The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 622 - 21 Section 3 King_4

Gan Guoyang charged up to the referee and argued, "Did you just learn how to blow the whistle today? Why won’t you stop blowing it?"

The whistle-blowing referee was the sideline referee, Joe Ford, a rookie who had just joined the League last season.

Gan Guoyang’s shouting left Ford somewhat overwhelmed—tonight, all three referees were rookies who had joined the League last season.

Since last season, the League had officially increased the number of referees for each game to three, suddenly creating many new positions, thereby bringing in many newcomers.

In such situations, the novice referees seemed to lack experience.

Nervous, and perhaps in an attempt at self-preservation, Ford blew the whistle again and called a technical foul on Gan Guoyang.

As a result, after Elliott’s free throw and an additional penalty shot, the Spurs managed to cut the lead by 3 points.

58:55, the gap was reduced to just 3 points.

The technical foul called by the referee enraged Gan Guoyang.

But he couldn’t strike the referee, so he had to channel his anger towards the opposing players.

On the offensive end, Gan Guoyang immediately posted up and called for the ball, and Porter knew Gan Guoyang was determined to make a play.

Without even facing a double team from the Spurs, Gan Guoyang caught the ball and executed a swift back-spin move, completely sealing off Robinson with his strength and hammering in a two-handed dunk!

On the Trail Blazers’ wing, Cheeks took advantage of Cummings’s screen, cutting to the basket, but his reverse layup was blocked by Thompson, and the referees called another foul.

But it was indeed a foul, as Thompson had nearly broken Cheeks’s waist; Cheeks hit both free throws.

Gan Guoyang continued to receive the ball in the post, turned inside, and despite being surrounded by four Spurs players, made a quick leaning shot that not only scored but also drew a foul on Robinson.

It was apparent that Gan Guoyang was truly fired up, thinking, "You can’t be this biased at home, how many free throws is that now?"

After making the additional free throw, Gan Guoyang no longer played as leisurely as he had in the first half, nor did he pass the ball each time he faced a double team; he started to exert his strength.

The Spurs’ defense was indeed strong, with good defensive habits and two excellent interior defenders.

But they had a fatal flaw—their strongest player, David Robinson, was actually their weakness.

Since Robinson was just a rookie, he lacked experience and was not skilled enough, putting him at a disadvantage against Gan Guoyang.

Their system overly relied on David Robinson, and no matter how coach Larry-Brown tried to hide or evade, a direct showdown between the two was inevitable.

Gan Guoyang started to actively target David Robinson, initiating plays by setting screens and driving in, holding the ball face-up and forcefully attacking Robinson.

Robinson couldn’t withstand Gan Guoyang’s strength, either allowing Gan Guoyang to score or committing a foul. As the game progressed, Robinson started to feel demoralized and frustrated.

At a crucial moment in the third quarter, Gan Guoyang, facing Robinson, grabbed an offensive rebound under the basket, faked Robinson out with a move, then went up for a layup, scoring and drawing yet another foul on Robinson.

After this foul, Robinson had committed four fouls and had to sit out to rest.

With Gan Guoyang’s successful extra free throw, the score reached 82:72, with the Trail Blazers leading by 10 points.

In the third quarter alone, Gan Guoyang scored 13 points on 6 of 7 shooting, bringing his total to 31 points.

The title "King of the Third Quarter" was not given for nothing.

When Robinson was benched, coach Larry-Brown stood on the sideline with a stern face and said to Robinson, "I don’t know why you’re fouling, do you have any other way to defend besides committing fouls? Maybe I should ask the League to give you a quota of 10 fouls!"

Facing the coach’s rebuke, Robinson didn’t know how to respond. He was usually mild-tempered, but at that moment, he wanted to curse.

He even felt like punching Brown.

Back on the bench, the assistant coach came over and comforted him, "David, that’s Ah Gan, and you’ve already defended very well against him. No one could do better. Even Olajuwon didn’t perform as well as you in the last game. Don’t be discouraged; the game isn’t over yet."

Robinson looked at the assistant coach and said, "Thanks, Gregg, I’ll keep trying."

Compared to Brown, Robinson preferred this Serbian assistant coach, Gregg Popovich.