The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 298 - 38: Blazing Fire

The 1985-1986 season saw the NBA schedule just two Christmas Day games.

The Boston Celtics at Madison Square Garden squared off against the New York Knicks, and the Los Angeles Clippers traveled to the Portland Memorial Coliseum to face the Trail Blazers Team.

The Knicks’ participation in Christmas Day games had become routine, after all, the very first Christmas Day game in history took place at Madison Square Garden featuring the Knicks against the Providence Steamrollers.

Today the Steamroller team is no more, but the Knicks are still playing on Christmas Day, and even though they’ve had a poor season and are riddled with injuries, thanks to the presence of Ewing, tickets at Madison still sold very well.

The team’s season ticket sales surged from 5,700 last season to 11,000, nearly doubling, attesting to the impact of a star player.

Moreover, Ewing had fully lived up to his first overall pick status after getting through the initial adjustment period at the start of the season.

However, the Celtics truly did not want to play this Christmas Day game, as while everyone else had the holiday off, they had to leave Boston and go to New York to play a game.

The players spent Christmas Eve with their families and gave gifts to their children the next morning before having to drive themselves to New York for the game after lunch.

In order to allow the players more time with their families, the Celtics did not travel as a team to New York. Instead, everyone departed individually and would meet at Madison Square Garden for the match, and then head home afterwards.

Fortunately, Boston is relatively close to New York, unlike last year when the Houston Rockets had to travel to Portland for the Christmas Day game and couldn’t return due to heavy snow. They also lost the game, which made them feel utterly despondent.

Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazers, who could play at home, also did not want to play on Christmas Day. It was the League looking after the Trail Blazers, scheduling them for the Christmas Day game for the ninth consecutive year.

But the Trail Blazers players really didn’t appreciate this kind of care. Trail Blazers’ ticket sales were already good enough; they were always sold out, whether it was a Christmas Day game or not.

Mychal Thompson was especially irritated. Since joining the Trail Blazers in 1978, he had to play on Christmas Day every year and never got to spend time with his family and friends.

Gan Guoyang felt the same annoyance, as playing on Christmas Day meant he once again couldn’t return to San Francisco to attend Sermonde’s Christmas party, where he particularly missed Sermonde’s signature barbecue.

And if you’re going to schedule a game, at least make it against a strong opponent. Instead, it was the Los Angeles Clippers, which clearly was not about looking after the Trail Blazers but rather about helping the Clippers gain popularity.

Playing against the Clippers, the Trail Blazers team could hardly muster any enthusiasm, as the Clippers had just completed a trade, sending away Melvin Turpin and welcoming Dan Roundfield. The team was set to undergo another round of tactical and rotation adjustments.

However, when the players stepped onto the court, they were still brimming with zeal, actively engaging in the game, as after all, the Trail Blazers had a Christmas Day buff, making them incredibly strong on the holiday.

The far-traveling Clippers were just as discontent with the Christmas Day game. In December, Portland’s weather features rain and snow; it’s cold and damp. Leaving cozy Los Angeles to get thrashed in Portland on the holidays was something no one would be pleased about.

True to expectations, the Trail Blazers took an early lead in the first quarter, with Gan Guoyang and Vandeweghe competing to see who was more accurate with their shots, firing away from the outside.

The two even consecutively scored three-pointers, prompting Ramsay to call a timeout and tell them to stop making wild shots, or he’d bench them for the rest of the game.

With an early lead secured, the Trail Blazers played a beautiful half-court game and fast offense in the second and third quarters, tearing apart the Los Angeles Clippers’ defense.

This Christmas Day game had no suspense; the Clippers clearly didn’t prepare or strategize for it. They came to Portland only to be crushed, and so they were defeated swiftly and decisively.

110:145, the Trail Blazers scored over 140 points for the entire game, with all 12 players getting on the court, 8 scoring in double digits, Gan Guoyang scoring the team-high of 37 points, and Vandeweghe contributing 26 points.

The Trail Blazers were too ruthless, and with the Clippers lacking in strength, it resulted in rather poor television ratings for this Christmas Day game. In addition to the team protesting to the League, asking not to be scheduled for Christmas Day games anymore, the players wanted to spend the holiday properly with their families.

Thus, the Trail Blazers’ nine-year streak of Christmas Day games came to an end; they would no longer be scheduled to play on Christmas Day next season and could fully enjoy the holiday.

On the other hand, the Christmas Day game between the Celtics and the Knicks turned out to be a classic. The mighty Celtics gained a 16-point lead early in the first half.

When everyone thought it was going to be another boring lopsided game, the Knicks, playing at home, started a comeback in the third quarter, steadily chipping away at the score.

