The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 214 - 101: Speed and Strength

During the break, Adelman asked Gan Guoyang, "Gan, why did you foul Bird just now?"

Wiping sweat from his forehead, Gan Guoyang thought to himself that even in January, the arena was quite warm, with poor ventilation.

"To stop the Celtics’ fast breaks, I didn’t want to let them gain momentum."

"But you wasted a foul."

"What’s the difference, I only had one foul in the first quarter."

"Perhaps it wasn’t necessary."

"No, it was necessary. The Celtics have been trying to play a quick game and score easily; I won’t allow it. We had to slow the game down. Can’t you see that from the sidelines?"

Adelman didn’t answer; he indeed hadn’t quite noticed, as the pre-game strategy didn’t mention this.

In the past, the Trail Blazers’ strategy against the Celtics mainly relied on offense. In 1982, they won at Boston Garden, thanks to the explosive scoring from guards Kevin-Lansy and Billy-Ray-Bates, who together accounted for 59 points with a sixty percent shooting rate, overwhelming the Celtics.

But such explosions are rare, so winning in the Garden Arena isn’t easy.

Gan Guoyang shook his head and said, "The Celtics don’t like to play slow. They feel uncomfortable in games with a slow pace. This here is Boston Garden, their home court; we can’t let them play in a comfortable rhythm."

Adelman asked, "How do you know? The Celtics’ set offense is the best in the League; they have the richest tactics and the best passing."

Gan Guoyang replied, "By watching videos, and also relying on my intuition. I could feel it after playing for one quarter."

At that moment, Ramsay said to Gan Guoyang, "Why don’t you do the coach’s job?"

Gan Guoyang retorted, "Give me your salary and I’ll do it!"

Gan Guoyang had played in the NBA for over two months and discovered that being a coach didn’t seem so difficult.

It didn’t require ingenious strategies or a high IQ, nor was it like making chips or building rockets.

The most important thing was proper management of players, plus a bit of game intuition, abundant energy, and the capacity to handle pressure.

In the ’60s and ’70s, many players doubled as coaches. On one hand, some players had the capability; on the other hand, it allowed teams to save money.

Bill Russell, Lenny Wilkens, Dave DeBuscher, and others were playing and coaching simultaneously later in their careers.

Later, when the League established the salary cap system, it no longer allowed such situations to prevent some teams from exploiting a loophole to reduce expenses.

The break was short-lived, and the game continued with the second-string players coming on.

Gan Guoyang and Bird were resting off the court, and Mychal Thompson from the Trail Blazers was replaced by Kenny-Carl.

With McHale still on the court and no older classmate around, McHale finally began to play, using his footwork to score over Carl with a one-on-one move.

McHale wasn’t very robust, but he had long arms, broad shoulders, and very good low-post footwork, making him quite difficult to defend.

Kenny-Carl was a sturdy beast, but at only 6 feet 7 inches, he was at a disadvantage defending against a long-armed opponent like McHale.

This was a significant flaw in the Trail Blazers’ lineup; they lacked a tall backup big man, which put them at a disadvantage against teams with strong frontcourts like the Celtics and Lakers.

It wasn’t a big issue in the regular season, as a temporary replacement could manage, but it would surely be a disadvantage in the playoffs when facing a head-to-head confrontation.

The Trail Blazers had Drexler and Kossie, two young and strong players, who began to quicken the pace of the game, using their speed and strength to repeatedly attack the Celtics’ basket.

Bird and Gan Guoyang were watching the game’s progress from the bench. Seeing Drexler and Kossie speeding up the game, Bird was certain that slowing down the pace in the first quarter was Gan Guoyang’s own idea.

It seemed that he had his own thoughts about the game, independent of the coach and the team.

Most of the time, this is a bad thing, as it can disrupt the team’s unity, leading to a situation where everyone fights for themselves.

Occasionally, it’s a good thing because the brilliance of a genius can sometimes save the team.

