The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 303 - 43 Adjustment and Change

On the evening of January 3rd, at the Milwaukee MECCA Sports Arena, a heavy snowstorm raged outside.

This was the arena with the smallest floor space in the entire league, seating fewer spectators than the Portland Memorial Coliseum, with only 10,783 seats available.

However, just like the Portland Memorial Coliseum, the smaller the arena, the noisier the atmosphere, which often seemed more electrifying than the vibe at cavernous stadiums like the Alamodome or the Silverdome, that often appeared empty and lacked vitality due to unfilled seats.

The Bucks had always been an overlooked team in the ’80s, with this squad from the bitterly cold small city persistently overshadowed by powerhouses such as the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics.

In the 1980-1981 season, the Bucks were moved from the Western to the Eastern Conference, only to be eliminated in the playoffs by the Philadelphia 76ers for three consecutive years, including a regrettable defeat in the 60-win season of 1981, lasting a painful seven games.

By 1984, when the Philadelphia 76ers were upset in the first round, the Bucks finally got past the figurative mountain, only to fall under the iron hooves of the rising Boston Celtics.

In the 1985 regular season, the Bucks won 59 games; they took down Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls in the first round, but lost to the Philadelphia 76ers for the fourth time in the semifinals, leaving them utterly disheartened. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

This year marked Don Nelson’s tenth year coaching the Bucks, and the impatient owner, Fitzgerald, had already departed, selling off the team to bask in the California sun and tend to his health.

Fitzgerald’s pinnacle in life was during the 1983 playoffs when his team swept the seemingly invincible Boston Celtics 4:0, handing the Celtics their first-ever playoff sweep.

It was then that Fitzgerald, seated in the stands of the MECCA Sports Arena, lit a cigar triumphantly, its end proudly raised as if in provocation of Auerbach.

Auerbach was indeed infuriated at the time, but the Celtics came back the very next year and clinched the championship, stepping over the Bucks to do so.

Today, the Bucks remain one of the most competitive teams in the Eastern Conference, having surpassed the declining Philadelphia 76ers to become the Celtics’ primary adversary in the East.

However, tonight, the people from Portland were here for revenge.

The starting lineup for the Bucks was the same as the last game: guards Sidney Moncrief and Paul Pressey, center Randy Breuer, and forwards Terry Cummings and Charles Davis.

The Bucks had been a dominant force in the East for many years, yet their average age was actually quite young. This year was their sixth season in the Eastern Conference, and only reserve player Mike Glenn was 30 years old; the rest of the team’s players were around the age of 25.

The Bucks team paid great attention to regeneration and developing rookies, not hesitating to trade star players like Marques Johnson when necessary.

However, now that Johnson had joined the Celtics, this was definitely not good news for the Bucks.

Their youthfulness gave the Bucks great vitality on the court, especially on defense, where their switching made it very difficult for the Trail Blazers.

The Trail Blazers’ starting lineup was still Gan Guoyang, Thompson, Vandeweghe, Drexler, and Porter with their tall formation.

Don Nelson, looking at the Trail Blazers’ starting five, wondered if tonight would be another game of speed and height.

Since the two games were close together, it was like a playoff series, and Nelson was sure that Ramsay would have some counters ready for tonight.

Nelson had obtained a lot of information on the Trail Blazers from Yin Man, including their training and tactical arrangements.

Just like the Bulls, the Bucks wouldn’t meet the Trail Blazers unless they made it to the finals, but Don Nelson was quite interested in the current Trail Blazers.

When he was still a player, and Bucks owner Fitzgerald was recruiting him as a coach, Nelson had hesitated, feeling he wasn’t qualified yet.

He wanted to spend some time as an assistant coach with a team to hone his skills, and the team he most wanted to join was the Portland Trail Blazers. He wanted to assist Jack Ramsay and study tactics and management.

In the ’70s, even without a championship, Ramsay was already highly praised for his tactical acumen, having a prodigious memory and a deep understanding of basketball.

However, after Fitzgerald’s persistent requests, Nelson was convinced to become the head coach of the Bucks. He pondered the decision at a Maid-Rite restaurant with his family: whether to become the head coach of the Bucks, sell cars, or maybe become an NBA referee.

After a family vote, Nelson decided to take the head coaching job of the Bucks, and he sat in that position for ten years thereafter.

In that decade, following Jabbar’s departure, it can be said that Nelson was the one who revived the Bucks, yet they always fell just short of the ultimate stage.

Tactically, Nelson also took a radically different path from Ramsay, becoming obsessed with mismatch exploitation, making forwards play as guards and guards play as forwards, and maybe one day, even considering making centers play the roles of both guards and forwards.

