The Golden Age of Basketball

On May 1985, 5, the Portland Trail Blazers continued to play the second game of the Western Conference semifinals against the Denver Nuggets at home.

After experiencing the shocking moment in the last quarter of the first game, the nerves of the entire Portland Trail Blazers were tense. For them, if they can win this home court, it means that they have one foot Has entered the door of the Western Conference Finals.

Since winning the championship in 1977, the Portland Trail Blazers have not been able to step into the door of the conference finals, and they have fallen on the threshold of the semifinals several times.

And this year is definitely a good opportunity for the Blazers to go further.

Therefore, the morale of the Blazers was amazing at the beginning of the second game. They did not play against the Nuggets like in the first game, but balanced offense and defense, and strived to suppress the Nuggets on both offense and defense.

Their opponent, the Denver Nuggets, unexpectedly fell into an offensive low tide.

In the last game, English felt hot and scored 46 points. This game is no longer feeling good. He made 6 of 1 shots in the first quarter and no free throws.

The team's main scoring point misfired, and the other Nuggets players did not make up in time, but felt cold.

This is undoubtedly a major blow to the Nuggets who rely on shooting for food. At this time, their lack of advantage inside has exposed their lack of tactics.

In the era when the three-pointer had not yet formed a tactic, a team without inside offense was doomed to be a lame team. Once a team that relied on shooting lost its touch in a certain game, what awaited them would inevitably be failure.

Amidst the waves of cheers at the Memorial Stadium, the Portland Trail Blazers continued to play fast offense, and the Denver Nuggets shot 40.00% from the field, giving the Blazers too many opportunities to counterattack.

Drexler, who was sent off in the last game, tried his best to perform well in this game. The slightly thin striker of the entire Tunneling team couldn't resist Drexler's surprise attack. In just one first half, Drexler scored 12 points relying on the fast break, plus other offensive means, and scored 19 points in the half, which was a new record for his half-time score in the playoffs.

"When the glider was gliding on the floor of the Memorial Stadium, I knew that no one could stop his take-off." Seanley was full of praise when explaining.

63:47, this is the point difference between the two sides at the end of the first half. Compared with the previous game, the score of the Blazers has decreased, but the score of the Nuggets has dropped even more.

If it weren't for Calvin Knight as a power forward who can continue to output for the Nuggets inside, the Nuggets will only lose more.

During the halftime break, what Ramsey said the most was that the players must learn the lessons of the previous game, and they must not let the Nuggets play offensively again.

"I'd rather not score myself than let the Nuggets score easily!" Ramsey said.

Sure enough, in the second half, the Trail Blazers did not dare to relax in the slightest. Drexler continued to assume his duties in the previous game and went to defend English.

In this game, English failed to get too much from Drexler. Drexler kept sticking to English's side like taking a powerful pill to interfere with Ying. Glish's attack.

At the same time, Drexler also began to pay attention to controlling his own fouls. He was more to disrupt English's offensive rhythm, rather than to prevent English from being unable to shoot.

This kind of "bodyguard-style" defense that is close to harassment is very, very annoying for players who mainly shoot. English, who had killed the Quartet in the last game, was shot into the water in this game. — Misfiring.

Without the support of the leading star, the Nuggets' offense has always been tepid. Relying on this style of play, the Nuggets can't catch up with the Blazers anyway. Drag it out of the mire.

When the game progressed to the fourth quarter, Vandeweghe made two consecutive three-pointers from the three-point line, turning the score between the two sides into 107:81, and when the gap widened to 26 points, Doug Mo knew that this game They are gone.

As a result, Doug Mo replaced the main players and began to send the substitute players on the field. At this time, Ramsey also began to replace the main starters and replaced the substitute players.

There is not much garbage time in the playoffs. For the Blazers with many young players, this is undoubtedly a very good training opportunity.

Gan Guoyang played on the court for a while longer, but he didn't have the heart to collect statistics on the court. In this game, he was very satisfied with the double-double data of 18 points and 17 rebounds. The most important thing is that the team won. up.

Soon, with a dead ball, Gan Guoyang and Drexler were replaced together, and the Memorial Stadium soon burst into warm applause, which is the best affirmation for these two super rookies.

"Great, you must be the one to be interviewed after the game." Gan Guoyang and Drexler walked off the court side by side and said to Drexler.

Drexler's 22 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists in this game shined in the audience. It is certain that he will be selected as the best player of the game, so Drexler will definitely accept reporters' sideline interviews after the game .

