The Golden Age of Basketball

() (Yesterday was late, so I sent it ahead of schedule today.)

On December 1984, 12, after playing against the New York Knicks, the Blazers finally ended their six-game Eastern road trip and returned to Portland by plane on December 1.

In six tough away games, the Blazers achieved a good result of 4 wins and 2 losses, and continued to lead the Western Conference standings with a record of 16 wins and 4 losses.

However, this long trip to the Eastern Conference still brought some troubles to the Blazers who started the season smoothly.

In the first three games of the six games, the Trail Blazers won relatively easily, but the battle against the Pistons became a turning point. Gan Guoyang’s impulsiveness caused the Trail Blazers to lose strength. Apart from losing the game against the Pistons, the next The game against the 76ers was also defeated, and they suffered their first losing streak of the season.

The "culprit" Gan Guoyang returned to Portland early for separate training, waiting for the day to join the team.

Finally, on December 12rd, the day after the Blazers returned to Portland, the Blazers team, after a full rest, started team training again in the training center.

"1-4 high-post offense, pay attention to reverse running, pay attention to cover, pay attention to the flanks, Gan, your pass should be faster! Quickly judge the opportunity, Clyde and Colter's opportunity has come out, you have to Get the pass in time. Or get the ball into Vandeweghe's hands, and then you've got to set him a top-of-the-key screen, and then our offense can go on."

During the tactical drill, Ramsey's roar echoed in the gymnasium. He was still not satisfied with Gan Guoyang's high-level support ability, and Gan Guoyang's passing judgment still had many shortcomings.

Gan Guoyang also stopped helplessly and accepted Ramsey's criticism and guidance. He knew that he still had a long way to go in the skill of passing the ball, at least he had to memorize all the tactical routines.

In Ramsey's offensive tactical system, the position of the center is extremely important. The center must be an all-rounder, able to attack, defend and pass, and play a role on the field as the tactical axis of the whole team.

After Bill Walton retired, Ramsey once tried to let Sampson play such a role. In the end, he found that Sampson is a typical person who can do everything, but nothing is top-notch. He can only be a 70 at best. Different versions of Bill Wharton.

After Gan Guoyang came to the Trail Blazers, Ramsey has never given up on training him to be the second Bill. Although he also admitted that there are actually many differences between Gan Guoyang and Bill, he still hopes that Gan Guoyang can do as well as Bill. , and even be able to do better than Bill.

Gan Guoyang doesn't think so. Although he also thinks it is very meaningful to support and create opportunities for his teammates at a high position, he still hopes to give the team enough help by scoring at critical moments.

Now listening to Ramsey's constant emphasis on the tactical essentials of 1-4 high-post offense, Gan Guoyang couldn't help but feel a little impatient. He still prefers to practice low-post tactics instead of always standing at the top of the arc like a point guard.

"Okay, let's start to prepare for the tactical content of the next game against the Suns. We are finally back at home, and we need to perform well." Ramsey finished the tactical drill and began to prepare for the next game.

"We are divided into two teams, and you are willing to join the second team to simulate the offense of the Suns."

Generally speaking, when conducting intra-team confrontation training, it will be divided into one team and two teams, and let the second team simulate the opponent's style of play, and then the first team will respond.

Since Gan Guoyang was still unable to play during the suspension period in the next game, Ramsey assigned him to the second team and asked him to imitate the Suns' power forward Larry Nance.

In the two games against the Suns, the Blazers won, and Gan Guoyang became a key player in both games.

In the first game, the Blazers and the Suns played overtime. Gan Guoyang's key goal in overtime allowed the Blazers to win. Larry Nance scored more than 40 points in that game.

So in the second game, Gan Guoyang mainly defended Nance and suppressed Nance's performance. The Blazers won another victory against the Suns.

In the third game, Gan Guoyang was unable to play to defend Nance. The contribution he could make was to play Nance in the simulated confrontation and help the first team's tactical preparation.

For Larry Nance, Gan Guoyang, who has played against him twice and has experience in one-on-one defense, is still a little familiar.

In the offense, Nance and Gan Guoyang are completely different players. With the same power forward height, one of them plays like a center forward, and the other likes a small forward.

