The Golden Age of Basketball

"This is the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The third game of the 1989 Western Conference semifinals is about to start here. Tonight will be a key game for the Suns. They are behind 0:2. It depends on the performance of this game. Now, the Suns players are starting to enter the field!"

On May 5th, the third game of the Portland Trail Blazers Phoenix Suns will soon start at the packed Arizona Veterans Memorial Stadium. It wasn't Oakland, even if Gan Guoyang played, there wasn't even the slightest cheer, but there were quite a few boos.

When the Suns players started to enter the arena, huge cheers erupted at the scene. At the same time, every fan on the scene had a white towel in their hands. More than 2 spectators were waving white towels. The scene looked quite spectacular.

Standing on the field, Gan Guoyang didn't think it was a grand sight, and he thought silently: "Are they surrendering to us?"

Gan Guoyang thought about it, but the Suns did not intend to surrender at all. In the first two games, the Suns were beaten very badly in Portland. The Blazers, who are the first to attack, used their defense to suppress them. After returning to the home court, relying on the momentum and advantages of the home court, the Suns will inevitably launch a Jedi counterattack.

"Gan stood near the middle circle, looking quite at ease. Now he is at ease in the position of power forward. This position can indeed play his power better. He has been eaten by the sun in both attacking range and defensive range. It’s a big pain, judging from his regular performance, he may also be the best defensive player.” Tonight’s commentary is still Dick Stockton, and CBS still dominates the NBA broadcast share.

If Gan Guoyang wins the best defensive player and then gets the mvp, he will become the second athlete to win the regular season mvp and the best defensive player. The last one was Michael Jordan last year.

The game officially started in a scrimmage, with Mark West touching the ball again from Duckworth, and Kevin Johnson lightning ahead of Terry Porter to keep the ball in his hands, the Suns The team has the ball and they are about to initiate the first attack.

"Johnson gave the ball to Hornacek, Hornacek was running the offense, he handed the ball back to Johnson, Johnson and Tom Chambers pick and roll, Johnson passed the ball to Tom Chambers, Portland's defense is misplaced! Chambers drives to the layup with the ball! Left-handed floater hit! The referee's whistle blew and fouled Gan!"

The Suns' first goal came quickly. Kevin Johnson and Tom Chambers made a pick-and-roll from beyond the right three-point line. Li Porter went to defend Chambers, and before Gan Guoyang had time to switch defenses with Porter, Chambers directly held the ball and broke through the middle, relying on Porter to make a throw with his left hand.

Gan Guoyang wanted to step forward to interfere with Chambers, but he squeezed Chambers' body in defense. The referee decisively called a foul. Although Gan Guoyang stepped forward to explain to the referee, it was useless. You can only recognize Phoenix's home court.

Chambers scored a very important goal. Not only did he succeed in hitting a three-pointer, but he also caused a foul by Gan Guoyang. You must know that in the first two games, Chambers was completely defeated against Gan Guoyang. He succeeded, but the defense was eaten alive by Gan Guoyang. With a back hook, Chambers had nothing to do.

Now, Chambers scored a goal and made a foul just after the start of the game, which is obviously a good sign for the Suns.

The fans at the scene also frantically waved the white towels in their hands, and Chambers made a steady free throw from the free throw line.

Returning to the offense, Terry Porter carefully guarded the ball across half court, staring at Kevin Johnson with his back, and then lobbed a three-pointer to Gan Guoyang, who was ready in the low post.

"The Suns started the game with Mark West guarding Gan, Gan took the ball, walked down the middle, chose a left-handed hook, missed! Rebound! Hornacek got the ball and passed it before it went down Kevin Johnson, the Suns strike back!"

Gan Guoyang was a little anxious for this goal. Although Mark West was a big mouther and clamored before the game that this game must be won at home, West still had some defensive skills, at least his back defense. His ability is much stronger than that of Chambers. He sealed the bottom line and let Gan Guoyang go in the middle. Gan Guoyang chose the left-handed hook that is not the best grasp. As a result, the ball hit the basket and missed. Mark West immediately slammed Gan Guoyang was stuck, and he didn't go to grab the rebound. He just stuck Gan Guoyang. As a result, Hornacek, who came out from the side, got the rebound.

This attack and defense, Gan Guoyang knew in his heart that compared with the previous two games, the Suns were very well prepared. In the first two away games, they had just finished a life-and-death battle with the Supersonics, so the Suns were not prepared enough. According to the conventional routine, he was beaten black and blue by the targeted pioneers.

This time back to the situation where they had to win, and it was home again, the Suns were naturally more fully prepared.

