The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 1596 - 40: Rising Again
In the third quarter, the Jazz scored only 10 points.
"If Gan Guoyang attacked with full force, he could score 10 points in three minutes. As for the Jazz...honestly, if it were Sloan, I’d substitute the entire main lineup and surrender. Their offense tonight is really terrible."
Walton criticized the Jazz’s dreadful offensive performance, with continuous misses making the game look disappointing.
The Trail Blazers also scored modestly in the slow-paced confrontation, but their 20 points in the quarter were enough to widen the gap to 28 points.
The Jazz had lost hope; shortly into the fourth quarter, Sloan called a timeout and substituted Malone, Stockton, and Hornacek, signaling the Jazz’s surrender.
The Trail Blazers also substituted their main players, and once the second lineup took the court, Kobe led the bench in continued attacks, almost turning it into a disastrous event.
Later, Larry Bird substituted Kobe as well, not wanting things to look too ugly.
The final score was 100:58, with the Trail Blazers sweeping the Utah Jazz by a 42-point margin in the opening game of the Western Conference Finals.
The Jazz had no chance of winning throughout the game, with very few highlights, resulting in a humiliating defeat.
The entire Jazz team arrived in Portland full of fighting spirit, aiming to secure an away victory in front of their old rivals.
But upon truly facing Gan Guoyang, the man seemingly like a "serial killer," the Jazz finally realized that the mask and the real person are not the same.
Jerry Sloan was extremely disappointed with the team’s performance but didn’t blame anyone and instead chose to self-reflect, admitting he was inadequately prepared as a coach.
"I underestimated the Trail Blazers’ determination to win and the intensity of the game; I was careless. This year’s Portland Trail Blazers are different from last year’s team."
At the post-game press conference, Sloan took responsibility, admitting he was too careless.
In reality, even had he not been careless, the Jazz in tonight’s state couldn’t possibly be contenders against the Trail Blazers.
Malone only scored 6 points throughout the game, marking his lowest postseason score in recent years, and it’s the first time this season he failed to score in double digits.
He felt relieved for not betting with Gan Guoyang, else he’d lose 100,000 US Dollars, yet he didn’t realize he was at a disadvantage from the start, psychologically. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂
After a day’s rest, the second battle of the Western Conference Finals continued at the Rose Garden.
After the bloodbath in the first game, the Jazz team made positive adjustments for the second match.
Much like last year, Malone assumed an active role in organization and coordination from the beginning of the game.
He positioned himself to attract Gan Guoyang’s defense, providing covers and passes for teammates, allowing Brian Russell and Hornacek scoring opportunities to break the ice.
Indeed, the Jazz’s opening was much better than the first match, with consecutive success on outside shots, taking the lead midway through the first quarter.
Larry Bird promptly called a timeout for adjustments, instructing the players to break away from the previous game’s rhythm and reestablish the attacking strategy.
After the timeout concluded, the Trail Blazers launched a wide and open fast-paced offense, utilizing quick shots, a lot of screening, movement, and shooting, aggressively attacking the Jazz.
Clearly, it was a battle of offenses, with both sides competing to see whose firepower was stronger.
The Trail Blazers quickly leveled the score in the first quarter through their more efficient offense.
Then, both teams engaged in a counter-attack, concluding the first half with the Trail Blazers leading 61:55, ahead of the Jazz by 6 points.
At this point, the Jazz realized competing in offense couldn’t surpass the Trail Blazers.
The Trail Blazers, whether in tactical positional play or quick counter-attack, had better resources than the Jazz.
The 77 wins in the regular season weren’t handed to them; it was achieved through sheer formidable strength, with astonishing team stability and depth.
By the third quarter, the Trail Blazers, already in form and fully fired up, completely overpowered the Jazz in that one quarter.
Scoring 41 points in a single quarter, with 6 of 8 three-point attempts landing, completely collapsing the Jazz defense.
The Jazz’s style of play, focusing on slow-paced positional grinding, was akin to a broken tractor against the whirlwind offense of the Trail Blazers.
Scoring over 100 by the third quarter, the fourth quickly turned the game into garbage time.
Ultimately, with a 129:99 score, the Trail Blazers defeated the Jazz again by 30 points, leading 2:0 in the series.
In just two games, the Trail Blazers won against the Jazz by a margin of 70 points, clearly showing the teams were not on the same level.
Besides the disparity in strength, there was the revenge from last year’s Western Conference Finals when they lost the seventh game; the Trail Blazers were absolutely not holding back.
The Jazz team arrived in Portland full of hope but returned in disappointment; however, back in Salt Lake City, they still had a chance to win some respect.
On the same day the Trail Blazers won the second game of the Western Conference Finals, May 18th, the U.S. Department of Justice and over 20 states’ attorneys general officially initiated an antitrust lawsuit against Bill Gates and his Microsoft Company.
Starting from 1984, the year Gan Guoyang entered the NBA, to 1998, Microsoft gradually developed into one of the world’s most successful software companies.
However, during its development, Microsoft relied on its vast software market coverage to establish a stable monopoly in the PC market.
In 1990, the year Gan Guoyang led the Portland Trail Blazers in a sweeping march, achieving an 11-0 record to enter the finals and win the championship, the Federal Trade Commission began an antitrust investigation against Microsoft.