Bird himself belonged to the latter category. He wouldn’t necessarily follow the coach’s pre-established strategies during the game.

He would observe and think, making adjustments based on the opponent’s changes and his team’s on-the-spot performance.

And watching Drexler and Kossie play, Gan Guoyang didn’t necessarily think they were wrong.

It was their advantage, and even if the pace of the game picked up, the Trail Blazers wouldn’t necessarily lose.

After the incident in the gym that morning and more than one quarter of competition that evening, Gan Guoyang didn’t find the Celtics as formidable as people said; their toughness had been overrated.

Of course, the Celtics were certainly strong. Guoyang had to think more during defense in the first quarter because the Celtics’ teamwork was very smooth.

Aside from the block disrupting Bird’s shot, which was due to Bird’s own lapse, the Celtics’ other offensive options were quite reasonable, all considered "good looks."

In matches against such teams, it’s hard to capitalize on mistakes. The Celtics, as a team with many fast breaks and long passes, rank among the least in turnovers.

The Trail Blazers, on the other hand, were among the League leaders in creating opponents’ turnovers. Their defense tended to be aggressive, with Gan Guoyang’s blocks, steals, and wide-ranging defensive pressure creating significant pressure on opponents; Drexler, Kossie, and Valentine were all adept at steals and counterattacks.

Intuition told Gan Guoyang that the game needed to be slowed down. Pushing the Celtics into a slow-paced game would disrupt their flow—it wasn’t the rhythm they were comfortable with.

Of course, slowing the game down would also drag down the Trail Blazers’ offensive rhythm. At that point, it would come down to a contest of players’ one-on-one abilities and control of the boards.

These were strengths for Vandeweghe and Gan Guoyang and could bring out the power of Drexler and Kossie—the Celtics weren’t a team with exceptional physical quality.

In the second quarter, the scores of both teams alternated upwards, with the Trail Blazers still firmly holding onto a lead of about four points. Drexler was in great form that night, successfully driving to the basket repeatedly, and hitting jumpers when the Celtics chose to leave him open.

When the Glider starts hitting mid-range jumpers, the Trail Blazers become very formidable.

As Bird prepared to re-enter the game, the score between the two teams was 40:35, with the Trail Blazers leading by 5 points.

"Coach, it’s time for you to go on the court," Ramsay reminded Gan Guoyang that the game was no longer the focus, it was his turn to play.

Gan Guoyang hurriedly stripped off his jacket and re-entered the game. He had indeed been engrossed in watching, thinking a lot in his head.

Competing against a team like the Celtics was a completely different feeling from playing against a team like the Rockets.

Playing against the Houston Twin Towers was all about brute force, trading blows with each other, while playing against the Celtics required more brains.

When it came to the Lakers, the main challenge was talent and on-the-spot performance, with a bit of cunning strategy involved.

All things considered, Gan Guoyang still felt that the Lakers were the toughest to play against; in the sport of basketball, talent is decisive.

Under Ramsay’s leadership over the years, the Trail Blazers had consistently demonstrated good strategic thinking, resulting in a strong tactical education, so their record against the Celtics wasn’t bad, with victories going back and forth each year.

Playing the Lakers was a different story. In the five or six games per season, they often only managed to win one game when their condition exploded, the rest were heavy defeats. This year, having won two games with Ah Gan was already exceeding expectations.

However, after the substitution, Bird’s style of offense changed drastically, he came off the screens and fired a three-pointer from outside the right three-point line on the catch.

Next, he posted up on the left baseline, suddenly shaking off Vandeweghe, his defender, and sprinted to the corner to receive a pass from Dennis Johnson, and hit a mid-range jumper.

Bird scored 5 points in a row, instantly erasing the point difference and showing Gan Guoyang the scoring explosion of an MVP.

While going back to defense, Bird said to Gan Guoyang, "I don’t need teammates, I can blow you guys out alone, believe it or not?"

