The Golden Age of Basketball

"I think we're in a pretty bad place."

This is the fourth quarter of the game between the Trail Blazers and the Nuggets. With 5 minutes before the end of the game, Kenny Karl, who was sitting on the bench, said to Gan Guoyang next to him.

At this time, the score of the two sides on the field was 107:100, and the Blazers were still 7 points behind the Nuggets.

However, as Karl said, the situation of the Blazers is really very bad.

Gan Guoyang was supposed to fight at the last moment with his teammates on the field, but he had to sit on the bench ahead of time with 5 fouls.

The Blazers couldn't find a way to contain the Nuggets' offense from beginning to end. They could only wait and wait for the Nuggets to catch up when they didn't feel so good.

But after a while, the Nuggets were able to adjust and use a sharp offense to re-open the scores on both sides.

The Blazers seem to be struggling and mediocre on the court. They can still play very good offensive tactics, but they are not as good as the previous two games in handling some details.

Their turnovers began to increase, which is the most terrible thing. Facing an offensive team like the Nuggets, the price to be paid for any turnover may be very heavy. [

In contrast, the Nuggets' turnovers are very well controlled. They kept their turnovers at a very low level during the regular season. If you consider their high-tempo offense, such low turnovers are even more terrifying.

Ramsey also seems to be influenced by Jim Paxson in terms of employment. I don’t know if it is out of consideration for balancing Paxson and Sampson’s psychology, or he thinks that using these two people to deal with the Nuggets is really good. Parker Sen and Sampson's playing time has both been increased.

In this way, Kenny Carr definitely has no objection, but Drexler's is obviously not happy.

In the first three games, Drexler was the defensive spearhead responsible for defending English. Generally speaking, his defensive effect is still good, after all, it is much better than Vandeweghe, and he defended English on the field. Leish also released a lot of pressure on Vandeweghe.

After Paxson's playing time increased, he would definitely not be able to defend English. This task naturally fell to Vandeweghe. In this way, can the points contributed by Paxson on the offensive end offset English's defense? It's really hard to say what score.

The more deadly point is that the Blazers lost their spirit.

Whether it is Paxson or Drexler starting, as long as the players have the spirit and fighting spirit, it is not a big problem.

But in the current situation, the coach has a lot of troubles, and the players have conflicts with each other. Naturally, they can't work together on the field. Some low-level mistakes happen frequently on the field. This is suspected to be a secondary injury to the Blazers.

So, even if everyone is still playing very hard, how can a team that doesn't fit together can compete with the highly motivated Nuggets at home.

"~lex~en~glsh! (Alex-English!)" This is the voice of j on the field suddenly sounded, and the audience also gave out huge cheers.

It was English, and the razor began to slash the Blazers' neck again. He hit two consecutive jumpers at the top of the arc, widening the gap between the two sides to 11 points.

With 11 points, the point difference has reached more than 10 points, and the game time is constantly running out.

"Beep!" The referee's whistle sounded, and Ramsey called a timeout.

At this time, Ramsey tightly pursed his mouth, held the tactical board in his hand, and watched the players walk off the field with their heads down.

"Good boys, there are still more than 4 minutes, we still have a chance. Defense, we must defend, if we can't prevent them, then all offenses will be in vain, so we must use fighting spirit to defend!" [

At this time, Ramsey's words were particularly pale. Everyone knew that defense was needed at this time. If defense could be done with mouth, the Blazers would not be behind now.

Ramsey wanted to say something else, but looking at the tired eyes of the players, he was suddenly at a loss for words.

"Gan, get ready to play, do your job well, we still have a chance." Ramsey said with some strength.

In just one game, in the Denver Plateau, the Portland Trail Blazers seemed to have lost their souls at once, or did they never have souls?

Maybe so, because although the Blazers have performed very well this season, they never seem to regard the championship as their ultimate goal, and they don't have a guy who can motivate people, who can give everyone a blow at this frustrating moment .

Gan Guoyang really wants to stand up at this time and put everything on his shoulders, just like he did in Gonzaga, and he will drag the team across the finish line to the death.

However, passion and confidence are not created out of thin air. Gan Guoyang can see fatigue in everyone's eyes, including Ramsay's eyes. This kind of fatigue cannot be easily awakened by roaring.

"Perhaps, everyone is waiting to go home. When we return to Portland and take a good rest, we can give the Nuggets a head-on blow!" Gan Guoyang thought in his heart.

When he also started to think this way, it meant that the Blazers' last hope of struggling had also been lost.

