The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 469 - 86 Regional Finals
The Trail Blazers didn’t let the Supersonics, who had already been declared half-dead, struggle any longer. With a 119:110 victory in game four, they decisively defeated their opponents by 9 points and smoothly advanced to the Western Conference Finals.
Because the process was too smooth, the Portland side didn’t even feel good about mocking anymore; the situation was too one-sided, and any further ridicule would have been pointless.
Compared to last season, the Trail Blazers were more mature and ruthless, showing not the slightest hesitation on their path forward.
Even though the Supersonics gave their best performance of the series in the fourth game, with Dale Ellis scoring 33 points, Tom Chambers 31 points, and Xavier McDaniel 24 points,
the ’three-headed monster’ performed simultaneously, but the gap in sheer strength was an issue they could not solve, with Gan Guoyang’s destructive power in the low post still unsolvable for them.
The main defender, Xavier McDaniel, who had been battered and had his confidence destroyed by Gan Guoyang in one game, no longer dared to guard against the league’s top center in mismatches.
The two teams were deadlocked until the fourth quarter, when the Trail Blazers cemented their win with an 11:2 run in the final three minutes—this was a common victory path for the Trail Blazers this year.
They held steady early on, and then in the crucial moments, they exerted pressure on both offense and defense, taking you down with a run; it was enough to win by 5-10 points.
This was thanks to the Trail Blazers’ good game rhythm, energy distribution, and rotation arrangement, where Bobby Berman, the numbers-savvy "gambler," played an indispensable role.
He treated the team’s resources like chips on a Texas Hold’em poker table; it wasn’t important what cards you played each round, what mattered was that you ended up profitable in the end, that you were winning money.
Jack Ramsay had a casual conversation with Bobby Berman after the series, saying, "Your ideas are indeed ahead of their time; I have learned a lot from you this season."
Beelman was quite apprehensive, responding, "I only provide a long-term perspective; in terms of tactical arrangements, I am far behind you."
"My approach relies on experience and intuition, while you rely on data and statistics; industrial civilization has overcome agricultural civilization."
"My system isn’t perfect either, still improving, but we have nuclear weapons, and when it comes down to it, we just throw them out there."
The two shared a laugh, as Jack Ramsay finally deeply understood why Beelman had once said, "Ask him how he uses what’s mine."
With the vast room for error that Gan Guoyang provided, if you don’t let him use you, if you don’t cooperate with him, how can you harness his power to win the game?
"However... the Western Conference Finals can’t be solved by just throwing a nuclear bomb; the coaching staff has to do much more preparation, a great deal more."
"No problem, Rick and I will start working right away when we get back; the footage of the Lakers’ games has already been edited, and it’s very informative."
Like the Trail Blazers, the Los Angeles Lakers left no room for the Rockets in their semifinals matchup.
They took out all the frustration from last year’s loss on the Rockets, winning the first game by a massive 27 points.
In the following games, the Lakers’ smallest margin of victory over the Rockets was 11 points. The Houston Twin Towers, who had elegantly swept the Lakers 4:1 last season, fell quietly this season and were easily eliminated by the Lakers.
Houstonians thought they were beginning a new era in the Western Conference, but injuries and drugs rapidly destroyed all their hopes.
Ralph Sampson’s performance on the court plummeted due to the influence of injuries.
Having lost his explosiveness and speed, he was unable to produce excellent performances against a bulked-up Jabbar.
Maxwell couldn’t compensate for the gaps left by the suspensions of Wiggins and Lloyd. The newly built Houston High Tower was collapsing; their short-lived brilliance would become a brief yet profound page in history.
Following the playoffs in 1985, the Trail Blazers and Lakers met again in the Western Conference Finals.
Both teams were eager to fight for the Western Conference championship.
The Lakers avenged their loss to the Rockets, and the Trail Blazers too aimed to take revenge on the Lakers—a day Gan Guoyang had been waiting for a long time.
In the 80s in the Western Conference, if you haven’t beaten the Lakers in the playoffs, you can’t be called a true king.
During the regular season, the Trail Blazers had a 3-2 advantage over the Lakers but playoff games were bound to be a completely different battlefield.
In the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Pistons swept the Chicago Bulls 4:0 with ease; out of the four semifinal matchups, three ended in sweeps.
