The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 523 - 26 The Front Tooth
The Trail Blazers easily defeated the Chicago Bulls, securing their opening victory for the year 1988.
Afterward, they headed to Atlanta and Milwaukee, lost to the Hawks, defeated the Bucks, and finished their five-game Eastern road trip with a 4-1 record, returning to Portland.
They played well on their Eastern trip, executing Jack Ramsay’s new strategy.
Overall, this strategy was easy to implement; it wasn’t some complex tactical system that required one or two, or even several seasons to foster understanding.
The players just had to follow some principles, slow down the game a bit, be more meticulous, and at the same time be more decisive in their outside shooting, in order to be effective.
According to Bobby Berman’s statistics, since December, the Trail Blazers’ offensive efficiency had shown a significant rebound.
However, there’s one thing statistics can’t reflect:
And that’s human sentiment.
After some setbacks, the Trail Blazers Team still united and continued to progress towards victory and the championship.
Gan Guoyang worked hard in various ways to pique the players’ interests, making games more fun and lively.
But this fun was short-lived; the money in the pot quickly ran out, and similar tactics couldn’t be used again within a single season.
And Guoyang took most of the money, which was something he would need to consider in the future when setting up such games—you can’t set up a game and end up winning too much yourself.
Drexler had new grievances, not because of the pot and the money.
It was because Hornacek and Dell Curry’s playtime increased, the three-point shots went up, and Drexler increasingly felt like a blue-collar worker.
Going for offensive rebounds, defensive steals, and assisting in offense–just that his own shots and fast breaks were less, meaning fewer scores.
His average points scored per game were steadily declining.
This dissatisfaction peaked on January 1st after the game against the Bulls, as in the game, whether it was in statistics or on-court performance, Drexler was completely overshadowed by Jordan.
Jordan scored 51 points, while Drexler had only 13.
Even though Drexler got more rebounds and assists, this only further proved he was a blue-collar member of the team, a support player responsible for orchestrating plays and grabbing rebounds.
Afterward, in the games against the Bucks and the Hawks, he got 16 points with 7 rebounds and 12 assists, 14 points with 11 rebounds, and 8 assists.
Hornacek, Curry, and Porter were taking away his perimeter shooting opportunities, and Drexler was playing more like an early Magic, ending a game with something like 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 8 assists.
This role actually suited him well because in the Trail Blazers, what you eventually turn into is allocated according to your abilities and traits; Ramsay wouldn’t force a player to do a job they weren’t fit for.
As the season progressed, everyone continued to grow and gel together, each finding their place on the team.
But this was not how Drexler saw his position; he had grander ambitions and had always hoped to reach the level of Michael Jordan.
Deep down, he didn’t think he was inferior to Michael.
The presence of Gan Guoyang made Drexler hesitant to voice his dissatisfaction—he didn’t want to be dragged off to take another shower by Gan.
However, he had his own ways of expressing discontent, and he confided some of his thoughts to Kyle Eggs, a beat reporter from The Oregonian.
He said, "I think the Trail Blazers should be a dual-core team inside and outside, but now my role as a core has been diluted, too underestimated."
Eggs asked, "Do you think Ah Gan is overshadowing your shine and role?"
Drexler quickly denied it, "No, I never meant that. He is the first core, and I am the second core, that’s a clear fact. But my role has been diluted; I’m more like an outside waiter."
Eggs understood what Drexler meant.
One of the big roles for reporters is to say things on behalf of players that they can’t say themselves, to convey messages that players, coaches, and management can’t openly share.
Eggs, a seasoned reporter for The Oregonian, had been writing news reports and doing publicity work for the Trail Blazers for many years.
Since Gan’s arrival at the Trail Blazers, he observed the team more closely and deeply felt the changes over the past three seasons.
This season, the team was full of contradictions, with everyone becoming more selfish.
He wasn’t particularly willing to write articles based on the internal conflicts of the Trail Blazers.
But times have changed, it’s 1987 now, and The Oregonian needed circulation and attention.
A few days later, The Oregonian began to publish a series of reports about the Portland Trail Blazers, revealing issues and contradictions within the team, along with the players’ demands.
And along with some trade rumors, all mixed up, readers wouldn’t know who leaked the inside information, because there were many potential sources.
Of course, reports would always end with claims that the team has a bright future.
No sooner had these reports been released than they sparked worry and concern among many fans.
