The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 177 - 70: Don’t Talk to Ah Gan

The second quarter saw both teams continue to struggle offensively, making the game exceedingly dull.

For the Trail Blazers tonight, the outside shooting was cold, with Vandeweghe and Parkson hitting less than 40 percent of their shots.

An important reason was that Mark-Eaton, standing like a mountain, blocked the Trail Blazers’ offensive routes.

He contributed three shot blocks in the first quarter alone, effectively cutting off the Trail Blazers’ players’ desire to drive into the paint for position attacks.

In the second quarter after he took the court, he added another four blocks, leaving Valentine, Vandeweghe, and Thompson completely disoriented.

Gan Guoyang also got blocked; his shot was a turnaround layup after beating Yi Dun, taking the baseline for a reverse layup.

This move is an excellent way to avoid getting blocked by the opponent, but Yi Dun just stretched out his great hand, didn’t even jump, and tapped Gan Guoyang’s shot away.

"Damn..." Gan Guoyang cursed in his mother tongue, overwhelmed by Yi Dun’s scary stature and wingspan.

Last season, Yi Dun averaged 4.6 blocks per game, and this season his average has increased to 5.6. The advice from Chamberlain was spot-on; he found his role.

Apart from Yi Dun the "Block King," Rickey Green was last season’s steals leader, along with Dantley the "Free Throw King," and Stockton the future assists leader, the Jazz truly was a team of prodigies.

The Trail Blazers were struggling on offense, and the Jazz weren’t much better, as they also found it tough to break through Guoyang’s Five-Finger Mountain.

Since Guoyang joined the Trail Blazers, the team’s defense became incredibly solid.

Stable backcourt rebounding and sturdy paint defense. Feeling that his offense was off tonight, Guoyang did not let up on the defensive end.

Starting from high school, Guoyang always loved defense. Compared to scoring, he preferred the feeling of blocking shots, as happiness often rests on the misery of others.

Possibly being a Virgo, he liked the team’s defense to be orderly and systematic, with proper positioning and coordinated rotations, maintaining a consistently high intensity.

When necessary, Ramsay would call a timeout or scream from the sidelines, and Guoyang would lead the players in an aggressive defense—a common way for most coaches of that era to boost their defensive level, putting pressure on their players and then transferring it to the opposition.

The Trail Blazers’ defense became like a non-Newtonian fluid, viscous and seemingly soft, but if you tried to force your way through it, it would instantly become extremely hard and impenetrable.

In the regular season, Guoyang’s defensive consistency was exceptionally valuable. After a month of playing, Ramsay realized just how much protection Guoyang provided in the paint, making the team’s defensive fallback much stronger.

Because a full-on team defensive press isn’t sustainable in the regular season, NCAA could rely on it to push through to the end in a month, but the NBA season is just too long.

Like the previous Chicago Bulls, Lou Holtz relied on gambling on the defensive end to win seven straight, but as the players’ form and morale gradually waned, they followed it with twelve losses in thirteen games, reverting to their original form.

Guoyang’s defense didn’t rely on morale; he just kept doing what should be done, effectively suppressing the Jazz’s offensive rhythm, allowing the Trail Blazers to maintain a slim lead even when their offense was off.

By halftime, Guoyang had already made four blocks and secured 11 defensive rebounds.

Of course, the game became ugly, and during a break, Guoyang himself complained, "No wonder no one watched the Warriors play the Jazz in their season opener; they’re such a dull team."

A core player’s style often determines the team’s style of play. When others couldn’t make a breakthrough, Dantley kept charging inside to draw fouls in an attempt to wear down Guoyang.

But it wasn’t effective. Guoyang was very good at controlling his fouls; he only had two fouls in the first half, and his tip-style shot blocks restrained Dantley’s inclination to draw contact.

Whereas Vandeweghe, due to poor defense, didn’t commit fouls, "I’ll let you go in and play against Ah Gan, whether you make it or not is none of my concern," which frustrated Dantley.

Dantley had a routine at the free-throw line: bounce the ball four times, then twirl it vigorously with his hands, and finally shoot.

He didn’t get many chances to perform this routine tonight.

His pre-free-throw routine would indirectly influence many athletes, as it became popular in the era of television broadcasts.

Some players did it out of superstition, while others did it for more TV close-ups at the free-throw line, which helped to increase their fame.

During a timeout, John Stockton "boldly" suggested to the coach, "Trying to draw fouls from Ah Gan is useless; he controls his fouls exceptionally well. He’s extremely calm."

Frank Layden looked at Stockton, knowing they were college teammates, and asked him, "Do you have a good strategy against Ah Gan?"

Stockton replied, "Don’t provoke him. Let him think the game is boring and gradually lose focus. Then in the final phase, catch him off guard and take the game."

