The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 1818 - 67: Shrouded in Mystery (Part 2)

This is a failure truly worth remembering and learning from. In fact, apart from a few chosen ones in this world, the vast majority, even geniuses, have to endure many failures. Not to mention ordinary people.

Failure is the main theme of life; the key is how to find the possibility and opportunity to stand up again from failure, and persevere for victory.

In NBA history, there are only two chosen ones who almost never fail. One is Bill Russell, and the other is Gan Guoyang.

The Celtics are fortunate to have one, yet unfortunate to face another.

However, the Celtics' young players are truly talented. After experiencing a crushing defeat in the third game, they did not become discouraged but seriously discussed many problems during training.

There were tactical issues, detail issues, and strategic issues.

They used their rest time to seriously summarize, watched game footage with the coaching staff, and discussed various solutions.

They made progress through honing, and the rate of progress was very fast.

Although the starting lineup did not change, the Celtics made adjustments in their playing style.

At the start, the Celtics significantly strengthened the double-teaming of Gan Guoyang on defense.

Nash, Pierce, and Fox almost double-teamed Gan Guoyang even before he received the ball, risking a defensive violation.

Theoretically, Gan Guoyang doesn't take many shots in the first half, but it's different when he personally chooses to preserve his energy versus when he's heavily defended, making it difficult for him to shoot.

With the former, you're passive; Gan Guoyang can exert himself at any time in the first half. Just like the third game, you thought he would wait until the fourth quarter like the second game, but he took over in the third because the initiative was in his hands, and he could change as he pleased. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

With the latter, you strive to take the defensive initiative; whether you shoot or not, your job is to trouble him, making him suffer in the first half and also in the second.

The effectiveness aside, this mindset is undoubtedly correct.

The Celtics' defensive strategy forced the Trail Blazers to focus more on their perimeter offense at the start, reducing their inside-out game.

Unfortunately for the Trail Blazers, their perimeter shooting was truly off tonight, lacking the precision of the third game.

Brellock and Kobe's three-point attempts failed to land.

During one play, Little O'Neal was left unguarded on the right baseline.

Little O'Neal hesitated a bit, chose to drive inside, but was defended by Duncan, leading to a turnover.

On the offensive side, the Celtics played much more smoothly. Duncan, utilizing his speed at the start, scored consecutively in isolation plays.

He didn't just settle for isolation plays, as going against Gan Guoyang in terms of strength and confrontation would lead nowhere.

He kept moving, continually executing pick-and-rolls with perimeter players.

Upon receiving the ball, if in a good position, he attacked the basket directly without adjustments.

If not in a good position, he would pass it out, reorganize, and reinitiate the play, avoiding direct confrontation with Ah Gan.

Thus, Duncan neither avoided Gan Guoyang entirely as in the first and second games, nor did he confront him head-on like in the third.

Instead, he cleverly played using Nash's threading the needle passes, ran plays, found openings, seized opportunities, resulting in scoring 6 consecutive points.

To cope with Gan Guoyang's pressure defense, the Celtics also varied their ball handlers, allowing Paul Pierce to have more ball control and share Nash's workload.

These adjustments were made based on observations from the second and third games, with notable effects.

After an 8:2 start, the Trail Blazers called a timeout. When the timeout ended, Gan Guoyang tried attacking from the 45-degree angle and low post, attempting to break through the Celtics' double-team defense.

Gan Guoyang scored two consecutive baskets, closing the gap. However, Steve Nash quickly responded with a transitional three-pointer; Nash was decisively offensive tonight.

Then, Gan Guoyang attacked with the ball. Ilgauskas was mismatched on defense; Gan Guoyang made a spin move and Ilgauskas fell naturally, leading the referee to call an offensive foul on Gan Guoyang.

The referee tonight is Steve Javie, another expert at balancing whistles.

After being called for a foul, Gan Guoyang directly asked Javie, "When are you planning to foul me out?"

Javie put down his whistle and said, "Just doing my job, Sonny. Don't make it hard for me; I'm just fulfilling my duties."

The league's referees are courteous to Gan Guoyang, but their work still revolves around the NBA office and the commissioner's will.

The fourth game for the Trail Blazers is destined to be tough.

But for Gan Guoyang, tough games are numerous, and he doesn't mind this one.

Without tough victories, how could one be called a true champion?

At the end of the first quarter, the Trail Blazers were held back by the Celtics.

27:23, the Celtics lead by 4 points as both sides enter the second quarter's rotation period.

The Trail Blazers continue their large rotation strategy, which worked well in the previous games.

But the same tactics don't always succeed in a series.

The Celtics made adjustments to the Trail Blazers' large rotation.

Beelman was not foolish enough to match large rotations with large rotations; that would be crazy.

Beelman decisively chose to narrow the rotation, giving Bruce Bowen a DNP due to his lack of strong individual offensive ability and mediocre defensive effectiveness.

Bowen is 28 this year, has played in Europe, and was quite a fierce scorer in lower-level leagues.

But in the NBA, such a high-level league, his offensive talents and methods were insufficient.