The Golden Age of Basketball

"The top of the arc, the horn position, the low position?" Gan Guoyang looked at the three positions pointed out by Adelman and asked in a confirming tone.

In Gan Guoyang's view, it is very common for him to attack with the ball in these three positions, and he may be more tightly defended in these three positions than other positions. Uncertain, using Sabonis as the axis, attacking from all sides creates difficulties for the opponent's defense.

"Are you thinking, if you are only in these three positions, it will be easier for the opponent to defend against you? Gan, if you are alone on the field, it will be easier to defend, but our team has five people." Said Then, Adelman took out the remote control and fast-forwarded the video to a scene, which was a positional attack by the Blazers.

Gan Guoyang was at the horns, and Rodman stepped forward to defend, and he stuck his foot to Gan Guoyang's leg; but for this ball, Lambird did not come out because Sabonis was inside, forming a double-team for Gan Guoyang Isiah Thomas and John Sally are in the situation. Thomas is leaning towards Gan Guoyang while facing Porter. When Porter passes the ball to Gan Guoyang, Gan Guoyang catches the ball at the corner. Thomas jumped in immediately.

But Gan Guoyang handled this ball very well. He hit a wall with Porter once. After Porter passed the ball to Gan Guoyang, he immediately cut inside, and then he rushed in. As a result, Thomas missed Porter, and Gan Guoyang gave the ball It was given quickly, Porter caught the ball and went straight to the inside, Lambiel stepped forward to defend, Porter passed the ball to Sabonis, and Sabonis scored a dunk.

Although Gan Guoyang did not show any statistics on this ball, he passed a very deadly pass, which directly led to the Blazers scoring.

"You see, when you're at the horns, you don't always get to attack, you don't always have long-range hooks, but as long as you're in this position, and the opponent wants to double-team you, it's going to be a big comeback. The cost. Mr. Bellman has done statistics, when you hold the ball at the corner, the probability of being double-teamed is lower, and of course the chances of scoring are relatively less. Although your assists are not outstanding, But there is no problem with your transfer of the ball, you are a very good passer, and many people tend to ignore the importance of the first pass, and only pay attention to the player who finally scores and the player who sends the assist. In fact, in the offense, a set The tactical initiation pass determines the quality of the final attack, and I think you should understand this very well.” Adelman explained to Gan Guoyang about this attack.

As Adelman said, Gan Guoyang, as a player who is very observant, understands that many times a seemingly ordinary pass can revitalize the situation on the field. Such a pass cannot be reflected in the data, but Incomparably important.

"You need me to pass the ball here for my teammates?" Gan Guoyang asked.

"No, this is just one of them. The most important thing is that I want to put you in a relatively safe position. For players, 45 degrees to the bottom line is the most dangerous place. The more you go in, the more dangerous you go. The higher the possibility of defending traps. Of course, except for the three-second zone under the basket. Although this is the most dangerous place, it is also the place with the most benefits. It is the place where you have the most power. You will not give up here no matter what. Out of the three-second zone , 45 degrees to the bottom line, I don't want you to go to that area again, no matter how accurate your c&s is there, how close your skills are to small forwards, you don't have to go there anymore. Leave it to Cosey, to Paxson , to Drexler, let them make a difference there. When you don't go inside, then you're in the horns, this is your dominant area, your first pass, your mid-range shot, your Three points are huge threats. The most important thing is that you are safe."

This is the conclusion reached by Adelman, Bellman and other members of the coaching staff after detailed discussions. Adelman also ran to Gan Guoyang to tell him immediately.

This arrangement seems to be simple, even a little rough. It limits Gan Guoyang's range of activities and reduces Gan Guoyang's infinite attack range since Sabonis' arrival to a fan, that is, starting from the basket and radiating to the three-point line. A symmetrical 60-degree fan is created, accounting for one-third of the entire half.