However, it is not particularly difficult for Gan Guoyang to play small forward. His excellent dribbling ability and good face-to-basket attack style are very similar to Nance.

Ramsey is more worried about this game. Without Gan Guoyang, the Blazers may not be able to withstand the impact of Nance on the inside. Once Nance is opened, the Blazers will have a hard time.

In the last game against the 76ers, it was impossible to contain Moses Malone, which led to the team eventually losing the game.

Gan Guoyang is very happy with this task, because he will be facing off on the court with Mitchell Sampson, who is acting as the starting center.

Sampson's defense in the interior is very good for the Cavaliers, but he is suitable for dealing with veterans, not for physical men, such as Larry Nance, who is his bitter hand.

In the first round of the playoffs last season, Sampson was unable to contain Larry Nance, causing the Trail Blazers, the third in the West, to lose 2:3 to the Suns in the first round, which directly led to Great deal for the Blazers this summer.

"Gan, you have to attack from the center, cut inside after the pick-and-roll, and cut from the outside." Ramsey is also familiar with the tactics of his old opponent, the Suns. Nance's ability to hold the ball is not very strong, but he is in the pick-and-roll. The inward cut after receiving the ball was very powerful.

Sampson just couldn't handle Nance's move, and was often beaten into a sieve.

Gan Guoyang made a pick-and-roll with Colter at 45 degrees on the right, and then cut in from the baseline. Colter hit the ground and passed the ball from the pinch between Sampson and Valentine.

After Gan Guoyang received the ball, without any hesitation, the basket was already empty, he took off directly, and made a beautiful one-handed dunk!

But after scoring the goal, Gan Guoyang didn't feel much, because Sampson didn't defend at all.

"Okay, Gan, don't be so excited. Although you won't be able to play, you can save some energy during training." Ramsey looked at Gan Guoyang's beautiful dunk and said blankly.

Gan Guoyang also finds it very boring, but what is even more strange to him is that in previous defenses, the Blazers have always insisted on not switching defenses after the pick-and-roll and not flanking other teams' pick-and-rolls.

In other words, according to the original defensive routine, it should be that Valentine squeezed past Gan Guoyang to chase Colter, and then Sampson stuck close to Gan Guoyang and did not relax.

This is the most traditional and conservative pick-and-roll defense strategy. Try to rely on the player's personal ability to complete the defense against the opposing player, ensuring a good position and no shame.

The advantage of this defensive strategy is that the defense is not easy to mess up, everyone has clear responsibilities, is persistent and resilient, and will not be easily defeated by the opponent.

The disadvantage is that this kind of defense lacks strength and variety. Once the opponent finds a target point and the opponent fights to the death, it is likely to kill the Blazers alive.

In the 5 games the Blazers lost, except for the overall strength against the Lakers, there was indeed a gap in overall strength. In the other games, English died against the Nuggets, and he died against the Pistons and 76ers due to internal loopholes.

On the one hand, these losses made Ramsey realize the important role of Gan Guoyang in defense. On the other hand, it also made Ramsey think about how to successfully defend the opponent's inside offense without Gan Guoyang.

His first thought was to pinch the ball handler after the pick-and-roll.

This is a relatively risky defensive strategy. Ramsey seldom used it, and the NBA at that time used it very little, because the defensive systems of each team were immature, and any flanking tactics might pay a heavy price.

"Why did you use the flank attack? Does it work?" Gan Guoyang asked Ramsey holding the ball.

"It may work, it may not work, but if we insist on not switching defenses, I am afraid that our inside will be under too much pressure. In this case, we will let the opponent's pass to the inside not go in, and it will be fine." Ramsey's move can be called dredging from the bottom.

"If I were here, we wouldn't have to bother so much. I could stop Nance." Gan Guoyang said "without shame".

"There are no ifs in this world, and even if you can play, it doesn't mean you can definitely lock up Larry Nance. Sometimes you underestimate professional NBA players." Ramsey said disdainfully to Gan Guoyang.

It doesn't matter to Gan Guoyang, he's just talking about having a good time. He still knows the ability of NBA players, and it's really not something he can lock up if he wants to.

Even if it is a player sitting at the end of the bench, there may be a day of explosion, which is hard to guard against.

