The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 537 - 40 The Essence of Ah Gan’s Law

Jabbar was truly bald now.

In 1987 he still had a ring of hair clinging to his scalp, holding the fort.

By 1988, that ring of hair had become unnecessary, so he simply shaved it all off.

Thus, Jabbar could be considered one of the pioneers of the bald look.

As his age increased, not only did his head become balder, but his temper also grew stranger.

The generational gap between him and the rookies who had just entered the league was widening.

When he entered the league in 1969, players born in that year were about to enter the NBA, and Jabbar was still playing.

Retirement for Jabbar was something imminent, even possibly about to happen at any moment.

However, he remained very healthy, wearing wristbands only to wipe sweat, with no protective gear on any of his joints—it was practically a miracle.

When Pat Riley was around, he would measure body fat of the players before every season started.

Then came the cardiac stress test, sticking electrodes on the players, and making them run endlessly on treadmills until they felt like dying.

Riley would conduct a lot of cardiovascular training, extremely taxing the players’ energy and physical stamina, forcing them to reach a high level, especially in running and jumping, to meet the tactical requirements of showtime.

After Nielsen arrived, he did away with all of this, believing the Lakers were an old team and rest and relaxation were as important as training, and that overexertion would only lead to breakdowns.

Since the fall training camp, Nielsen had reduced Jabbar’s workload; the rest of the team’s training was still tough, but not as relentless as Riley’s.

The benefit of this approach was that it allowed the players to fully rest and slow down injuries.

Now, well into the second half of the season, the Lakers still had a good reserve of physical energy.

Jabbar’s playing time could be maintained at around 30 minutes, averaging 15 points per game, and maintaining a high shooting efficiency of 55%.

This filled him with confidence when he faced off against Ah Gan in the center circle jump ball; he wanted to defeat Gan Guoyang and grab another championship before retiring.

This season’s Lakers had a much stronger desire for the championship than the Trail Blazers did.

On the Blazers side, only Gan Guoyang—and Gilmore too—had such intense desire.

The tip-off began, with Jabbar touching the ball first. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The ball wasn’t directed to any side, and Jabbar, using his arm’s reach advantage, tipped it to Johnson before Guoyang’s second jump.

The Lakers initiated their first attack.

From the jump ball, it was evident that Jabbar was filled with a strong desire to fight tonight.

When he had first entered the league, the rule was to have a jump ball at the start of each quarter.

In an even earlier time, each time a basket was made, the ball would be thrown up to determine possession.

Back then, a young Jabbar was the king of jump balls, with his arm span and height giving him an advantage over most centers.

Now, he could no longer jump, nor did he have the desire to; the opening jump ball was more symbolic, as the offense would switch eventually anyway.

But tonight Jabbar was energetic; he was determined to defeat the Trail Blazers for the fourth time this season.

Jabbar received the ball in the low post at the start, and in a routine motion, he turned and made a right-handed hook shot.

Jabbar’s sky hook had reached perfection; the entire movement was fluid and in one go.

Even Gan Guoyang, a top defensive player in the league, couldn’t defend it without proper preparation.

Jabbar had slightly reduced his weight during the summer, maintaining around 260 pounds.

He no longer detested the confrontations with Guoyang in the three-second area, he even began to enjoy them.

Because now he had the desire, the desire to defeat Guoyang and the Trail Blazers.

It wasn’t easy for a player to still have such a mentality at the age of 40.

Not to mention 40, many players at 35, if they hadn’t retired, were playing more for love or money, not for victory.

Jabbar still wanted to prove himself.

Then on defense, he actively made body contact with Guoyang to prevent him from receiving the ball.

Guoyang struggled for position under the basket for a long time, but Jabbar fought fiercely, and ultimately Drexler took the ball himself for a mid-lane drive and a floater, which missed.

The defensive rebound was grabbed by AC Green, and the Lakers’ counterattack was on.

Guoyang didn’t go for the offensive rebound but immediately retreated on defense instead.

One important reason the Trail Blazers had lost three times to the Lakers this season was that they couldn’t control the Lakers’ counterattacks.

The difference between Nielsen’s run and gun and Riley’s showtime was that the role of the shooting guard was further emphasized, and outside shooting was accorded significant importance.

Riley’s showtime was entirely based on Magic Johnson’s brilliant advancement and passing; without Johnson, showtime would not come together.

During Johnson’s pushes, Worthy, Cooper, Scott, Wilkes, and even Jabbar would run fast to get down the court, cutting into the paint via the middle and taking passes from Johnson to directly attack the basket.

This was Showtime’s most classic scoring play, with some passes that only Magic Johnson could deliver.

Don Nelson’s run and gun, on the one hand, retained this element, and on the other hand, it expanded the wings.

Johnson advanced through the middle, with Cooper, Scott, and Wes Matthews opening up space on the flanks. After receiving the pass, they would shoot from mid-range or drive baseline to approach the basket.

