The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 170 Don’t fight anymore

When Hakeem Olajuwon saw the bubbles Gan Guoyang was blowing, he wanted nothing more than to punch them, pop the bubbles, and smash Gan Guoyang's face in the process.

This guy is infuriating.

Hakeem Olajuwon held back, glared at Gan Guoyang, and ran back to the backcourt to defend.

But he was indignant. How could there be such a hateful person in this world? Not a single word he said was pleasing to him; his blood pressure would spike the moment he opened his mouth.

The fadeaway jump shot was an offensive skill that Hakeem Olajuwon trained specifically for after entering the NBA, spending a summer improving his shooting technique.

At the University of Houston, due to zone defense and tactical reasons, as well as the general lack of height in college leagues, normal shooting was sufficient to meet offensive needs.

When he arrived in the NBA, Hakeem Olajuwon was lacking in height, and the one-on-one defense gave him more opportunities for one-on-one offense. Against taller players, he had to have more consistent scoring skills.

His excellent jumping ability and core strength allow him to adjust his posture in the air and still easily put the ball into the basket even when leaning back.

However, head coach Fitch did not like Olajuwon using this move. With his traditional mindset, he believed that the fadeaway jump shot was an attempt to avoid contact and could not effectively hurt the opponent.

But the stubborn Hakeem Olajuwon persisted with his fadeaway jumper, and his accuracy was quite good. Fitch criticized Olajuwon quite a bit in his post-game debriefings.

He would sometimes say, "Forrest Gump doesn't use a fadeaway jumper. He's shorter than you, and he doesn't get blocked by opponents much. On the contrary, his leaning-forward shot draws more fouls."

Hakeem Olajuwon now suspected that Forrest Gump and Fitch had communicated privately and exchanged opinions, and then agreed that his fadeaway shot was problematic!
Gan Guoyang doesn't like fadeaway shots. He prefers physical contact, leaning forward to pressure his opponents, and shooting with a straight arm, not giving his opponents a chance to block while also drawing fouls from defenders.

Hakeem Olajuwon admitted that he could not learn Gan Guoyang's shooting style because very few people can switch between straight-arm and bent-arm shooting as freely as he can.

Moreover, this shooting style is not afraid of one-on-one defense but is afraid of help defense. As long as the opponent has a good help defender, they can block your shot so badly that you won't even recognize your own mother.

Before the game, Hakeem Olajuwon was thinking that he and Sampson would use help defense to block Forrest Gump's turnaround leaning jump shot and show Fitch what real damage was.

But tonight, this kid didn't use that trick at all. He seemed to know he would get blocked, so he either drove hard to the basket or shot from the outside.

I reckon later on he'll use that damned moving hook shot, jumping around like a grasshopper, and then suddenly throw the ball out, and somehow it goes in!
Thinking about all this, Hakeem Olajuwon felt his temples throbbing. He felt that he wouldn't be able to swallow this insult unless he punched Forrest Gump or dunked three times on him tonight.

Both sides missed several more shots, and the first quarter ended with the Rockets and Trail Blazers tied at 18-26, with the Trail Blazers maintaining an 8-point lead.

The Trail Blazers' perimeter defense held the Rockets to just 18 points in the first quarter, a true miracle. Vandeweghe felt like he barely broke a sweat.

The second quarter was almost a carbon copy of the first. The Rockets failed to solve one of the problems they faced tonight: how to connect the inside and outside game and stretch the Trail Blazers' not-so-resilient defense.

Hakeem Olajuwon and Sampson occupied a lot of space and shot attempts, but they played too small, with both sides' offensive and defensive lines concentrated in the three-second zone.

Hakeem Olajuwon was playing with great intensity, often charging straight in with the ball. Although he did score some baskets and drew two fouls from Thompson, every time he drove to the basket, his teammates on the perimeter would be smoking.

The team's offensive resources were not fully utilized.

Sampson was even more pitiful, unable to cope with Gan Guoyang's three-quarters fronting and feeling increasingly exhausted in the tough interior battles.

He also had to guard Gan Guoyang one-on-one on defense. He couldn't stop Gan Guoyang's first step when facing the basket. Once the first step was passed, the Rockets' interior defense collapsed.

Hakeem Olajuwon came over to help defend almost every ball, but Gan Guoyang made several passes to Mitchell Thompson, who was overwhelmed with easy baskets in the second quarter.

Thompson also has excellent passing skills. If McGrady or other perimeter players come to help defend him, he can pass the ball to Vandeweghe or Paxson.

