The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 362: It’s useless if you don’t use it

In the second half, the Trail Blazers maintained their advantage and dominance over the Rockets.

For Terry Porter and Clyde Drexler, the first question they need to consider on offense is whether to initiate an attack themselves after crossing half-court or to feed the ball to Gan Guoyang.

If Gan Guoyang moves up, it's highly likely that the backcourt will initiate the attack themselves. Gan Guoyang will drop down, and Thompson will come over to receive the ball, which means they're going to give Gan Guoyang the ball for a one-on-one play.

Of course, the situation on the field is ever-changing. Depending on the defensive posture, different situations can arise at any moment, requiring players to make judgments based on the situation.

The Trail Blazers' core roster has had chemistry for two seasons, and the players are exceptionally talented and have strong ball-handling abilities.

Porter, in particular, is bolder and more confident than Drexler. Even though the Trail Blazers established Gan Guoyang as their absolute core player, he still dared to take the ball and go it alone.

In the fourth quarter, the Rockets were trying to close the gap thanks to Reed's three-pointer and Peterson's offensive rebounds. When the Rockets were aggressively fronting and double-teaming Gan Guoyang, Terry Porter decisively hit a three-pointer from the outside and also made a layup after breaking into the paint, scoring five consecutive points and taking control of the situation.

After those two shots went in, Gan Guoyang went up and patted Porter on the shoulder, saying, "Well done, Porter, you must be bolder in taking shots."

In this respect, Porter has more of a commanding presence than Drexler, whose inconsistent shooting can easily drag down his performance.

Fitch called another timeout; this was the Rockets' last stand tonight.

Fitch had made many preparations before the game and never expected the Trail Blazers to adopt such an offensive strategy.

After the timeout, the situation stabilized, and Olajuwon scored a basket under the rim.

But immediately, Gan Guoyang faced off against Hakeem Olajuwon's Cavaliers in a low post, turning around and scoring with a hook shot from his right hand.

In a similar manner, Gan Guoyang scored two more goals from the low post and also drew a foul from Olajuwon.

After this foul, Hakeem Olajuwon fouled out and returned to the bench, sitting next to Ralph Sampson, looking dejected.

Fitch did not play Sampson, who was suffering from knee problems, and continued to keep Peterson on the field, which made Sampson very unhappy.

But he really didn't perform well tonight. When facing Gan Guoyang, Peterson could still pretend to hold his own, but Sampson really couldn't keep up; his knees and back couldn't take it.

The once-proud number one college player in the nation is rapidly declining due to injuries, and the Rockets' twin towers, who eliminated the Lakers last season, look quite lost.

Of course, Sampson remains confident in himself, and the Rockets are also waiting for the twin towers to get back on track. After all, the season has only just begun, and many problems can be solved.

Little did the Rockets know that even bigger trouble was yet to come.

With Gan Guoyang outplaying Olajuwon and becoming unstoppable in the low post, scoring 41 points, the Trail Blazers easily defeated the Rockets 101-113 at home, a 12-point advantage.

Throughout the game, the Trail Blazers never gave the Rockets a chance to take the lead, dominating the game from start to finish. The Rockets were suffocated from the very beginning and never came out of the water, effectively suffocating.

Fitch's tight backcourt defense was ineffective, and Porter and Drexler became stronger and more mature.

Even defending the edge of the zone was ineffective. With the defense spread out in all four directions, it was impossible to maintain a defensive formation. Gan Guoyang attacked one-on-one in the low post, destroying all defensive strategies.

Gan Guoyang scored 41 points tonight, including 28 points from low-post isolation plays, two 2-pointers from pick-and-roll plays, and the rest from free throws.

With 28 points in the low post, plus missed shots and free throws from fouls, Gan Guoyang made a total of 22 low post offensive attempts.

This number of low-post attacks, far exceeding that of a typical center in a single game, undoubtedly puts a tremendous strain on Gan Guoyang's stamina.

His low-post scoring efficiency is also astonishingly high, averaging 1.68 points per low-post attack.

Of course, this is just one match. As the number of matches accumulates, the number of singles matches will definitely decrease, and the efficiency will also decline.

After the game, in the locker room, Gan Guoyang went to attend the post-game press conference, where Rick Adelman, Bellman, and Ramsey did a post-game summary together.

Adelman noted, "Forrest Gump still relies too much on low-post offense. It's acceptable for one game, but doing it every game will be a huge drain on his stamina and will affect his performance on the defensive end. We need to reduce his low-post play and increase some finishing plays around him."

Ramsey, wearing glasses, was looking at the statistics. He didn't want to go to the press conference, so Buckwalt went in his place. Ramsey lowered his head and said, "Forrest Gump is in great shape, you don't need to worry about him."

Adelman thought to himself, even with good stamina, you can't play like this. 22 low-post attacks. Chamberlain didn't do that much back then, but what was Chamberlain's defensive intensity like? Can it be compared to now?

Behrman, who was standing nearby, added, "Forrest Gump has had a nickname since high school: the Oriental Cyborg. His physical abilities are unbelievable. Why not take advantage of him?"

