The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 338 - 73 Salvation

On April 26, 1986, an explosion occurred at Reactor No. 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Kyiv Oblast of the Soviet Union due to staff errors, releasing eight tons of radioactive materials, equivalent to the radiation dose of 400 Hiroshima atomic bombs.

Gan Guoyang witnessed this major historical event on television, with only one day left until the start of the Western Conference semifinals.

On April 23, three days earlier, the Portland Trail Blazers easily defeated the San Antonio Spurs 114:98 away from home, sweeping the series 3:0 to advance to the second round.

In the 1980s, when there was a significant gap in individual team strength, upsets in the first round were rare, especially since the Trail Blazers were in excellent form and the Spurs had lost the will to fight, eager to end the series and go home for fishing, right?

After an uncompetitive loss in this series, Fitz Simon’s tenure as coach of the Spurs came to an end. He soon announced his departure, marking the beginning of a rebuilding period for the Spurs. They needed a new core player and a new coaching staff to shape a new team.

The Trail Blazers were waiting for the outcome of their next opponent, as the Dallas Mavericks and Denver Nuggets were tied 2:2, entering a decisive fifth game.

No matter who the opponent was, the Trail Blazers weren’t too concerned since both teams had been defeated by the Trail Blazers in the previous season.

Moreover, neither team had significantly improved since last season; in fact, the Nuggets had slightly declined since Dan Issel’s retirement and Calvin Natt’s performance deteriorated from an All-Star level to an average starter, scoring only 17 points per game as opposed to last season’s average of 23.3 points.

After all, as an interior player, Natt’s height was a disadvantage—6 feet 6 inches, typical of a guard. Once opponents figured out his playing style, it was natural that he couldn’t dominate the field as he had when he first joined the Nuggets.

Therefore, the atmosphere at the Trail Blazers’ practice was pretty relaxed. Jack Ramsey’s biggest concern wasn’t about player conditioning, but hoping that Bill Walton wouldn’t do something foolish like participating in protests and rallies.

In the past few days, due to the Chernobyl incident, anti-nuclear activists in Portland began to protest, demanding the shut down of Oregon’s nuclear power plants to prevent a nuclear contamination.

Because of this, Ramsay required Walton to report to the training facility on time every day. "Even if you don’t practice, stay with me at the court," Ramsay proposed, believing it was better to chat, watch some videos, than risking Walton impulsively joining a protest, causing trouble, and getting arrested.

Listening to Ramsay, Walton reported to the Portland Community College training ground every morning at 8:30 a.m. on his days off. By that time, Gan Guoyang had already been practicing for a while and had already changed his clothes once.

Quentin Stephenson, who practiced with Gan Guoyang, was already panting heavily, finding this job quite challenging.

During a break, Walton couldn’t resist asking Guoyang what he thought about the Chernobyl event, mentioning that if it wasn’t handled properly, the entire planet would be affected.

Guoyang replied, "Soviet workers will save you all, don’t worry."

On April 28, the Nuggets and the Mavericks determined the victor in the fifth game. The Nuggets, with the home-court advantage, defeated the Mavericks and for the second consecutive year, faced the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference semifinals.

On April 29, the other group in the Western Conference semifinals began their series as the Los Angeles Lakers easily defeated the Houston Rockets 119:110 at home, with Jabbar scoring the highest points in the game, 31, against the Houston Twin Towers.

The 39-year-old Sky Hook seemed determined to prove that he was still the best center in the league, unshaken in his status.

On April 30, the Trail Blazers faced the Doug Moe-led Denver Nuggets team at the Memorial Coliseum.

Having swept their opponent in the first round, the Trail Blazers had been resting for an entire week, while the Nuggets had just finished their round barely resting or adjusting before immediately flying to Portland for the battle.

The Trail Blazers seemed to have a physical advantage, but momentum is sometimes very important in the playoffs. Too much rest is often not a good thing, as one can become too relaxed.

The Denver Nuggets, just finishing a five-game series against the Mavericks, were tired, but their players were already in good form.

The game played on the night of the 30th wasn’t as straightforward as outsiders expected, with the Trail Blazers easily crushing the Nuggets.

The crafty Doug Moe once again played a trick, having Calvin Natt come off the bench as the sixth man and starting the 7-foot giant Rasmussen instead.

Rasmussen was a rookie, having graduated from Oregon State University.

Gan Guoyang had clashed with Rasmussen several times when he played for Gonzaga University.

Although Guoyang could completely dominate Rasmussen, Rasmussen also knew Guoyang very well.

He knew how to match up against Guoyang, how not to provoke him—he wasn’t Guoyang’s nemesis, but he wasn’t easy prey either.

Of course, Rasmussen’s time on court wouldn’t be long; Natt would play during transitional periods and crucial moments, leveraging his scoring ability to make a difference.

Reasonable personnel deployment and the players’ good form made it a close match between the Nuggets and the Trail Blazers.

In last season’s semifinals, Doug Moe, by manipulating the pace of the game cleverly, snatched the first game’s victory and then led 2:1, nearly sinking the Trail Blazers.

The Trail Blazers later depended on a 60-point explosion from Guoyang and a strategic reorientation by Ramsay to clinch the series with three straight wins.

Through that series, the Trail Blazers players got a taste of Moe’s madness and cunning, but to break through this cunning, Guoyang’s choice was a head-on clash!