Jordan, facing the Pistons alone, couldn’t support the team due to the large gap in strength, and after acquiring James Donaldson, the Pistons now had the power to challenge the Celtics in the Eastern Conference.
Conversely, the Celtics’ strength had further declined, becoming more fatigued and aged compared to last season.
Marques Johnson, due to injury and the accidental death of his son, took an indefinite leave from the team. It was anticipated that he would likely retire directly, as he could no longer play basketball.
Kevin McHale, who was in excellent condition during the regular season, fractured the navicular bone in his right foot during a game in March. His doctors recommended surgery, which would have ruled him out for the season.
However, with the playoffs nearing, if he were out for the season, the Celtics would definitely not be able to win the championship. So, Kevin McHale ignored the doctors’ advice and insisted on playing.
Before the injury, McHale could be said to be in his prime. In the games of February and March, his shooting percentage once reached 70%, averaging 30 points per game, unstoppable in the paint.
After the injury, his performance was undoubtedly greatly affected. He often limped during the playoff games.
Even so, his shooting percentage in the playoffs still reached 58%, but he had considerable difficulty defending Charles Barkley on the defensive end.
In the series against the Washington Bullets, the first four games left both teams tied at 2:2, with the decisive battle coming up.
The Bullets displayed quite a strong performance in this postseason, with the pairing of Moses Malone and Charles Barkley in the frontcourt greatly impacting the Celtics’ offensive rebounds.
Barkley displayed star-level performance in the playoffs; he and Moses blew up the Milwaukee Bucks’ interior in the first round, leading their team to a 3:2 advancement to the semifinals.
The Bucks’ trade for Jack Sikma in the summer turned out to be a complete failure. Not only did they fail to progress further, but they also regressed during the regular season.
After intense battles, they died to the Bullets’ endless offensive rebounds—in crucial moments, they always lost rebounds, allowing Barkley or Moses to score.
Don Nelson got into a heated argument with head referee Strom over a call in the last game. He yelled at Strom, almost coming to blows.
Strom directly ejected Nelson from the game, and the Bucks lost the critical game five, never returning to their bench.
After the series ended, Nelson resigned, leaving Milwaukee after 11 years of work. The Don Nelson era of the Bucks had come to an end.
Simultaneously, the Bucks’ director of player personnel Stu Inman also resigned and left, moving away from the north to the warm South Coast, joining the league’s expansion plans.
He contacted Erik Spoelstra, who was working in Portland, asking if he had any interest in heading to Florida together. Spoelstra told him he would consider it, but right now, the entire team was only thinking about winning against the Lakers.
The Bullets entered the semifinals, and after losing two games at Boston Garden, they won two consecutive games in Washington to tie the series.
The Eastern strong teams sensed the gradual decay of the green empire from this round of the series; every dynastic team goes through this during their decline.
Once the top teams that ruled half the league start to weaken, opponents in the series will become doubly frenzied in their attacks.
To gain the glory of toppling an empire, and to advance by stepping on the corpses of kings—this is what the Celtics once did to the Philadelphia 76ers.
With the other three rounds of the series concluded, on May 13, the decisive battle between the Bullets and the Celtics took place at Boston Garden.
The Washington Bullets suppressed the Celtics throughout the game, with Charles Barkley and Moses Malone taking turns charging at Boston’s aging frontcourt, attacking the paint with rebounds and strong low-post plays.
At the most critical moment, the Celtics were down by one point. During their offense, the ball went out of bounds off a player—the ball was touched by Ainge.
The Washington Bullets got possession, and the team was extraordinarily excited, thinking they had the game in the bag.
The Bullets did not call for a timeout. Barkley proceeded to make an inbound pass, intending to pass to Moses Malone.
Suddenly, Larry Bird emerged out of nowhere, stealing the ball and then passing it back to Dennis Johnson.
Johnson took the ball and made a layup in the final 2 seconds, assisting the Celtics to turn defeat into victory!
Because of that shot, the Bullets experienced a moment from heaven to hell, and Barkley missed the final shot.
Losing the pivotal game, the Celtics did not give the Bullets another chance. In game six at the Capital Centre, they crushed the Bullets, eliminating the opponent and advancing to the Eastern finals.
Charles Barkley left the court in tears, swearing that he would come back next season.
And all this, Gan Guoyang was completely unaware of; he paid no attention to the other matchups.
His heart was fully immersed in the preparations for the confrontation with the Lakers.
