The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 425 Leave it to me
What makes Forrest Gump so formidable is that the more intense the game, the more difficult the situation, and the stronger the opponent, the more excited he becomes, and the better he performs. This is the intrinsic factor that drives him to constantly climb to the top; those fierce competitions bring him joy. He was born for the basketball war.

—Excerpt from "Dr. Jack's Leadership Lessons Learned From A Lifetime In Basketball" by Jack Ramsey, published in 2004.

Gan Guoyang's three-pointer on the counterattack extended the Trail Blazers' lead.

Gan Guoyang knew very well that it would be very difficult to drag the Lakers into a quagmire of positional warfare.

Unlike the Celtics, the Lakers have two reliable low-post scorers in half-court offense: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy.

Meanwhile, Magic Johnson is at his peak, and it's impossible for him to hold off the Lakers. They must go toe-to-toe with the Lakers to have any hope of winning the series.

He needs to get into an offensive rhythm from the start, otherwise, if he falls behind, the game will become increasingly difficult.

This year's Lakers are completely different from the Lakers of 1985 and 1986; they are much more aggressive on offense.

Johnson was in the best shooting form of his career, and the Lakers called a timeout for a brief adjustment after Gan Guoyang hit a three-pointer.

After the timeout, Johnson immediately made a mid-range jumper without any hesitation, bringing the score to 16-11, with the Lakers trailing by five points.

Vandeweghe's mid-range shot missed, Johnson grabbed the rebound, dribbled the ball up the court, and took another mid-range shot from inside the three-point line, which went in again!

It's hard to imagine that this is the same Magic Johnson who used to hesitate for ages before even taking a shot, but now his fast break shots are so powerful that they ignore the opponent's defense.

Because no one dared to double-team Johnson, and most of the backcourt defenders were half a head shorter than him, he could shoot whenever he felt like it.

When he has such a good mid-to-long-range shot, the difficulty of defending him increases exponentially, and Drexler feels immense pressure.

Perhaps due to defensive pressure, Drexler made a mistake in the attack, and his lob pass to Gan Guoyang was intercepted by Worthy.

The Lakers are keeping a close eye on Gan Guoyang. Riley is no longer just asking for double or triple teams, but for every player on the team to commit to defending Gan Guoyang.

Of course, there's a prerequisite: keep quiet, take turns, and switch roles after each defense is completed.

This is the latest version of Riley's "Forrest Gump's Law".

Riley wasn't going to have anyone guard Gan Guoyang one-on-one the whole time. Lambis's example was right in front of him; that guy could drive someone to a mental breakdown.

Since that's the case, let's all share the responsibility. Worthy will guard for a while, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for a while, Green for a while, and Cooper will also guard for a while.

If everyone takes precautions, the psychological pressure on each person will be shared.

Gan Guoyang was beating Green in the last round, but in the next round it will be Worthy's turn, and Green can rest and take over the help defense.

He instructed the defenders not to get entangled with Gan Guoyang in any way, not to provoke him, and not to be influenced by him. He told them to face any problems together and spread out the huge risks.

It is evident that Riley and the entire Lakers team put in tremendous effort and conducted repeated research to deal with Gan Guoyang, hoping to prevent a repeat of the tragedy.

However, just as the Lakers and Johnson are evolving, Gan Guoyang is also evolving.

His focus and insight into the game are improving, and his influence on the game is deepening.

He is everywhere.

The Lakers launched a counterattack after stealing the ball, and no one could stop them.

Johnson assisted Green, who made a layup, bringing the Lakers within two points at 16-13, just three points behind.

At this moment, Gan Guoyang served from the backcourt, took the ball from the referee, and threw it a super long distance, spanning the entire court, into Drexler's hands.

Drexler leaped high to receive the ball and passed it to Porter, who cut into the middle. Porter received the ball and made a layup, giving the Trail Blazers a quick two-point lead.

Then, the Lakers did the same thing. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar took the ball and threw it towards the frontcourt. It was another long pass from a great distance. Scott got the ball and took a mid-range shot, but it missed.

Johnson grabbed the offensive rebound, but his layup attempt was blocked by Gan Guoyang. Worthy grabbed the offensive rebound and went for another layup, but it was blocked by Gan Guoyang again, and the Trail Blazers regained possession.

The back-and-forth, high-speed attacks by both sides dazzled the fans at the stadium and those watching on television.

This is an incredibly intense offensive and defensive battle between the top two teams in the league. Any other team would not last more than half a quarter and would be down by at least 10 points.

Both sides were able to trade baskets, and although the Trail Blazers' main scorer was Forrest Gump, the rest of the team held up in terms of offensive and defensive rhythm.

This is just the beginning of the game, the start of the series. To maintain this pace and intensity for the entire series, one needs a strong body and resilient nerves.

Gan Guoyang was excited about this. The Lakers were indeed very strong, and his team could not afford to make any mistakes. Once a mistake was caught, the game would be over.