The Knicks rallied with a 33:23 run in the fourth quarter, dragging the game into overtime, followed by a second overtime. The Celtics finally ran out of steam.

They only managed to score 7 points in the second overtime, while the Knicks racked up 16 points. Ewing scored a total of 32 points for the entire game, effectively humiliating Robert Parish to the point of submission.

The Knicks completed a major upset, winning the double-overtime game against the Eastern Conference-leading Celtics, whose record now stood at 21 wins and 7 losses.

Like the Lakers the year before, after enduring a painful summer, the Celtics had hoped to come back stronger in the new season, but their performance had been less than satisfying.

Maxwell’s departure, the integration issues with Marques Johnson, and Bird’s increasingly serious back injury were all testing the team.

When they lost a game and returned to the locker room, Bird said, "If we can’t even handle Ewing, how are we going to deal with Jabbar or Ah Gan?"

However, regular season failures can sometimes be a good thing, like a shot in the arm, like a bucket of cold water, making the team more sober and united in advancing toward their goal.

After this game, the Celtics embarked on an 18-game winning streak; tough teams are reborn in the fire.

The Trail Blazers would also encounter their trial by fire.

The last two games in December were the final two home games for the Trail Blazers in 1985.

The Phoenix Suns paid a visit as rivals from the same Pacific Division, facing off six times in a season.

For the Trail Blazers, this was not a difficult match because the Suns were mired in the muck.

An early-season nine-game losing streak set the tone for their season, and the entire team knew the season was over from top to bottom.

Walter Davis wasn’t on the starting roster tonight; in fact, he wasn’t on the team roster at all.

Because at this time, he was in a drug rehabilitation center in Phoenix, while the Suns publicly claimed Davis was absent due to injury.

Without Davis, the Suns were no match for the Trail Blazers, even with the return of Larry Nance and Edwards; they couldn’t stop the rampage of the "Three Towers."

In the set plays, the efficiency of the "Three Towers" was astonishingly high: low-post, high-post, and second-chance baskets; the trio formed a perfect offensive loop. Coupled with the support from Vandeweghe, Parkson, Drexler, and others on the outside, the Suns stood no chance.

The Portland people only needed to step on the gas at key moments of each quarter to take the lead, then relax and play at their own pace.

In the next quarter, they would continue with a burst of efficient offense to widen the gap, and then let the opponents chase points and hold out. This variation and control of the rhythm tired out the opponents immensely.

Already lacking their core and with morale at rock bottom, the Suns couldn’t survive such torment; after three quarters, they surrendered, and the Trail Blazers easily defeated the Suns at home.

Their record soared to an astonishing 30 wins and 3 losses, looking like a force aiming for 70 victories.

Major media and newspapers finally began to prominently feature the Trail Blazers’ astounding performance this season, inevitably recalling the painful memories of 1978.

Therefore, the entire Trail Blazers organization, especially Ramsay and Walton, were very low-key when facing the media, reluctant to compare the past with the present.

On December 31, the last day of 1985, the Trail Blazers’ final home game of the year was against the Milwaukee Bucks.

The tickets for the Memorial Coliseum were sold out again, a sure thing, even more so than the Celtics’ eight consecutive championships.

But the game was full of suspense; although the Trail Blazers led by 17 points in the first half, they were overcome by the Bucks in the second half.

The Bucks found the "Three Towers’" weakness of the Trail Blazers—speed—and took good advantage of it, overtaking the score in the middle of the fourth quarter.

Furthermore, it seemed the Bucks knew the key tactics of the Trail Blazers, and made very targeted arrangements in the final stages of the fourth quarter.

As a result, the Trail Blazers made three offensive errors, had two steals, and one pass out of bounds; the Bucks went on a 7:0 run and widened the gap.

Ultimately, the Trail Blazers lost their last game of 1985 to the Milwaukee Bucks, 112:105, ending their winning streak.

Gan Guoyang scored 29 points for the game, but his shooting percentage tonight was mediocre, with only 8 of 21 shots made, and his defense clearly felt powerless.

The Bucks were quite familiar with the Trail Blazers’ play style, their tactics and rotations being too targeted, particularly their backcourt: Moncrief, Paul Pressey, and Richie Pierce.

In facing the Trail Blazers’ "Three Towers," while other teams were trying all means to stack their frontcourt, the Bucks’ coach Don Nelson creatively used three guards to cope, and it surprisingly worked.

When Gan Guoyang left the Memorial Coliseum, he glanced at the Bucks’ bench, Don Nelson was shaking hands with a familiar figure: Stu Inman.

After leaving the Trail Blazers, he was now the Director of Player Personnel for the Bucks, and Inman knew almost everything about the Trail Blazers.