The Golden Age of Basketball

"At the beginning, you will be the core of the offense. If you seize this time and opportunity, it will be difficult for you to score again when both sides run."

In Gan Guoyang's mind, he thought of Ramsey's "Chunchun teaching" to him yesterday. At this time, he was standing in the center of the Memorial Stadium, and in front of him were the Denver Nuggets center, Wayne Cooper, the Trail Blazers and King's game is about to begin.

This round of the series can be said to be full of highlights. The main players of the Nuggets, Fat Leaf and Calvin Knight, were players in the Trail Blazers last year, but now they have entered the "enemy camp".

The Blazers' leading scorer this year, Vandeweghe, is a veteran of the Nuggets. Compared with the Utah Jazz vs. Los Angeles Lakers, which does not have much suspense, such a matchup will inevitably attract the attention of the whole United States.

The regular season record has no reference value, and the playoffs will definitely be a new contest.

"Get ready guys, the game is about to start." It was the referee Jack O'Donnell who spoke, and he stood in the middle circle with the ball to remind Gan Guoyang and Cooper.

O'Donnell is one of the nb's famous whistlers. He has rich experience in whistleblowing games. He has as many as [-] nb playoff whistleblowing experience. The league appointed this big referee to enforce the law for this game. It fully illustrates the degree of attention this round of the series has received.

Seeing that both Gan Guoyang and Cooper were ready, O'Donnell threw the ball into the air and the game officially began.

The Nuggets are one of the few teams in the entire league, or the only team whose starting frontcourt height is one level lower than that of the Blazers. [

Their starting center Wayne Cooper is 6-foot-10 like Gan Guoyang, while the starting power forward, former Trail Blazers player Calvin Knight, is a small man with only 6-foot-6 inside.

So when Gan Guoyang was the first to hit the ball in the air, he took advantage of the situation and moved the ball to Kenny Carr. Carl had the upper hand in the battle with his old friend Knight and easily got the ball. The Blazers took the lead. possession of the ball.

"I'm sorry, Calvin, I stole your ball, maybe I'm too tall." Carl said to Knight with a smile after passing the ball to Valentine.

Karl had been teammates with Knight for two years in the Trail Blazers. At that time, Knight played the small forward position in the team. He and Karl were both starters on the court, but the relationship between the two off the court was very ordinary. , because Knight actually prefers to play the power forward position, although his height is only about the same as that of a guard.

Therefore, Carl, a guy who likes to joke, often joked about Knight's height, and as a result, the two of them turned against each other.

Of course, the bottom line is that the two have different personalities. Carl is loose and outgoing, and likes to go to bars for fun; while Knight never goes to bars, but chooses to spend time in clubs or museums, and even goes to the morgue and funerals for nothing. Undertaker chatting.

Now that Knight has arrived in the Nuggets, he has finally reached the power forward position, and has also entered the All-Stars by virtue of his outstanding performance. Every time he plays against the Trail Blazers, Knight will try his best to compete with Kenny Carr.

Of course, the one being taught a lesson is often Karl.

Knight ignored Carl's provocation, but came to the half-court position, ready to defend the Blazers' first offense.

As a team with insufficient height and no strong inside line, the Nuggets play fast is their only way out, and position defense is what they are least good at and hate to do.

And what they hate even more is that the opponent has a strong insider who is overwhelmed in the three-second zone. In the last round, an old trainer Gilmore made the Nuggets want to die, and almost failed in the first round.

In the Blazers' first offense, Gan Guoyang made a pick-and-roll with Drexler in a very inside position, then turned around to avoid Cooper's defense after receiving the ball, and made a layup with his right hand, winning for the Blazers First point!

"Easy and happy scoring, pleasing pick-and-roll, Gan and Drexler, easily tore apart the Nuggets' defense with skillful cooperation, and made a two-point layup." Listen to Sean Leigh's live commentary now.

But after scoring the goal, Gan Guoyang didn't feel relaxed. He knew that scoring against the Nuggets is not difficult, but scoring alone is not enough to win easily. You have to keep the Nuggets from scoring, which is even more difficult. up.

In terms of scoring average alone, the Denver Nuggets are the No. 120 offensive team this season. They are the only team in the league that averages 117 points per game. Their firepower is stronger than that of the Los Angeles Lakers. Porter The Lan Blazers can only rank third with [-] points. [

Unlike the Los Angeles Lakers who rely on fast breaks and powerful low-post singles, and the Portland Trail Blazers who combine all kinds of scoring methods, the Denver Nuggets are a veritable "jump shooting team."

This team is so dependent on and loves jump shots. Among their five starting players, except for center Cooper, the other four are all jump shooters, and the Nuggets' tactics also serve jump shots.

It goes without saying that fast break is the magic weapon of all teams, but in the positional battle, the Nuggets gave up the offensive point in the low post and concentrated the attack on the bottom corner, 45-degree and mid-range shooting points at the top of the arc.