After a series of rapid attacks and defenses, both sides slowed down slightly to catch their breath.

Gan Guoyang received the ball in the low post, turned, and was triple-teamed. He passed the ball to Thompson, but Thompson missed a mid-range jumper. Johnson also slowed down and passed the ball to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the low post, who then scored a hook shot after turning around.

18:15, still a 3-point difference.

The Trail Blazers started to spread out, giving Gan Guoyang a low-post one-on-one opportunity.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was on the strong side for one-on-one defense, and it was not an easy task to take him down one-on-one.

Gan Guoyang showcased his superb low-post skills, using his footwork and explosiveness to suddenly fake a turn after facing the basket, walk up to the baseline and cut to the basket, slamming in a one-handed dunk!

The move was too fast for Jabbar to react to. He thought Gan Guoyang was going to break through from the baseline after turning to face the basket, but he turned around and went to the top line, which was completely empty and no one could stop him.

The situation was unfavorable for the Lakers; they couldn't defend Gan Guoyang and were being pressured in the score.

However, the game is still long, and the Lakers have too many options. Worthy overpowered Vandeweghe in the low post and made a layup.

On the sidelines, Jack Ramsey signaled for Thompson to guard Worthy and Vandeweghe to match up against Green.

However, Green is not so easy to deal with; his energy and speed will make Vandeweghe very uncomfortable.

Porter's drive and floater missed, and Johnson seized the opportunity on the counterattack, delivering a classic bounce pass to Green!

Green made a layup! But the referee immediately called a foul, pointing out that Green had used his hand to pull on Vandeweghe during the fast break.

The crowd booed, but the referee's decision remained unchanged, and the Lakers' offensive play was disallowed.

Although Vandeweghe can't keep up with Green, he's causing trouble for the Lakers in his own way.

Both teams put on a high level of offensive and defensive competition in the first quarter. Led by Gan Guoyang's outstanding performance, the Trail Blazers led the Lakers 34-30 at the end of the first quarter.

Gan Guoyang scored 17 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks and 3 assists in a single quarter, with no fouls and no turnovers. His performance was impeccable.

The rest of the Trail Blazers were commendable on both ends of the court, and most importantly, they kept up with the Lakers' pace.

Many teams were worn down by the Lakers' fast pace and high intensity, unable to hold on for even a quarter, let alone a game or a series.

Jack Ramsey knew that playing against the Lakers would be extremely demanding, so he started rotating players early, replacing Vandeweghe with Jerome Kersey and Terry Porter Jr. with Paxson.

In the paint, Bill Walton came on in the second quarter, giving Gan Guoyang a short rest, and the Trail Blazers' offense was temporarily controlled by Drexler.

However, once Gan Guoyang stepped in, the Trail Blazers immediately fell behind on both offense and defense.

Walton was too slow and couldn't keep up with the Lakers' offensive pace, allowing the Lakers to score two consecutive baskets against him.

The score is now tied at 34-34.

Even though Johnson was resting, the Lakers were still very fast.

With Wes Matthews and Kevin Duckworth on the court, they spearheaded the Lakers' bench offense.

Michael Cooper constantly harassed Drexler on the defensive end, preventing the Glide from launching an attack and passing the ball to Walton in the paint.

Walton received the ball and made a beautiful behind-the-back pass to Caesar, who caught the ball and dunked it in!
Walton still has some offensive firepower, but in the playoffs he can only contribute 15 minutes, or even 10 minutes, of high-quality performance per game.

He can no longer play 20 minutes a game like he did last year, teaming up with Gan Guoyang to dismantle the opponent's defense with a twin-tower formation, nor can he form a three-high lineup to allow Gan Guoyang to play the small forward position and exploit mismatches that leave the opponent helpless.

This is the difference in physical talent. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was 40 and still full of energy, while Walton was 34 and only had one breath left on the basketball court.

But it was this last bit of energy that Walton gritted his teeth and persevered, determined to catch up in the second quarter and give Gan Guoyang enough rest time.

Ramsey and Bobby Bellman were practically timing their wait, and Gan Guoyang offered to come on earlier, but Ramsey refused.

Although the Lakers are slowly catching up, Ramsey knows that this is not a matter of short-term gains or losses, and he needs to look further ahead.

He didn't want a repeat of the 1985 Western Conference Finals, where Gan Guoyang was exhausted and worn out by the end, saying he was too tired. Such a situation couldn't happen again.

Midway through the second quarter, after Kareem Abdul-Jabbar returned to the court, he scored on a one-on-one play and then made a successful dunk after receiving the ball under the basket on a reverse run.

The score was tied at 45-45 when Jack Ramsey called a timeout. Walton went to the bench for a rest, and Gan Guoyang returned to the court.

Walton and Gan Guoyang high-fived, and Walton said, "Sorry, that's all I can do."

Gan Guoyang said, "That's enough for Bill. Leave it to me."

(End of this chapter)