The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 1639 - 8: See You in Los Angeles

[Scottie Pippen wore a smile, and his tone was calm, but his words were full of malice.

"I won’t apologize to Charles Barkley, not even with a gun to my head."

"He’s the one who should be apologizing; he owes me an apology. His ass is so fat, it doesn’t even look like a basketball player’s."

"He’s a very selfish person; he hasn’t shown any desire to win, and I don’t want to play with him anymore."

"Michael once said, Charles will never win a championship because he lacks dedication and doesn’t know self-discipline. I should have listened to Michael. If I had, I wouldn’t have come to New Jersey but to a more competitive place."

In August 1999, summer, Scottie Pippen’s response on an ESPN talk show took the entire League by surprise.

His bold wording and sharp, unforgiving comments startled many people.

Many underestimated the severity of the conflict between Pippen and Barkley.

Jordan was among them; he didn’t expect Pippen to say such things.

Within minutes of the show airing, Jordan called Barkley — twice.

He told Barkley that he wasn’t mocking him behind his back, nor had he ever said that Barkley would never win a championship.

Barkley later told Sports Illustrated’s writer Jackie MacMullan, "I don’t know if Michael was more upset that Scottie said those things or because he dragged his name into it. I know Scottie, the whole League knows he’s unreliable, a fence-sitter. You can fool the media and fans, but you can’t fool the players; Scottie’s a fool who exposes his backside."

The conflict between Pippen and Barkley intensified, and they were destined not to continue their partnership in New Jersey.

Charles Barkley faced a choice after losing the seventh game of the semifinals to the Pacers; he never returned to New Jersey.

He had two paths before him: 1. Leave the NBA; 2. Go to Portland.]

— 2022, published, Mote Bella’s biography of Charles Barkley, "Barkley," excerpt.

When Charles Barkley left the playoffs in the 1999 season, the last big man in the League was Shaquille O’Neal.

When the Lakers’ private jet landed at Portland Airport, O’Neal looked out the familiar scenery from the window with a melancholy gaze, and a bad feeling washed over him.

Portland, again Portland, the painful lessons of failure here for O’Neal could fill a book.

This was his seventh year in the League, 26 years old, yet still hadn’t grown into the dominant center people had expected.

Gan Guoyang, nearly ten years older than him, always overshadowed him like a huge inescapable shadow, a nightmare he couldn’t wake up from.

Jerry West repeatedly comforted O’Neal, "Wait, just wait, your time will come."

West wasn’t wrong; Gan Guoyang would eventually grow old and weak; O’Neal was only 26 years old, four years before he turned 30.

If O’Neal had learned about Chinese history, he would know that many great figures, the path to success, was just to endure.

Endure in youth until their greatest rivals grew old and died, and then the world would become theirs.

Jerry West got through it by waiting until Bill Russell retired, and only then did the Lakers have their day, winning a championship.

But for O’Neal, such days were hard to bear; how could a man stay under others for long?

He had a premonition that if they lost this series, what kind of criticism and ridicule would he face again?

The same attacks he faced last playoffs when they were eliminated, only more severe?

In the semifinals, O’Neal delivered a dominating performance, finally leading the team to avenge Utah Jazz.

But facing the Trail Blazers and Gan Guoyang, O’Neal still felt no confidence.

The plane landed steadily at Portland Airport, and the Lakers were about to begin their Western Conference Finals journey.

The Trail Blazers were ready and waiting, but their condition wasn’t as good as people imagined.

Injuries were slowly eating away at this aging team; their average age was one of the oldest in the League.

The starting five, Mu Lin, Sabonis, Gan Guoyang, Brellock, were all over 30, some even over 35.

Mu Lin and Sabonis had been plagued with injuries all season, playing intermittently.

Brellock maintained good form, but for a small point guard of his stature at 183 cm, decline can come in an instant.

Isiah Thomas faced injury at 31, leading him quickly to the brink of retirement, and then he left the League.

Terry Porter, AC Green had become the ninth and tenth players on the team, their careers entering countdown.

The Trail Blazers’ peculiarity was that, while assembling a championship roster, they hadn’t neglected nurturing new talent.

This season, Kobe, Little O’Neal, and Ben Wallace were gradually taking over the main roles.

Kobe had secured his spot as the starting shooting guard, and Little O’Neal became the team’s most important interior rotation.

Ben Wallace was also a crucial defensive piece inside, Bird highly appreciated these two young interiors.

In his plan, after Gan Guoyang and Sabonis retired in the future, they were to be the pillars of the Trail Blazers’ interior for the next decade.

There were games where Bird would move Gan Guoyang to the small forward position, allowing Ben and Little O’Neal to partner inside, playing a speedy counter-attack lineup.

And this setup was precisely what the Los Angeles Lakers feared the most.

Due to O’Neal’s presence, the Lakers were somewhat fearful of speed-type teams on both offense and defense.

