The Golden Age of Basketball

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"I'm-sorry (I'm sorry)." In the Blazers locker room after the game, after more than two minutes of silence, someone finally spoke.

All eyes were on the speaker, Jim Paxson.

In the crucial fifth game of Tianwangshan, Jim Paxson made a fatal mistake in a key offense, which deprived the Trail Blazers, who were one point behind, of the right to attack, putting the team in an extremely disadvantageous situation.

In the ensuing Nuggets offense, the ball was unexpectedly handed over to Nuggets backup guard Mike Evans.

The Blazers' defensive focus was on English, Leaf and Knight, while ignoring the existence of Mike Evans. Evans received the ball at a 0-degree angle on the baseline, raised the knife and dropped it with a 15-footer. The long-distance mid-range shot stabbed the Blazers hard in the heart.

As Vandeweghe missed a shot after receiving the ball from the outside, the rebound was taken by Knight, and the Blazers lost the last chance to comeback.

105:101, the score was frozen when the buzzer sounded. The Blazers lost an extremely crucial game at home. They were leading 2:0 and were pulled by the Nuggets for three consecutive games. Now, they Already 2:3 behind the opponent, and the next game will be in the Denver Plateau.

"I'm really, really sorry. It was my mistake that caused the team to lose this game." Paxson said while sitting on a stool with his head down.

"You not only let us lose this game, but also let us lose the crucial fourth game. I don't know who said those inexplicable words after the third game!" Paxson's words not only did not attract the enthusiasm of his teammates Forgive me, some people started to criticize him more harshly.

It was the team's backup center, Ottie Norris, who was speaking.

Although Norris is not the main player in the team, he has always been quick to speak and has a straightforward temper. It can be seen from his consecutive key shots against the Mavericks in the first round that he is a master who is not afraid of anything.

"Don't talk nonsense, Norris!" As soon as Norris finished speaking, Carl, who was sitting next to him, reminded him, but his reminder was obviously a bit late.

"What happened after the third game?" The person who questioned was Stuart Inman, the general manager of the Blazers.

In the previous games, Situ Inman only watched the Blazers games from the stands and did not come to the player locker room, but this game is obviously different. The Blazers lost a very important game, and he must go to the The locker room to appease the players' emotions.

From Norris' words, Inman knew that something must have happened in the locker room after the third game, which greatly affected the team's state.

Norris didn't listen to Carl's dissuasion, stood up and said: "Paxson guy, United Sampson asked Ramsey to change the starting lineup. They think the regular season starter is the best, not the playoffs. Yes! I don’t know what other people think, but I think such behavior will undoubtedly destroy the unity of our team!”

After saying this, Inman's face was also a little cloudy and uncertain. He did not expect that Paxson would do such a thing in the locker room after the game, and Sampson was with him. They are all the veterans of the current pioneers.

"I don't know what kind of inside story is there, but I think we are together to win, and now it is the playoffs, and any win or loss may determine our fate. I don't want us to win because of Losing our general direction due to some small contradictions, for anyone, the gain will outweigh the loss in the end.” Inman tried to ease the awkward and depressed atmosphere in the team, but his rhetoric was really a bit irritating. I'm sorry.

"Coach Ramsey, I think you should say something." Inman looked at the players still looking frustrated, and said softly to Ramsey next to him.

Gan Guoyang noticed that Ramsey, an energetic coach in the past, has weakened his control over players at an alarming rate in the last three games.

He also didn't know exactly what happened between Paxson and Ramsey, and why a conflict in the locker room would cause the morale of the coach and the team to decline so quickly.

After hearing what Inman said, Ramsey couldn't help clearing his throat, and then looked up at the players in the locker room. He actually felt like he was giving a farewell speech.

For Ramsey, the quarrel in the locker room after the Nuggets game that day was the last straw that crushed him.

This season, Ramsey is full of hope for the Blazers. The team has just made a big deal and has an excellent outside scorer.

And in the draft, they picked a rookie like Gan Guoyang who can become the cornerstone of the inside line. Everything seemed perfect, and it also made Ramsey full of longing for the future of the team.

After the start of the season, as Ramsey expected, the strength of the Blazers has been greatly improved compared with the previous season, and the record has also improved steadily.

But there are two problems that have always plagued Ramsey. One is Gan Guoyang's status in the team, and the other is the competition for the starting position between Drexler and Paxson.

Ramsey firmly believes that Gan Guoyang can become the core of the Blazers in the future, but he also believes that Gan Guoyang is still too young now, and it is already a huge responsibility to let him serve as the starting center, and it is impossible to let him become a leader.

A rookie wants to be a leader, but that's impossible in the NBA where seniority is considered.

