The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 357 Bellman's Optimal Solution
“I slacked off a bit in the summer and gained weight. But I trained hard, I improved my physicality, and continued to improve my shooting. Actually, my shooting percentage has been gradually recovering in the last few games. My performance in the first week was really bad. To be honest, sometimes I didn’t quite understand what I should be doing on the court, and I hesitated. I felt that the game content had changed a bit.”

Drexler defended himself, admitting that he did spend a lot of time dating female celebrities during the summer.

However, far too many people succumb to the allure of women during the offseason. For energetic, wealthy, and famous basketball players, unless they are as self-disciplined as Gan Guoyang or AC Green, it is inevitable that they will end up surrounded by women.

For these exceptionally talented young men, sleeping with two or three women every day, or having sex whenever they want, is no different from eating and drinking every day. It's just about satisfying their physical desires and doesn't have a significant impact on their competitive performance.

Drexler's dates with female celebrities didn't take too much physical toll; the real drain was on his mental well-being.

He spent a lot of money and invested some emotions; his attention was captivated by those glamorous celebrities, and some of them are still in contact with him by phone.

So in the summer, Gan Guoyang reminded him to spend more time with his daughter, saying that spending time with family would nourish him, but Drexler didn't fully understand this principle.

Having won the championship and achieved his stage goal, Drexler became somewhat complacent.

Drexler's second half of his statement was not a defense of himself, but rather his genuine feeling.

In many matches, Drexler seemed lost on the field, unable to find his rhythm.

After saying this, he tossed the towel to his good friend Vandeweghe, who has arguably been the best performer besides Gan Guoyang since the start of the tournament.

During the summer, he trained hard to become stronger and improve his mid-to-long-range shooting. He reduced the number of fast breaks and developed a stronger offensive capability in positional warfare.

Vandeweghe agreed with Drexler, saying, "I played pretty well, but I would say we were definitely playing a bit haphazardly. As Clyde said, the game has changed, and we haven't adjusted to it."

Next, Paxson, Thompson, and Porter all received towels and spoke, and they all shared a common feeling: the format of the game has changed since the start of the new season.

The most significant point is that opponents' defenses are becoming more targeted. Even though the league has repeatedly emphasized the prohibition of zone defense and illegal defenses such as early double-teaming, as coaches have studied defense more deeply and thoroughly, various hidden illegal defenses have begun to appear widely on the court.

Nowadays, almost all teams, when retreating to set up a half-court defense, will first establish a false zone defense before the offensive players have found their positions, in order to prevent the opponent from attacking the basket.

This is a challenge for a counter-attacking expert like Drexler, who must better judge the defense or he will fall into the trap of being surrounded.

Secondly, the Trail Blazers' own trap defense has been studied by more and more teams. Now everyone knows that the offense must avoid Agan, and no one will actively go into the trap of the three-second zone anymore.

Opponents' offense began to see a surge in baseline shots and a significant increase in long-range attempts—more than two three-pointers made in each of the first two weeks of the season.

This is very different from the 1985 and 1986 seasons, when there were often games where no three-pointers were made for the entire game, or even no three-point attempts at all.

The new season is different; all teams have started experimenting with three-pointers. Even veterans like Maurice Cheeks have attempted two three-pointers, making one.

Of course, on the Trail Blazers' side, Vandeweghe and Gan Guoyang also increased their three-point attempts. Vandeweghe's three-point attempts in the first two weeks were already among the highest in the league.

When the towel was handed to Jack Ramsey, the players pretty much opened up, including Gan Guoyang, who said, "We played chaotically. Although Beal's absence weakened our offense, we didn't play like this in 1985. I think, as everyone has said, the format and content of the game in the league are constantly changing. We won the championship last season with that style of play, but this season we need to make changes because our opponents are also constantly changing."

“Jack, before the season started, I wanted to focus more on defense, increase my blocks, and draw more players to the paint. Then I'd give the offense to Clyde, Porter, and Kiki. Now it seems things have changed, and we need to adjust our plans.”

Ramsey squeezed the towel; after being handled by so many people, it was covered in the players' sweat and had become a little sticky.

He felt the pressure from the players and said, "I apologize to each and every one of you. I didn't prepare enough during the offseason and I didn't study the rules thoroughly enough. I may have been blinded by victory and thought that if we continued to play the same way as before, we would still be invincible. But the world has changed. It is changing all the time, and we must keep up with the changes."

