The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 294 - 34: Great Disadvantage

The first quarter of the game ended with the Trail Blazers leading the Lakers by 11 points, 41:30.

The Lakers’ 30 points weren’t few, but the Trail Blazers’ 41 points in a single quarter were terrifying.

This was built on the foundation of Gan Guoyang’s extremely efficient low-post one-on-one play; he scored 17 points in the quarter, made all three of his free throws, and only missed one shot.

Such high efficiency spurred on the entire Trail Blazers’ offense, catching the Lakers off guard and putting them at a disadvantage from the start.

Moreover, after Rambis went back to the locker room, the Lakers’ rotation in the paint was missing a piece, Riley and Jabbar had an argument, and Magic Johnson complained Morris Lucas wasn’t running plays properly, leading to two missed offensive plays in the last two minutes of the quarter, which the Trail Blazers capitalized on for a counterattack.

The Lakers’ locker room was filled with restless arguments, and the players’ mental state fluctuated early on; they didn’t focus their attention on the game.

On the Trail Blazers’ side, everyone remained calm, with Walton excellently fulfilling his role as a substitute and Kolter not scoring, but avoiding mistakes on the court.

When Gan Guoyang was pushed around by Rambis, the Trail Blazers players stayed calm, not feeling at all that Gan Guoyang was being bullied but rather that Rambis was asking for trouble.

They weren’t worried about getting embroiled in a brawl, instead aiming to hold Guoyang back when necessary to prevent more bloody incidents from occurring.

Mychal Thompson personally experienced what Gan Guoyang’s wrestling was all about during a practice match in the preseason training camp when they sparred against each other.

Ever since then, Thompson understood the power of wrestling, which is different from boxing. NBA players have thrown so many punches at each other, but there was only one incident involving Kermit Washington and Tomjanovich.

But with wrestling, if Gan Guoyang wanted to, the moment you were subdued by him, he could easily cripple you, all depending on the control in his hands.

What if he couldn’t control it?

So he held back Gan Guoyang, and this powerful weapon made both opponents and teammates more peaceful.

As for Rambis, he didn’t know what had happened, but he still wasn’t present on the court when the second quarter began.

In the second quarter, Riley had no choice but to grit his teeth and keep Morris Lucas on the floor to match up with Gan Guoyang, at least Lucas was decent on offense after coming off the bench, making two baskets.

But Johnson was dissatisfied with Lucas’s attitude of only looking to shoot and not blending into the team’s play style, and at the start of the second quarter, he tried to communicate with Riley, who shook his head, disagreeing with Johnson.

"I’m the coach, listen to me," Riley declared coldly to Johnson, asserting his authority when it came to strategies and player utilization.

He knew that Magic Johnson did not favor Morris Lucas; during team meetings in the locker room, Johnson would seek his teammates’ opinions on tactical issues.

Jabbar spoke first, Michael Cooper was second to speak, and the third should have been James Worthy, but Lucas thought it was his turn and interrupted to respond.

As a result, Magic Johnson directly told him to shut up, saying, "It’s not your turn to answer!"

The locker room immediately fell silent, Lucas stood up, and stormed out, furious.

During an away game, Lucas, seeking the status of a veteran, asked to sit in the VIP seat (as there are limited VIP seats on flights), but the Lakers arranged for him to be in economy class.

Unsatisfied, after disembarking, he told Riley that he deserved to be in VIP due to his seniority, but Riley told him to go back to his seat, as the Lakers did not allocate seats purely based on seniority.

The two faced off at the boarding gate, cursing and accusing each other until Lucas boarded the plane five minutes before takeoff. Riley, red-faced and furious, later had to deal with a complaint Lucas made to the Players Union, and a representative called Riley about this matter...

In the Utah Jazz Team, Stockton would have willingly swapped his few VIP spots for Lucas to make up the price difference.

But this was the Lakers, a championship team. Seats were allocated according to proximity to Magic Johnson and Lucas’s popularity wasn’t high enough for a spacious VIP seat.

AC Green witnessed these two incidents from start to finish, and he reported them to Gan Guoyang, so Guoyang knew that Lucas was neither liked nor respected in the Lakers, especially since Lucas and Rambis were competing for the starting forward position, making him quite disdainful of that four-eyed guy; how could he possibly face up to Gan Guoyang to avenge Rambis, right?

On the contrary, Lucas was actually friendlier with the Trail Blazers players, chatting with old friends like Walton and Thompson during free throws and dead balls after the second quarter began.

Even had a few words with Jack Ramsey who was standing on the sidelines, the old man nodded and smiled at Lucas, everyone looking very friendly with each other.

This behavior from Lucas made both Magic Johnson and Pat Riley even more dissatisfied, and most importantly, Gan Guoyang continued to score in the post in the second quarter.

Last year, Lucas couldn’t guard Guoyang while with the Suns and this year, having moved to the Lakers, his tactical post play and physical fitness had declined, leaving him even less able to contend with Guoyang one-on-one.