Nelson truly thought this way, especially after he encountered Gan Guoyang, which was during the game between the 1984 Olympic Team and the All-Star Team.

Back then, Bob Knight himself even tried to get Nelson’s attention, asking him to go easy on Ah Gan, but why would Nelson care?

He had finally found a perfect test subject – 6 feet 10 inches tall, with ideal athletic abilities and coordination, versatile skills, capable of doing anything on the court.

Nelson had only coached Gan Guoyang for one game, in which they had successfully defeated the Olympic Team, and later during the draft, Nelson tried every means to trade for the Trail Blazers’ number 2 pick.

But the Bucks really didn’t have the chips, and Stu-Inman wasn’t even the Bucks’ personnel manager at the time. There was no way he would pass up the chance to draft Ah Gan.

It was only many years later that Nelson would find some solace in a young player from Germany.

Nelson could only watch helplessly as Gan Guoyang joined the Trail Blazers. He thought that sending Gan Guoyang to the Trail Blazers was actually a waste, since Dr. Jack would surely train him to be the next Bill Walton.

Who would have thought that after one season, Ah Gan turned Dr. Jack into Don Nelson!

Nelson was shocked when he heard from Yin Man about the various changes Ramsay made after Gan Guoyang arrived at the Trail Blazers, as well as the various tactical changes the Trail Blazers had implemented.

This year, the Portland Trail Blazers even had the momentum to sweep the league, especially with their big three, who seemed nearly unstoppable— they even defeated the frontcourt of the Celtics, who took pride in theirs.

Nelson didn’t believe in superstitions. He used his favorite strategy of mismatched defenses in Portland and taught the big three a lesson.

The Bucks were one of the few teams in the league that frequently switched defenses on the defensive end, basically executing a switching strategy whenever their opponents set screens or used cover.

Moreover, Nelson would have forwards defend centers and guards defend forwards, using this mismatched defense to disrupt the opponent’s rhythm.

He also had unique insights into the utilization of backcourt players given his background as a guard himself.

He believed that guards should be freed from the heavy tasks of ball-handling and organizing, allowing them full dedication to scoring and close defense.

Thus, although Sidney Moncrief was the team’s point guard, the organizing duties were mainly handed over to Paul Pressey (who played as a small forward during these times), and then Moncrief and Richie Pierce formed a backcourt tandem that relentlessly besieged on defense and attacked rapidly on offense.

Even Michael Jordan struggled with such a backcourt duo. In last year’s playoffs, during the first round against the Bulls, Jordan managed to average 29 points per game, but his shooting percentage was only 43%, significantly lower than his regular season’s 51%.

The Bucks’ frequent defensive switches and the fierce backcourt double-teaming and drives made the Trail Blazers—who were already relatively weak in the backcourt—very uncomfortable.

Moreover, the heavy switching was effective against the ’big three’ lineup’s cut-and-pass tactics; your screens and movements could not create open spaces, as there was always someone by your side after the switch.

Having the small forward primarily organize while supplementing attacks made Gan Guoyang’s value on defense significantly decrease when he played in the number three position, successfully avoiding this defensive strong point.

Today, Nelson was very keen to see what kind of changes Ramsay would make.

He had read the report on the last game against the Bulls, where Ramsay surprisingly let Ah Gan score 60 points.

This was the second time this season that Gan Guoyang had scored more than 50 points in a single game; his average for the season had already reached 33 points.

The thought was incredible; in the past, Ramsay’s teams rarely had players who averaged more than 25 points per game.

He was a coach with an academic approach, believing that stars should serve the victory of the team, and not serve statistics.

Serving statistics was for businessmen, accountants, stockbrokers, not basketball players.

Prior to the game, Nelson thought a lot; he also knew that for some reason, the Trail Blazers hadn’t had a good night’s sleep the night before.

As a result, the Trail Blazers players all seemed a bit tired, only Ah Gan was brimming with energy, standing at center court ready for the jump ball.

In the thunderous noise of the MECCA Arena, the referee tossed the ball into the air, and the game began.

Gan Guoyang was the first to fight for the ball, and the Trail Blazers started their first offense.

Three minutes later, Nelson called the first timeout of the game.

In just three minutes, the Bucks were beaten by the Trail Blazers—or more precisely, by Gan Guoyang—8:0.

Scoring method: Hard carving in the low post.

Shot attempts: 4.

Field goals made: 4.

Points: 8.

Nelson thought to himself, so this is your adjustment and change, Dr. Jack!