Everyone was wondering, could the Trail Blazers defend their title this season? Could they defeat the Lakers, beat the strong teams of the Eastern Conference?
From journalists to editors, from players to coaches, from the owner to the staff, everyone knew that this season’s Trail Blazers could not recapture the vibrant upward momentum of the 1985-1986 season.
Back then, Bill Walton had returned, and the whole team was united with one heart, aiming for the 1986 championship, for Portland and for Oregon, their morale high from training camp through to the end of the season, ultimately culminating in victory.
Today, Walton had retired, travelling around the world, and the veteran had been replaced by Gilmore, equally a fine center, but he couldn’t link with the Trail Blazers as deeply as Walton had, seamlessly fitting into the team.
He even bore a grudge against the Trail Blazers, joining them for the championship, to beat Jabbar.
So far, his contributions on the court have been far less than Walton’s. He is a very low-key, even somber personality, unable to become an inspiring leader in the locker room.
Luckily, he is friendly and gentle, at least not a disruptive presence in the locker room, and it’s out of the question for him to conflict with Gan Guoyang, as they had reconciled long ago.
In terms of condition, after losing weight over the summer and retraining his knee muscles, Gilmore’s overall performance has been mediocre, averaging 6 points, 7 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game.
He is different from Walton, who despite numerous injuries, was only 33, while Gilmore was already 38 and had also suffered a major knee injury in 1980.
There is only one Jabbar in the NBA, and for Gilmore to play at age 38 was already commendable; one couldn’t expect him to deliver an MVP-level performance at that age like Jabbar did.
Among the rumors circulated by The Oregonian, one was that the front office might be dissatisfied with Gilmore’s performance, hoping to trade him for a younger, more reliable backup center.
However, this piece of news was quickly denied by Buckwalter, who stated, "The Trail Blazers trust Gilmore, and Ah Gan supports Gilmore’s work."
Be it from a rational or emotional standpoint, the Trail Blazers should not let go of Gilmore.
What does it mean to bring someone from the Bulls over in the summer, only to send him away after half a season because his performance was just average?
Gan Guoyang also quickly took the initiative to clarify, addressing the rumors during an interview at practice, saying that Gilmore would definitely play the entire 1987-1988 season with the Trail Blazers.
Gan Guoyang also answered other questions from reporters about potential discord within the team.
"Any group has internal contradictions, even in close-knit families, between spouses and children. According to Chinese theory, these are contradictions among the people."
"But the contradictions between teams belong to the category of ’us versus them’ conflict. ’Us versus them’ conflict is higher than internal contradictions, so these won’t affect the team’s winning or our pursuit of a third consecutive championship."
Returning to team internal affairs, Gan Guoyang did not, as before, find someone to shower with because you simply couldn’t find anyone.
He knew Drexler was dissatisfied with the reduced number of shots he was getting.
But besides Drexler? Could he be the only one?
Beyond the players, there were new staff members, new trainers, new arena workers, and so on, any of whom could harbor their own grievances.
Even Jack Ramsey, his temper had been getting worse with age.
Decay was inevitable, and Gan Guoyang could only try to slow it down, even more so.
The rumors finally calmed down, but such talk could still damage the team atmosphere, especially making the 38-year-old veteran feel somewhat disheartened.
Gilmore knew who might be dissatisfied with him because when Gilmore was on the court, it would slow down the offensive tempo even further.
When Ah Gan was playing, slow was just slow, unavoidably so.
With Gilmore on top of that, it would certainly not be conducive to ball handlers looking to increase their stats on fast breaks.
Luckily, the strong support from Gan Guoyang motivated Gilmore.
Since the summer and up until now, Gan Guoyang had been taking great care of the old veteran.
Gilmore worked diligently on the court and deeply respected Gan Guoyang.
In the first game back in Portland, the Trail Blazers’ opponent was none other than the Detroit Pistons.
The much-hyped revenge match against the Finals opponent was played with heated intensity at the Memorial Coliseum.
After coming off the bench, Gilmore first elbowed Isaiah Thomas, who had been repeatedly penetrating and cursing, resulting in a technical foul.
Then, in the second half amid fierce confrontation, Old Train suddenly lashed out and threw a heavy punch at Melvin Terpin, knocking out one of Terpin’s teeth. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂
Gilmore was ejected from the game, and Terpin was completely set straight thereafter.
