The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 275 - 17 Falling Behind So Much

With Walter Davis off the court, Gan Guoyang had to step up to the free throw line to take two shots.

He made both free throws, scoring 14 points, and the Trail Blazers were leading the Suns by 15 points at 30:45 in the second quarter.

However, after Davis left the court, the Suns seemed to recover, gradually finding their offensive rhythm and managed to reduce the deficit to within ten points by the end of the second quarter.

With Davis absent, the team’s forward Mike-Sanders took over the offense, stabilizing the Suns’ lineup in the backcourt alongside Jay Humphries.

There was no way around it, the Trail Blazers had a distinct advantage in the frontcourt, especially since the Suns had lost Morris Lucas and Larry Nance to injuries over the summer.

Last season, McLeod, who had a tall lineup for battle, could only use a smaller lineup this season, relying solely on the veteran Alvan Adams to hold up the interior.

Wasn’t this asking Adams to die?

When Walter Davis returned to the court in the third quarter, the bump had only dazed him in the second quarter; after resting in the locker room for a while, he was not seriously harmed.

Davis’s return did not bring about a heroic comeback. On the contrary, the Suns’ offense worsened after his reentry.

He took command of the ball and shot, but was unable to efficiently convert into points, frequently missing under the Trail Blazers’ tight defense.

He tried to initiate plays with his passing, but when a scorer can’t efficiently rack up points, his passes lose their magic as well.

In the third quarter, the gap between the two teams widened to more than 15 points again.

Gan Guoyang was taking what he wanted in the paint, his pivoting jump shots and hooks near the three-second zone were unstoppable.

Swift, rapid, precise, the Suns simply could not defend with their reduced manpower.

The third quarter was always Gan Guoyang’s showtime; he hit shot after shot, scoring 21 points in a single quarter.

By the end of the third quarter, he had completely broken the Suns, and by the middle of the fourth quarter, McLeod had pulled his starters and conceded defeat.

McLeod was the coach who once tried to emulate Doug Moe by adopting a no-set plays, two-second-pass offense.

But he evidently did not have Moe’s chaotic flair. He was a by-the-book, academic coach who was the head coach at Oklahoma University before coming to the NBA.

If a person uses methodologies that don’t align with their own character and values, they can only end up with a less effective, misshapen attempt, so McLeod had to revert to his original coaching style.

Now his control over the Suns was dwindling, and he knew that almost all the players were using banned substances, but what could he do as the head coach? 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Join in the revelry with everyone?

Gan Guoyang finished the game with 38 points, 16 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 steals, without a doubt the best player of the game.

He didn’t even have to exert too much effort, given that the Suns’ interior was full of injured players and their core players were in poor shape.

And this was just the beginning of the Suns’ terrible start to the 1986 season, later facing a painful nine-game losing streak, winning only three games in October and November combined.

Just a year after confidently reaching the Western Conference Finals in 1984 and determined to achieve greater glory in the next two seasons, the Suns quickly declined.

Competition in the NBA is so ruthless; in a highly competitive environment, past achievements mean nothing, and a fall from grace can happen in an instant.

Your past successes and honors only become off-court memories and fan fodder, becoming a target for your opponents on the court. After all, with teams and players determined to succeed at any cost, if you don’t step on others, they will step on you.

After the game, McLeod, feeling dejected, went to Jack Ramsay to express his troubles.

Ramsay was aware that the Suns were being destroyed by drugs and alcohol, but he was just a coach, not the commissioner of the league.

Moreover, NBA insiders all knew about these issues, but to preserve the league’s reputation, they couldn’t lift the lid on this.

The Suns organization was of course aware, but for the sake of ticket sales and performance, owners couldn’t betray their star players.

"Maybe he should kick those habits, his performance tonight was a disaster," Jack Ramsay said, shaking his head, aware of Davis’s situation.

Tonight Davis had 21 shots with only 7 makes, a one-third shooting percentage, failing to perform to his usual high standard on both offense and defense.

Actually, Humphries and Sanders were in good form; if the Suns had let them lead the game, they definitely could have played into the final stages of the fourth quarter.

"It’s difficult, so difficult... and you know, it’s not just Davis alone, I... I’m really envious of you. The Trail Blazers seem to be in great shape."

Last season, the Suns faced the Trail Blazers six times, more losses than wins, and since Guoyang arrived in Portland, the Suns’ interior advantage completely vanished.

Ramsay smiled and said, "The season has just begun, it truly... is a long one."

This was Ramsay’s eighteenth year of coaching, and even he was surprised that he could persist until this day.

The Trail Blazers were indeed in great shape; Ramsay only had to look at the players’ mood and atmosphere in the locker room to know that everyone was very relaxed.

Gan Guoyang’s boombox in the locker room was playing Dire Straits’ ’85 hit "Money for Nothing" with everyone nodding and swaying to the guitar rhythm.

Gan Guoyang took off his shirt to reveal a robust physique, sitting cross-legged on a stool sipping tea — he brought a pot of Chinese green tea to the locker room, saying it was a gift from a high-ranking official during his trip to China, claiming it could rejuvenate and enhance focus on the court.