Vandeweghe and Paxson passed the ball back and forth. Except for Valentine, who couldn't shoot from long range, both of them could quickly take a shot and make it whenever they had the chance.

A different kind of beautiful offense was presented to the Trail Blazers fans; the old "run-run-run" spinning drive offense was gone.

Instead, a breakthrough at one point drives the flow of the entire surface, allowing the ball to be passed and circulated over a larger area, ultimately creating space for a shot.

Both Ramsey and Fitch could sense that a new basketball tactical landscape was slowly taking shape on the court; new things were always emerging.

This wasn't a matter of a coach having a sudden inspiration and saying, "I think we should play this way," and the players just following suit. Rather, it was a process of coaches and players exploring together, gradually finding a basketball operating logic on the court that suited the current rules and the players' abilities.

However, this scene did not last long. Fitch immediately called a timeout, forbidding Olajuwon from helping defend Forrest Gump.

"That was Forrest Gump's trap. Didn't you notice that he almost always attacked facing the basket? It was to observe your positioning and pass the ball to his teammates."

Fitch pointed out Gan Guoyang's trick: he always used a shallow 45-degree angle when facing Sampson, and Hickma would step back and turn to face the basket to use speed and power to rush, and he always stayed on the baseline side.

The goal was to leave the Rockets' mid-court defense wide open, giving Thompson and Vandeweghe opportunities to cut in. Once Olajuwon, McGrady, and others help defend, there would likely be gaps.

"Are we just going to watch him attack the basket and score without helping him? Ralph can't defend him at all, he can't even stop his first step!" Hakeem Olajuwon bluntly stated.

But his words angered Sampson, who retorted, "Do you think you can defend against that? You don't pass the ball at all when you're on offense, you just blindly attack!"

"I won't let him get away with this so easily!"

"Your failure to pass the ball has cost us many opportunities!"

The two were arguing and blaming each other on the bench when Fitch stopped their infighting.

"Shut up, all of you shut up! What do you think you're doing? Look at the state you've become! If you don't want to win, just surrender now. I won't let you play in the second half, okay?"

The two stopped arguing, but their anger did not subside; instead, it gradually accumulated in their hearts.

Hakeem Olajuwon believed that Sampson's defense couldn't stop Gan Guoyang, while Sampson believed that Olajuwon played too selfishly and couldn't get the ball out of his hands once it was in his hands.

After the timeout, the Rockets recovered somewhat in the latter part of the first half. Veteran John Lucas began to take control of the game, reducing his passes to the inside and increasing his ball movement and drives to the perimeter. He used the twin towers' presence to stretch the Trail Blazers' defense and attack their relatively weak perimeter defense.

In response, Ramsey brought in Jerome Kossie, a powerful beast who is the Trail Blazers' second most energetic player after Forrest Gump.

He blocked his opponent's shot on the defensive end as soon as he entered the game, and then slammed a dunk on Sampson on the fast break!
Sampson was tormented by Gan Guoyang on both ends of the court for half the game. He became increasingly irritable and discouraged, and lost his composure on defense, forgetting the importance of positioning because he was too focused on blocking shots.

After dunking, Caesar roared at Sampson, who then picked up the ball and threw it at Caesar, nearly causing a fight between the two.

Gan Guoyang rushed over, hugged Ke Xi, and pulled him away, saying, "Calm down, buddy, hitting people is wrong!"

The referee gave Sampson a foul, and he went to the bench to rest again.

Fitch didn't miss the chance to mock him, saying, "Why don't you just go play volleyball? You're the right size, there's no contact, and you can even smash people."

Sampson didn't retort, but kicked the stool hard.

"It seems you're also interested in football," Fitch added.

Given Fitch's mouth, the fact that he hasn't been beaten to death by players in the NBA all these years shows that the players are generally quite decent and not as bad as some people think.

At halftime, the Rockets trailed the Trail Blazers 48-58 by 10 points.

Scoring less than 50 points in two quarters illustrates how poorly the Rockets' offense was playing. To make matters worse, Gan Guoyang didn't really exert himself in the first half. His 14 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, and 6 assists were already quite good, but the third quarter was where he truly sealed the victory.

During halftime, Bill Fitch repeatedly emphasized that the perimeter players needed to contribute more to the offense, as their inside and outside game was disconnected and not well integrated.

“We’re like deformed people with uncoordinated hands and feet. Look at your passing, your running! We’re a whole! Not five separate parts playing their own games on the field!”

"Also, Ralph, Azim, you two need to team up against Forrest Gump, instead of letting him take you down one by one!"

