The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 478 - 95: Pass the Ball More

On May 24, the fourth battle between the Trail Blazers and the Lakers continued at the Memorial Coliseum.

The string of sold-out games at the Memorial Coliseum continued, with predictions that as long as Ah Gan remained in Portland, the record would persist.

Even if a larger venue with a capacity of 20,000 seats were available, the Trail Blazers would still face no pressure in ticket sales.

However, some critics pointed out that the Trail Blazers faced no competitive pressure in the Oregon region, making ticket sales too easy.

With the team performing well, the management from top to bottom seemed complacent, stagnating in marketing and expanding influence.

Fans were also increasingly dissatisfied with the small capacity of over 12,000 seats at the Memorial Coliseum.

For a championship team, such a small arena could not meet the demand of the fans wanting to watch the games.

More and more fans wrote letters to the Trail Blazers management and the Mayor of Portland, hoping for the construction of larger public sports facilities.

The Portland City Government responded actively, but the Trail Blazers’ top brass showed little action, only saying, "We are focused on the playoffs, and an arena can’t just spring up overnight."

This response caused some discontent among fans, but since the Trail Blazers were still in the playoffs, these voices didn’t make much of a ripple.

Some keen observers realized that present owner Larry Weinberg might be lacking in long-term interest in operating the Portland Trail Blazers.

Despite the team’s consistent victories and thriving business, owner Larry Weinberg seemed lackluster throughout the season.

The 1986 championship had given him great satisfaction, but by the 1987 season, he was rarely seen at games.

Insiders hinted that Weinberg’s passion for basketball was waning.

The Trail Blazers now seemed more like Ah Gan’s team; nobody cared about the owner, and Weinberg was seldom seen at the Memorial Coliseum during the playoffs.

It seemed that after ousting Stu-Inman last year, Weinberg had lost much of his interest in basketball.

In day-to-day management, Weinberg hardly interfered in any specific matters, leaving everything from drafts to trades to signings to the executive team.

For this key fourth battle between the Trail Blazers and the Lakers, Weinberg was absent from the scene, claiming he didn’t feel well and needed rest.

A silent change, accompanying the transformation of the NBA, was slowly taking place within the Trail Blazers team.

Gan Guoyang could feel this change, as more unfamiliar faces appeared in the team, with constant departures of veterans and the arrival of newcomers—a significant part related to the departure of Stu-Inman.

Following the NBA’s requirements, many new positions, particularly media-related, had been added within the team.

Jack Ramsey often complained, "The team is getting bigger and bigger."

In the past, the Trail Blazers were a small but beautiful team, like a startup with not many people, and everyone did multiple jobs.

From management to training to games, it was the same few people going back and forth, working together for many years with deep bonds.

Now that the team was expanding and performing better, the small startup had become a large public company with increasingly strict management.

The intimate camaraderie of the startup’s early days was fading, and eventually, everyone became colleagues who worked together, rather than comrades-in-arms in the same trench.

The departure of Stu-Inman had accelerated this loss, but luckily, this change did not affect the team’s performance on the court.

The management knew that as long as the team was built around Ah Gan, performance wouldn’t be an issue, a fact very much clear in the minds of everyone from Weinberg to Buckwalter.

Gan Guoyang, sensing the subtle internal changes, demanded unity from the team for the fourth battle, with everyone needing to exert their energy to fight for victory.

The unity and victory on the battlefield could cover all issues. Defeating the Lakers meant the championship for this year would be the Trail Blazers’.

Before the game started, during the entrance ceremony, the fans screamed wildly, cheering for the Portland Trail Blazers, hoping the fervor of the home crowd would help the team.

The Lakers team looked serious, with Magic Johnson stepping off the bus to enter the stadium and onto the court without a trace of a smile on his face.

They had won the third game, but it was a fierce battle, which took a heavy toll. Fortunately, they emerged with a victory, or else they would have been in a dire situation.

Tonight they were determined to win. Taking this game meant the balance of victory would tilt back toward the Lakers.

Pat Riley chewed gum on the sidelines. Since Gan Guoyang and Jordan started chewing gum, more people in the league followed to relax.

Gan Guoyang also took out a stick of gum before the game and put it in his mouth, showing no emotional fluctuations on his face, which always made it difficult for the opponent to gauge him.

Before the jump ball, Gan Guoyang told the Lakers players, "Tonight I am going to blow you out, just like in the first two games."

Having said this, the Lakers players all looked solemn; whenever this guy opened his mouth, it wasn’t good news.

In the third game, the Lakers managed to slightly contain Gan Guoyang, primarily because they made no mistakes on the defense.

Furthermore, Riley changed tactics, opting for offense over defense, launching relentless attacks on Gan Guoyang.

Previously, in "The Ah Gan Rules," Riley had advised his team to avoid confrontation and not to face Ah Gan directly on offense.

But the situation had changed. If you didn’t pressure him on defense, he would crush you on offense.

In the semifinals, the Supersonics couldn’t keep up with Gan Guoyang, who had blocked a good few of their shots.

The Lakers were different; they possessed the league’s best offensive resources and, under Johnson’s leadership, finally fouled out Gan Guoyang, the enormous Buddha.

