The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 494 - 111: The Massacre Season 2

The emotions on both sides were gradually accumulating inside the Silverdome, a veritable volcano.

In this year’s playoffs, the two teams fought their way up, especially the Pistons, who had brawls in every round.

The ’80s were somewhat better than the ’70s; the playoffs in the ’80s involved mostly playing, and the aggression was not too severe, with a lot of acting involved.

The ’70s saw fighting starting in the regular season, with brawls every game day, but back then, television broadcasts weren’t widespread, so much of it wasn’t recorded.

Before the second half of the game began, the players from both teams took to the court, no longer displaying the relatively relaxed demeanor of the first half, all sporting poker faces, ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

The nearly 40,000 fans on-site decorated the place into a savage colosseum with their noisy shouting and foul language.

Detroit is a city starkly different from Portland; its fans are mostly from the working-class blue-collar demographic, with many auto workers.

One could tell from the fans’ attire on the sidelines—ill-fitting T-shirts, unbuttoned polo shirts, colorful plaid shirts, and many sporting unsightly baseball caps; the stands were a riot of colors, teeming with vibrancy.

CBS Television kept showing long shots of the Silverdome to showcase its grandeur.

Aside from the coaches of both teams, the guests at the commentary booth, and the technical staff, it was virtually impossible to find anyone dressed in a suit and leather shoes; they were all rough-and-tumble working-class folks.

This kind of fan base has shaped the worker’s temperament of the Detroit Pistons to some extent; basketball was originally a working-class sport, much like soccer.

Before the NBA was established, professional leagues like the NBL were mostly sponsored by factories and enterprises, recruiting players and giving them positions in their facilities or companies—they would receive a salary and play for the company team on the side.

The early professional basketball leagues were known for their roughness, with courts often fenced with wire mesh to prevent fans from rushing in and fighting with the players.

Nowadays, the NBA is increasingly shifting toward a middle-class sport, and the Detroit Pistons are one of the few teams that still retain the early blue-collar basketball charm.

Detroiters take pride in this, and so do the Pistons players, who felt ashamed of the previous two games’ defeats in Portland.

Having been evenly matched in the first half, the second half was their time to prove themselves and seek revenge.

Tonight’s head referee was Earl Strom, who reminded the players to control their emotions before the second half tip-off.

But this was completely futile; Strom could feel the Silverdome gradually heating up, with his own emotions also becoming extremely tense.

The Pistons made the first move on offense; Dumars carried the ball in from the wing, but the Trail Blazers’ defense was tight. Dumars passed the ball to the top of the arc.

Thomas took the ball and shot from mid-range but missed. Gan Guoyang, battling with Lan Bi’er and Donaldson, grabbed the defensive rebound.

The Pistons, who usually didn’t rush for offensive rebounds, began to actively contest them, and right after Gan Guoyang secured the rebound, they counterattacked on site, hindering the Trail Blazers’ fast break.

Lan Bi’er and Donaldson surrounded Gan Guoyang while Dantley rushed over, swinging his arms. Gan Guoyang held onto the ball firmly, getting scratched all over, and revealed his "iron elbow!"

With the "iron elbow" in play, Lan Bi’er and Donaldson immediately backed off, Gan Guoyang passed the ball to Porter, and the chance for a fast break was gone.

Gan Guoyang cursed, "Are you Detroiters playing women’s basketball or what? It’s all touching and grabbing, show some real man’s moves."

The Pistons didn’t say a word, their response came through their actions.

Drexler passed a very clever straight ball, finding a gap beneath the Pistons’ basket just outside the three-point line.

Vandeweghe, running back, seized the opportunity to catch the ball and was about to layup when Lambier body-slammed him to the ground.

The referee blew the whistle, Lambier’s third personal foul of the game, and after the call, he complained to the referee with a face of innocence as usual.

When Vandeweghe missed his first free throw at the line, the corners of Lambier’s mouth revealed a slight smile.

Gan Guoyang simply helped Vandeweghe up from the ground without arguing with Lambier.

