The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 166 - 63: Rhythm

Parkson did not anticipate that Michael Jordan could chase down the ball from behind and block it.

In terms of speed and explosiveness, the two players were simply not in the same league.

Parkson was no mediocre player; he was an All-Star last year, and anyone who makes it into the NBA All-Star Game is among the best in the world in terms of physical fitness and basketball skills.

Last season, in a game against the Bulls, Jim Paxson scored his career-high of 41 points.

Back then, the two teams battled through four long overtimes, and Paxson played 49 minutes, the second most on the Trail Blazers team, while sporting a sleek little mustache.

Unfortunately, the team lost the game 155:156 in the end. Paxson was a traditional old-school shooting guard, and his scoring mainly came from cuts and basket movement, resulting in layups, as well as catching and shooting after screen movement, with a small amount of fast break and drive-in points.

Isolation plays with the ball were not part of his basketball philosophy and were also not in keeping with Ramsay’s tactical style.

However, last year’s Western Conference second-place finishers were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, indicative of their traditional tactics fading away.

Because of this, the Trail Blazers were hesitant about Paxson’s new contract over the summer, finalizing it only when the season was about to start.

The block Jordan just delivered on Paxson’s layup showcased the wide gap between old-school shooting guards and their modern counterparts.

It was still the Trail Blazers’ possession, Vandeweghe inbounded the ball from the baseline to Thompson, who passed to Valentine, who then fed the ball to Paxson on the wing, emerging from a screen.

Paxson took the mid-range jump shot after catching the ball and scored two points, making up for the earlier blunder that Jordan had blocked.

Jordan was aggressive on the chase down, but Gan Guoyang’s screen was solid, completely blocking Jordan.

Jordan felt like he had run into an iron door, completely unable to squeeze through, let alone break through it.

Back then, most players played a straightforward game, taking a hit on a screen when it came.

Unlike later on, where every one of them seemed to be acting, making a dramatic scene out of a minor touch, as if they had been in a car accident.

"Shit, this guy is like a locomotive," Jordan cursed in his mind. Gan Guoyang was astonishingly strong.

Jordan made up his mind that he needed to enhance his strength training, as speed alone was not enough to handle this monster.

The Trail Blazers took an early lead, with the Bulls quickly falling behind in the face of the Trail Blazers’ well-trained, balanced inside-out game. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

On the bench, Ramsay didn’t kneel to direct the game but spoke to the Clyde Drexler sitting next to him, "Clyde, if you had Paxson’s shooting, your coordination with Gan would be seamless."

Ramsay truly wished Drexler had Paxson’s shooting and off-ball capabilities; with them, his pairing with Gan Guoyang would have limitless potential.

Drexler replied, "I wouldn’t get blocked by Jordan from behind, I would have dunked the ball."

Ramsay rolled his eyes, thinking the young players of today just didn’t know what was good for them, but he didn’t say much else.

He knew that Drexler had made significant improvements recently, no longer coming late to training and working much harder on his shooting—although still not as hard as Gan.

As the first quarter drew to a close, the score was 22:15, with the Trail Blazers leading by 7 points. Ramsay made a substitution during the timeout, bringing in Drexler for Paxson.

Drexler immediately sprang up from the bench; he, too, had long anticipated a match-up with Jordan, but everyone seemed to underestimate him.

In the last two minutes of the first quarter, Drexler seized the opportunity to challenge Jordan on the perimeter with the ball.

When he tried to break through one-on-one, Jordan stripped him of the ball. Jordan pushed from defense to offense, driving down the court with the ball!

Drexler chased hard from behind and caught up, but he collided with Jordan on defense. Jordan evaded in midair and scored with a left-handed layup.

The referee blew the whistle for a foul on Drexler; Jordan’s two points counted, plus a free throw.

"Idiot..."

Ramsay muttered to himself on the sideline, having hoped that Drexler’s entry would change the team’s offensive pace.

To engage in quicker offense during transition and further suppress the Bulls’ second unit.

But the guy went straight for an isolation with Jordan, not only getting blatantly picked off but also conceding an and-one.

Jordan made the free throw, securing 3 points, and the Bulls closed the gap in the score.

After scoring, Jordan didn’t look directly at Drexler; his eyes were on Gan Guoyang.

In the set offense, Jordan had repeatedly failed to score, and Gan Guoyang’s help defense and rim protection were quite in place.

There was no use for Jordan to challenge Gan Guoyang in the air directly; he simply couldn’t budge him.

He could only hope the referee would blow the whistle for some help, but Gan Guoyang’s foul control was very good that night.

Jordan could sense, "This guy has improved a bit since the Olympics trials."

Gan Guoyang had an impressive ability to learn, and his rate of improvement in basketball was much faster than many talented players.

After joining the NBA, he felt his own rate of progress slow down because there were too many games to play and too little time to seriously ponder techniques and meditate.

In the Trail Blazers’ final attack of the first quarter, Drexler obediently passed the ball to Gan Guoyang in the low post.

The Bulls had already substituted Jones for the stronger Dave Corzine to guard Gan Guoyang.