The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 551 - 53 On Thin Ice

Gan Guoyang had once again arrived at the long-missed Los Angeles.

Since 1981, many of the significant matches in Gan Guoyang’s basketball career had taken place here.

The City of Angels was imbued with a familiar scent to Gan Guoyang, the fragrance of victory.

The people of Los Angeles had grown tired of falling at Gan Guoyang’s feet time and again, and the Lakers had made thorough preparations for this round of the series.

Although they had been dragged into a Game 7 by the Utah Jazz during the Western Conference Semi-finals, revealing a somewhat hollow strength.

But faced with the Trail Blazers, the Lakers’ mentality was completely different; their desire to win was extremely strong; they longed to make it to the Finals once again.

Three years had passed since the 1985 Finals, and during this time, Magic Johnson had improved greatly in terms of skill; Jabbar had stepped down, making Johnson the true core of the Lakers.

But after becoming the core, he had come up empty-handed, with both individual and team honors being snatched away by Gan Guoyang and the Trail Blazers, how could he be at peace as the King of Los Angeles?

On May 24th, a torrential rain poured down in Los Angeles, as though foretelling the imminent clash between the Trail Blazers and the Lakers.

Before the match started, a special figure appeared in the arena, Michael Jackson in black attire came to watch the game courtside.

In 1988, Jackson could be said to be at the zenith of his career, with the release of his new album "Bad" creating a frenzy around the world.

Starting from September 1987, shortly after returning from China, Jackson kicked off the "Bad" World Tour.

This was an epic year-and-a-half-long tour, spanning three continents, 15 countries, and over 40 cities.

From September 1987 to the present, precisely 50 shows had been performed; Jackson took a break to rest and adjust, preparing to head to Europe at the end of May to commence the next phase of his performances.

The concert tour was an unprecedented success, with Jackson causing fan frenzies wherever he went, marking the first time pop music had such a massive influence.

Now, wherever Jackson went, the spectacle and impact were like a drop of water into a sizzling wok.

That evening at the Great Western Forum was no exception, as Jackson’s appearance made it impossible for the audience to focus on the game.

However, Jackson was actually there not to see the Lakers, but to watch Gan Guoyang play.

During the pre-game warm-up, the two chatted courtside as the photographers’ cameras clicked incessantly at them.

Jackson told Gan Guoyang that he was leaving for Europe tomorrow to start the next leg of his concert tour.

He only came to watch the game for a short while tonight, as he couldn’t stay too long; lingering would attract too much attention and cause trouble.

Guoyang asked Jackson when he would go to China for a concert, and Jackson smiled, saying, "I hope that day comes soon, but if it does, I will have lost my final sanctuary."

The price of fame was the loss of privacy and personal space.

And for someone as famous as Jackson, his personal time and space were virtually negligible.

Jackson left the Great Western Forum after the first quarter, unable to stay any longer.

During the intermission, more and more people crowded towards his seat, asking for autographs, photos, and some frenzied fans even rushed to embrace him.

For the sake of order in the arena and the smooth continuation of the game, Jackson had to be escorted out by the security guards.

After Jackson’s departure, the audience’s attention shifted back from the sidelines to the court, where the highly intense first game of the Western Conference Finals was underway.

With Guoyang’s dominant performance, the Trail Blazers maintained the lead throughout the first quarter.

The teams had faced each other several times in the Western Conference, with no significant changes in their lineups, they were well acquainted with each other.

Hence, the game started off incredibly smoothly, with the outcome hinging on the players’ spontaneous performances.

But as the game entered the second quarter and both sides began to rotate their lineups, the situation started to change.

The Lakers resorted to a lineup rarely used during the regular season: Johnson, Cooper, Scott, Edwards, and Duckworth.

This was an approach Nielsen was most proficient in during his time with the Bucks, a powerhouse enhanced version with Moncrief, Pierce, and Pressey forming a three-guard lineup, and Lister and Sikma inside.

With twin towers and three guards, the strategy utilized a lot of high pick-and-rolls and ball-handling drives, and in this lineup, Magic Johnson became the de facto point forward.

This gave the Lakers significant offensive space, and in Nielsen’s view, if Duckworth and Edwards could shoot with the same precision as Ah Gan, this lineup would have an even greater offensive power.

Because he had not coached a top-tier center for a long time, this forced Nielsen to constantly devise strategies for efficient offense during his time with the Bucks.

In the mid-’80s, Nielsen more than once lamented the absence of a superstar big man on his team, for which he traded for Lanier, signed the retired Dave Cowens, and acquired Jack Sikma.

Lanier was somewhat impactful but was too old at the time to last long.

Dave Cowens was also too old, and retired again after playing 40 games.

Sikma was not exceptional enough to be considered a true superstar big man.

