually ended badly, but once their shooting caught fire, they had the potential to upset any team.
Fortunately for Phoenix, the Suns' shooters stepped up in this game. Raja Bell, Novak, and even rookie Danny Green all shot well from beyond the arc. Their collective perimeter firepower, combined with Chen Yan's explosive scoring, allowed the Suns to have the last laugh.
In the games that followed, Chen Yan continued his incredible run, leading the Suns to a stunning 15 win and 1 loss record in December.
Chen Yan was named Western Conference Player of the Month for December.
His monthly averages were 52.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 4.3 assists.
52.7 points per game over an entire month.
The media called it the greatest single month scoring performance in NBA history.
Under normal circumstances, when a player repeatedly puts up huge scoring numbers, opponents will design tougher defensive schemes specifically for him. No team wants to become the background for an opponent's scoring record.
Yet Chen Yan averaged 52.7 points per game under that kind of defensive pressure.
After Chen Yan won Player of the Month, Nash, who was still recovering from injury, also accepted an interview.
He joked that maybe he should have sat out earlier, because then fans could have seen Chen Yan's crazy performance sooner.
Some fans even suggested that the NBA should rename December to Chen Yan Month.
How hard was it to average 50 plus points in a month?
Only 2 players in NBA history had ever done it.
Chen Yan and Wilt Chamberlain.
Forget 50 plus. Even 40 plus was already an unbelievable achievement.
In NBA history, only 4 players had averaged 40 plus points in a month while playing at least 10 games.
Even Michael Jordan, the Basketball God, who won 10 scoring titles and peaked at 37.1 points per game in a season, had never done it.
Those 4 players were Elgin Baylor, Kobe Bryant, Chen Yan, and Wilt Chamberlain.
Wilt Chamberlain had 11 separate months in which he averaged 40 plus points. His most outrageous stretch came in December 1961, when he played 18 games and averaged 52.4 points and 26.1 rebounds.
52.4 points had been the highest single month scoring average in NBA history.
Now, Chen Yan had broken it.
Because of Chen Yan, selecting this season's All Defensive Team had suddenly become difficult.
He had destroyed nearly every shooting guard and small forward in the league, which meant no matter who got selected, the result would be controversial.
.....
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