The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 168 - 63 Rhythm_3

He wasn’t concerned about the outcome of a single possession, but about linking all possessions together in search of a rhythm, striving for the players to play on the court with mathematical precision and coordination. At the end of the game, if you combined all the possessions and your scoring efficiency was higher than the opponent’s, you would win the game.

The key to this rhythm was the control of possession time—when and where to initiate an attack was crucial to the players and the overall rhythm of the game.

Therefore, players meticulously coached by Dean Smith always had a calm and unhurried manner when playing on the court. They were neither recklessly aggressive nor sluggishly lethargic, but instead they moved with a coordinated rhythm.

Many people became deeply attracted to Jordan after watching him play just once, not only because he was fast, could jump high, and had explosive strength, but also because his playing had a musically beautiful sense of rhythm, which was the result of Dean Smith’s coaching.

Some players might be stronger or faster, but their technical moves and game rhythm often had a sense of discord, making it easy for spectators to frown.

When Jordan returned to the court in the second quarter, he calmed his mind and started to control the ball to adjust the team’s playing rhythm, often acting as the point guard during this time.

He regulated his timing for breakthroughs and shots, slightly slowing down the paced attack to allow his teammates to keep up.

Defensively, he actively harried Drexler, who was anxious to compete with Jordan and was intercepted again.

Facing his second steal of the game, Jordan didn’t rush the fast break by himself but cooperated with his teammates in a three-on-two, with Daley receiving the ball and scoring with a layup.

The Bulls smoothly played out a small surge of 9:2, closing the gap to 3 points and forcing Ramsay to call a timeout.

Ramsay substituted the underperforming and confused Drexler and brought Parkson back on.

In laying out the defense, Ramsay had nothing much to say apart from emphasizing some habitual issues—he was not a master of defense.

As an old coach who had spent decades on the sidelines, his strength was his rich experience; his shortcoming was that he was indeed outdated in some areas and unable to learn new things.

Thankfully, Ramsay had learned one thing this season, which was to listen to his players more and let them lead the game.

"Gan, hold the paint, the Bulls’ offense is recovering."

"I know, Michael’s playing well, he’s disrupted me, but I’ll figure something out."

Gan Guoyang could sense that the control of the game had shifted into Jordan’s hands, and he became passive.

Jordan had obviously seen through his defensive trap; he no longer blindly charged in but thought and chose his attacks during offense, creating connections with his teammates that were unpredictable.

This was the last thing the defense wanted to see—fish not taking the bait, mice not entering the trap, the difficulty of capture rising sharply.

When he returned to the court, Gan Guoyang said to Thompson, "I’ll go higher up. You take the interior defense and I’ll play further out."

Thompson nodded, as everyone on defense listened to Gan Guoyang; after all, Dr. Jack’s defense was repetitive—either pressure or push harder.

Gan Guoyang’s first assist from the high post sliced through the Bulls’ defense, with Thompson receiving the ball and scoring with an easy layup under the basket, leaving the Bulls unable to predict Gan Guoyang’s next move.

Of course, the Trail Blazers faced the same situation with Jordan’s choices in offense becoming unpredictable. Gan Guoyang started to hunt Jordan from a more outside position.

Parkson, like Vandeweghe, threw himself actively into defense; in fact, when they showed the right attitude, their defense wasn’t that bad.

But Jordan still hit a mid-range jumper, scoring 16 points in the first half to tie with Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang didn’t fuss over the competition for individual points, continuing to move high to open up the three-second area for his teammates.

Parkson cut to the basket, and although Gan Guoyang seemed like he was going to pass, he didn’t but instead drove in with a move hook shot that went in.

Jordan immediately countered, and after a series of smooth passes, Daley received the ball and scored from mid-range.

Jordan might not have seemed to have any stats, but he had introduced a very comfortable rhythm to the Bulls’ offense.

Everyone knew when it was time to shoot after several passes and knew whether to shoot or drive when they got the ball.

The timing was never too early, which would be too hasty, nor too late, which would be too dragging.

Of course, they wouldn’t miss a fast break opportunity either, with Jordan and Ulrich being the sharpest spears.

The two teams began to score consecutively, with the score alternating upward, as the Bulls slowly closed the margin.

When the score reached 62:56, with the Bulls only 6 points behind, the previously coordinated rhythm of mutual attacks was suddenly disrupted.

Gan Guoyang, along with Parkson and Valentine, suddenly sandwiched Jordan during defense.

Caught off guard, Jordan jumped to pass the ball, which was intercepted by Kenny-Carl.

Gan Guoyang immediately took off on a fast break, with Carl sending a long pass to Gan Guoyang, who stormed the basket and dunked with one arm.

Under Gan Guoyang’s leadership, the Trail Blazers’ defensive intensity surged towards the end of the first half.

The Bulls’ smooth operation was disrupted, and Jordan had to take the ball and drive himself, only to be surrounded by three defenders again.

He passed the ball to an open Daley outside, a great scoring opportunity, but Daley’s shot missed.

"Damn it!" Jordan cursed under his breath, knowing the rhythm had been disrupted—even an open shot might not go in.

It was another sharp counterattack by the Trail Blazers, Gan Guoyang bulldozed into the basket, received Thompson’s pass, and dunked powerfully with both hands!

The Bulls’ defense lacked discipline, easily allowing the opponent to drive to the basket and score.

66:56, the gap was back to 10 points, and Jordan’s efforts for the better part of the half were in vain.

During halftime, Jordan’s inner fire flared up again, recognizing the gap between the teams’ players.

But Jordan was even more annoyed that his strategies were likely being deciphered by that guy Gan.

In the second half, he had to come up with new countermeasures, as he cared very much about the outcome of this game.

It’s hard for ordinary people to imagine that two NBA rookies, in their first matchup, were already engaged in such an intense battle of wits.

In fact, their achievements during their rookie season had already reached heights that many star players wouldn’t touch in their lifetimes.