As expected, the Blazers lost another game in Denver, 118:109, Portland came to Denver with a 2:0 lead, did not take away the series victory, but returned with a 2:2 ending. Arrived in Portland.

Everything seems to be back to the starting point. The game of 7 wins in 4 games has become 3 wins in 2 games. The Blazers still occupy the home court advantage, but the morale and cohesion of the two teams are completely different.

On May 5, the Blazers flew back to Portland and began preparations for the May 6 battle at Tianwangshan.

The importance of this game is self-evident. After winning Tianwang Mountain, the initiative of the series is completely in their hands.

If the Nuggets lose this game, there is still a plateau to rely on at home. If the Blazers lose this game at home, then they will stand on the edge of a cliff. They are very likely to be defeated in six games. disuse.

Therefore, the whole team has made sufficient preparations before the game. In terms of tactics and details, almost everyone feels that the Trail Blazers after returning home are different from the Trail Blazers in Denver.

Only Gan Guoyang felt that the team was still missing something.

"I think Ramsey's prestige is slowly losing, very slowly, but it is indeed being lost." After the training, Gan Guoyang said to Adelman. Now Gan Guoyang will always talk to Adelman alone on such a serious topic. Delman discussed that he felt that Adelman was a very wise and intelligent person, and some of his suggestions always benefited Gan Guoyang a lot.

"Do you know the relationship between Paxson and Ramsey?" Adelman suddenly said to Gan Guoyang.

"I... don't know very well." Gan Guoyang suddenly realized that because he was far away from Paxson, he didn't know anything about this player.

It's a bit strange to think about it now. Ramsey has always supported Paxson. It seems that it is not just because he is more suitable for the team than Drexler. After Paxson "forced" Ramsey , Ramsey's reaction seems to be a bit too big, he seems to be hit very hard.

"Hehe, so you don't know why Ramsey is so depressed, and Paxson should also feel bad." Adelman said with some emotion.

"What the hell is going on?" Gan Guoyang's curiosity was aroused.

"Well, let me tell you something. Of course, I also heard it from others, from general manager Inman, and from Ramsey himself. I only came to the Blazers in 1983. Of course, I Played here before, but not for a long time. And Paxson, he came here in 1979, now has been here for six full years, only Sampson has stayed longer than him. At that time his rookie The season was very struggling, very struggling, he didn't play as well as you, but he was also a high-ranking player with the 12th pick in the first round. As you can imagine, his self-confidence must have been greatly bruised at that time .Then it was 1980. After the All-Star Game, I remember that the All-Star Game was held in Kansas, yes, Kansas in Missouri. The players were all on vacation at that time, and the first game after the All-Star Game happened to be It was in Kansas. Some players happened to be in Kansas, so they stayed and prepared for the game. Others who were not in Kansas just flew there by themselves. It happened that Paxson and Ramsey met at the airport, so they sat together The taxi went to the hotel where the team was staying. Yes, the taxi together, all the people who told me this story emphasized the taxi, and in the car, the two of them had a great conversation , and that conversation greatly inspired Paxson. Next, Paxson seemed to press the scoring switch, he began to score continuously, he began to become an excellent shooting guard, and he began to enter All-Star. Until now, he is Ramsey's most trusted shooting guard candidate." Adelman said all he knew in one breath.

"Old-fashioned story." Gan Guoyang said after listening.

"Yes, very old-fashioned, the rookie inspired by the coach, the rookie broke out, and was grateful to the coach. But it's different now, Paxson 'forced' Ramsey! Can you imagine Ramsey's mood? I'm sure , Ramsey spent no less effort in cultivating Paxson than he did in you. And before Paxson, there was Bill Wharton, that guy, it can be said that he really broke Jack's heart. Now, is everything going to repeat itself? Or do you want to do the same in the future?” Adelman seems to have noticed Gan Guoyang’s slight dissatisfaction with Ramsey and his ambition to control the team behind it.

"Me? Don't be kidding. Maybe you will replace Ramsey in the future, President." Gan Guoyang took a deep look at Adelman.

"Now is not the time to discuss such issues, Gan, the team is really very dangerous." Adelman evaded this issue.

Gan Guoyang also sighed when he heard this, and then he clenched his fists tightly.

"If losing can bring change and explosion, I would rather lose this game. There is an old saying in China, 'If you don't break, you can't stand'!" Gan Guoyang said in Chinese, while Adelman was at a loss, not knowing what Gan Guoyang said .

But he could feel the burning fighting spirit in Gan Guoyang's eyes.

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