Guoyang once again dominated Lucas in the post, scoring three times in a row; two hook shots and a reverse lay-up after spinning and slipping past the baseline, leaving Lucas with no answer.

Lucas was out of options, but Riley certainly wasn’t, calling a timeout to furiously berate Lucas, "How are you defending Ah Gan? You’re just letting him score like that!"

Lucas spread his hands and said, "Karim let Ah Gan score 15 points, why don’t you yell at him? Why do you only yell at me? How much money do I get?"

Riley was at a loss for words, while Jabbar’s face turned an iron shade of fury and Johnson outright laughed with anger. If it wasn’t in the middle of a game, Johnson would have really wanted Lucas to roll off the court.

As for Lucas, he didn’t care anymore. He knew he wasn’t welcomed; with the Lakers, he was just the seventh or eighth man, without a tactical position on offense and always tasked with defending the most perilous situations on defense.

Riley subbed out Lucas and sent in AC Green, telling him, "Work hard on defense, and make sure to cause enough trouble for Ah Gan."

Green nodded; he was very obedient and executed all the coach’s instructions to the letter.

He knew he couldn’t defend against Ah Gan one on one, so he started to front him, trying not to let Gan Guoyang receive the ball.

Gan Guoyang didn’t bother to compete fiercely with Green; since the team was leading, if it was hard for him to receive the ball on one end, he’d just play from another point.

Vandeweghe and Drexler were both viable options, so Gan Guoyang began to focus more on setting screens and defense.

As such, it looked like Green’s defense was effective because as soon as he came on the court, Gan Guoyang stopped scoring. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

In reality, Gan Guoyang had simply lessened his aggression against Green, momentarily sheathed his dagger, but the game was still under the control of the Trail Blazers and Gan Guoyang.

Johnson seized the opportunity in the middle of the second quarter to try and build momentum, constantly accelerating to launch fast breaks, but the success rate wasn’t high, as Gan Guoyang’s defense was too fast.

Towards the end of the second quarter, Jack Ramsay played a tall lineup—Walton, Gan Guoyang, Thompson, Drexler, and Vandeweghe.

Vandeweghe moved to the shooting guard position, and Drexler to the point guard. The Trail Blazers had now outmatched the Lakers in size, with Drexler’s 6 feet 7 inches fully capable of matching up with Magic.

Vandeweghe, who couldn’t defend well regardless of his position, played more comfortably at the shooting guard spot, which was a weaker position for the Lakers.

As for Gan Guoyang, although Ramsay didn’t admit he was playing small forward, he said, "We have two centers on the court, or two power forwards. You’re a free man."

He just didn’t want Gan Guoyang taking three-point shots, and Gan Guoyang had no intention of doing so. With the tall lineup on, his biggest role was on defense, where his mobility was maximized.

When the Lakers initiated fast breaks, Gan Guoyang, positioned on the perimeter, could retreat on defense immediately, blocking shots from James Worthy and Michael Cooper.

Magic Johnson couldn’t keep up later on; not passing the ball during fast breaks, he instead forced his way to the basket for a bank shot that finally broke through Gan Guoyang’s speedy defensive barrier.

But on offense, Gan Guoyang tortured the Lakers’ defense with his arc-top jump shots, while Walton dominated in the low post, catching passes from Gan Guoyang to breeze past Jabbar for thunderous one-handed dunks!

The Trail Blazers launched a 13:4 offensive surge at the end of the second quarter, widening the gap to 18 points. At halftime, the score read 74:56, leaving the entire fanbase at the Great Western Forum shell-shocked.

Had the Trail Blazers evolved to this extent in the new season? Were they totally unbeatable now?

As the halftime buzzer sounded, Pat Riley left the bench without looking back, heading through the players’ tunnel back to the locker room.

The Lakers’ players were disheartened, having been thoroughly outplayed in the first half, with Gan Guoyang racking up 27 points, 11 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 3 assists, shooting an astounding eighty percent from the field and a hundred percent from the free-throw line, revealing his true power.

Back in the locker room, Riley wanted to understand what was going on with Rambis and why he hadn’t returned to the game.

He discovered Rambis sitting on a chair, glasses off, with eyes as red as a rabbit’s. He clearly had cried and started tearing up again upon seeing Riley.

Riley yelled at him, "Are you just going to sit and cry like a woman in the locker room instead of playing on the court?"

Rambis sat there, defeated and crying, "I can’t play anymore, don’t make me defend against Ah Gan again, I’m begging you, coach, please."

The team’s trainer informed Riley that a psychologist had just seen Rambis, saying he had a mental breakdown due to excessive stress and needed proper rest and adjustment.

Riley was shocked; he hadn’t expected Rambis to actually be broken by Gan Guoyang. Was he too harsh on Rambis? In NBA games, it was normal for star players to dominate their opponents, but thinking about the first half’s debacle, Riley felt like crying himself.

"Damn, this is terrible," Riley muttered.

Before the game, Riley had been full of confidence, hoping to establish dominance over the Trail Blazers with this battle.

Now, they were completely at a disadvantage, a huge disadvantage.