The Golden Age of Basketball

The problem of the Detroit Pistons' lack of low-post attackers was originally covered up in history until 1991. However, in this time and space, they encountered the Portland Trail Blazers and the team with the league's strongest low-post offensive ability.

Facing the Los Angeles Lakers in 1988, the Lakers' low-post offensive ability was strong enough, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had not completely aged, and James Worthy, who was in excellent condition, but they had Dantley at that time, and Dantley was there In that Finals, the Pistons were the leading scorer, a scorer who could explode and score 30 points in a single game, and his field goal percentage in the series was as high as 50.00%, which is the most important and stable output point for the Pistons.

The Blazers' low-post strength is even more terrifying. Gan Guoyang has become the number one inside low-post attacker in the NBA since 1987, and reached his peak in 1988. This year, because of the change in his style of play, his percentage of low-post offense has declined. But when he needs to be, he's still a behemoth in the low post that can devour everything.

In the second quarter, Gan Guoyang continued to stay on the court, and Chuck Daly sent John Sally and put Bill Lambiel off the court. This is a very risky behavior. The entire league, Lambiel counts There are only a few low-post defenders who can make Gan Guoyang uncomfortable, and Sally harassed Gan Guoyang with Dennis Rodman in the second and third games, but it still achieved good results. Daly wants to continue to try this The effect of the defensive combination on Gan Guoyang.

John Sally was a rookie in 1986, from Georgia Tech, a No. 11 pick, and the last high pick of the Pistons, because since the 1987 playoffs, the Pistons have never dropped out of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Sally has one characteristic that is exactly the same as Gan Guoyang, that is, his long arms. After Sally came to the Pistons, this cheerful and lively young man was somewhat incompatible with the calm and old-fashioned style of the Pistons. Boss Bill Lambiel once fought, but within the Pistons, having a fight means that he has really entered the group. Two seasons of training and experience in the finals have made this 6-foot-11 Spider-Man quickly Grow into an important player on the Pistons bench, a defensive champion.

Different from "Beef Guy" Rick Mahon's rough and reckless defense, Sally takes the route of wide coverage and precise interference, which is exactly the same as Gan Guoyang. The defensive area is huge, and it is very difficult to mark and press the ball holder. He is tight and interferes a lot when shooting for the opponent. At the same time, like his character, he is also a very active and dedicated player who is loved by his teammates and coaches.

In the crucial battle tonight, he has a heavy responsibility to block the most ferocious firepower of the Blazers against the explosive package. Of course, Daly is worried, and he also sent Rodman to help. Both guys are long-handed With long legs, it looks like a cage will be used to frame Gan Guoyang.

However, Gan Guoyang soon proved that John Sally and Rodman couldn't guard him at all.

At the beginning of the second quarter, both Drexler and Porter took a rest. The backcourt partners were Paxson and Danny Young. Adelman's meaning was very clear. Don't worry about it, Danny Young handed over the ball as soon as halftime, Gan Guoyang caught the ball with his back in a relatively shallow position, and now he is playing against the Pistons, Gan Guoyang is not too afraid to catch the ball in a deep position, because the Pistons The pinch is too sharp, too timely.

After Gan Guoyang received the ball, knowing that Rodman was going to pounce, he took a sigma step, turned his back to the basket, and before Rodman pounced, he directly pulled up a jumper.

Sally's arm is indeed long enough, and he reacted quickly to the ball, almost sealing it, but the ball was still hollow. Gan Guoyang is in this position, 45 degrees, 15 feet away from the basket. I don't know if he has practiced it before. It doesn't matter how many times the sigma step goes straight to the jumper, and it doesn't matter whether he is guarded or not.

After the goal, Gan Guoyang pointed to Rodman, as if telling him not to run around.

The Pistons also have an offensive core, and that is Isiah Thomas. As the number one star of the Pistons, Thomas’s brilliance in the Pistons is not as dazzling as Gan Guoyang’s in the Trail Blazers, because the Pistons are still a team in essence. The team, and the team's locker room is not completely led by Thomas, Bill Lambie is the real talker, and on the court, Joe Dumars assumes similar responsibilities to Thomas, if there is any difference , That is, Thomas is currently the only scoring burst for the Pistons.

