The Golden Age of Basketball

"!(What the fuck is this shot?)"

In Chapel Hill, North Carolina, there is the University of North Carolina, a famous basketball school. However, the end of the semester is approaching, and the NCAA has also ended, so there is some silence in the school's basketball hall.

Only in the lounge of the arena, someone was sitting in front of the screen watching the 1986 Finals. It was Michael Jordan who was eliminated in the first round and went home early to fish.

When he saw Gan Guoyang scoring three three-pointers in a row, he couldn't help but swear, not because he supported the Celtics, but because of Gan Guoyang's incredible goal, scoring 63 against the Celtics He who broke the record felt unbelievable.

After being eliminated by the Celtics in the first round without any suspense, Jordan went home to adjust for a short period of time, and then returned to his alma mater, the University of North Carolina, to start offseason training.

Here, he can get the guidance of the old coach Dean Smith, and here, he can concentrate on polishing his skills.

However, he also pays close attention to the NBA games, especially the Celtics and the Trail Blazers and Rockets in the West.

When watching Gan Guoyang and Olajuwon fight in the Western Conference Finals, Jordan felt a little bit of envy or even jealousy in his heart, which prompted him to sweat profusely in the training hall.

And when witnessing Gan Guoyang's series of super performances and leading the Blazers to the finals, Jordan also had to admit that Gan Guoyang was already ahead of him.

Tonight, in the nba finals, Gan Guoyang once again shocked him. This guy can shoot three-pointers, and he scored three three-pointers in a row. This proves that his three-pointers were not fooled. He must have trained hard.

"It seems that I have to practice my long-range shooting well." Jordan's long-range shooting ability still needs to be further improved at this time, and Gan Guoyang's performance undoubtedly greatly inspired his fighting spirit.

Seeing the third quarter, as a player who scored 63 points against the Celtics in the first round, Jordan could feel that Gan Guoyang should have found some tricks to deal with the Celtics.

As the Celtics with a rubber wall defense, it is very difficult to penetrate their defense line, but you can't penetrate such a defense line, but you can go around it.

In that 63-point battle, Jordan made full use of his flexible running position and superb singles skills, which can be said to have bypassed the Celtics' defense line-because of their precise positioning and interception, Jordan It's not effective at all, he doesn't need to pass or catch the ball to attack.

As a center forward, Gan Guoyang has a natural flaw in independent attack. He had difficulty connecting the ball in the first two quarters, but in the third quarter, he made three three-point shots. result.

As if suddenly finding the feeling, the Blazers began to carry out high-intensity fighting and pressing on the defensive end, and Ramsey also replaced with taller and stronger Porter to strengthen fighting.

In the offense, the Blazers thoroughly pursued simplification, no longer complex coordination, and Gan Guoyang no longer lingered in the low position, but moved to a more outside position, using the face basket to attack, or crushing singles all the way inward from a relatively far position. Against the Celtics' dense defense.

This kind of offense seems to be very difficult for Gan Guoyang, just like Jordan played against the Celtics, he needs to do a lot of offensive moves, he needs to go all out, he needs to always pay attention to the opponent's double-team, and he needs to start from a 20-foot position Pushing Parish or Walton to 10 feet to launch the offense, you need to squeeze to the basket for offensive rebounds, and put the ball in the basket surrounded by the tall Celtics frontcourt group.

Gan Guoyang's style of play is reminiscent of Moses Malone in 1981.

The efficiency of this kind of offense must be relatively low, especially compared with Gan Guoyang's chic and casual catch and turn in the Western Conference finals. As long as he feels good and catches the ball in a good rhythm, it is normal to throw 10 out of 8 balls .

And in the third quarter, this kind of stupid play, thank God for a 50.00% success rate.

But the problem is, the Celtics' defense made Gan Guoyang unable to be cool at all. He couldn't even catch the ball. Therefore, this laborious and stupid style of play supported the Blazers' offense in the third quarter .

Jordan watched Gan Guoyang gradually enter the state on the court, struggling like a beast under the encirclement and suppression of the Celtics' strong frontcourt, and sighed in his heart. Combined with a domineering body and style of play, this is like combining Moses Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, which is unbelievable.

Also, this guy can shoot threes.

"Gan grabbed the rebound, failed to make a layup, grabbed it again! Layup again, still missed, but Gan still clicked the rebound, Vandeweghe got the ball, didn't shoot, went directly to the basket, causing Walton Foul, go to the free throw line!"

"The Blazers played very tough in the third quarter. After Gan Guoyang miraculously hit three three-pointers, they almost didn't choose to shoot outside. Instead, they went to the basket more and used the players' personal abilities to create damage. , At the same time, they are very active in offensive rebounding."

The voices of Musberg and Heinsohn came from the TV, and they all saw the changes in the third quarter of the Blazers. They did not use overly elaborate tactics and reduced outside shots, but used simpler and rougher shots. Individual singles, inside breakthroughs and offensive rebounds, and the Trail Blazers.

This is not the usual style of the Blazers, but in the finals, there is nothing fixed, and the key to controlling the rhythm of the game is to adapt to the situation and adapt to the situation.

If the Trail Blazers, who are in a weak position as a whole, don't seek innovation and change, and cooperate with the Celtics in tactics, they will only be suppressed all the time. In this regard, they are still a little tender.

