The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 444 - 62: Taking Away the Victory

Hornacek’s words successfully infuriated Jordan, who became solemn and from the third quarter onwards didn’t utter a word, just played whenever he got the ball.

Jordan’s offense had one characteristic: speed.

In the 1980s, when color television broadcasts had just become widespread, the resolution of TV signals was still insufficient, and the aspect ratio of the television screen was somewhat distorted.

Therefore, when audiences watched games through television, they often couldn’t clearly distinguish which player was which on the court, especially since black players looked similar from a distance.

They all appeared as a clump of black; if their builds were also similar, without close-up shots, viewers might not realize who scored for quite some time.

But there were two people who were very easy to distinguish on television, one was Gan Guoyang, the only Asian in the League, and his black hair made him very conspicuous among the players.

The other was Jordan; although his facial features and stature were unremarkable, viewers would quickly know which one he was once the game started because Jordan was too fast. He moved at a speed two gears higher than the people around him, no one could play like him, like a black panther, unstoppable.

When Jordan wasn’t exerting full strength, there was a unique lightness to him, his hands were very big, and he often dribbled the ball with one hand while on the attack, displaying an ease of playing with the ball within his palm.

Grabbing the ball, taking a step in, quick stop and jump shot, score—that was his regular scoring method.

Once he entered a frenzied state, the sense of lightness disappeared, and both speed and explosive power reached another level.

The speed of his first step became extremely fast, almost no one could react in time, solitary defense against him was as good as no defense at all.

Jordan started to frequently assault the Trail Blazers’ interior defense, Hornacek couldn’t hold him at all, one step past him, and couldn’t even catch up when turning around.

Gan Guoyang had to step up for defense and as a result, fouled twice in the third quarter, sending Jordan to the free-throw line, continuously hitting the shots.

Gan Guoyang already had three fouls to his name, he didn’t dare foul easily anymore and could only watch helplessly as Jordan scored inside the paint.

Jordan’s performance got better and better, already showing signs of being difficult to contain, not only breaking through but also his shooting touch had been nurtured through free throws, and he was scoring threes as well.

The Bulls were only one point behind the Trail Blazers, with Jordan leading, the Bulls’ morale was growing steadily.

Gan Guoyang took the initiative to call a timeout; he rarely took timeouts proactively, clearly feeling that something was wrong.

On the bench, Gan Guoyang asked Hornacek, "Jeff, what the hell did you say to Michael?"

Hornacek touched his face and said, "I said... I said I was defending you to get some practice, anyway, you can’t win, we have Ah Gan."

Gan Guoyang was amused by Hornacek. Despite looking honest and even somewhat simple, he was actually very stubborn.

However, Gan Guoyang couldn’t say much, only remarking, "Next time you want to provoke Michael, give me a heads-up so I can be prepared. And thanks for thinking so highly of me."

Hornacek said, "No problem, I have faith in you."

Ramsay adjusted the lineup, letting Hornacek rest for a bit.

Drexler and Parkson went in, and the interior line used Gan Guoyang and Bill Walton, while Jerome Kossie came on at the forward position.

This was a tall lineup; Gan Guoyang was pulled to the power forward position, where he had to deal with Jordan at a more outer spot, not allowing Jordan to start at will.

Once Jordan got going, trying to defend him in the three-second zone became very difficult, often at a considerable cost.

The Bulls also made adjustments; Collins saw a chance for a comeback and decided to double-team Gan Guoyang.

As a result, after the timeout, Gan Guoyang asked for the ball at a shallower position, faced a double-team, and twice passed the ball, once to a cutting Parkson, and once on a high-low play to Walton for a slam dunk.

Collins had to give up on the double-teaming as the Trail Blazers had much more offensive resources than the Bulls, who relied solely on Jordan.

Still, Jordan continued to help the team on both offense and defense, especially on the defensive end. In the third and fourth quarters, the Bulls initiated a full-court press. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Starting from the Trail Blazers’ backcourt inbound, Jordan went straight for the steal, disrupting the Trail Blazers ball-handling and coordination, making their positional attacks more difficult.

The rest of the Bulls fully supported Jordan, desperately fighting for rebounds, defending, and creating offensive opportunities for Jordan.

With less than a minute to go in the third quarter, Trail Blazers’ backcourt inbound was intercepted by Jordan, who passed to Oakley on the wing.

Oakley’s layup was blocked from the side by Gan Guoyang, but Caulfield grasped the ball and passed it to Jordan in the middle. Jordan erupted to dunk but was blocked by Gan Guoyang again.

Gan Guoyang had quick reflexes; before Jordan caught the ball, he stuck close to eliminate Jordan’s space to gain momentum, intercepting the ball in mid-flight.

But Oakley reclaimed the ball and finally scored with a reverse layup, just as the third quarter ended, with both teams tied at 86:86.

During the interval break, Gan Guoyang was dissatisfied with his teammates’ performance: "Where is your fighting spirit? On that last ball, you just watched me jump back and forth in the three-second zone, have you all become spectators? Fuck! Pull yourselves together in the fourth quarter, if you don’t want to give it your all on the court, I suggest you head back to the locker room and take a shower now."

Gan Guoyang likewise couldn’t stand his teammates not giving their all on the court; in the third quarter, it was evident that the Trail Blazers had been suppressed by the Bulls in terms of morale and focus.

