The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 1816 - 66: Don’t Want to Say Goodbye (2)

Substitute Dale Curry and Chris Mullin received passes from Gan Guoyang and hit consecutive three-pointers, leading the Celtics to a new climax.

The score difference returned to over 15 points, and the Celtics' efforts to catch up by the end of the third quarter failed.

The one big four small lineup is swift on the offensive end, but has many problems on defense.

The inside can't defend against Gan Guoyang's cuts, and once it collapses, there are too many openings on the outside.

If the Celtics weren't trailing by so much, relying on the one big four small for a shootout, they might hold on.

But the 15-point disadvantage is too significant; their offensive and defensive continuity doesn't reach the intensity needed to turn the tide.

When it came to the fourth quarter, with 12 minutes left and eyes open, how to play with a 17-point deficit?

Unless the Trail Blazers' fitness severely declines, or they become complacent and waste their 17-point advantage.

Otherwise, it's tough for the Celtics to recover such a big disadvantage in one quarter.

During Gan Guoyang's career in the fourth quarter of the playoffs with a lead of more than ten points, he has never lost a game.

Basically doesn't know how to lose, could even rally back when trailing by ten points; a lead of ten points offers a huge psychological advantage.

Why hasn't Gan Guoyang lost when leading by ten points in the fourth quarter in his career? Because he never gets arrogant; the bigger the advantage, the more he wants to use the advantage well and convert it to victory.

In many sports games, some coaches and players fear losing more than they desire victory.

This often leads them to play timidly when holding an advantage, focusing only on preserving it rather than converting it into a solid victory.

Like the Chinese men's soccer team in recent years, repeatedly encountering "black X minutes," crumbling suddenly while in the lead or qualifying conditionally, leading to regrettable exits.

There are surely many reasons, but when it happens repeatedly, the mindset must be problematic; fear of failure with a desire only to preserve the advantage tends to be the main culprit.

Throughout Gan Guoyang's long career, he never feared failure; whenever the team had a significant advantage, he would utilize it to expand the advantage further, not being content with the status quo, shifting mindset to defense and running down the clock, waiting for the game to end in victory.

So, at the start of the fourth quarter, Gan Guoyang didn't rest, continuing from the third quarter, having already rested enough in the first half.

On defense, Gan Guoyang leaned more towards the inside, providing extensive coverage, particularly targeting Nash, disrupting and harassing.

Gan Guoyang has discovered that the Celtics rely heavily on Nash's passing and chaos in their offense.

Nash's stats aren't particularly outstanding, but with long ball control and strong organizational skills, every offensive play is closely linked to him.

In a still maturing situation, he bears considerable offensive responsibility—after all, he's not much use on defense.

Under such circumstances, forcefully targeting Nash would cause significant trouble for the Celtics' offense.

It's evident that other Celtics players, particularly on the forward and guard lines, lack ball-handling skills.

Pierce is still too young, while Rick Fox and Bowen are role players.

Ilgauskas from the inside is a good assistant, but as a center, drawing him out introduces a separate tactical logic.

Once Nash encounters encirclement, the Celtics' backcourt output and offensive integration are severely affected.

If Pierce continues to grow well over the next few years, reaching his peak, the Celtics could handle such external encirclement effectively, making the Trail Blazers pay.

But now it's 2000, Pierce is only in his second year, with still too little experience in this area, focusing mostly on Kobe on both ends.

When Nash faced a double team, he came to assist, but his positioning was off, failing to stabilize Nash's pass, and Kobe intercepted it.

The Trail Blazers seized the chance to counterattack, Charles Barkley led in the front, caught Kobe's pass, and stormed the basket for a two-handed slam dunk!

Following that, Gan Guoyang disrupted Duncan's floater in the inside, Barkley grabbed the rebound and pushed for another counter, with Gan Guoyang cutting through the middle receiving Barkley's straight pass.

Missing the layup, he gathered the offensive rebound, went up again, drawing Duncan's foul.

Duncan did his utmost in this play, but in the end, helplessly committed a foul, sending Gan Guoyang to the free-throw line.

With Gan Guoyang hitting both free throws, the Trail Blazers pushed their lead to 21 points, breaking the Celtics' hopes for a comeback.

From then on, time became torture for the Celtics, while for Trail Blazers fans inside and outside, it was fun time.

Although everyone said beforehand to bid a beautiful farewell to Ah Gan, letting him end his career joyfully, and hoping for his future return.

But as the game went on, seeing Ah Gan still lively, suppressing Tim Duncan until he's overwhelmed, who wouldn't wish for him to continue playing?

Even if growing older, and the Trail Blazers wouldn't secure a championship anymore, watching Ah Gan play, many fans would be willing.

Thus, as the game lost its suspense, spectators continuously shouted: "Ah Gan, keep playing!"

"You should play for another 10 years! We're willing to accompany you for 10 more years! Even longer!"

Fans even held up signs with "Don't want to say goodbye."

Facing the fans' deep affection, Gan Guoyang didn't know how to respond.

When substituted out in the final phase, amid the cheers and applause, he could only smile and wave to everyone.

He also felt reluctant; if he continued playing, his body could support it fully.

But that situation gave no other choice; announcing the retirement before the finals was to prevent his wavering.

The Trail Blazers ended up winning 116-103, with a home advantage of 13 points over the Celtics, claiming victory in the third game.

The Trail Blazers took control of the series, leading 2-1.

Upon leaving the court after the game ended, fans were reluctant to part, many surrounding him for autographs, which Gan Guoyang fulfilled.

Although more matches follow, some fans can't get tickets for future games; theoretically, tonight was their last live watch of Gan Guoyang's game.

Not only passionate young fans, but usually calm and restrained older fans couldn't hold their emotions and gathered around Gan Guoyang for a memento.

Across 15 years, many teenagers have started families, becoming fathers or mothers, bringing their kids to see their childhood idol play.

Back then's middle-aged folks, some now gray-haired, as Portland Trail Blazers fans, have spent the most beautiful, steady, and glorious years.

One elderly person held out a notebook with a photo inside, hoping Gan Guoyang would sign on the photo.

Gan Guoyang picked up the photo, expecting it to be a championship moment or a dunk, scoring instant; surprisingly, it was none.

Instead, it's a photo of someone running on a road in the misty morning fog, a tall person wearing sportswear running forward.

Although the photo was somewhat blurry, Gan Guoyang immediately recognized it as himself near the Willamette River.

Gan Guoyang asked, "When was this photo taken? Did you take it?"

The elderly nodded, saying: "Yes, I did. It was in the winter of 1984, in the morning, as I happened to be carrying my camera to shoot birds in the park, I saw an extremely tall person running. I took a shot, and later realized it was you doing your morning run, Ah Gan. You haven't run on Portland's streets for a long time."

When Gan Guoyang first joined the Trail Blazers, he had a habit of morning runs, running on various streets in Portland, with the city waking and breathing along with him.

Gan Guoyang maintained this habit for several years, but as his fame grew and Portland's public safety diminished, running through the streets became dangerous for stars, leading to him stopping his runs.

Unexpectedly, a moment from his rookie times was captured by a city resident in a photo. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

Holding the photo, Gan Guoyang felt a surge of emotions and earnestly wrote his name on it: Gan Guoyang - Portland Trail Blazers (1984-2000).