"I don't understand, you are not afraid of anyone, why are you afraid of reporters interviewing you?"

"I'm not afraid, I hate it. I hate a person who has nothing to do with the game, holding a microphone and asking questions; I'm sure that female reporter didn't watch the game at all, or she couldn't understand it. "Gan Guoyang has always been very disgusted with reporters' interviews, but reporters still like to interview him.

"Even if you don't accept interviews on the sidelines, there will always be reporters interviewing you in the locker room, at the press conference, and during training." The two had already sat on the bench at this time, put on their sports clothes and waited at ease on the sidelines The end of the game.

The final score was fixed at 121:103. The Nuggets' substitutes obviously performed better, but they couldn't fill the 26-point hole.

The Portland Trail Blazers made another victory at home and turned the total score to 2:0. The form is a good one for the Trail Blazers.

"How many games do you think the Blazers will be able to end this series?" In the post-match interview, Gan Guoyang encountered another invisible challenge from the reporter.

"I think it will be within seven games, and we won't play the eighth game." Gan Guoyang evaded this backstabbing with a haha.

"Cooper is an old player of the Trail Blazers. Now he is in the Nuggets. We found that in the matchups on the court, he seems to have nothing to do with you. Currently in the West, is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar your real opponent? "One arrow just passed, and another arrow shot over immediately.

"If you want to talk about Chinese Kung Fu, you're right, indeed, only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is my real opponent." Gan Guoyang used Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's practice of Chinese Kung Fu as a shield.

The interviews in the locker room after the game are more random than the interviews on the sidelines. Because they don’t have to face the TV cameras, some reporters always ask tricky questions. It is a good habit to try to be as tight as possible when speaking, and at the same time not to offend the reporter too much.

Of course, if some low-level reporters go too far, there is no guarantee that Gan Guoyang will not get angry.

The Blazers won the game, and Gan Guoyang was in a good mood. After coping with the "siege" of the reporters, he carried his luggage to the parking lot of the Memorial Stadium, where Wang Fuxi was waiting for him in the car .

"You played Gan Guoyang really well today!" As soon as he entered the car, Wang Fuxi stepped forward and gave Gan Guoyang a kiss.

"Yeah, I think I'll be even better at night!" Gan Guoyang chuckled.

"Don't make trouble, you're going to Denver tomorrow, it's a plateau, I think you'd better save your energy."

After playing two home games, the Portland Trail Blazers will go to the plateau home in Colorado, where they will withstand the severe test of the away game.

"It's okay, the plateau is not as scary as everyone thinks, believe me, I will perform better in Denver than in Portland!"

"Okay, I believe you~"

………………

On May 5, the day after Game 3, the Blazers flew to Denver.

Once they got to Denver, though, they ran into trouble.

Denver's airport is very distinctive. It is located at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Gan Guoyang can see the majestic snow-capped Rocky Mountains from the plane.

The entire airport building seems to be rolling white peaks, which seem to blend with the mountains behind it, full of natural beauty.

But Gan Guoyang and his teammates were not in the mood to appreciate the beauty of the airport because there was a problem with the airport bus they took.

So the Blazers had to contact the Nuggets and ask them to send a bus to pick them up again.

The Blazers arrived in Denver around 10:[-] p.m. They could have gone straight to the hotel for lunch, but the new bus arrived late at [-]:[-] p.m., citing traffic jams in the city.

The Blazers players didn't eat at the airport for tomorrow's game, so they all waited hungry until the bus arrived.

By the time they arrived at the hotel by bus, it was already past three o'clock in the afternoon and close to four o'clock in the afternoon, so Ramsey had to cancel the team training originally scheduled for the afternoon.

In this way, the Blazers can only have a simple shooting practice tomorrow morning, and then directly at the McNichols Sports Center at night, they will play the third game of the semifinals with the Denver Nuggets.

"This game is very critical, very very critical, we must strive to win! In this way, the morale of the Nuggets will be completely broken! We will be sure of the series." At the team meeting after dinner, La Mucci said so.

But the players didn't seem to express anything. Perhaps they all felt that it was time to relax after leading 2:0.

"Will the Denver fans be too sad?" Gan Guoyang said suddenly, and his teammates laughed as soon as he said it.

"Don't think about it! If you don't want to grieve yourself, let someone else grieve!" Ramsay yelled.

The room fell silent again.

"If the game has not started yet, thinking 'we still have a way out', then the result of the game is almost out. Remember, the Nuggets, there is no way out."