Fitch saw the crux of the problem: Olajuwon and Sampson weren't working together; otherwise, the two of them could have taken on any big man in the league.

On the court, they each played their own game; off the court, they didn't communicate.

The locker room at Memorial Stadium was cramped. Hakeem Olajuwon and Sampson's lockers were close together, and the two could barely sit on the benches, their long legs touching.

Hakeem Olajuwon nudged Sampson with his hand, and Sampson shoved back.

"what are you doing?"

"This place is too small."

"You can go over there a bit."

"You should go over there."

They started arguing again, and Fitch felt like he was talking nonsense.

That's not right. It would be better to fart. At least when you fart, people will cover their noses and look over. These two have no sense of cooperation at all. Instead, they're acting like children.

"Enough, enough, get ready to play! Damn it, what kind of schedule is this that makes us come to Portland for Christmas!"

Fitch already had a feeling this was going to be a bad game.

The fact that the Rockets were only down by 10 points in the first half is enough to demonstrate their talent.

Despite being suppressed in both tactics and morale, they still managed to keep the score close thanks to their individual abilities.

If they can fully adjust in the third quarter and put on a beautiful offensive and defensive run, they can definitely turn the score around.

However, it wasn't the Rockets who put up a great offensive and defensive performance in the third quarter, but the Trail Blazers. Specifically, it was Gan Guoyang who started to exert his strength in the third quarter.

"Sonny, receive the ball at the right 45-degree angle, start your drive, and release a hook shot... Goal! Wow, Moon Hook!"

On the first shot of the third quarter, Gan Guoyang scored with a hook shot that went over Sampson's fingers.

Because Bill Seanley's radio commentary wasn't very clear, the Move hook gradually became the Moon hook, and everyone got used to it.

Sampson tried to respond in the low post, but Gan Guoyang intercepted the ball by getting in front of him. On the counterattack, Gan Guoyang made a fast break, received the ball on the right wing, and ran down the court before hooking the ball into the net!

Hakeem Olajuwon and Sampson had already tried their best to get back on defense, but this kind of shot—not going to the basket, but running to the baseline and suddenly hooking the ball—is impossible to defend against. You can only gamble on him not having a good shot.

Gan Guoyang began his offensive display in the third quarter.

"Still on the right, he accelerated past Sampson, hooked the ball, and it went in!"

"Sampson adjusted his steps, trying to block... He fouled and went to the free throw line."

"Gan didn't use a hook shot this time, he drove straight to the basket, Olajuwon didn't help defend, and he dunked!"

Gan Guoyang scored 10 points in the third quarter, leading the Trail Blazers on a 10-2 run!

Fitch stood on the sidelines, already in despair. He didn't want to call a timeout; he wanted to see just how well these silly kids could perform.

As a result, Sampson and Olajuwon got into another argument, with Sampson accusing Olajuwon first: "Why didn't you help defend?"

Hakeem Olajuwon suddenly got going. You saw how I defended in the first half; I gave Forrest six assists.

The coach told me not to help defend, but you couldn't defend him one-on-one and then blamed me?

"Mind your own business, you've been riddled with bullets!"

"You're the one who messed up the game; all you want is to win."

"You were the one who got riddled with bullets, not me!"

"Get lost."

"Can you say that again?"

John Lucas was dribbling the ball across half-court to organize an attack when he realized that the two big men weren't keeping up.

When they turned around again, the two were arguing more and more fiercely, and they were about to fight.

Hakeem Olajuwon threw a punch at Sampson first, but Sampson dodged it and threw a punch at Olajuwon from above.

The two Rockets centers were actually boxing in the backcourt.

Gan Guoyang had just run past the midfield when he sensed something was wrong. Where were those two?

When I turned around, I saw that they had started fighting, so I rushed over to stop them.

"Stop fighting, don't fight anymore!"

The Rockets' reserves rushed over and pulled Sampson and Olajuwon apart, causing chaos on the court.

Amidst the chaos, Gan Guoyang was inexplicably punched in the back, and he didn't know who hit him.

"Holy shit! Who the hell hit me?!"

The referee blew his whistle repeatedly, and the Rockets players pulled Olajuwon and Sampson back to the bench.

The game was paused and resumed 10 minutes later.

In the end, no one came forward to admit that they punched Gan Guoyang, and the video footage afterwards didn't show it either; the scene was too chaotic.

Although the punch wasn't heavy, it became the only time Gan Guoyang was hit in his professional career.

From then on, Gan Guoyang decided never to mediate fights again, as it would easily lead to him being targeted by malicious individuals.

(End of this chapter)