The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 364 None
The league's decision not to make rule changes means that the battle between Gan Guoyang and Jordan will continue this season.

Fans are also very curious about who is the true king of singles this season.

On the scoring leaderboard, the two have already widened the gap between themselves and the players ranked third and fourth.

Third and fourth are Dominique Wilkins, averaging 29 points per game, and Alex English, averaging 28 points per game.

Their average points per game are nearly 10 points less than Jordan and Gan Guoyang's, and no one else can average more than 30 points per game.

Other teams can also use a tactic of completely shutting out the enemy and having one player watch four others.

But no one can support such a large amount of ball possession and output as Forrest Gump and Jordan.

Gan Guoyang, in particular, participated in many off-ball tactics under Collins, including fast breaks, and scored some easy-ball points.

As a center, Gan Guoyang is not like last year when he partnered with Walton and had many tactical plays to score as the tactical finisher. This year, most of his points are scored through hard-hitting, direct attacks.

He usually gives up fast breaks and opportunities to finish plays to his teammates, and at most he gets two offensive rebounds.

Offensive rebounds aren't easy to get either; you have to fight for them with all your might. His offensive rebounding this season has declined further compared to his rookie season, and he now only tries to grab offensive rebounds in crucial moments.

This means that Gan Guoyang's offensive efficiency has been squeezed out more and more, and in Bellman's offensive model, Gan Guoyang's efficiency is frighteningly high.

"Forrest Gump, your current performance is worth $500 million a year."

After an exciting winning streak, Bellman used salary levels to evaluate Gan Guoyang's performance.

It's worth noting that in the 1986-1987 season, the league's salary cap was only a little over $490 million.

According to Bellman, Gan Guoyang's salary alone should exceed the salary cap.

"Only five million? You're underestimating me. You didn't even include my overtime pay," Gan Guoyang joked.

His usage rate has been ridiculously high during this period, and he plays for more than 40 minutes in every game.

"You requested to stay on the field yourself, so it doesn't count as overtime."

"I'm on the court not only to win, but also to help the team gel. I don't want to end up like Michael, scoring a lot of points but losing a lot of games. I want to win."

The Trail Blazers currently have a record of 18 wins and 7 losses, ranking second in the Western Conference, only behind the Lakers.

The Bulls have a record of 11 wins and 11 losses, which is exactly 50 percent.

In the game against the Bucks on December 13, Jordan only scored 11 points against Don Nelson's defense.

Don Nelson is one of the best coaches in the league at implementing edge defense, making extensive use of zone defense and early double-teaming.

Furthermore, the Bucks have a group of excellent defensive guards, including Moncrief, Rich Pierce, and Paul Plessy. In addition, Jordan had a bad shooting night, which ended his streak of scoring 40 points in nine consecutive games.

However, in subsequent games against the Nets and Pacers, Jordan scored 41 points in each game, leading his team to victory and continuing to demonstrate his exceptional scoring ability.

The Trail Blazers lost to the Detroit Pistons at the Silver Top Center on December 13th—for reasons similar to the Bulls' loss to the Bucks: the Pistons have the best edge defense in the entire league.

Faced with Gan Guoyang's rampage in the low post, Chuck Daly used two methods to deal with him: on the defensive end, he used Melvin Tping to guard him closely throughout the game, while the other four players secretly formed a zone defense.

For example, when Mitchell Thompson was positioned far out to feed the ball to Gan Guoyang, Laimbeer and three other players were basically forming a circle around the three-second zone, relentlessly probing the edge of illegal defense.

This is essentially a disguised one-on-four double-team. Although the referee called two illegal defenses, the Pistons players could simply stand on the perimeter. Once Gan Guoyang got the ball in the low post, they would quickly collapse back and double-team him.

Another method, which is simpler and more direct on the offensive end, is to have Dantley misalign himself to attack Gan Guoyang, use the home-court advantage to draw a foul, and have the referee call off Gan Guoyang.

