The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 558 - 58: The Best Clutch Center

Before Gan Guoyang and Michael Jordan appeared, basketball had never been a sport one person could handle on their own.

Wilt Chamberlain, Elgin Baylor, David Thompson, all these are contrary examples, as individual basketball was considered to never be able to beat team basketball.

It wasn’t until Gan Guoyang and Jordan that people realized, as long as that person is strong enough, basketball, a five-person sport, could indeed be dominated by one individual at times.

Such as in the fourth quarter of the playoffs, when everyone is exhausted, the intensity of the game is extremely high, the more they try to cooperate, the more mistakes are made, and role players are worn out.

If you have a superstar who can take the ball and resolve everything, then your team will have the NBA’s best fourth-quarter closer.

The Portland Trail Blazers had been one of the teams with the best fourth-quarter closing over the past few seasons.

When they couldn’t use high-intensity defense and efficient offense to crush their opponents in the third quarter and the game dragged into the final Chapter, they relied on the NBA’s best ball handler to finish the game.

"The data shows that this season, when the Portland Trail Blazers lead into the fourth quarter, their winning percentage is...97%."

"How many did they lose?"

"They lost two games, one was an overtime loss to the Supersonics. The other was a loss to the Chicago Bulls in March."

Dick Stockton from CBS provided some win-loss data about the Trail Blazers when leading into the fourth quarter during a timeout.

The Lakers were certainly aware of this, and Don Nelson emphasized reinforcing the defense against Ah Gan during the timeout, at all costs.

Compared to Jordan, if Gan Guoyang had a weakness, it was that he was a center, he needed to be fed the ball.

Jordan could take the ball straight from the backcourt and initiate an attack, which he often did.

Gan Guoyang also had this capability, but it wouldn’t maximize his power.

If the opposition launched an early double-team, Gan Guoyang was at a great risk of turning over the ball.

So, after the timeout, Jack Ramsay decisively substituted Jerome Kossie for Hornacek.

The Trail Blazers selected so many guards just to orchestrate the play and pass the ball to Gan Guoyang.

In the Western Conference semifinals against the Mavericks, Dale Curry’s passing and three-point shooting played a decisive role.

Ah Gan + guards’ playstyle was gradually shaping up, though it was still a work in progress.

Ramsay took a towel to cushion the floor, and knelt anxiously by the court directing the game.

He had done this rarely this season, since his knees couldn’t bear it at his age.

Now, at the most critical moment of the game, which might determine the entire season’s outcome, he couldn’t care less about his own aching knees.

On the first offensive play after the timeout, Drexler inbounded the ball to Gan Guoyang who came forward to receive it.

This was a cunning strategy. With Gan Guoyang, a center, coming forward to receive the ball, do your interior defenders follow or not?

If you don’t follow, Gan Guoyang has the ability to attack from the outside, he could fire from the perimeter directly.

If you follow, the inside will be empty, and the Trail Blazers’ guards are skilled at backdoor cuts, with Hornacek and Porter ready to slash into the paint.

The Lakers clearly had a contingency plan, choosing not to follow, with Jabbar squatting in the paint resolutely not coming out, while Michael Cooper went to interfere.

Hornacek’s backdoor cut and Porter’s movement failed, Gan Guoyang couldn’t find a passing opportunity.

A typical player’s choice at this time would be to pass the ball back to the guard and reorganize the attack.

But Gan Guoyang wasn’t a typical player; he refused to make a defensive pass in the game.

This tactic not being successful and to pass back to the guard to restart was simply a waste of time, giving the opponent the chance to settle their defense.

So, seeing no passing opportunity, Gan Guoyang directly drove down the middle to attack the basket, drawing a foul from AC Green with his layup.

Ramsay breathed a sigh of relief, it was a bold and decisive move, a player’s impact on the game is determined by this kind of play.

This was also what set Gan Guoyang apart from most interior players—he could carry the ball to attack, with a high success rate.

This made his attacking route very unpredictable; just now he could have shot from the top of the arc or went to the baseline and finished with a running hook shot.

Among the big men, someone with his perimeter ball-handling attack capability wouldn’t be seen again for many years, until Karl Malone had fully refined his skills, reaching about seventy or eighty percent of that capability.

In the 1980s, such skill was extremely advanced, unmatched by anyone.

At the free-throw line, Gan Guoyang made both shots, tying the game at 92:92.

The Lakers, in their offense, once again gave the ball to their most reliable Jabbar.

On the court, facing off against Jabbar was Gilmore, and their confrontation directly determined the game’s trajectory.

Gilmore adopted the classic three-quarters fronting defense, forcing Jabbar to use his left hand going to the right.

Walton once said that defending Jabbar is a systematic project, requiring constant application of pressure on the mental, physical, and skill levels.

The struggle and comparison between Gilmore and Jabbar had been ongoing for over a decade, and in fact, in terms of data and on-court performance, Gilmore was not inferior to Jabbar.

In 1977 and ’78, during the peak of Jabbar’s individual strength, Gilmore held an advantage in direct confrontations against him.

Scoring, rebounds, assists, including the relationship of wins and losses, Gilmore could outperform Jabbar in all aspects.

Yet, it was Jabbar who received MVP, and also more publicity than Gilmore.