The two sides battled until the final moments of the fourth quarter, with the Trail Blazers tied with the Nuggets 110:110. English, receiving the ball mid-lane, faked a shot and drove inside, drawing a foul from Walton on his layup attempt.

Walton argued with the referee, insisting there was no foul, but the referee’s decision was final. English stepped to the free-throw line, sinking both shots, leaving the Trail Blazers with just 5 seconds remaining.

112:110, the Nuggets team took the lead, and they had the chance to secure an early advantage.

Jack Ramsey called a timeout to arrange the last offensive play. He instructed Gan Guoyang to receive the ball at the 45-degree line for a three-pointer and perform a fake hand-off with Vandeweghe and Drexler.

"The hand-off is fake; in the end, you have to drive through the middle to the basket yourself. If you encounter a double team, pass it to your teammates cutting from the wing and inside. Time is short, so seize the opportunity. You can either drive to the basket yourself or pass to an open teammate. Bill, you need to be ready to catch the ball in this spot, and there might be a chance for a putback if the shot doesn’t go in. In any case, our goal is to tie the game and go into overtime."

Wanting to play it safe, Jack Ramsey didn’t set up a three-point play but opted for a two-pointer to push the game into overtime.

Given their physical condition and form, the Trail Blazers had the upper hand, especially since they were playing on their home court.

However, Gan Guoyang didn’t follow Jack Ramsey’s play at the last moment.

After receiving the ball and using the fake screen to pull away the defense, Gan Guoyang stepped outside the three-point line, adjusted slightly against the defender, and fired off a three-pointer!

The shot was totally unexpected, with no advance warning. The Nuggets’ defender even thought Gan Guoyang was going to pass the ball.

But he shot it directly, and the ball swished through the net for three points!

This left only one second on the clock for the Nuggets, who had no timeouts left.

The Nuggets could only throw a desperate pass from their backcourt, and the game ended. The Trail Blazers won 112:113, edging out the Nuggets by one point at home and preventing them from stealing another victory!

After the buzzer-beater, Gan Guoyang shouted triumphantly towards the dismayed Nuggets bench and Doug Moe: "No overtime, no more overtime!"

The Memorial Coliseum erupted in jubilation. When they got back to the locker room, Ramsey wasn’t angry at Gan Guoyang for changing the play but said, "Next time you can be the coach, since you don’t listen to me anyway."

Gan Guoyang took off his sweat-drenched jersey and said with a smile, "You are still very important. How else could we have found our rhythm in the fourth quarter?"

Indeed, the Trail Blazers had been in poor shape for the first three quarters, with their biggest problem being their shooting accuracy. It was a rough night; they couldn’t find their offensive rhythm and entered the fourth quarter trailing by 10 points.

In that situation, Ramsey didn’t panic; he changed the tactical strategy, increasing Walton’s time on the floor, letting him organize the team’s set plays.

Walton was the hero of tonight’s game, the point guard among centers, contributing 8 assists.

With none of his teammates shooting well, his precise passing helped them rediscover their game rhythm.

The whole team withstood the pressure from the Nuggets, who were trying to speed up the game. Their form recovered in the fourth quarter, and they managed to tie the game in the final moments.

But it was Gan Guoyang’s three-point buzzer-beater that brought a successful conclusion to the match and saved the game.

Gan Guoyang told Walton, "I told you, the Soviet worker would save you."

Walton replied, "If you’d shot well earlier, you wouldn’t have needed that last-second rescue!"

Gan Guoyang laughed sheepishly; he indeed had an off night, experiencing what he called a "plain Jane evening."

He had become Portland’s little iron smith, with a shooting percentage that didn’t even reach 50% - far below par.

Regardless, his three-point buzzer-beater foiled the Nuggets’ plans to sneak a win.

Doug Moe knew that after they had managed to get away with a win last year against the Trail Blazers, it would be even harder this year without such luck.

On May 1st, in another venue, Los Angeles, the Rockets defeated the Lakers with a 10-point lead at the Great Western Forum, 112:102.

Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon combined for 11 blocks, rendering Jabbar ineffective with 9 out of 26 shots, a mere 34% shooting percentage.

With Jabbar taking so many shots yet scoring inefficiently, the Lakers stood no chance against their opponents.

Jabbar struggled under the shadow of the Twin Towers, and Morris Lucas couldn’t provide adequate support.

As early as the regular season, Lucas had already lost the trust of other players and was out of the system.

On May 2nd, the Trail Blazers thrashed the Denver Nuggets 107:125 at home, leading the series 2:0.

On May 4th, the Houston Rockets celebrated a big win over the Los Angeles Lakers at home, 109:117, with Olajuwon scoring 40 points.

The Rockets dominated the Lakers with 20 offensive rebounds in the game, leading the series 2:1.

On May 5th, on the Colorado Plateau, the Trail Blazers won 109:97 against the Nuggets. Gan Guoyang racked up 30 points, 22 rebounds, and 5 blocks, leading the series 3:0.

On May 6th, at Summit Arena, Olajuwon scored 35 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and blocked 4 shots, leading his team to a 95:105 victory, ahead in the series 3:1!

The Lakers were one game away from elimination, and everyone felt that, just like a nuclear plant explosion, a change was coming to the Western Conference.