After landing on the ground, the Nuggets began to repeatedly run back and cover. The ball will be passed repeatedly between the strong side and the weak side until the opponent loosens up in the defense. Then the Nuggets who receive the ball will use the center A jump shot from distance ends the offense.

This offensive method seems simple, but it is a huge test for the players' shooting ability, and everyone in the Nuggets has the ability to accurately hit jump shots in one step within the three-point line.

"Calvin Knight, dribble, jump shot! Goal, Knight's shot from the top of the key, easy hit."

Knight received the pass at the top of the arc. He hesitated for a while and prepared to pass, but found that the Blazers' defensive marking was very strict in the opening game and there were no good passing opportunities.

When Knight saw Carl in front of him again, he was also furious. He immediately held the ball and made a breakthrough. 2:2.

Gan Guoyang immediately took the ball to the bottom line and served it. This time, he did not even touch a hair on the opponent's hair.

But on the offensive end, Gan Guoyang is an important force that cannot be ignored. This time he started to play in the low post on the left.

It doesn't matter that Wayne Cooper is the same height as Gan Guoyang, but he is thinner than Gan Guoyang, and his strength is not at the same level as Gan Guoyang. Gan Guoyang easily got stuck in the deep place on the left side.

Valentine passed the ball to Gan Guoyang, Gan Guoyang dribbled the ball and squeezed in, hit a small hook with his left hand, another easy score.

But the Nuggets immediately responded with a ball. Knight circled from the inside to a 45-degree position on the left, caught the ball and hit a jumper, a s, and Kenny Carr couldn't help Knight a little bit on his footsteps.

"What's the use of being tall, big guy?" Knight said to Carl, who had laughed at him before, after scoring four points in a row.

The opening four offenses of the two sides did not look like a playoff game at all. There was no fierce confrontation, no desperate breakthrough, no blocked shots, steals and dunks. The Blazers were relying on Gan Guoyang to crush the Nuggets inside, and Then use a simple jumper to hit back at the opponent without pain.

However, all the players on both sides knew that this was just the calm before the storm, as if the plane was slowly taking off from the runway, and the two extremely fast teams were slowly accelerating at this time.

Gan Guoyang, on the other hand, still showed his good condition at the opening.

"Gan went around to the left, caught the ball, left-handed hook, hit! It was another left-handed hook. It is rare to see Gan use his left hand to hook in a game. Is this his secret weapon in this game? "Seanley didn't lose a game in the Blazers' home games this season, but it was rare to see Gan Guoyang use his left hand.

In fact, Gan Guoyang has been practicing his left-handed skills, just like his shooting. It feels very good in training, but it is not the same thing in the real game.

Now in the game against the Nuggets, the Nuggets' insiders are weak, so Gan Guoyang took the knife against Wayne Cooper and let him taste the taste of a left-handed hook.

In addition to scoring three consecutive goals in the opening game, Gan Guoyang also received Valentine's steal, took the ball directly in the frontcourt and scored a dunk, and scored two points in vain.

Three minutes into the game, the Blazers led the Nuggets by 3 points 10:4. The head coach of the Nuggets, Dodge Mo, who looked like a mad scientist, immediately called a timeout.

Looks like he's going to wind up the Nuggets.

On the Blazers side, Ramsey made a substitution decision. He directly replaced Gan Guoyang with a substitute, Mitchell Sampson.

"Oh, Gan was replaced. Gan, who scored eight points in a row, was replaced by Sampson. I don't know what Coach Ramsey thinks. Doesn't he want Gan to continue to suppress the Nuggets' inside line?" Xiao Enli said to Ramsay's substitution is also puzzled.

The fans at the scene watched Gan being replaced, and they didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in Ramsey's gourd.

The short timeout ended soon, and Dodge Mo was also a little surprised to see Ramsay replacing Gan Guoyang. He just asked to flank Gan Guoyang during the timeout, but Ramsay replaced Gan Guoyang directly.

Dodge-Mo quickly understood Ramsey's thoughts. After the offense of the probing stage, the Nuggets will definitely speed up their offense after 3 minutes. At this time, the Blazers' shooting percentage will definitely drop slightly. King will get one quick counter-attack after another.

Similarly, the Blazers will not let go of any opportunity to counterattack quickly. Both sides must drive on high-speed kilometers. At that time, the big tank Gan Guoyang will be a bit cumbersome.Gan Guoyang's average of 11 points and 8 rebounds per game against the Nuggets in the regular season proves this.

Unless it's time to fight the bayonet, Gan Guoyang can't keep up with the rhythm of both sides no matter how fast and flexible he is.

In Ramsey's words, "Gan, you are not strong enough to change the rhythm of the game. At that time, you can kill the Nuggets alone, but not now."

"Okay Jack, then let's attack as hard as we can," thought Dodge Mo.