Especially when O’Neal couldn’t exert destructive power on offense, the Lakers would easily fall into a state of imbalance.

One reason the Lakers could take down the Jazz in the semifinals was because O’Neal was unstoppable on offense.

Plus, O’Neal altered his previous style of pure low-post power play, incorporating some pick-and-roll and cuts into his offensive strategy.

He tried to integrate as much as possible into the flexible offense led by Kidd, reducing pure power play to make his offense more versatile.

This change was effective, and the Lakers successfully advanced, but who knows how it will be against the Trail Blazers.

On May 16th, Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals commenced at the Rose Garden Arena.

The Lakers aimed for another Finals appearance since 1988. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Ten years, it’s been ten years since they tasted the Finals.

The Lakers’ starting lineup was still impressive in height: O’Neal, Thorpe, Holi, McGrady alongside Kidd.

A shorter team would only get bullied by them, but fortunately, the Trail Blazers also had outstanding height—except for the point guard position.

The Lakers seized Kidd’s mismatch advantage against Brellock right from the start, repeatedly setting up plays in the low post for Kidd to back down and single out Brellock.

A clever move, Kidd can play one-on-one, but what’s scarier is his ability to pass. After continuously scoring against Brellock, Bird called the first timeout of the game.

11:6, the Lakers took an early lead in the first quarter, and Del Harris made a brilliant move.

The Silver Fox summarized a lot of experiences in the continuous battles with the Trail Blazers—this might be the fate of every Lakers coach.

From Riley, to Beelman, to Harris, and perhaps someone after them, they’re all racking their brains on how to deal with Ah Gan.

But the ideas they come up with are quite similar, always adhering to a crucial principle: avoid Ah Gan as much as possible.

Never think about piling resources on Ah Gan offensively or defensively; it’s useless, a complete waste. The Twin Towers proved that.

Instead, increasing investment in other positions, whether in talent or numbers, the more, the better, which can open a breakthrough.

For example, how did the Jazz and Lakers win against the Trail Blazers? It was all due to the breakout performance of the point guard.

The point guard position is the furthest from Ah Gan, the hardest part for him to interfere with and impact.

Harris evidently grasped this trick. Against the Trail Blazers, he abandoned the O’Neal-centric strategy and turned to Kidd as the core, with O’Neal as a support.

Facing the shorter Brellock, Kidd played with ease, excelling both in scoring and passing.

The Lakers’ perimeter also learned from the Rockets’ experience, stacking tall, shooting-proficient forwards who shoot upon receiving the ball, avoiding challenges in the Three Second Zone against Ah Gan’s rim protection.

With the point guard’s direction and the perimeter’s bombardment, the Lakers surprisingly took a 7-point lead by halftime.

The Trail Blazers’ offense appeared somewhat chaotic, failing to capitalize on their fast breaks and fluid offense.

First, their three-point accuracy was generally poor, while defensively, they were repeatedly scored against, limiting their fast-break opportunities.

Mu Lin, the outside engine of the ’98 season, has declined significantly this season, with alcohol reappearing in his life.

After achieving the dream of a championship, there’s little motivation to continue self-discipline and move forward.

In the second half, the Trail Blazers made adjustments, with Bird deploying Little O’Neal and Big Ben more frequently.

Gan Guoyang switched to the small forward position, and at this point, the Lakers had Holi, McGrady, and Kidd triple-team Gan Guoyang.

Brellock and Kobe attempted several mid- to long-range shots but missed, while O’Neal protected the defensive rebounds well under the basket.

This big guy, as long as Ah Gan doesn’t target him, still wields considerable power under the basket.

In the end, the Lakers won their opening game against the Trail Blazers with a 101:95, 6-point advantage, earning the first win of the West Finals!

O’Neal scored 19 points and grabbed 18 rebounds, including 15 defensive rebounds, a performance that delighted the Los Angeles media greatly.

At the post-game press conference, O’Neal was all smiles; he couldn’t believe that instead of a hopeless loss, he managed to snatch a victory in Portland.

Victory brings confidence, something the Lakers lacked; now they see hope in overturning the Trail Blazers in a series.

Because their main players have become more mature, while the Trail Blazers and Ah Gan are only getting older.

A day later, still at the Rose Garden, the Trail Blazers bounced back.

This game saw a return to form in their three-point shooting, hitting 10 out of 18 from beyond the arc.

They leveled the series score with a cathartic victory.

However, this was within the expectations of the Lakers team; they didn’t plan to win two games in Portland.

Snatching one and grabbing the home-court advantage, they’ve already achieved their goal.

In the post-game interview, O’Neal confidently said, "See you in Los Angeles, Trail Blazers."

See you in Los Angeles, as if O’Neal forgot that Los Angeles has always been Gan Guoyang’s basketball territory.

Since the early ’80s, he was crowned the King of Los Angeles, the true sunshine boy of California.