After the absence of Dantley, the Pistons only have the ability to take over the game on the offensive end.

Thomas carried out Riley's intentions, insisted on switching offense and defense, reduced positional offense, and prevented the Blazers from grinding their positions. They lacked low-post offensive points and they couldn't grind the Blazers, so the Pistons served quickly, Thomas held the ball directly, and suddenly a The change of direction accelerates past Danny Young, and then goes straight to the basket.

Both Gan Guoyang and Buck Williams were waiting for Thomas at the basket. Thomas had no fear, took off without slowing down, and made a layup directly against Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang stretched out his arms and straightened his whole body to prevent the blow from violating the cylinder, blocking Thomas' shooting space as much as possible, but Thomas didn't layup directly, but a pull rod in the air. The ball passed from Buck Williams and Gan Guoyang passed between them, and then picked the basket with a low hand. After the ball circled around the basket, it fell into the net.

A very wonderful goal, Gan Guoyang and Buck Williams have defended very well, but still failed to prevent Thomas from scoring in such a clever way.

Correspondingly, Thomas also pointed at Buck Williams, as if he was also telling him that it is useless not to run around to make up for the defense.

The top players on both sides began to regard each other's defense as nothing.

Dennis Rodman soon discovered that his enthusiasm was useless. Rodman is actually a very smart player. On the defensive end, he is not a strong single-defense player. It is difficult for him to lock the opponent's defense alone. Attack point, but he is very smart, knows how to use reasonable positioning, and the chicken thief's start, suddenly steal a, suddenly draw the opponent's offensive foul, suddenly make the opponent make a mistake, suddenly let the opponent go into a rage while he is walking around.

In the Eastern Conference finals, Rodman played with Scottie Pippen in this way. Every time he made Pippen look ashamed, Rodman would raise his head with a look of contempt, and then use his iconic high Run back to the other half with the leg lift method.

But this time, Gan Guoyang is smarter than him. Just like Larry Bird back then, Gan Guoyang is very observant. For Gan Guoyang, a John Sally is not worth 100% of his energy to deal with. Sally's advantage is that his arms are long and cover a large area, which is very similar to Gan Guoyang, but his disadvantage is that he is not strong enough. Holding the ball to observe the opponent's defense, Gan Guoyang paid the most attention to Rodman, and Rodman's small movements were all under Gan Guoyang's observation.

Gan Guoyang wants to be shallow, he wants to double-team, Gan Guoyang immediately turns around and attacks in another direction, he wants to stand on the offensive line and make a foul, Gan Guoyang directly chooses to shoot, and does not give Rodman a chance to foul at all, and Gan Guoyang is now out The ball was fast and the response was timely. He is a center with excellent error control, so Rodman was doing nothing in the second quarter, and was played around by Gan Guoyang.

Rodman is a very emotional player. If he plays well and is excited, he will get better and better. If he plays badly and suffers setbacks, his emotions will be affected, he will start to lose his temper, and even lose his temper. Chuck Daly He is also well aware of Rodman's characteristics. Seeing Rodman's face getting worse and worse, he finally pulled Gan Guoyang down maliciously in an attack by Gan Guoyang. Daly immediately took the opportunity to replace Rodman. He calmed down on the bench.

And Gan Guoyang stood on the free throw line. After making two free throws, the Blazers still maintained the lead, but their leading score was only three points. The reason is very simple. And Paxson couldn't guard Thomas either.

Thomas obviously entered the state in the second quarter, and the offensive feeling was excellent. He scored like an attacking guard. Entering the three-point line after halftime means entering his attacking range. He can rush at any time and anywhere. The stop jump shot ended the offense, and his breakthrough speed was too fast, Danny Young and Paxson couldn't keep up with his speed, and it was impossible for Gan Guoyang to defend every ball with all his strength.

The superstars of the two sides fought against the team, and the Blazers still maintained a slight advantage in the score. However, in Adelman's view, the Blazers' advantage is not just three points.