The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 490 The Old Train

"Don Nelson's transformation of the Lakers has been successful. In the first half, the Lakers once again limited Forrest Gump's offense. In fact, no one can play a relaxed offense when facing a triple team, not even Forrest Gump."

"Of course, Forrest still scored 13 points in the first half with a 52% field goal percentage... It's a great success to keep this monster's field goal percentage below 55%."

“Nelson’s greatest success came from his offense, his fluid fast breaks. We thought that with Riley gone, the Lakers might not be able to put on showtime anymore. It turns out, the key to showtime is Johnson, not Riley…”

"55-62, the Lakers lead by 7 points. The situation is in Los Angeles' favor. Please look forward to the second half."

On radio and television in the Los Angeles area, Chick Hearn summarized the first half of the Lakers-Trail Blazers game with his signature high-pitched voice and machine-gun-like rapid speech.

In summary, the Lakers played well in the first half. Just like in their previous win against the Trail Blazers, the Lakers made excellent arrangements to counter Gan Guoyang on both offense and defense.

Faced with numerous double-teams, Gan Guoyang chose to pass the ball to his teammates. In the first half, he scored 13 points and had 6 assists, a considerable number of assists.

Drexler and Cauchy both performed well.

However, Gan Guoyang scored fewer points, which reduced his offensive threat.

The Trail Blazers only had 4 free throws in the first half, putting too little pressure on the Lakers.

Fewer free throws not only mean fewer offensive chances, but also mean the game's pace cannot be slowed down.

The Lakers launched wave after wave of attacks, spreading out from the wings, with well-coordinated small plays and mid-to-long-range shooting, rendering Gan Guoyang's strong defense under the basket ineffective.

Meanwhile, Nelson has not reduced Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's screen time, so Gan Guoyang has to devote a considerable amount of energy to defending Abdul-Jabbar one-on-one.

The Trail Blazers' lack of interior resources has once again been exposed.

Gan Guoyang is indeed extremely strong defensively, but the problem is that no matter how strong he is, he is still only one person.

During halftime, Gan Guoyang, unusually angry in the locker room, said, "We've let the Lakers control the game again! We're being led by the nose by the Los Angeles team! Where is our defense? How many times have we been fooled? Focus your attention!"

Gan Guoyang rarely loses his temper during matches. He always encourages his teammates or simply says, "If you can't do it, I will."

But this season, Gan Guoyang has been getting angry more often, and teams are targeting him more and more aggressively. It's gotten to the point where they don't care about anyone else, they just focus on marking Gan Guoyang and let the others do whatever they want.

The Trail Blazers players were clearly not as energetic on defense as they had been in the previous two seasons.

“Sonny, anger won’t solve anything,” Jack Ramsey reassured Gan Guoyang, telling him not to get too angry.

Gan Guoyang calmed himself down and listened to Ramsey summarize the first half and outline the strategy for the second half.

When discussing interior defense, Gilmore suddenly said, "I think I could play earlier."

Everyone looked at the old train, and Gilmore continued, "I'm not saying Thompson's defense is bad, but if I were to deal with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Forrest Gump were to focus on dealing with those annoying mosquitoes from the Lakers, our defense might be more effective."

Gilmore came on in the second quarter of the first half and played for a period of time, but did not get any more playing time after that.

Ramsey was worried that the Lakers' fast breaks were too sharp and that Gilmore wouldn't be able to keep up.

That was indeed the case in previous games; Gilmore could handle Kareem Abdul-Jabbar one-on-one. The problem is that Abdul-Jabbar is no longer the Lakers' primary threat, so there's no need to specifically target him.

Moreover, Gilmore's presence on the court would also create offensive problems, and his applicability is not as good as Mitchell Thompson's.

Even though Thompson hasn't been in great form lately, he's still more versatile than Gilmore.

But Gilmore came to the Trail Blazers specifically to beat the Lakers, to prove himself against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and to satisfy a grudge he'd held for almost twenty years.

Dick Motta was right when he said that while physical strength and skill are important, the role of willpower in defense should never be underestimated.