"Kevin Johnson throws a long pass upfield, Tom Chambers gets the ball, he's facing Cauchy, he fakes, hits the rebound and shoots! Goin!"

The sun's counterattack came very quickly, and it was Tom Chambers again, because he didn't have to defend Gan Guoyang, so he had the opportunity to participate in the fast break. He took the lead in this ball, and Duckworth couldn't keep up with him. , had to guard against him.

But Cosey was not tall enough, Chambers made a fake cross step 10 feet away from the basket to shake Cosey away, and then leaned forward to hit the rebound and hit a shot. Although the score was quite reluctant, the two points were real Here we go.

The cheers on the scene were even louder. The Suns played with a strong momentum at the beginning, but the Blazers were obviously a little confused. The ball just now was a typical situation where a high inside team was chased and beaten by a fast team. This is what Adelman wants to avoid.

Now, whether the Blazers will continue to play against Gan Guoyang needs to be carefully considered, because if Gan Guoyang can’t score, Tom Chambers will go down quickly, Duckworth can’t keep up, and the other players who keep up are too tall Not enough, it is very likely that it will not be able to cover Chambers, so Chambers will seize the opportunity. The Suns have such achievements this year, which are inseparable from the tactical value of Chambers.

"Gan asked for the ball on the left side this time, and he wanted to continue to play in the low post. Drexler passed the ball to Gan in half court, Gan dribbled the ball and turned around, left-handed shot! West fouled, and the referee's whistle blew. "

This time it was West's turn to complain. He didn't think he had fouled the ball, but the referee thought he hit Gan Guoyang's arm.

Gan Guoyang was about to go to the free throw line. At this time, he also felt a little anxious, because he felt that the Suns were very targeted in his defense. Just two shots ago, he was on the right side of the first ball, and Mark West blocked the bottom line. Let him go up the line, and the second ball is on the right side, so he let go of the bottom line and let him go. The result is that Gan Guoyang used his left hand to handle the ball for the two balls.

It stands to reason that Gan Guoyang's left-handed level is almost the same as his right-handed. In the past, he could score more than 20 points in a game with all his left-handed shots, but now it is the playoffs, and no matter how flexible his left hand is, he is still worse than his right hand.

Gan Guoyang feels that his hand feeling in this game may not be as good as the previous two games. The hand feeling is like a big aunt. There are always some days in a month that make you uncomfortable, and naturally there will be a few games to attack Not good, so far in the five games of the playoffs, Gan Guoyang's hands have been surprisingly good, and now he feels a little bad.

"Gump's first free throw ... didn't go in, the ball fell out."

Gan Guoyang missed the first free throw, and the shouts from the audience almost hurt his eardrums. It seems that his offensive touch is really not very good.

Gan Guoyang still hit the second free throw, 5:1, the Blazers got the first point of the game, from Gan Guoyang's free throw.

"Keep the inside, leave the outside to me, don't let them grab rebounds casually." Gan Guoyang told Duckworth when he returned to defense, Duckworth nodded, if there is anything wrong with the Blazers in the first two games In other words, it is the protection of the backcourt rebounds. Because Gan Guoyang roamed a lot to supplement the defense, Duckworth in the inside line did not have Gan Guoyang's strong control over the backcourt rebounds, and was robbed by the Suns of a lot of frontcourt rebounds.

But this time, the offense of the Suns was different from the previous two games. Kevin Johnson and Tom Chambers once again made a pick-and-roll outside the right three-point line, but after the pick-and-roll was completed, Porter and Gan Guoyang switched positions very timely There was no gap or dislocation, and instead of a pass to Chambers, Johnson passed the ball to Tyrone Corbin down the middle.

Corbin did not stop catching the ball. At this time, Hornacek had circled from the baseline to the left 45 degrees. Corbin passed the ball to Hornacek. Hornacek caught the ball and made a jump shot. , as accurate as a layup.

7:1, the Suns played the Trail Blazers 7:1 in the opening game, their offense was very effective, the reason is very simple, Tom Chambers and Kevin Johnson played a pick-and-roll in a very narrow position on the right, restraining Gan Guoyang This point makes it impossible for him to interfere with other players on a large scale.

In the first two games, Kevin Johnson and Chambers were in the pick-and-roll in the middle. Gan Guoyang can switch to the two sides at any time. Now they have made a change. No matter how fast Gan Guoyang rotates, it is impossible to run from right to left to interfere with Horner. Seck is gone.

The Suns, who were well prepared, caught the Blazers by surprise in the opening game.