The Golden Age of Basketball

Before 1986, only the Celtics in 1, the Los Angeles Lakers in 3, the Washington Bullets in 1968 and the Celtics in 1970 were the only ones in NBA history who could come back after falling behind 1979:1981.

If a 0:3 lag is the immediate execution of the death sentence, then 1:3 is the death sentence with a two-year reprieve. Whether this reprieve can be turned into an acquittal depends on the strength, willpower, and luck of the team.

Compared with the Trail Blazers, the Bucks in the Eastern Conference have already been executed. In the fourth Eastern Conference Finals in Milwaukee on May 5, the Boston Celtics did not give the Bucks any chance. The Bucks still resisted slightly in the first three quarters. The Celtics beat the Bucks 18:32 in the fourth quarter, completely crushing their opponents.

Bird made 17 of 10 shots, scored 30 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, leading the Celtics to sweep the Bucks 4-0 and reach the NBA Finals for the third consecutive year. At this time, they are already waiting for the Rockets and Trail Blazers With the results of the fifth game, preparations for the finals began.

From the perspective of the Celtics, the Lakers are undoubtedly the opponent they want to meet the most, but the Lakers stumbled and were killed in the semifinals. Judging from the current situation in the Western Conference Finals, the Rockets will most likely reach the finals. With this result, the two teams will continue to lead since 1981.

On May 5th, Larry Bird chose to wait for the start of the Western Conference Finals in a fan club in Boston. This is a club of his friends. As early as the 19 Finals, he was here. Magic Johnson's rookie title run.

At that time, the Celtics were eliminated by the 76ers in the Eastern Conference finals, and there was no TV station for the national broadcast of the finals. Bird could only watch the private TV signal in this club to watch the game that year.

Now, Bird is still used to coming here, drinking a little wine and bragging with friends, watching other players play on the court, and thinking about what trash talk to use to deal with them if they meet them on the court.

In fact, in his heart, Larry Bird still wants to meet the Trail Blazers. The Celtics this season can be described as unlimited, with the best record in team history, three consecutive MVPs, the best sixth man, the best coach, And the best home record in NBA history - 41 wins and 1 loss.

That loss was thanks to the Trail Blazers, more precisely, thanks to Gan Guoyang, who destroyed the Garden Square with a solar storm in the third quarter. Bird clearly remembered that Gan Guoyang only had to be within 15 feet of the basket at that time. When Nei gets the ball, he will turn over and hook without hesitation.

At the beginning, he scored 4 goals in a row, and the Celtics players didn't care too much about it. When the touch came, the character could score goals in a row.

Then, the fifth ball, the sixth ball, and the seventh ball, the Celtics players realized that they seemed to be unable to keep an eye on it. Robert Parish went all out and put it on Gan Guoyang's face, but he still couldn't stop Gan Guoyang Score.

Casey Jones called a timeout and double-teamed Gan Guoyang. Bird was the main double-teamer. Although his single defense was mediocre, he had a good grasp of the timing of the double-team, strong strength, and quick strikes.

But when he actually played, he still couldn't do it. Gan Guoyang didn't give Bird a chance to double-team. He didn't even think about getting the ball.

When there is such a point on the opposite side, when you can score goals no matter how you defend, it doesn’t matter how strong your team is as a whole, just like sharp blades and armor. As long as the blade is sharp enough, it’s useless if your armor is hard everywhere. Just stab you a little, and you will be pierced.

31 points in a single quarter, this is a miracle of this season, but also a big stain on the Celtics. After this game, Bird knew that Gan Guoyang had extraordinary abilities, his strength and The hand feel is amazing, but sometimes he can't perfectly combine and utilize these abilities, which takes time to polish and settle.

Unknowingly, Bird also thought of Jordan. These two people are really treasures in 1984, plus Olajuwon who has pushed Gan Guoyang to a desperate situation, and Barkley who almost met him in the Eastern Conference finals. Young people are terrible.

As Bird thought about it, he looked at his slightly deformed right middle finger. This finger was injured before entering the NBA. After surgery, it is now swollen like a carrot and completely deformed. It doesn't look like a normal person's hand. .

If his fingers hadn't become like this, maybe his shooting level would be even more superb, and maybe he wouldn't have played so badly in last year's Finals.

After thinking about it for a while, the TV in the club began to play the familiar music of CBS TV station. The rough opening animation made by a simple computer in the 80s meant that the game was about to start. Or, the Rockets who are one step away from the finals.

For those interviews with reporters at the beginning, the narrator commented that Larry Bird was not interested at all. He reminded his friends to turn off the sound of the TV. As an NBA player, when watching an NBA game, the narrator is completely redundant.

With the game kicking off promptly at 7:10 PT, it was [-]:[-] p.m. in Boston, and Bird figured if the game lost its suspense too soon, he wouldn't watch it.

In fact, his idea is that if the Rockets lead the Blazers by a big score, and the Blazers have no hope of coming back, then he will lose interest in this game, and he will do his best to prepare for the finals.

The continued absence of Drexler has left the Blazers stretched in lineup. Cauchy's first start in the last game did not work well. His offense was too average, causing Gan Guoyang and Vandeweghe's offensive pressure to be too great.

So this time Ramsey sent Jim Paxson, hoping that this reliable shooting guard can share the pressure of the two in scoring.

In the first four games, both sides have basically figured out the opponent's routines, and the players feel familiar with the game. At this time, the role of the coach's formation will become less, and the players' on-the-spot performance will become more important.