Until 1983, the two of them were evenly matched in terms of data, performance, and wins and losses.

After 1983, Jabbar with the Lakers began his third prime while Gilmore gradually fell behind.

In the year before Old Train’s retirement, facing Jabbar, he erupted with formidable potential.

When Jabbar unfamiliarly turned right, pairing it with a fadeaway jump shot, he was ruthlessly blocked by Gilmore!

Hornacek rushed over and secured the ball before Johnson and Cooper, returning possession to the Trail Blazers.

This was a critical defense, and Ramsay couldn’t help but clench his fist and shout, the Trail Blazers’ bench all energized.

But Ramsay immediately yelled, "Calm down! Everybody calm down!"

If this had been before, he would definitely have shouted run run run, seizing the opportunity to counterattack and score.

But now was different; the Lakers’ defense had retreated in time, and a hasty counterattack would have just been a waste of opportunity, and it might even have given the Lakers a chance to counter.

Hornacek quickly brought the ball past the half-court and immediately passed it to Gan Guoyang at the top of the arc.

This was the new tactic the Trail Blazers used in critical moments, letting Guoyang receive the ball at the top of the arc instead of enjoying the double-team treatment in the low post.

In Ramsay’s playbook, there were a hundred modes of play for a center with the ball at the top, but Guoyang was not tied down to those tactics.

He could initiate the attack himself, or immediately switch to low post tactics, isolating or passing to the wings for mid to long-range shots.

This could be considered a combination of old and new tactics, or say, a transitional phase, like groping for stones to cross the river.

But whether or not one was feeling for stones, winning the game and getting the ball into the hoop were the marks of good tactics.

Guoyang held the ball, surveying the movement of his teammates, with Michael Cooper defending him.

Cooper glanced to the side and back to check the positioning of his teammates and the movement of the opponents.

In that instant of scattered attention, Guoyang suddenly executed a KiKi-step, retreating to the side, shaking off Cooper’s defense and firing a three-pointer straight away!

At the moment of release, Ramsay, Bobby Berman, and the Trail Blazers players all felt their hearts leap into their throats.

Are you really doing this? You’re taking the shot just like this?

But the ball traced a high arc and fell accurately into the net.

Three-pointer hit!

95:92, the Trail Blazers take the lead by three points!

The Lakers immediately called a timeout, that shot was too fatal.

A sudden drive and a shot; it completely befuddled the Lakers’ defense.

Everyone knew Guoyang could play, but you never knew how he would play, or when he would strike.

The Great Western Forum fell silent, as they remembered the fear of being dominated by Ah Gan’s three-pointers.

Guoyang manifested his enormous heart, daring to take a three-point shot in such a situation.

After all, he was a center, and in those days, not even a guard would dare take a three-pointer like that.

Back on the bench, Jack Ramsay couldn’t help but ask, "Sonny, you really dared to take that shot."

Gan Guoyang said, "What’s there to be afraid of? If the score is tied, and I don’t make it, we just go back and defend, right?"

"What if you were behind?"

"If we were behind, I would have passed!"

Everybody laughed, knowing Ah Gan was joking.

This guy was even bolder when behind, the more adverse the situation, the calmer he got.

At this point, Don Nelson made a substitution adjustment.

He subbed out AC Green at a crucial moment, bringing in Byron Scott.

They also went with a three-guard lineup to counter the Trail Blazers’ three guards.

It was a compromise allowing Worthy to play power forward, keeping him on the floor.

The problem was, it left the team’s rebounding unsecured.

If they were playing against a team like the Pistons with weak offensive boards, it wouldn’t be a problem, but playing the Trail Blazers like this was very risky.

But Nelson had no choice; if Worthy had been benched during critical moments, he would’ve faced criticism no matter whether they lost or won.

Offensively, Johnson posted up inside, and Guoyang actively came over to defend.

Using a fake, Johnson suddenly spun baseline, leaning on Guoyang to attempt a layup and drawing a foul from Guoyang.

It was Guoyang’s fourth personal foul of the game. Johnson hit both free throws at the line, 95:94, the Lakers hanging on tenaciously.

Then, in offense, Guoyang’s jumper missed, but Drexler grabbed the offensive rebound under the basket.

Drexler turned and burst into the paint, scoring with a layup to secure another two points, maintaining a three-point lead.

Johnson brought the ball up the court, Worthy looped under the basket from the baseline, caught the ball back to basket, and turned, trying to score with a hook shot—classic Lakers offense.

But Ah Gan, who was guarding Worthy, left him no space to shoot, causing him to pass out, Cooper received the ball and passed it to Scott on the other side.

With one pass back and forth, the offense was dead; Scott couldn’t shoot, passed to Jabbar in the low post, who caught the ball and quickly went for a hook shot.

The Trail Blazers’ defense had almost succeeded, but at the last second of the shot clock, Jabbar’s high difficulty hook shot went in!

That’s the value of the number one center in history; he was the best center in critical moments in the NBA up to that point.

But his title of honor was destined to be surpassed by another.

Gan Guoyang, holding the ball at the top, faced encroachment from Lakers players; he made a direct pass to a teammate cutting under the basket.

Porter caught the ball for a layup but missed due to Jabbar’s interference; however, Guoyang charged down the middle.

Leaping high above all the Lakers players, he slam-dunked the ball into the basket!