Raiden was silent for a moment before saying, "This is strategy, not tactics. I need a way to attack him, to contain him, to find his weakness."

Stockton also remained quiet for a little while before responding, "I don’t have one now, at least I don’t know of any."

Raiden thought to himself that this guy might as well have said nothing, and then said, "Then go on, John! Think of a way to deal with Ah Gan!"

Stockton had a stint on the floor during the first quarter as a substitute, and his performance was quite average as the strong Valentine defended him effectively.

In the second quarter, Stockton returned to the game, having observed from the sidelines for a long time, he knew the issue with the team’s offense.

Rickey Green was a master of fast-paced play, controlling the tempo of the entire first half to be very fast, which Jazz was accustomed to.

However, Stockton had played with Gan Guoyang, and he knew that as a center, Gan Guoyang was not afraid of a rapid game pace.

On the contrary, his speed was astonishing, and Rickey Green’s usual tactic of searching for weaknesses in speed was ineffective against Ah Gan.

The Jazz, however, made numerous mistakes in the first half, playing with reckless anxiety, but fortunately, with Eaton guarding the basket on their home court, the team did not collapse.

Before Stockton took the court, he rubbed some magnesium powder on his hands and wiped his shoes against the floor. He recalled Coach Belman’s teaching from his college days:

"The key to breaking a defense is not speed, explosive power, or shooting, but thought. The fundamental purpose of all offensive tactics is to make the defenders think. When you make a defender choose between two or three options, a successful basket is already waving at you."

Stockton thought to himself, "Ah Gan, your previous defense didn’t use your brain, did it? You just went through the motions. It’s time to make you think."

With five minutes left in the second quarter, the Trail Blazers were leading the Jazz 39:35 by four points. In the game’s current rhythm, that was a low score.

As Stockton took the floor, Drexler and Kolter also came on as substitutes, with both teams’ coaches attempting to change the backcourt and vary the pace of the offense on the floor.

Seeing Stockton enter the game, Gan Guoyang softly pushed Kolter. "Don’t just fixate on him defensively, look at the others. When we’re on the offense, don’t look at the others, focus on him."

Gan Guoyang also had insight into Stockton’s weaknesses, but Stockton clearly came prepared. On his first ball-handling offensive play, he chose to pick and roll with Bailey.

He dribbled 45 degrees inside at a leisurely pace with good rhythm, leaving himself options. The Trail Blazers’ defense on the pick and roll encountered some minor miscommunications.

Kolter chose to go around the screen while Thompson stayed too far inside to prevent Bailey from rolling towards the basket. After observing this slight mistake, Stockton immediately pulled up for a jump shot.

He confidently scored two points, executing a simple and efficient pick and roll offense.

Gan Guoyang slapped Kolter again. "Fight through screens, don’t go around; this guy’s shooting is accurate."

Kolter nodded, knowing fighting through screens was an energetically taxing defensive strategy that many players would skimp on during a game.

When the Trail Blazers were on offense, Drexler also tried to challenge Eaton in the paint, but his layup attempt was disrupted by Eaton and missed.

Eaton firmly grabbed the defensive rebound and passed it to Stockton to initiate the counter-attack, with Stockton calmly advancing past half-court.

This time, he used Eaton’s cross to the three-point line as an opportunity to utilize a screen, changing directions continuously. Just as Kolter tried to fight through Eaton’s screen, Stockton suddenly accelerated through the middle for a drive!

Confronted directly by Gan Guoyang’s defense in the paint, Stockton had no hesitation, accelerating and leaping for the layup!

Gan Guoyang, who didn’t care who the attacker or shooter was, jumped to cut off all of Stockton’s layup routes.

But Stockton gathered the ball, curled up in mid-air, and passed the ball with a low hand to Dantley, who was cutting in from the wing.

Dantley caught the ball and smoothly laid it up for two points. The Jazz narrowed the score to 39:38, and their offense suddenly became clear and focused.

"John, you really have gotten stronger, using such fancy no-look passes?" Gan Guoyang exclaimed in admiration; the play was indeed beautiful.

From the moment Kolter was blocked by Eaton, Stockton had posed a defensive choice for Gan Guoyang.

Either block me or the others; if you block me, I’ll pass; if you block the rest, I go for the layup.

Stockton’s passing was quick and stealthy, his layups decisive, leaving Gan Guoyang little time to think.

Because Stockton knew that sometimes Gan Guoyang could defend two players at once, and he had to be quick in countering both.

In response to his old teammate’s praise, Stockton pretended not to hear and quickly retreated to play defense.

He knew another rule of playing against Ah Gan, never talk to Ah Gan.