This also exposed a flaw in relying on statistical analysis in regular season games; statistics are indeed very accurate, and controlling the tempo well can lead to victories as if by machinery.

But in the end, humans aren’t machines, and a basketball game isn’t a contest between ten robots, but ten living, breathing people.

Everyone is affected by emotions, and their performance can fluctuate with morale boosts and setbacks.

The Trail Blazers players were not holding back, but their controlled style of play kept them from reaching a do-or-die state.

At the start of the fourth quarter, Gan Guoyang remained on the court and he requested Hornacek to come in and continue facing Jordan.

"You must hold off Jordan one-on-one and then take him on one-on-one in the offense. I’ll set a screen for you, but you have to score, otherwise you’ll be sitting on the bench later."

Jordan didn’t rest, as Collins knew that with Guoyang on the court, Jordan absolutely couldn’t sit, or else they would likely be swept away.

Seeing Hornacek return to the court, Jordan grew even angrier and said, "Hasn’t Dr. Jack learned his lesson yet?"

Hornacek replied, "No, he feels that the third quarter’s workout wasn’t enough; he wants to add some time in the fourth."

Jordan was furious inside, but he said with a smile on his face, "Then you better open your eyes wide and watch how I play, and learn well."

However, Hornacek remained unfazed, and right at the beginning of the fourth quarter, he caught the ball and scored a mid-range jump shot with Gan Guoyang’s pick and roll cover.

Next on defense, when Jordan tried to break through with the ball, Hornacek straight up pulled Jordan down.

Jordan’s anger flared up instantly, and he started to berate Hornacek, with the two facing off near the free-throw line.

The players from both teams rushed over to separate the two, and Guoyang ran over and said, "Don’t fight! If anyone wants to fight, they’ll have to fight me first; I’ll take you on!"

The Bulls players looked at Guoyang as if they had seen a ghost, thinking who the hell would dare to fight with him.

Even Oakley, who usually acted as Jordan’s bodyguard and was always at the forefront, was just gently calming both sides down this time.

Gan Guoyang was now known as the NBA’s peace envoy; with him in the game, any conflict on the court was minimized or eliminated.

The season was nearing its end, and surprisingly, Guoyang hadn’t gotten into a single fight; indeed, peace is something you fight for.

After things calmed down, Guoyang still praised Hornacek’s toughness. Soon after, when Hornacek fouled Jordan a second time, Jack Ramsay took him out of the game.

As a rookie, the fact that he was not intimidated by Jordan was already commendable—expecting him to contain Jordan was simply impossible.

Continuing to let him provoke Jordan would only make the game more and more out of control.

In the fourth quarter, Guoyang started to provide help defense on Jordan, controlling Jordan’s drives to the basket and forcing him to shoot from outside.

This was effective, and on offense, the Trail Blazers spread out to let Guoyang play one-on-one at the low post.

Bill Walton, Oakley, and Brad-Silas took turns defending him, and then, one by one, Guoyang singled them out—either watching him score under the basket or fouling and sending Guoyang to the free-throw line.

Likewise, Bulls rookie Silas, like Hornacek, was asked to defend Guoyang heavily in the fourth quarter, which put Silas in great agony in the low post.

Though he was seven feet tall, he weighed only 210 pounds, and against Guoyang, he might as well have been made of paper; Guoyang didn’t even seem to struggle to get into position and then successfully attack the basket.

During a timeout, Silas asked for Jordan’s help, hoping Jordan would double-team Guoyang on defense or disrupt the Trail Blazers’ passing to prevent Guoyang from catching the ball so easily.

Instead of accommodating Silas’s request, Jordan ignored him, telling him to solve his own problems, "If you can’t solve the problem, solve yourself."

Silas felt a bit discouraged as Collins continued to keep him in the game, and this, coupled with his lack of toughness, frustrated Jordan even more.

In the key moments of the fourth quarter, Jordan, who had already scored 50 points, saw his efficiency decline under the Trail Blazers’ concerted defense, missing three offensive drives.

However, Guoyang, who had been conserving energy all game, became unstoppable. At the low post, he didn’t just use brute strength but displayed his splendid turning moves and quick shots.

He would lean into his shots, perform one-handed floaters, and make a quick stop after a probing step to shoot.

No other big man in the league played like him; other players were somewhat cumbersome, but Guoyang was swift as the wind.

Bernard King’s straightforward and quick attacking moves under the basket had been thoroughly mastered by Guoyang, who was using them more and more freely.

From any position near the three-second area, he could launch an attack at will. When he dodged Jordan’s block in a counterattack and scored a left-handed layup with the same hand and foot—also drawing a foul from Jordan—the suspense in the game was gone.

120:112, the Trail Blazers led by 8 points, with only 30 seconds left in the game.

The Chicago Stadium, which had been lively and cheering, fell quiet as a tomb due to Guoyang’s successive scoring—he scored 17 points in the fourth quarter.

Jordan’s ball struck Guoyang’s head, but Guoyang didn’t get angry and said to Jordan, "Lashing out after losing a game, Michael, you can’t stand to lose."

Jordan, who had been tense throughout the game, finally couldn’t hold back. He sighed deeply, cursed at Guoyang, patted Guoyang’s backside, and was substituted by Collins.

Guoyang made his free throw, ending with 47 points, while Jordan scored 50 points.

Jordan won the stat battle, but Guoyang walked away with the victory.