But Gan Guoyang's three three-pointers rekindled the team's fighting spirit. After that, he took the lead and fought with the Celtics striker at the expense of physical strength. In the third quarter, he made 18 of 8 shots. Grabbed five offensive rebounds and got to the free throw line four times.

With 21 points in a single quarter and trailing by 9 points at halftime, the Blazers relied on Gan Guoyang's desperate performance to beat the opponent 36 to 26, but overtook the opponent by one point and entered the fourth quarter.

"The physical strength is really good. I don't know if I can withstand it in the fourth quarter." Jordan still felt a little worried about the Blazers' physical strength in his heart.

After all, the Blazers are a young team. The young man was running out of energy. Gan Guoyang, who played the entire third quarter, played directly at the beginning of the fourth quarter. It seems that he will not rest in the second half.

Jordan is similar to the Bulls. It is common for a game to last 10 minutes, and it is not uncommon for the crucial third and fourth quarters to go without a rest for 1 minute.

Sure enough, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Gan Guoyang and the Blazers continued to maintain a high-intensity fight, but the effect did not seem to be as good as the third quarter, because the Celtics have gradually adapted to the intensity of the Blazers. And mobilize the footsteps of every defender with faster cooperation.

"Bird broke through and had no chance to turn around and pass to Parish, but Parish handed the ball back to Bird, and Bird fired from outside the three-point line! The ball went in!"

Larry Bird maintained this fiery state and deadly touch throughout the game. His slow breakthrough failed to squeeze past Jerome Cosey's defense, let alone Drexler stepped forward to double-team.

But he turned around and handed the ball to Parish, who was on the line to respond, and immediately retreated beyond the three-point line. Cauchy was half a beat behind in reacting. He didn't expect Parish to pass the ball back so quickly. , and Bird made such a decisive shot and hit a three-pointer.

Seeing this ball, Jordan couldn't help but think of Bird's horror. This seemingly innocuous white forward can always hit you hard in ways you didn't expect.

"Blazers hit the ball quickly, Drexler, pass to Gan, Gan...Gan shot from the [-]-point line...Goal!"

Musberg's voice obviously paused. After Gan Guoyang scored the goal, it took him a second of reaction time to shout out, and Tom Heinsohn simply had nothing to say. <! (What the hell kind of shot is this?)” Jordan said exactly the same thing as before, which was the voice of almost everyone in Boston Garden Square.

Gan Guoyang's fourth three-pointer, maybe he knows that in the following games, he will never be able to make a three-pointer like today, so he has to take advantage of his hot hand to shoot all the three-pointers .

The significance of this three-pointer is not only an answer-ball to Bird's goal, nor does it boost the morale of the Blazers players. It is a challenge to the entire Celtics defense-I stand as a center Outside the three-point line, are you defending or not?

Whether it is defense or offense, the most feared thing is hesitation.

The Celtics' defense hesitated a bit.

Of course, their offense was still very good, and the two sides entered a tragic tug-of-war in the second half of the fourth quarter. , The score has been rising alternately, and the point difference has never exceeded three points.

The fierce game made Jordan not even notice that a second person came into the lounge of the arena. He didn't realize until the game was suspended that his mentor Dean Smith was standing next to him.

"Mr Smith……"

"How does it feel to watch the finals?" Chapel Hill's basketball pope asked his favorite student.

"I'll be standing there someday."

"...The last attack. The Blazers played very well today, but they are still two points behind. The Celtics are too good at finishing, and they have too many experienced and outstanding players."

At this time, the score on the court was 109:111. The Celtics led by two points with 9 seconds left in the game with a tip-up by Bill Walton. The Blazers called a timeout and had to arrange Last attack.

"Gan's three-pointer tonight is incredible." Jordan said suddenly, he had a premonition that Gan Guoyang might shoot a three-pointer at the last moment.

At this time, players from both sides returned to the field. For the most critical nine seconds, even from the TV, Jordan could feel the suffocating atmosphere in the arena, as if returning to the 63-point overtime game.

Everyone held their breath, not even Dean Smith.

"The Blazers served the ball, and Gan raised the ball to catch the ball. This is their common key ball tactic. Gan ran beyond the three-point line, Gan turned around...the fake move passed Parish!"

Gan Guoyang mentioned that receiving the ball at a high position at 45 degrees, and other people's running positions are the key ball tactics commonly used by the Blazers. Gan Guoyang was frightened, and subconsciously stepped forward to block. As a result, Gan Guoyang passed Parish with a fake move, and cut the inside line from the middle.

Jordan stood up from the chair. He saw Gan Guoyang take three steps and two steps, facing McHale with two big strides, and made a hook shot from a position of 10 feet!

"Beep!" The referee's whistle blew, and McHale made a defensive foul. He tapped Gan Guoyang's palm, and the referee chose to blow the whistle at the Celtics' home court, which is optional.

But everyone's attention is still on the ball, rolling on the rim.

circled around.

Two laps.

Three laps.

"Shua~" fell into the net bag!

Gan Guoyang, hit a three-pointer!

There was silence on the TV, but Jordan could see the joy of the Trail Blazers team after the goal, an incredible goal, and the hook was ready to kill.

"Michael, remember, when you train hard, there must be someone in the world who works harder than you." Dean Smith said to Jordan.

(end of volume six)