Now with the Lakers, he finally had Jabbar, though it was his twilight years.

Jabbar was sufficient during the regular season and against other teams, and in critical moments, he was absolutely trustworthy.

But facing the Trail Blazers, facing Ah Gan, he was somewhat lacking, requiring Nielsen to think of more solutions.

Moreover, Nielsen had to consider the future, the next season. With Jabbar’s retirement, how should the Lakers play?

Fortunately, the years without a superstar center had given Nielsen a wealth of experience and methods.

In the ’80s, when low post offense was rampant, the Bucks were among the teams that relied least on low post isolation plays.

The reason so many teams depended on low post back-to-the-basket play was that the paint was too crowded at that time.

To get closer to the basket, receiving the ball with one’s back to the basket was the best approach.

Nielsen took a different path; he was enamored with the concept of a point forward, using two shooting guards alongside big men with shooting ability, drawing the big men out, and letting the smaller players interweave inside and out, fully utilizing both corners to expand the offensive space on the court. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The point forward was the freeman on the court, his forward’s height giving him the ability to combine inside and outside play.

Magic Johnson was undoubtedly the NBA player who best fit Nielsen’s definition of a point forward, a perfect all-around machine.

Throughout the season, Nielsen experimented with a three-guard lineup in practice and occasionally used it in games, mainly in those without live broadcasts. He didn’t want to leave game footage for the Trail Blazers to study.

In this three-guard system, Johnson had absolute control. He no longer needed to feed the ball to Jabbar or Worthy in the low post; he could completely dominate the offense, driving, passing, shooting, with the presence of the other four players solely to serve him.

This made the Lakers’ offense even smoother, incredibly fluid. Cooper and Scott provided support with shooting and cuts, while Edwards and Duckworth were perfect screeners and mid-range machines.

The Trail Blazers struggled to adapt to such an offense, and even with Gan Guoyang back on the court, they couldn’t stop the Lakers from launching a 16:7 scoring run that widened the gap between the teams.

Nielsen’s rather advanced offensive system caught the Trail Blazers off guard.

Coupled with the Lakers’ strong desire for victory and their aggressiveness on the court, it put the Trail Blazers under pressure on both offense and defense.

By halftime, the Lakers led the Trail Blazers by 9 points.

As the third quarter began, Nielsen promptly instructed Jabbar and James Worthy to initiate attacks from the low post, with AC Green continuously crashing the boards for offensive rebounds.

The Lakers’ enthusiasm in tonight’s game was unquestionable, leaving the Trail Blazers on the defensive.

A point of criticism for the Trail Blazers this season has been, when they trailed at halftime, the third quarter that used to turn the tide no longer seemed effective.

The reason was a decline in defensive intensity, along with a lack of speed on offense.

The best method for catching up was high-intensity defense coupled with fast breaks, which could erase the point difference within minutes.

But this season, the Trail Blazers had become a slow-paced team that emphasized efficiency in set plays.

They were skilled at using their momentum to dominate, quickly gaining an advantage at the start and then leading all the way.

Once the Trail Blazers set the pace, it was almost impossible for their opponents to turn the tables.

But tonight, Nielsen’s use of a three-guard lineup had seized the initiative.

As the Trail Blazers passively attempted to catch up, the game became extremely challenging.

The instability of the perimeter shooting meant that players were easily affected by the situation of the game.

When momentum was on their side, their shooting from beyond the arc became more accurate. When it wasn’t, the increased pressure led to a lack of confidence in their perimeter shooting.

Moreover, both teams knew each other too well, and by the third and fourth quarters, the game wasn’t about tactics anymore; it was entirely a test of state of play and willpower.

The two teams had shown a game seven intensity since the first game, with the Lakers’ players hyped up, grabbing 17 offensive rebounds tonight.

The Trail Blazers chased hard all the way, and in the final moments of the fourth quarter, trailing by three points, Gan Guoyang’s three-point shot from the outside did not hit.

The Lakers implemented a full-court press on him, wave after wave, to exhaust him and disrupt his shooting rhythm.

They did not want to be pierced by Gan Guoyang in the first two games as they were last season.

Nielsen’s proactive double-teaming system played a crucial role.

Even though they were whistled for three illegal defenses tonight, the Lakers spared no effort.

The Trail Blazers lost the first game of the Western Conference Finals by 4 points, 104:108.

Gan Guoyang’s 29 points and 12 rebounds for the whole game were futile; shooting 1 for 3 from the three-point line, he and the team suffered from poor three-point shooting.

Even worse, two days later, on May 26th, the Trail Blazers suffered a collapse at the Great Western Forum.

With a 91:112 defeat, they suffered the most painful playoff loss, trailing by a large margin of 0:2.

The situation for the Trail Blazers was perilous.