However, Gan Guoyang's subsequent actions proved that this guy from Gonzaga really had the heart to "become a marshal", and he tried to challenge Sampson's status in a naive way of single-handedly.

To make matters worse, Gan Guoyang even won the duel with Sampson!

After the bullfight in the team, Gan Guoyang did not know that Sampson had approached Ramsey alone. He expressed his unwillingness to play with Gan Guoyang again, and even asked Ramsey to either make him a substitute or let Gan Guoyang as a substitute.

Fortunately, Ramsey then asked Kenny Carr to enlighten Gan Guoyang, and Gan Guoyang was transparent, and never mentioned the "bullfighting" thing again, and he played hard on the court.

Mitchell Sampson is also a lively and cheerful person, so he got along well with Gan Guoyang later.

But the problems of Paxson and Drexler have continued into the playoffs.

For Ramsey, Paxson is the kind of defender he admires more, but he also admits that Drexler has higher talents, but his stubbornness in some aspects makes Ramsey quite annoyed .

In addition, Drexler lacks experience, so Drexler himself has nothing to do with letting Drexler sit on the bench. Although he threatened to be traded several times, he was finally persuaded to come down.

But Paxson's injury at the end of the season changed the trajectory of things. Drexler took advantage of the situation and played a very amazing performance in the game.

This put Ramsey in a dilemma. In the playoffs, he finally chose to let Drexler start and let Paxson play as a substitute.

After playing the first game against the Mavericks, Ramsey also put Sampson on the bench in order to ensure the offensive power and inside aggressiveness of the substitute.

From a tactical point of view, there is no problem with such a lineup arrangement. Putting Sampson and Paxson on the bench will allocate resources more reasonably, and at the same time allow the Blazers' bench lineup to challenge a super-strong team like the Lakers. Strength.

However, this arrangement undoubtedly made Paxson and Sampson quite dissatisfied. The two former absolute starters were pushed to the bench just like that, and they were still in the very important playoffs.

In the series against the Mavericks, the two were able to suppress the resentment in their hearts, but when it came to the game against the Nuggets, they won the first two home games, and the two hardly got much playing time, especially Paxson and Ramsey. Always reuse Drexler.

In Denver, when the Blazers' starters and performances were not good, Paxson led the bench and played inextricably with the Nuggets, which made Paxson think even more that he should be the team's leader in this series. Starting point guard.

So after losing this game, he asked Ramsey to change the starting lineup in the locker room, but what was originally a small suggestion quickly turned into a fierce quarrel.

Even Sampson was involved, but Sampson was on Paxson's side because he also wanted to return to the starting lineup.

Gan Guoyang dawdled outside, chatted with Isser, and was harassed by reporters. When he returned to the locker room, the quarrel was over, so Paxson asked Gan Guoyang, "Don't you think, we use the routine Will the starting XI perform better during the game?"

Fortunately, Gan Guoyang was sober-minded and chose to side with Ramsay, otherwise the old man might really be disheartened.

However, Ramsey, who was standing in the Blazers locker room at this time, looked really disheartened.

There doesn't seem to be much brilliance in his eyes. You must know that Ramsey is 60 years old this year. He has experienced many things in his coaching career.

What made him happiest was winning the championship in 1977, and what made him saddest was Bill Wharton's fallout and departure, and after leaving, he vowed to "do nothing with old age and death"; second, this time, Paxson Regarding his contradicting and coercion, he never thought that the rookie who seemed a little cowardly and unconfident back then would treat him like this one day.

Ramsey looked at Paxson, who was sitting there with his head bowed, and said, "Hey, Jim. Do you remember what I said to you in that taxi. I said, the team wants Traded you to New Jersey, but I was desperate to keep you, and even bet my coaching credibility. In the end, we sent Maurice Lucas away, you know, he was a member of the 1977 team Scoring leader, but at that point, we already had Mitchell."

Ramsay looked at Sampson again, and there was a trace of shame on Sampson's usually plain face.

"You know, Jim, the reason why I want to keep you is simple, I always believe in you, I believe that you will be one of the best players in the league, you will be an All-Star player, and you will be a Portland player. Blazers - the most important member of the world championship team! I even thought, in the finals, if we need someone to throw the last ball, then I will definitely choose you. Why? Because I witnessed an unknown A player who didn’t even dare to shoot the ball started to average 20 points per game. I believe that such a player must have an extremely strong heart. Don’t say sorry, Jim, I believe, you are already great.”

When Ramsey finished these words, Paxson was crying down below.

"The-struggle-is-far-from-over. (The battle is far from over!)" Gan Guoyang's voice interrupted the silence in the locker room.