Adelman said urgently, "We can't use him like that. There's still the playoffs to come. We need to build up his stamina during the regular season!"

Ramsey and Bellman stared at Adelman together, and said almost in unison, "What's your hurry?"

Adelman was speechless, thinking to himself that these two guys were really inhuman, just ruining his star player like this?

Behrman is even worse. You were Forrest Gump's high school and college coach, and now you've followed him all the way to the NBA. So you're not here to help Forrest Gump, you're here to continue exploiting him? And you even gave Dr. Jack the secret to exploitation!

Adelman felt sorry for Gan Guoyang. For the past two seasons, Adelman had been acting as a go-between between Gan Guoyang and Ramsey, and had a lot of communication with Gan Guoyang.

Unbeknownst to them, their relationship grew very close, and Adelman genuinely cared for Forrest Gump.

NBA teams in the 1980s still retained some of the atmosphere of a "big family".

Players like Ramsey, Adelman, Buckwalt, and Culp, including Inman who was fired, all worked for this group for more than a decade, together since the team's inception.

They are not only an unbreakable camp, but also unbreakable soldiers; they all share a deep bond.

Seeing that Adelman was a little angry, and knowing that he was genuinely concerned about Forrest Gump, Berman said, "Rick, I've worked with Forrest for so many years, I developed him myself, and I know his situation best. Let me be honest with you, on the court, if you let Forrest go one-on-one, it's basically the same as letting him rest. On the contrary, if you make him keep running plays, especially on the defensive end, desperately helping and assisting, that's the most exhausting for him. He's an extremely focused player, and also a very talented one. As a coach, the biggest challenge in coaching Forrest is that you always want him to do more, but sometimes you find that he's most effective when he focuses on one or two things. We need to find that balance; that's the coach's responsibility."

"Rick, you know more about the NBA than I do, but I know more about Forrest Gump than you do."

Bellman's last words left Adelman speechless: Forrest Gump was someone Bellman had personally mentored, so he deserved it.

At the same time, Adelman realized why Ramsey would agree with Bellman's idea of ​​building a system that was very different from the past.

Basketball coaches can be broadly divided into two types. One type is the "framework filling" type. They have a solid basketball theoretical framework, and then find players to fill that framework, and according to the coach's intentions, they bring out the power of that framework.

Traditional academic coaches are mostly like this; they have their own basketball philosophies, and then recruit suitable basketball talents to build their ideal team.

Another type is the individualized instruction type. These coaches tailor their teaching to the individual, using whatever ingredients they have on hand to create the right dish. If the individual is suited to offense, they play offense; if the individual is suited to defense, they play defense.

Coaches like this were rare in the 1980s; Doug Mo and Gene Schoo could be considered, but they had their own systems and basketball philosophies.

Lenny Wilkens is a true master of individualized coaching. As a former player himself, he is very good at empathizing with his players and working together to maximize the team's strength.

Chuck Daly is the same; he doesn't force a system that everyone has to adapt to, but rather gradually builds a framework that allows everyone to showcase their talents based on the characteristics of his players.

Pat Riley is moving in this direction, but many people are unaware of his talent in this area and simply consider him a showtime master.

Ramsey also sensed the changes in the world, transforming from a master of building to a service-oriented coach who teaches according to individual needs.

Actually, I should have realized this when I became the gossipmonger, but since the start of this season, the gossipmonger has become Bellman.

Adelman, who belatedly realized this, was somewhat frustrated. He thought he was the second-best coach ahead of Berman, but it seemed that this was not the case.

Adelman suddenly realized the cruelty of the NBA world, just like Sampson suddenly became unusable, and the Rockets' twin towers might collapse.

He considered himself the first assistant coach, but he was actually easily replaced. Didn't Inman sacrifice himself for the championship?

The Trail Blazers used to be a big family, with everyone focused on their work. 1978 almost destroyed everything, but they still managed to pull through.

But the world is changing so fast, and the small, beautiful pioneers are expanding rapidly. He worries that one day everything will get out of control.

Adelman is not one to keep things to himself, and after everything was over, he went to find team manager Buckwalt.

Adelman shared his concerns with Buckwalt, who asked, "What, do you feel your position is being challenged by Bellman?"

"What are you talking about! I care about the whole team! And I care about Forrest Gump."

Do you really care about Forrest Gump?

"Of course, he played very well tonight, but he was probably too tired."

Buckwalt laughed again and said, "I admit you care about Forrest Gump, that's for sure, but it's not enough. Come with me."

With that, Buckwalt led Adelman out of the office and onto the court at Memorial Stadium, where Adelman could hear the sound of someone playing ball.

An hour has passed since the game ended, and the stadium staff are already cleaning up and finishing up. Who is still playing?
The two arrived at the sidelines and found Gan Guoyang continuing his extra training on the court, with his instructor being none other than Bellman.

Bellman was instructing Gan Guoyang on his low-post footwork while training him on the technical details of mid-range catch-and-shoot.

"See that, Rick?"

"Saw it, it's top-notch stuff, might as well use it!"

(End of this chapter)