The entire league knew Gan was a man of his word. If he said he would blow you out, he would, with no joking around.

As the top dog, Johnson approached and responded, "Try it, Sonny. Let’s see who blows out who."

Since the rise of the Trail Blazers, the relationship between Johnson and Gan Guoyang had cooled considerably, while Johnson’s relationship with Drexler had significantly improved.

Before Gan could speak, Drexler walked up and pushed Johnson, saying, "Shut up, Magic. You’re done for tonight."

Johnson glared at Drexler, surprised by the young man’s bravado tonight, and said, "What did you say?"

"That’s right, I said it."

Before the game even started, tensions were high as the referees came over to cool them down for the jump ball.

The head referee tonight was Earl Strom, Guoyang’s most admired main referee, which put Guoyang at ease.

The jump ball commenced, and the game began. Jabbar was the first to touch the ball, tipping it to Byron Scott.

The Lakers’ first play was for Jabbar to go one-on-one against Guoyang, continuing their strategy from the last game to tire out Guoyang on offense.

But Jabbar’s turnaround hook shot didn’t hit its mark, and Thompson secured the defensive rebound, initiating the Trail Blazers’ first counterattack.

Porter’s pass to Guoyang was disrupted by AC Green, resulting in an out-of-bounds still in the possession of the Trail Blazers.

Guoyang made the inbound pass to Mitchell Thompson, who then passed it to Drexler.

Drexler immediately drove through the middle for a cut-in, but his left-handed layup didn’t go in.

Johnson seized the rebound and launched a counterattack, with AC Green charging out front, receiving the ball to score a layup and even drawing a blocking foul from Porter!

Porter was frustrated, arguing with the referee, but the referee paid no attention, and now Green was up for an extra free throw.

Green had been quite the star this season, bursting with vitality on the court and delivering energy to the Lakers on both offense and defense.

Moreover, as a power forward, he could also join in fast breaks, making him a very versatile forward.

Compared to Green, Mitchell Thompson and Vandeweghe seemed a bit slow and past their prime.

Only Jerome Kossie on the bench seemed to match up with AC Green.

Green missed the extra free throw, and Guoyang grabbed the defensive rebound.

In the positional offense, Guoyang called for the ball in the low post, faking out Jabbar with a front fake.

He made a strong move to the basket, drawing a defensive foul from AC Green and heading to the free-throw line.

Guoyang made both free throws, and both teams quickly scored points at the start of the game.

In the first quarter, the physical confrontation between the teams was extremely intense on both offense and defense.

The Lakers were looking for a low post offensive opportunity in set plays, but after passing the ball around the perimeter a few times, Jabbar, Green, and Worthy couldn’t get into position.

The Trail Blazers started early with confrontational play, bumping and shoving, refusing to let the Lakers catch the ball easily.

Johnson had no choice but to force a perimeter shot, which also missed, and Guoyang grabbed another rebound.

The Lakers’ defense was just as fierce, with Jabbar’s compact defensive line at the core, conceding the wings to the Trail Blazers.

Vandeweghe’s baseline shot did not hit, and the Trail Blazers didn’t start well with their shooting.

Jabbar also missed a turnaround, bank shot against Guoyang.

On the counterattack, Guoyang took advantage of a mismatch against AC Green, taking the ball for a spin move into the lane and scoring with a left-handed layup.

At the start of the game, Guoyang once again displayed his strong offensive capability; once he got the ball inside, the Lakers were out of options.

To the Lakers players, it looked like another game of full-on conflict with Ah Gan was ahead of them tonight.

But what they didn’t anticipate was that this was just a ruse by Guoyang, creating opportunities for his teammates to perform.

Whether his teammates could capitalize and be in good form, though, would depend on how the game unfolded.

If he created opportunities and they missed their shots, in the end, he’d have to take matters into his own hands.

In the first quarter, both teams went back and forth, with the Trail Blazers’ main players seeming to be in average form tonight.

Drexler, Vandeweghe, and Porter missed several perimeter shots.

The Lakers’ offense, too, was not great; Johnson’s perimeter shooting was off, and Jabbar repeatedly failed to score one-on-one.

As both teams had drained their energy in the third game’s double-overtime battle, and with only one day’s rest between the third and fourth games, it was expected that the key players would not be at their best.

The physical confrontation between the two teams was extremely intense, reaching a peak in the series, with relentless clashes under the basket, where scoring was anything but easy.

During one defensive play, James Worthy hit Drexler’s nose with an elbow, resulting in a foul. A bleeding Drexler stood at the free-throw line.

He declined the team doctor’s assistance, simply wiping away the blood from his nose, sinking the free throw, and continuing the game.

It wasn’t until the bleeding seemed unmanageable that the referee called a halt to the match and summoned the team doctor.

In what seemed like retribution, in the next play, Guoyang set a pick-and-roll with Drexler, cutting inside to receive the ball and charge to the basket. As everyone expected Guoyang to dunk, he drew in defenders and passed the ball to Drexler, who completed the alley-oop dunk over Worthy!

After the basket, the two players tapped each other lightly, and Guoyang asked, "Finding your rhythm, Clyde?"

Drexler replied, "I don’t know, something’s still off."

"Step it up, spineless guy."

"You ought to pass more!"

"..."