"Okay, let's continue to practice. Our Suns have played enough games. Everyone knows some points to pay attention to. Tomorrow is our home game. Come on everyone."

The training continued. Gan Guoyang, who will not be able to play at home in the next game, was extremely serious. He had a great time simulating the players of the Suns.

He also tried [-]% in defense, which made the teammates of the first team of the Blazers a little uncomfortable.

When he slapped Sampson's layup, Vandeweghe couldn't stand it any longer, and said, "What's the matter, Gan, you haven't played for too long, did you vent all your energy in training?"

Gan Guoyang smiled and said, "I'm trying to make 'Larry Nance' stronger, so that when facing the genuine Larry Nance tomorrow, someone won't be beaten too badly.",

The person Gan Guoyang was talking about was naturally Mitchell Sampson, but what he said was so outspoken that even Vandeweghe's face changed when he heard it, and he couldn't help but look at Sampson next to him.

Sampson's face was naturally very ugly. He didn't expect Gan Guoyang to be so arrogant. It's okay to be ruthless during training, and he said such things recklessly.

"You'd better pay attention, brat, if you don't know how to respect others, then others will not respect you!" Sampson said fiercely.

"I only respect capable people, not those who are not good enough but always put on airs." Gan Guoyang replied bluntly.

"What did you say? Say it again!" Sampson, who was about to serve in the backcourt with the ball in his hand, threw away the basketball and walked in front of Gan Guoyang, with a gleam of fire in his eyes.

"I don't like guys who have no strength and put on airs." Gan Guoyang did not back down and confronted him tit for tat.

"What are you doing! Don't cause trouble for me in training!" Ramsey, who was on the side, saw that the situation on the court was wrong, and immediately yelled, and other players also came up to persuade him.

After all, this is not a game against other teams, but a training within the team. It is impossible for Gan Guoyang to punch Sampson, and he will not do such a messy thing.

But Gan Guoyang definitely did not challenge Sampson on impulse. He had already thought about it when he was at home, and he wanted to use an opportunity to destroy Sampson's authority.

In the young team of the Trail Blazers, apart from coach Ramsey, the oldest player is Kenny Carr, but he is a wandering role player with a bold personality and a big brother, but he is not the core of the team.

Vandeweghe is currently the player with the strongest personal ability and the most tactical role in offense in the team, but he is an outsider with a gentle personality and has no desire to be the boss.

Drexler was the ultimate real boss of the Blazers in the original history, but although he was arrogant, he was also a gentleman and a peaceful person. Now he cares more about starting opportunities than anything else.

Only Mitchell Sampson, with old qualifications, was the No. 1978 pick in [-] and has been playing for the Blazers. He is the core player of the Blazers in name.

But regardless of ability, Sampson is relatively boring in personality, and often does not have the ability to unite his teammates. In this regard, he is not as good as rookie Gan Guoyang.

Therefore, Gan Guoyang decided to "seize power" internally and seize the core position of the team, just like when he was in Gonzaga and Palo Alto.

As the training continued, Ramsey didn't know what Gan Guoyang was thinking. He thought that the relationship between the two was not good, so it was fine to come here.

When the team practice was over, Ramsey returned to the office, and some other players went back to the locker room for physical therapy or bathing, and some went to the gym to do some strength training.

Gan Guoyang stayed to practice mid-range shooting as usual, along with Drexler, Vandeweghe, Jerome Cosey, Colter, and Sampson.

Sampson never stayed for extra training before, which is one of the reasons why Gan Guoyang was unhappy with Sampson. He thought how could a team boss not work hard for extra training?How can you not be the last one to leave the training hall?

When he was in high school and college, Gan Guoyang was the gatekeeper of the acting training hall. He opened the door early in the morning and closed it at night.

But this time, Sampson stayed because during the training, Gan Guoyang told him, "Stay here after the end and fight one-on-one. I will tear you apart."

Of course, Sampson couldn't back down from this. He had also seen Gan Guoyang upset for a long time, and wanted to take this opportunity to teach the young man a lesson.

Looking at Sampson, Gan Guoyang couldn't help but think of the scene in Palo Alto, when he went to the training hall on the first day and beat Wiggis in a one-on-one match. Since then, he has become the well-deserved core of the Vikings.

"Then we shall begin, old sir."