Ramsey, taking into account the playoffs and the tactics and rotations for the upcoming matchups, decided to grant Train's request.

"OK, Addis, I'll bring you back in during the first dead ball or timeout in the second half. You need to hold the paint and keep up with the pace of the game, especially on defense. Forgo offensive rebounding and get back to the court immediately."

“Understood, Coach,” Gilmore said.

In the first half of the season, Gilmore's performance was only so-so, making Trail Blazers fans feel that the summer signing was a waste.

However, Gilmore, who trained with Gan Guoyang in the summer, did not slack off.

During the season, he was inspired by Gan Guoyang's hard work and diligence, and insisted on getting up early every day to train, controlling his diet, and controlling his weight.

He kept telling himself: This is my last season, and I want to save my best form for the most crucial games. As the season progressed, Gilmore's form improved.

After the start of the second half, Gan Guoyang calmed down.

The third quarter belonged to Gan Guoyang, but he didn't rush to force his way through.

"Use your charisma to create opportunities for your teammates. You now carry Bill's responsibility, and you have the ability to make your teammates better."

This is something Ramsey has said to Gan Guoyang multiple times this season.

Gan Guoyang's assists reached a career high during the regular season.

After the start of the third quarter, he came out more to provide support and cover, leaving the main offensive responsibility to Drexler, Porter, and Cauchy.

These three little black things are quite fierce once they unleash their firepower.

Kersey and Drexler hit consecutive shots, followed by Porter hitting a three-pointer on a fast break, helping the Trail Blazers narrow the gap to 2 points.

Don Nelson immediately called a timeout, knowing that the Trail Blazers were always fierce in the third quarter.

During the timeout, Nelson devised a strategy to target Kareem Abdul-Jabbar one-on-one.

The best thing for Don Nelson this season is that he finally has a superstar center like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

In the past, without a superstar center, Don Nelson had to rack his brains to improve the offense.

Whether it's a point forward, mismatch offense, or a three-guard lineup, it all boils down to getting the ball into the basket.

The advantage of having a super center is that when you encounter problems, whether it's a lack of offensive flow, poor defense, a wrong rhythm, an unstable situation, low morale, or a whole host of other issues, you can solve them all with one method: give the ball to the super center and let him score two goals.

Once the ball goes in, many problems are easily solved.

Basketball will become simpler, the margin for error will be higher, and teammates will be able to catch their breath and rest.

A super center is like aspirin on the basketball court; no matter what the problem is, one pill is always the right thing to do.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was once the most effective drug, and even at 40, it was still very effective at certain times.

But this time, after the timeout ended and both teams returned to the court, Nelson discovered that the Trail Blazers had brought in Gilmore.

Nelson thought to himself, "Is Dr. Jack starting the rotation so early? Or does he want Gilmore to play center and Forrest to play power forward to solve the defensive problem? Old Train can't run anymore, he'll be exhausted from running."

Thinking it over, Nelson instructed Magic Johnson to increase his speed further and try to outpace Gilmore.

Johnson nodded to indicate that he understood.

The Lakers are one of the few teams in the league that plays basketball like an athletics competition.

During the peak of Showtime, many teams were outrun by the Lakers.

They could keep up at first, but as the game progressed, their physical strength declined and their concentration waned, making them completely unstoppable.

The Lakers players are all still full of energy, like marathon runners who never tire.

The Trail Blazers are one of the few teams that can keep up with the Lakers. Their training is just as tough, and they have a center who never tires of running.

On the first offensive possession after the timeout, Gilmore became the defender on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The two old guys had been at odds for over a decade, with Gilmore living in Skyhook's shadow the whole time.

They were the same height and had similar builds, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was far more talented and his achievements were incomparable.

But at that moment, Gilmore had only one thought in his mind: I'm going to kill Jabbar!
"Kareem faced Gilmore in the low post, dribbled, turned, and then hooked the ball!"

"Oh my god, Gilmore blocked Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's hook shot! A solid block!"

Chick Hearn's voice rose again.

(End of this chapter)