This is the "gun" part of run and gun, where shooting plays a much larger role in the fast break, as if firing at the opponent like a gun.

In the past, Showtime’s fast-breaks typically ended under the basket, with everyone crowding the paint and, if the shot didn’t go in, scrambling for the offensive rebound for a second chance.

Efficient and deadly as that was, it presented a problem: they were under the shadow of Ah Gan.

Last year in the Western Conference Finals, aside from his explosive scoring, Gan Guoyang’s blocking and rim protection completely bewildered the Lakers.

Many of the once certain fast-breaks failed under Gan Guoyang’s defense.

Not only did the points disappear, but the team’s offensive confidence took a hit, leading to a psychological shadow of being blocked.

To counter this, Nelson emphasized the classic rule from "The Ah Gan Principle" to "avoid Ah Gan as much as possible on offense" by utilizing the wings and shooting, and using guards’ passing and agility to avoid direct confrontations in the paint with Ah Gan.

Byron Scott emerged as the Lakers’ second-leading scorer this season, averaging 21 points per game, on par with Magic Johnson.

Together with Cooper, they formed a duo on the wings that could fire from mid to long-range on breaks or drive to the basket after receiving the ball. They could also pass to the inside, feeding cutters like Jabbar, Worthy, and Green.

The flanks weren’t just for shooting; they also served as a pivot, spreading the Lakers’ fast break formation, diversifying their options, and significantly complicating the defense’s job.

In the first regular-season encounter at the start of the season, the red-hot Lakers blasted 148 points, marking the largest number of points Gan Guoyang has ever conceded in his career.

Gan Guoyang felt like a lone tiger facing a pack of wolves. You can defend one or two under the basket, but you can’t defend three, right? And you can’t possibly block every mid-range shot from the outside, right?

After losing the next two games, it was the inability to contain the Lakers’ fast-break that led to conceding too many points and the losses.

Tonight’s opening Lakers fast break saw Johnson with the ball on a quick advance. Scott opened up on the left wing, and James Worthy made a straight cut down the middle, leaving Gan Guoyang no choice but to move to the center.

Johnson passed the ball to Scott on the wing; Scott, after a fake, shook Drexler, who was off balance, and drove baseline.

Faced with Gan Guoyang’s help defense, Scott passed the ball to a cutting Worthy in the middle of the lane.

Kossie did not keep a tight enough watch on Worthy, who received the ball and quickly made a twisting layup off the backboard, scoring an easy two points.

Guarding Worthy was already challenging, and with Scott drawing attention away, it became even more difficult.

Of course, it’s quite an accomplishment for a center to get back to the paint so quickly on a fast break.

Most centers can’t make it back in time and the Lakers score an easy basket.

Only Gan Guoyang could force the best of the Lakers’ fast breaks.

Gan Guoyang swiftly responded in offense with a successful hook shot.

Facing Jabbar, Gan Guoyang would utilize the move hook.

Since Jabbar was slower on his feet, Gan Guoyang could use movement to create space for the shot.

But soon, the Lakers began their endless double-teaming, pre-emptive trapping of Gan Guoyang.

This too was tailor-made for him by Don Nelson.

By the 1987-1988 season, the league not only introduced the illegal offense rules but also further modified the illegal defense rules.

The more they changed, the more confused the audience, fans, and even the players became. What’s happening; why has the game suddenly stopped?

Because the referees called an illegal defense, and the game had to restart.

Even coaches and referees were sometimes perplexed because some of the rules were so intricate that referees couldn’t keep up.

For example, a new stipulation demanded that when the offensive player was above the free-throw line, the defender could not go lower than the middle area; when the player was above the top of the key, the defender had to be in the upper area.

The middle area is the semi-circle of dashed lines below the free-throw line, while the upper area is the solid arc above it.

But players won’t always stay around the free-throw line; they will move to the sides, to areas without lines, where judgment then becomes necessary.

Sure, defenders could temporarily leave their position to provide help defense, make a move to block the opponent’s path, etc., but they couldn’t do it for more than 2.9 seconds.

The referees would have to mentally count or intuitively time it.

On the court, things change rapidly, and there are too many events for the referees to fully monitor.

This gave coaches like Nelson an opportunity; illegal defenses and pre-emptive traps were commonplace.

This season, the Utah Jazz have been called for illegal defense the most, a total of 11 times so far.

The calls have been clear cut; the less obvious ones were generally ignored.

For instance, when Drexler had the ball on the wing and Gan Guoyang was positioning down low, Byron Scott, matched up with Drexler, almost reached for Gan Guoyang’s waist.

Understanding the referees’ threshold, he quickly bounced back as if to pretend to guard Drexler, only to snap back again and interfere with Gan Guoyang’s reception of the ball.

This was just the tip of the iceberg of Nelson’s defensive strategy.

Nelson had grasped the essence of defending against Gan Guoyang: one-on-one defense had no future, and changing defenders wouldn’t make a difference.

The real key lied in help defense, involving that smaller player.