In the first quarter, the Blazers began to play positional warfare on the offensive end. Vandeweghe began to appear in the low post many times to attack. With his weight and skills, McGregor wanted to defend the first quarter when he was full of energy. It's not easy for him.

The Rockets continued to maintain the routine of the previous two games. In the defense, they continued to deal with Gan Guoyang from the front to the back, let Mitchell Sampson miss the score, defended one-on-one from the outside, and used their personal ability to deal with the opponent.

In the offense, the cooperation between Olajuwon and Sampson's high and low positions became more handy, and the small cooperation between the two played quite well.

Bird saw Olajuwon pass the ball to Sampson from the left side, and Ralph Sampson caught the ball and dunked. How to deal with the cooperation.

"McHale is much faster than Mitchell Sampson, and Ralph can't catch the ball." Bird thought to himself.

In the first half, both sides played in no hurry. The Blazers seemed to be saving their strength for the second half, while the Rockets seemed to have won three consecutive victories. The players had a feeling for how to deal with the Blazers.

The first half ended quickly, and the Rockets entered the second half with a 59:53 advantage of 6 points. Without Drexler's Blazers, the offensive end was still half-legged. In the first half, there were at least 8 points of fast break. Drexler is absolutely within reach.

Gan Guoyang behaved more like a blue-collar player in the first half. He made 4 of 3 shots and scored 7 points and 10 rebounds.

Looking at this posture, Bird always felt that the Blazers were terrible. They didn't show their momentum at all at home. How could they win the game if they didn't show their momentum at the beginning?How can the situation be reversed?

However, seeing that the gap of 6 points is not too big, Bird decided to continue watching, anyway, there is still half court.

………………

"The third quarter is about to start. The life and death of the Blazers will be decided within 10 minutes. The Rockets now have the advantage on the field. They play with ease with a neat lineup. In comparison, the Blazers are a bit disorganized. , Valentine was injured and reimbursed, and Drexler was injured and absent, which was a huge damage to the Blazers' offensive organization."

At the game site, cbs television commentator Dick Stockton expressed his concerns about the Blazers. The gap of 6 points is indeed small, but the momentum is indeed on the Rockets side.

The mood of the fans on the sidelines is also very complicated. Many people stand and watch the game, as if this can give the Blazers more motivation.

Gan Guoyang looked at the sidelines, searched for a while, and saw the pink peaked cap. It was Wang Fuxi. She rushed to Portland yesterday, and she would rather skip class to watch his game.

"The third quarter started. The Trail Blazers attacked. The first attack in the second half...Gan started to get a position. On the low post on the right, Colter hesitated, but still hung the ball over. Gan, push it up, turn over Hook! Hit, dodged Olajuwon's block. Let's watch slow motion, rubbing Olajuwon's fingertips, too dangerous, Gan fired the first shot of the Blazers in the second half."

At this time, the Rockets players have not realized that a half-time game that made them want to cry has begun.

………………

"Fuck it! Turn on the sound of the TV! I want to hear the sound!" In the club in Boston, Larry Bird couldn't sit still.

Gan Guoyang has scored 9 goals in a row.

All are hooks after catching the ball on the right side, with almost no redundant movements.

No matter who is defending, no matter whether there is someone to defend, no matter whether his teammates run or not, no matter whether there is a flank or not, no matter how far away from the basket, no matter what angle, as long as Gan Guoyang receives the ball, there is only one choice. Defender, big hook shot.

There is only one result, the goal is scored.

During the period, the Rockets called two timeouts and changed their defensive strategies twice, but it didn't work.

Watching Gan Guoyang's goals one after another, Bird thought of the third quarter at the Garden Plaza that day. He wanted to hear the sound, the sound of the scene. Anyway, Boston Garden Plaza was dead silent that day.

The Memorial Coliseum is different, of course, and it has gone into a frenzy.

"Gan got the ball on the right side again, I think Bill Fitch's hands must be shaking, Gan faked a little shake! Olajuwon flew up...foul, but the ball went in! Gan cheated Olajuwon, hit the hook and fouled Olajuwon! Three points! 10 goals in a row at the same time! Oh my God!"

After the goal, Gan Guoyang had no expression on his face, he was as quiet as a statue. After the goal, he silently high-fived his teammates, and then stood on the free throw line.

At this moment, his mind is blank, all his attention is focused on the basketball, not only is it isolated from the noise of the fans, even the defender is not in his consideration, he only has the ball and the basket in his heart.

If it is said that grabbing 40 rebounds is a product of unsparing physical strength and strong technology, then scoring 27 points in a row is not simply a matter of technology and physical strength, it is a matter of realm.

Every player will enter this unstoppable state in a certain game, but even if some people are unstoppable, they are among elementary school students and middle school students, while some superstars are on the highest stage, such as Michael in the first round -Jordan, such as Gan Guoyang now.

Larry Bird watched the cold-faced killer on TV. He was different from himself. Bird liked to use various skills, including jump shots, passing balls, sneaky steals, all kinds of weird layups, throws, and garbage. Words to disintegrate each other.

Gan Guoyang sometimes does the same, scoring goals, and then chattering nonsense.

But as early as when he first came to the United States, when he just started playing, Gan Guoyang liked to use the same trick to stab his opponent continuously, letting the opponent know that this is how I want to attack, and you just can't guard against it.

Tonight, he did it again, quietly, killing the Rockets in the third quarter.

With such explosive scoring power, Gan Guoyang is the well-deserved king of a single quarter.