He was waiting, and so were the Trail Blazers players, to settle the overall score with the Pistons when the time came.

Afterwards, the Pistons continued to launch various attacks on the Trail Blazers, including but not limited to arm-clamping, head-hitting, knee-bumping, and waist-pinching.

Some of these were called as fouls, but a sizable portion were not because this was the Silverdome, and the referees couldn’t possibly call so many minor actions and foul out all the Pistons players.

During a break in the game, Gan Guoyang said to Strum, "If you keep letting things go like this, a big one is going to come your way."

Strum replied with a sense of helplessness, "Just don’t kill anyone. Otherwise, I’d really like to eject all of you."

In the face of the Pistons’ roughness, the Trail Blazers showed great resilience; they strived to play the game and tried to widen the scoring gap.

However, the Pistons hung on during the third quarter, and mid-section, Chuck Daley, seeing the situation wasn’t good, put in three guards to boost the offense.

Three guards plus Lambier and Melvin Turpin, the mid-range shots from Lambier and Turpin played a key role.

The score difference remained within five points. The Trail Blazers’ strong one-on-one defense and perfect defensive details prevented the Pistons from making effective plays.

They could only barely keep up with the score, but in the final phase of the third quarter, Gan Guoyang suddenly hit a super-long three-pointer, followed by a forceful dunk during a fast break!

That set the score at 89:81 at the end of the third quarter. The Trail Blazers widened the gap to eight points, and Lambier didn’t dare to foul anymore.

If he committed another foul, he would have to sit out the fourth quarter on the bench, so he could only watch as Gan Guoyang successfully dunked, ending the third quarter.

At the end of the third quarter, Daley realized a fact: this year’s Pistons were no match for the Trail Blazers; they weren’t mature enough.

The Pistons had a solid interior and a good backcourt, but their frontline was too young to exploit the weaknesses of the Trail Blazers’ forwards.

Gan Guoyang appeared to be a center but was actually a center-forward swingman.

The Pistons stacked up a bunch of big men to deal with Gan Guoyang, only for Gan Guoyang to turn into a forward, using fast breaks and mid-range shots to leave you helpless.

Furthermore, in the offense, the Pistons’ big men, to say they were of no use would be wrong, but chipping in with just a few points each in a game doesn’t have a decisive impact.

Therefore, the team that posed the greatest threat to the Trail Blazers and Gan Guoyang were still the Lakers, who had abundant offensive resources at the center-forward position, capable of pressuring the Trail Blazers and Gan Guoyang from all sides.

To a martial arts team like the Pistons, Gan Guoyang, the wrestling grandmaster, was not afraid at all. Consequently, the other Trail Blazers players weren’t afraid either, since they had their leader looking out for them; their mentality was very good.

Of course, the Pistons wouldn’t give up easily; no matter what, they wanted to clinch a victory at the Silverdome.

As the fourth quarter began, Dennis Rodman and John Salley entered the game, leaving only one Donaldson on the inside.

Gan Guoyang remained on the court; he was aware that the Pistons wanted to get physical, and he refused to let them have their way.

Gan Guoyang started operating from high positions, setting screens for his teammates, then cutting to the outside and shooting mid-range jumpers as soon as he caught the ball.

If the Pistons stretched out to defend, Gan Guoyang would pass inward during the play, with Parkson and Drexler both skilled at cutting to the hoop.

At this point in the game, the Pistons’ Turtle Shell Formation had essentially been cracked; they were completely disorganized as they tried to attack and to contain Guoyang.

Because they couldn’t withstand the outside shooting of Guoyang and Vandeweghe, and with Drexler beginning to hit mid-range shots, it proved the Turtle Shell pseudo-zone defense was ineffective.

The Trail Blazers on the court momentarily exhibited the splendor of the 1977 championship team led by Bill Walton, with beautiful high-position plays, accurate cuts, and timely passes.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Trail Blazers unleashed an 8:0 offensive surge, bringing the score to 105:93, a 12-point lead!