In their title defense season in 1978, the Trail Blazers were indeed unstoppable, riding high on their victories, but ultimately their efforts were thwarted by injuries.

By 1987, the situation had changed. The NBA was in a transitional phase, with new developments every season.

"The first thing we need to do is pick ourselves up and find our hunger for victory. Without that hunger, any adjustments, efforts, or changes are futile because you have no direction. Let's look at how the Los Angeles Lakers are doing this season; they're aiming to reclaim the NBA championship. They lost last season, but we didn't beat them. In the West, you can't call it a true victory until you've truly overcome the Lakers."

When you have no goal, creating a rival is undoubtedly a good solution.

Jack Ramsey understands this perfectly. The Lakers remain strong in the West, just like in 1985. After a painful, disappointing season, the Lakers always bounce back the following season. Since the start of the new season, they have achieved a terrifying nine-game winning streak, and no team can stop them.

The Knicks were swept by the Lakers by 23 points, and the Nuggets were outscored by the Lakers by 138 points. With their unparalleled momentum, they announced to the world that the Purple and Gold Army has returned to the throne in the new season.

"If we continue to perform like this, we will not be a match for the Lakers, and our title defense will end prematurely."

Everyone in the locker room was silent. Ramsey was right; the Lakers were still the biggest obstacle.

Last season, the Rockets helped the Trail Blazers defeat the Lakers, and they made it to the NBA Finals.

If they were to face the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals, would they be 100% certain of winning the Western Conference championship?

Logically, if the Rockets beat the Lakers and the Trail Blazers beat the Rockets, then the Trail Blazers should also be able to beat the Lakers.

But the NBA is not a simple game of addition and subtraction; the interplay and counterplay between team tactics and configurations is very important.

In fact, after the Lakers lost to the Rockets in last year's semifinals, the Trail Blazers breathed a sigh of relief, knowing they wouldn't have to face the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

Gan Guoyang is a definite nemesis of the twin towers; he is completely unafraid of the formidable Houston twin towers.

In the Finals, the Celtics were also very strong, but the Celtics are a frontcourt team, as are the Trail Blazers, who were able to effectively counter them.

The Lakers are different. The Lakers have a strong frontcourt, but because of Magic Johnson, they are essentially a backcourt team.

Given the Trail Blazers' weak backcourt last season, it's hard to imagine how they'll fare against the Lakers in the playoffs.

The lessons of the 1985 Western Conference Finals are still fresh in our minds, where Magic Johnson made Valentine and Drexler look like mules.

It's almost impossible for the Trail Blazers to defend their title this year and eliminate the Lakers again with the help of the Rockets. The Trail Blazers will have to defeat the Lakers head-on.

After saying all that, everyone thought the internal meeting was over, and that everyone should go back and reflect on it, and rekindle their desire for victory.

But Jack Ramsey handed the towel to Bobby Bellman and said, "Bobby, tell everyone your thoughts on the team's tactics during the first game."

Bellman took the towel with some surprise and asked in confusion, "What's your opinion?"

Ramsey said, "It's that idea of ​​using the rules that you mentioned."

Bellman was holding a towel, and all eyes were on him.

Berman recalled that in the first game against the SuperSonics, the team's offense had problems, and Ramsey asked him for his opinion, offering his own suggestions, but Ramsey did not accept them.

Unexpectedly, the old man remembered this incident all along, and it wasn't until today, when the team was in a crisis, that he finally got Berman to bring it up.

Bellman suddenly realized that this was his chance to take his career to the next level with the Trail Blazers, and that his tactical ideas could be recognized by everyone!
He gripped the towel tightly in his hand, as if to seize this opportunity. He quickly organized his thoughts, finally summarizing them into one sentence:

"I think we should give the ball to Forrest Gump."

Everyone held their breath, eager to hear what unique insights Bellman might have that would impress Ramsey and make him say it himself.

Who knew he would utter such nonsense? Did you even need to say that? The locker room erupted in boos, and everyone got up to leave.

Gan Guoyang was speechless and said, "Bobby, what nonsense are you talking about? I'm giving you the ball, do you think this is the Finals? You want to work me to death?"

Berman got impatient and said, "I won the NCAA championship with this strategy, what's wrong with giving you the ball? It's not that simple! This is the optimal solution in the current league environment, believe me!"

(End of this chapter)