This is the best and most effective way to deal with Gan Guoyang. If you can't beat him, just let him sit on the sidelines.

Thanks to the Detroit Pistons, Gan Guoyang played less than 40 minutes for the first time this season, only playing 35 minutes and scoring just 20 points. The Trail Blazers lost 108-115 on the road, a 7-point deficit, ending their 7-game winning streak.

Compared to last year, the Pistons feel completely refreshed.

In the draft, they selected John Sally with the 11th pick in the first round and Dennis Rodman with the 3rd pick in the second round, two long-armed forwards.

The acquisition of Dantley significantly enhanced the team's low-post offense, and Dantley's ability to draw fouls and reach the free-throw line gave the Pistons greater control over the game's tempo.

Since the start of the new season, the Pistons have been on a roll. Although their record is not the best in the East and they have lost some games, they have won against strong teams.

11月5号他们击败了华盛顿子弹，11月7号送公牛一败，11月28号30分的优势大胜雄鹿，12月11号硬碰硬击败了洛杉矶湖人。

Although Magic Johnson scored 34 points and 9 assists at the Silver Top Center, and Worthy added 22 points, the rest of the Lakers players were completely suppressed. This can be seen from Johnson's assists, as he failed to lead the team's offense.

The Pistons' defense worked, and Chuck Daly's three years of hard work in Detroit finally began to bear fruit in the 1986-1987 season. They were rising rapidly and had great potential.

After the game against the Pistons, Gan Guoyang joked that he was grateful to the Detroit Pistons for giving him a vacation.

In the next game in Cleveland, Gan Guoyang scored 52 points, dominating Brad Dougherty, who had trained with him at the Big Man training camp that summer, and giving him a first-person NBA welcome gift.

The Trail Blazers swept the Cavaliers 134-101 in the Rifield Submarine.

Although the Cavaliers suffered a crushing defeat, their overall situation is much better than in the previous two seasons.

At least the home fans weren't as sparse and pitiful as they used to be; the stadium was packed, and no one was smoking in the top tier of the stands.

Lenny Wilkens is leading the Cavaliers on a path of gradual recovery.

After leaving Cleveland, in mid-December, the entire Trail Blazers team flew to Los Angeles.

They will face the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time this season on December 18th.

This is much later than the first game of the previous two seasons. Both are in the Pacific Division, and they have played more than 20 games before meeting.

The Lakers had a disastrous title defense season and were full of confidence when they entered the playoffs at the end of the regular season, believing they could beat the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals.

As a result, they didn't even make it past the semifinals, being defeated by the Rockets, which greatly disappointed the entire Lakers team, leading Jerry Buss to prepare to take action against James Worthy.

He wanted to send Worthy to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for Mark Aguirre and the 7th overall pick in the first round. Aguirre is a very good friend of Magic Johnson, and Magic Johnson was partly behind this move.

Just as the deal was about to be finalized, Jerry West, upon receiving the news, flew into a rage and immediately called Bass, threatening to resign and forcing Bass to cancel the deal.

This incident demonstrates Jerry West's extraordinary intuition and dedication to basketball roster management, a quality that sets him apart from most conventional management teams.

This also demonstrates Bass's willingness to listen to good advice; he respected West's opinion, kept Worthy, and preserved the team's core lineup.

Jerry West stated directly that unless they can acquire Forrest Gump and Michael Jordan, this core roster should not be changed under any circumstances.

West knew that the Lakers' biggest rival for the championship in the new season was the Trail Blazers, who had traded for Duckworth and also acquired Wes Matthews in the backcourt.

AC Green's further maturation allows him to replace Kirk Rambis, whose mentality has been shattered.

Of course, most importantly, Magic Johnson, now 27, has truly entered his prime.

He began to completely replace Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, becoming the Lakers' undisputed number one core player and one of the best-performing players in the league so far this season.

If it weren't for Gan Guoyang and Jordan's crazy one-on-one scoring, this "one" wouldn't have been possible.

(End of this chapter)