The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 412: Welcome to NBA_2" - 30

This was an advantage for the Lakers on the defensive end, their starting lineup, except for Jabbar, consisted of four tall players with long arms and legs, Johnson, Worthy, and Cooper especially had a shocking defensive reach.

Then, Jabbar was well protected, squatting near the three-second zone without moving, which actually bordered on illegal defense, but the Lakers hid it very well.

When the Trail Blazers’ offense missed, it naturally gave the Lakers the opportunity to counterattack, gradually accelerating the pace of the game. Worthy dunked on a counter, Cooper scored on a counter layup.

Ramsay stood up from his chair ready to call a timeout, but Gan Guoyang signaled not to, indicating he could handle one.

The Trail Blazers cleared the strong side entirely for Gan Guoyang, who once again faced Jabbar in the low post.

This time, Gan Guoyang pivoted with a Sikma step to face the basket, then, after a probing step, used his explosiveness to drive baseline and dunk with one hand, getting past Jabbar!

"Old man, it’s only when I play against you that I need to use just a bit of explosiveness and speed," Gan Guoyang couldn’t resist saying to Jabbar after scoring.

Jabbar sneered at Gan Guoyang’s bragging, "You seem to be getting a bit cocky lately, you won’t beat us just by playing one-on-one."

"Is that so? What if I score 100 points by playing one-on-one?"

Jabbar gave Gan Guoyang a look as if he saw a ghost, thinking the young man was becoming increasingly delusional.

"If you could score 100 points, I’d kneel and bow to you after the game," Jabbar swore.

Jabbar took the oath, but Gan Guoyang did not respond with "put your money where your mouth is," as scoring 100 points was indeed far-fetched.

Yet by saying so, he was actually putting a bit of pressure on Jabbar, because a thought really did flicker in Jabbar’s mind, "Is this guy going for 100 points?"

After Gan Guoyang made that shot, he led the team in ramping up the defensive intensity on their end, staging a risky half-court press, double-teaming the ball-handler, Scott. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Scott made a passing error, which was intercepted by Drexler, and on the fast break, Gan Guoyang received the ball and slammed it home with one hand!

This was a change on the defensive end for the Trail Blazers this season, brought about by Bobby Beelman.

They would suddenly intensify their defense, double-team the ball-handler, press hard, and force the opponent into turnovers for fast breaks.

This was a defensive weapon once used by Gonzaga University, and the Trail Blazers’ ability to make steals was already strong. Beelman enhanced this advantage by adding detailed defensive tactics.

It was originally the Trail Blazers who were supposed to call a timeout, but now it was Riley who called a short one, with both teams tied at 10:10. The score was not high, but the competition was becoming fiercer.

After the timeout, the Lakers failed to score. Instead, they made a mistake under the Trail Blazers’ tight defense. The ball was knocked out of Jabbar’s hands by Gan Guoyang, and as AC Green tried to save it, it rolled out of bounds.

Riley realized that as the Lakers were changing, the Trail Blazers were evolving too. Portland people weren’t just relying on Gan Guoyang’s one-man show as the outside media had suggested.

In terms of star-powered teams, Jordan’s Bulls won the stats but lost the game, while Gan Guoyang’s Trail Blazers could both put up the numbers and win games. A key difference was defense.

Last season, the Trail Blazers’ defense was already very structured. Under Ramsay’s coordination, they played loosely on the outside but tightly inside the three-second zone, where traps abounded everywhere.

This season, with Walton out for an extended period, the rotation in the paint shortened, and Gan Guoyang having to expend a lot of energy in offense, the Trail Blazers’ sense of defensive layers dwindled.

But their defensive intensity had clearly improved, and the details became better. Their one-on-one and trapping capabilities had strengthened. Even though a loose interior defense made them prone to leaks on the rebound (AC Green had snatched three offensive rebounds in the first quarter), such defense was undoubtedly better suited to target the backcourt.

"The Portland people came prepared this year, Bobby Beelman, that guy, was Ah Gan’s high school and college coach, wasn’t he..."

Riley had heard of Bobby Beelman. It was said that the Trail Blazers’ four-on-one strategy was also put forward by him, a little guy from the University of Notre Dame.

The Trail Blazers took possession of the ball, and in a round where they could establish an advantage, they naturally spread out to let Gan Guoyang play one-on-one.

Gan Guoyang asked for the ball in a relatively shallow position. The Lakers’ double team arrived quickly, but Gan Guoyang suddenly made a behind-the-head pass to Porter, who had cut around Jabbar for a layup.

Porter received the ball and easily scored the layup! Trail Blazers 12:10 took the lead again.

This exquisite behind-the-head pass stunned the Lakers’ home fans, and it also made the Lakers players realize that Gan Guoyang was not just about one-on-one.

At that point, Magic Johnson began to back his way to the inside, sticking his rear end out. AC Green came over to set a screen, and taking advantage of the screen, he suddenly accelerated. Dashing down the middle, he made a hook shot against Gan Guoyang’s defense, and it went in—12:12, all tied up.

Afterward, Gan Guoyang once again held the ball in the low post. Facing a double team, he passed the ball to Vandeweghe at the top of the arc. Vandeweghe took a mid-range shot and hit it—14:12, the Trail Blazers took the lead again.

Byron Scott received a pass from Magic Johnson, shot on the catch, and scored, evening things out.

Both teams got better and better as the first quarter progressed, with scores alternating and rising from 14 all the way to a 24:24 tie.

In the final moments of the first quarter, Gan Guoyang was still on the court, while Jabbar had to sit down and rest.

He couldn’t be as indefatigable as Gan Guoyang. Time spares no one; managing ten minutes was already his limit.

Taking Jabbar’s place on the court was center Kevin Duckworth, whom the Lakers had traded for from the Spurs.

This rookie, selected by the Spurs in the second round, didn’t stand out in college, attending the small school of Eastern Illinois University, where he was the star player mainly because there was nobody else at the school.

Due to a lack of exposure at the NCAA Tournament, he fell to the second round of the draft, but in reality, he was a quite excellent center. Not long after West traded for him, he knew he had made a very right decision.

Pat Riley was equally pleased to have such a young, promising big man. Jabbar was aging rapidly, and the Lakers needed a young seven-footer.

Duckworth was tall and strong, capable of withstanding most of the robust centers in the Western Conference, including the Houston Twin Towers. Eager for a challenge, he had taken the court at the end of the first quarter, wanting to confront the legendary Ah Gan

On the Trail Blazers’ final offense of the quarter, Drexler and Gan Guoyang executed a pick-and-roll. Drexler drove down the middle, and after the pick-and-roll, Gan Guoyang followed up from the wing, receiving Drexler’s back-pass. Gan Guoyang took the ball, dribbled with his left hand, and charged forcefully beneath the basket, barging aside Duckworth, who thought himself tall and strong, and dunked right over his head!

Duckworth was knocked out of bounds, tumbling to the ground and landing on his rear. He felt as if he had been hit so hard that his breath was knocked out of him, and his chest ached.

When he looked up again, he saw Gan Guoyang, who had scored the dunk, hanging from the rim and looking down at him, his gaze indifferent.

After landing, Gan Guoyang said to Duckworth, "Welcome to the NBA, welcome to the world of confrontation, Duck."

The referee blew the whistle, calling Duckworth for a blocking foul and awarded an additional free throw.