The Suns eliminated the Mavericks from the West to reach the Finals, the first time in franchise history since Barkley's Finals in '92-93.

It's been nearly thirteen years.

That time, after Barkley's Suns broke into the Finals, they encountered the Bulls led by Jordan, and finally lost 4:2 to the opponent, which also achieved the Bulls' first three-game championship.

Thirteen years later, the Suns, who returned to the Finals after a long absence, turned their opponent into the Miami Heat.

The Heat's road to the East was not difficult, eliminating the Bulls 4-2 in the first round and Kidd Carter and Richard 4-1 in the second round. The Nets led by Jefferson defeated the Pistons 4-2 in the Eastern Conference finals.

After last season's run-in, the Heat's two core players, Shaq. O'Neill & Dwayne. Wade's cooperation has become more and more tacit, and there is a faint feeling of the OK period back then.

Although today's sharks are dying, averaging 20 points and 9 rebounds per game in the regular season, and 18.4 points and 10 rebounds in the playoffs so far, the Heat are far from being as strong as the Lakers during the three-game championship dynasty.

But it would be a mistake to use the Lakers in the OK period as a yardstick, and the Heat at this stage is one of the strongest teams in the league at the moment.

When the Heat met the Suns, the vast majority thought the Heat would emerge victorious and lift the championship trophy.

Including Wang Chao is no exception.

Wang Chao knows very well that the Suns can defeat the Mavericks 4:3 to reach the finals, which is already commendable, and it is simply wishful thinking to further defeat the Heat.

The Mavericks only have Nowitzki, even if they can't prevent it, they can still think of a way, but the Heat has the configuration of peak Wade and twilight O'Neal at the same time!

Needless to say, how ruthless Wade was in the 05-06 season, originally in time and space, the Mavericks would be defeated 2:4 in four consecutive sets with a 2-0 lead in the first two cities, mainly because they had nothing to do with Wade.

In the six games of the finals, Wade averaged 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, like an unstoppable killing god, using his lightning break to tear the Mavericks' defense apart again and again.

The Mavericks can't defend Wade, and the Suns can't defend either. Bale, in front of Wade, Bale's defense is simply useless.

Not only that, but O'Neill in his twilight years is also not to be underestimated.

In the finals with the Mavericks, O'Neal didn't play well, averaging only 13.7 points and 10 rebounds per game in six games, but that was because he faced the Mavericks.

The Mavericks' interior combination is Nowitzki + Dampier, the self-proclaimed No. 2 center in the West is not very good, but he is also a standard heavy center, with tonnage and strength.

If O'Neal was at his peak, Dampier might just be a casual kneading ball, but now O'Neal's strength is not as good as before, and it will be a little difficult to fight in the face of Dampier, a young and powerful heavy center on the inside.

The problem is that the Suns don't have a heavy center like Dampier, and even many times they don't even have a center in the true sense of the word on the court, and they mostly play as a cameo center as a forward.

This makes them have no way to face O'Neal's big killer under the basket!

……

On June 8, the first game of the Finals began at the home court of the Suns, who had a better record.

Then the Heat told the Suns what a super center is.

O'Neal seemed to have the second spring of his career, shooting 12-of-14 from the field and 7-of-13 from the free-throw line, scoring 31 points and 16 rebounds on a terrifying 85.7 percent shooting.

The Suns' interior line was defeated by O'Neal alone, and the game was lost to the other side without any suspense.

At 99:94, the Suns lost the game on their first home court.

The Heat, who won the first game, took advantage of the victory in the second game to win two consecutive away games.

O'Neal continued to be the main point of attack for the Heat, shooting 13 of 20 from the field, but unfortunately he missed the free throw, 3 of 10 shots, with 29 points and 10 rebounds, while Wade also played well, 8 of 15 shots, 7 of 8 free throws, and got 23 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists.

However, the Heat failed to make the cut to win 2 in a row and lost the game instead.

The Suns are not muddy after all, they gave full play to the advantages of the run-and-bomb tactics in this game, and the frequent and fast-paced offense and defense made the Heat tired to cope, and at the same time, the interior players also frequently pulled out the outside line to block and cover for their teammates, which allowed Wang Chao to get a lot of opportunities, 9 of 16 three-pointers in the game, and scored 27 points.

O'Neal's shortcomings are undoubtedly revealed in this game, although the Suns don't have a heavy center inside to score casually, but whenever the Suns break fast or pull out the interior to block and dismantle, O'Neal is ineffective, and he can only drag his feet on the court at this time.

And because O'Neal's free throws in today's game were not good, the Suns also frequently used the shark tactics to limit the opponent's play, and finally held one of their home courts and equalized the score to 1:1.

However, this situation is only temporary, and as the game moves to Miami, the home of the Heat, the Suns are beginning to be unable to contain the decline of the rout.

On June 13, the Suns lost to the Heat 96-98 and lost to the opponent by 2 points.

On June 15, the Suns lost the game again 104:112, and the big score came to 3:1, and the Heat took the lead to get the match point.

In both games, the Suns lost not because of O'Neal, but because of Wade's strength.

Wade in this period was really strong and terrifying, as Wang Chao expected.

G3 shot 14-of-26 from the field, 14-of-17 from the free-throw line, slashed 44 points, 11 rebounds and 5 assists, especially 15 points in the fourth quarter, and forced the game that was originally behind to win.

Immediately after G4, Wade made 13 of 23 shots and 9 of 10 free throws to finish with 37 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists.

In the face of O'Neal, the Suns, who can't be guarded, can still use a shark-cutting tactic, but in the face of the rampaging Wade, the Suns, like the Mavericks, have no way.

This kind of gap in strength is not easy for even Wang Chao.

In fact, Wang Chao played more easily in the game with the Heat than with the Mavericks. Walker is an All-Star and averaged 23 points and 10 rebounds per game at his peak.

But the 05-06 season is the end of Walker's career, and his average data has dropped to only 8.5 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, and the increase in age has also made his physical fitness and explosiveness far less than before.

Wang Chao can use the off-ball running position to face Josh. Howard has an easier time running out of the open space, and thanks to O'Neal, teammates pull in from the interior to cover him at a high rate.

But even so, Wang Chao's existence still can't offset the huge difference in strength between the two teams.