This is like a reincarnation for Gan Guoyang. As early as his rookie season, Jack Ramsey set Gan Guoyang’s range of activities roughly in this area, but at that time Gan Guoyang did not have such a strong shooting ability. Ramsey hoped that Gan Guoyang could Support at a high level.

When Adelman took office, in 1988, Gan Guoyang spent most of his time near the 10-foot basket, becoming a powerful center under the basket, occasionally shooting three-pointers from outside points; this season, with Sabonis The arrival of Gan Guoyang and Gan Guoyang's weight loss, Gan Guoyang was completely liberated, and the scope of activities suddenly expanded to the entire half.

Now, Adelman and the coaching staff have decided to narrow down the scope of Gan Guoyang's main activities, returning to the situation of his rookie period in 1984.

"Good head of state, I will obey the arrangement of the coaching staff." Gan Guoyang said to Adelman without any hesitation.

Adelman also breathed a sigh of relief. He was still a little worried that Gan Guoyang would resist such restrictions. After all, he is a superstar and the leader of the team. Just lost a game, Gan Guoyang has every reason to refuse to make adjustments and continue to play in the way he likes.

But Gan Guoyang still decided to obey the coach's arrangement, because he believed that the advice given to him by Adelman and Behrman must be beneficial to him and the team, and he believed in the level of the two coaches.

Moreover, when Gan Guoyang heard Adelman's suggestion, he couldn't help but think of the range of activities that Jack Ramsey had set for him back then. At that time, Gan Guoyang still didn't like going to the outside line very much, and he liked to squat near the three-second zone. Now , the three-second zone is still his world, but the horn position will become an extremely important activity area for him.

A few years later, when Gan Guoyang's experience becomes richer and his technical switching becomes purer, he will return to the state where there are no dead ends in the audience. Now, for Gan Guoyang and Portland to develop For some people, the impact of this change may not be imagined by themselves.

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After the game against the Pistons, the Trail Blazers' tour of the Central Division continues. Their next stop is Cleveland, Ohio, where they will play against the Cavaliers.

After getting rid of their hapless boss Stepien, the Cavaliers slowly returned to normal. They traded Charles Oakley to the Bulls in 1985. It should be the last bad decision in recent years. Since 1986 They made a series of right choices from the start.

In a small transaction, the Cavaliers sent the team's main power forward Roy Hinson to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for a first-round draft pick in 86. The result was so dead that this pick eventually became the No. 1986 pick. It was a big surprise for the Cavaliers, who used the No. [-] pick in the [-] draft to take North Carolina's star center, Brad Doherty -- for the fourth straight year. It's center forward.

In the first season, that is, the 1986-1987 season, when Gan Guoyang was reimbursed, Doherty handed over the qualified data of 15.7 points, 8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists, and was selected as an All-Star in the second season in 1988. His assists had risen to 4.2 that year.

In the draft of the same year, the Cavaliers used their No. 8 pick to win Ron Harper, and the guard line was greatly supplemented. The second-round pick of the Cavaliers was traded to the Mavericks player Mark Price. As a result, the best point guard in the history of the Cavaliers was brought in.

The outstanding performance in the draft not only brought potential to the Cavaliers, but also brought them immediate combat power. In the 1987 draft, the Cavaliers got Kevin Johnson at the seventh place. The Cavaliers packaged Johnson in the middle of the season. Went to the Suns and got the power forward Larry Nance they were still looking forward to.

Not only that, in terms of coaching, the Cavaliers recruited champion coach Lenny Wilkens in 1986, and built a lineup based on the 1979 Supersonics. The record can be described as skyrocketing. Before the game against the Trail Blazers on February 2, the Cavaliers had achieved an excellent result of 24 wins and 40 losses, ranking first in the Eastern Conference!Even better than the record of the Detroit Pistons!

Therefore, this game between the Trail Blazers and the Cavaliers turned out to be the top battle between the East and the West. Even so, the poor Cavaliers did not have the opportunity to get a national live broadcast, because no one thought that the Cavaliers would achieve such results before the season.

For the Blazers, this is definitely a tough nut to crack.