Bird had climbed out of the language trap set by Gan Guoyang. Although there were still some shadows deep inside, at least now he had rapidly returned to the confident Bird.

The best rookie, regular season MVP, finals MVP, champion grand slam winner, afraid of this yellow-skinned, black-haired little guy? Not a chance!

In terms of talent and scoring, Bird was by no means inferior to other superstars.

Gan Guoyang knew that Bird had gotten back on track, and responded, "That’s the right attitude, that’s what I think too."

After saying that, Gan Guoyang caught a pass from Drexler at a 45-degree angle on the outside to prevent being double-teamed, then swiftly executed a Sikma move, turned around, tested with an explorative step, and accelerated past Parish with a right-hand hook shot.

It was Gan Guoyang’s first solo play of the night, from a distance of 10 feet, and the ball went in steadily—he seemed to be in good form tonight.

Bird immediately retaliated in kind, from the same position. Facing Vandeweghe, he held the ball facing the basket and drove, matched with a moving hook shot, and scored two points!

"What kind of lousy move is that? I learned it right away!" Bird didn’t pass up any chance to taunt Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang executed a pick-and-roll at the top of the arc, faded out, Drexler drove in, and kicked the ball back to Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang received the ball at the top of the arc and took a three-pointer, hitting it as well!

When Gan Guoyang hit the three-pointer, Coach Ramsay’s expression was not as pained as before.

And the Celtics fans in the arena were all surprised, this center really could throw triples, and his shots were smooth and quite precise.

"Larry, if the NBA ever holds a three-point contest, I think you can book second place!" Gan Guoyang shouted at Bird.

Suppressing his anger, Bird refrained from shooting threes in the following offense and instead vented freely on Vandeweghe, continuing to hit his shots.

Meanwhile, Gan Guoyang made Robert Parish feel what real power was like under the basket.

Parish’s height and weight could overpower most centers in the league, but his lower body wasn’t robust enough.

Gan Guoyang crushed Parish under the basket on consecutive plays, and finally, Parish had to foul to prevent Gan Guoyang from making an easy basket.

The rugged and resilient Chieftain panted heavily, unable to believe that this rookie, shorter than himself, could possess such astonishing strength and explosiveness.

Actually, it was quite normal. Gan Guoyang was naturally endowed with maximum strength talent, and coupled with his persistent strength training, had already dominated the league.

Also, the entire Celtics team didn’t do strength training. Bird, McHale, Parish all appeared somewhat slender, lacking muscular mass.

They still adhered to the old basketball notions that strength training would affect flexibility and shooting touch.

But a new force monster had descended upon the league and was growing rapidly.

Gan Guoyang’s stable free throws and ’Rock the baby’ dunks also proved that being strong doesn’t affect touch and flexibility.

Propelled by Bird, the Celtics rapidly increased their score, while Gan Guoyang made timely responses to maintain the Trail Blazers’ lead. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The only thing that troubled Gan Guoyang was that the pace of the game had unconsciously shifted to a faster tempo dominated by Bird.

He truly was comprehensive, influencing the game in multiple ways with his passing, steals, and defense.

He was deliberately accelerating the pace, including urging his teammates to inbounds quickly and making bold, risky passes during fast breaks, all to push the game into the fast lane.

Even with an increase in turnovers, Bird wanted speed to be the main melody of the game rather than getting entangled in a battle of strength.

By halftime, Bird had notched 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists.

The score was 61:58, with the Celtics still trailing by three points.

Alone, Gan Guoyang couldn’t stop the change in tempo; in this situation, the only option was to keep up with the pace and trade offenses to maintain the lead.

Gan Guoyang had 15 points and 11 rebounds at the half, Vandeweghe had 12 points. During the halftime break, Gan Guoyang reminded his teammates not to speed up blindly.

"Once the Hawks slow down, they will fall from the sky and lose their power," Gan Guoyang said.

The contest between speed and strength would continue in the second half.