The once noisy Silverdome gradually quieted down, and on the Trail Blazers’ bench, players like Walton and Jones were jubilantly shouting, with victory and the championship within reach!

Chuck Daly didn’t call a timeout; he wanted to see one more round as Thomas dribbled repeatedly to shake off Porter’s defense and charged toward the basket.

His floater, disrupted by Gan Guoyang, didn’t go in, and Thompson grabbed the defensive rebound, only to be elbowed in the face by Turpin, doubling over in pain.

The referee called a foul on Turpin, and Gan went over to shove him a bit, already losing his patience.

Strum hurried to separate the two, and realizing he was at fault, Turpin accepted the foul and walked away without confronting Guoyang.

However, Dennis Rodman came up to jostle with Guoyang, who glared back at him and said, "Are you going to guard me one-on-one later?"

Rodman smiled, shook his head, and said, "I know I can’t guard you, but where’s your courage gone?"

"You’ll see soon enough."

On the decisive play for the Trail Blazers, Gan Guoyang posted up for a one-on-one.

He didn’t go back to the high post or the wing but instead went deep under the basket to receive a pass from Thompson and make a strong turn for a layup!

Despite being double-teamed by Turpin and Rodman, his left-handed layup off the backboard was a success, 107:93, Trail Blazers leading by 14 points, prompting Chuck Daly to call a timeout.

On the way back to their benches, Rodman tried to provoke Guoyang with little shoves and nudges, and Gan lightly scraped at Rodman in response.

Rodman wanted to taunt him, saying "Is that all the strength you’ve got, like a woman?"

But what Rodman didn’t realize was that Guoyang’s light scrape was just a way to grab hold of his arm.

Suddenly, Gan’s hand clamped down on Rodman’s arm like a vice while he grabbed Rodman’s waistband with the other hand.

With the force of a Herculean lift, Gan hoisted ’Little Bug’ Rodman into the air!

Caught off guard by Guoyang’s sudden show of strength, Rodman didn’t even have time to struggle before he was hanging in mid-air.

Then, taking three steps as if they were two, Gan carried Rodman to the scorer’s table and smashed him down onto it!

The heavy crash startled the officials at the table, scattering the equipment atop it all over the place.

The Silverdome erupted in chaos, with Ah Gan having made another kill!

Reacting quickly, the Pistons players rushed towards Guoyang without hesitation or retreat.

The Trail Blazers players were equally quick to react, and Walton, having foreseen trouble, shouted, "Let’s go!"

Starters and substitutes from both teams charged into the fray; it was a melee!

The CBS commentators were stunned; was this the NBA Finals or a free-for-all fight?

Then the cameras captured Isiah Thomas being tossed onto the scorer’s table as well.

Attempting to attack Guoyang, Thomas was hoisted and thrown by Gan.

Laimbeer was resting off the court, but when trouble arose, he rushed onto the court as well.

This time, however, he hung back, not getting involved.

Suddenly, he saw an enraged Guoyang running towards him.

"Sonny! I didn’t do anything!"

While protesting, Laimbeer turned to flee.

But then, Gan hit him with a flying kick straight to Laimbeer’s posterior.

Laimbeer took a nosedive onto the court, hugging his head to avoid being trampled.

This was perhaps the most chaotic brawl in NBA history.

No one was holding back; everyone just went in swinging, especially the Trail Blazers players, harboring deep-seated grudges.

Walton and Jones stepped up to protect Guoyang; the scene grew increasingly turbulent as fans also rushed the court.

Some fans threw objects toward Guoyang and the Trail Blazers players as security and the police desperately tried to maintain order.

Chuck Daly was dumbfounded; how could this happen? The situation was completely out of control.

At that moment, he saw Jack Ramsay walking towards him and thought he wanted to talk about managing the situation.

"Hey, Jack! We..."

Daley hadn’t finished speaking when Ramsay suddenly drew near and punched him in the cheek!

At the commentary table, Cunningham and Dick Stockton were dumbstruck by the scene.

"The world has gone mad, what on earth is happening?"