The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 502 In Danger
Gan Guoyang returned to Los Angeles after a long absence.

Since 1981, many of Gan Guoyang's major basketball games have been played here.

The City of Angels was filled with a familiar scent to Gan Guoyang—the fragrance of victory.

The Los Angeles Lakers are tired of falling to Gan Guoyang time and time again, and the entire team has made full preparations for this series.

Although they were dragged into a Game 7 by the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference semifinals, revealing their true nature of being all show and no substance.

But the Lakers have a completely different mindset when facing the Trail Blazers. They have an extremely strong desire to win and are eager to make it back to the Finals.

Three years had passed since the 1985 NBA Finals. In those three years, Magic Johnson had made great progress in his skills, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar stepped down, making Johnson the true core of the Lakers.

But after becoming the core player, he ended up empty-handed. All his personal and team honors were taken away by Gan Guoyang and the Trail Blazers. How could he be at ease being the King of Los Angeles?

On May 24, a torrential downpour hit Los Angeles, seemingly foreshadowing an upcoming showdown between the Trail Blazers and the Lakers.

Before the game started, a special figure appeared in the arena: Michael Jackson, dressed in black, came to the sidelines to watch the game.

In 1988, Jackson was at the height of his fame, and his new album "Bad" caused a sensation around the world.

In September 1987, not long after returning from China, Jackson launched the "Bad" world tour.

This is a massive tour that lasted a year and a half, with performances spanning three continents, 15 countries, and more than 40 cities.

Since September 1987, the concert has been held for exactly 50 shows. Jackson took a break to rest and adjust before heading to Europe at the end of May to start the next phase of his performances.

The concert was an unprecedented success, and Jackson sparked a frenzy of enthusiasm among fans wherever he went, marking the first time that pop music had such a huge impact.

Now, wherever Jackson goes, the grandeur and the sensational impact are like water droplets falling into a boiling oil pot.

The Great Western Forum was no exception tonight; after Jackson appeared, the audience couldn't concentrate on the game.

Jackson wasn't actually there to watch the Lakers; he was there to watch Gan Guoyang play.

During the pre-match warm-up, the two chatted on the sidelines while reporters snapped photos of them non-stop.

Jackson told Gan Guoyang that he would be leaving for Europe the next day to start the next phase of his concert tour.

He just squeezed in some time tonight to watch the game for a while. He can't stay too long, or it will attract too many people and cause trouble.

Gan Guoyang asked Jackson when he could hold a concert in China. Jackson smiled and said, "I hope that day will come soon, but if that happens, I will lose my last safe haven."

The price of fame is the loss of privacy and personal space.

With Jackson's level of fame, his personal time and space were practically negligible.

Jackson left the Great Western Forum after the first quarter; he couldn't stay any longer.

During the break, more and more people approached his seat, asking for autographs and photos, and some enthusiastic fans even rushed up to hug him.

For the sake of order in the arena and for the smooth running of the game, Jackson had to leave under the escort of bodyguards.

After Jackson left, the audience's attention returned from the sidelines to the court, to the intense first game of the Western Conference Finals.

The Trail Blazers maintained their lead throughout the first quarter, thanks to Gan Guoyang's strong performance.

The two sides have faced off many times in the West, with no major changes in their lineups, so they already know each other inside and out.

So the game went very smoothly from the start, and it all came down to the players' performance on the day.

But the situation changed when both sides began rotating their lineups in the second quarter.

The Lakers fielded a lineup rarely used in the regular season: Johnson, Cooper, Scott, Edwards, and Duckworth.

This is the lineup that Nelson was most proficient with during his time with the Bucks: a powerful version of the guard trio of Moncrief, Pierce, and Plessy, with Lister and Moxki in the paint.

With two centers and three guards, a lot of high double screens and ball-handling attacks, Magic Johnson became the de facto point forward in this lineup.

This gives the Lakers a lot of offensive space. In Nelson's opinion, if Duckworth and Edwards can shoot as accurately as Forrest Gump, his lineup will be even more offensively powerful.

Because he hadn't coached a top-tier center for a long time, Nelson was forced to constantly find ways to improve the team's offensive efficiency during his time with the Bucks.

In the mid-80s, Nelson complained more than once that the team did not have a superstar center. To address this, he traded for Lanier, signed retired Dave Cowens, and traded for Jack Hickma.

Lanier did play a role, but he was too old to last long.

Dave Cowens was also too old and retired again after playing 40 games.

Hickma isn't good enough; he can't be considered a true superstar center.

Now that he's with the Lakers, he finally has Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but unfortunately, he's also past his prime.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is sufficient for the regular season and against other teams, and he's absolutely reliable in crucial moments. But against the Trail Blazers and against Forrest Gump, he's not quite enough, and Nelson needs to find more solutions.

Moreover, Nelson needs to consider the future, the next season. With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's retirement, how should the Lakers play?
Fortunately, the lack of a superstar center for many years has given Nelson a wealth of experience and methods.

In the 80s, when low-post offense was rampant, the Bucks were one of the teams with the fewest low-post back-to-the-basket plays.

The reason so many teams relied on low-post back-to-the-basket moves was because the paint was too crowded back then.

To get closer to the basket, receiving the ball with your back to the basket is the best way to attack.

Nelson took a different approach, embracing the concept of a point forward. He fielded two shooting guards alongside big men with shooting ability, allowing the big men to stretch the floor and the smaller players to weave in and out, making full use of the two corners to expand the offensive space on the court.

The point forward is a free agent on the court. The forward's height gives him the ability to combine inside and outside play.

Magic Johnson is undoubtedly the player in the entire NBA who best fits Nelson's definition of a point forward, a perfect all-around machine.

Throughout the season, Nelson experimented with a three-guard lineup in practice and occasionally used it in games, mainly those that weren't broadcast live, as he didn't want to leave behind game footage for the Trail Blazers to study.

In this three-guard system, Johnson has absolute dominance. He no longer needs to feed the ball to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Worthy in the low post. He can completely control the offense, drive, pass, and shoot. The existence of the other four players is all to serve him.

This made the Lakers' offense much smoother, incredibly fluid. Cooper and Scott provided support for shooting and cutting, while Edwards and Duckworth were perfect screeners and mid-range machines.

The Trail Blazers were unable to adapt to this offensive onslaught for a while. Even with Gan Guoyang returning to the court, they were still unable to stop the Lakers from launching a 16-7 offensive surge, widening the gap between the two teams.

Nelson's advanced offensive system caught the Trail Blazers off guard.

Coupled with the Lakers' strong desire to win and their aggressive play on the court, the Trail Blazers were suppressed on both ends of the court.

At halftime, the Lakers led the Trail Blazers by 9 points.

At the start of the third quarter, Nelson quickly got Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy to attack in the low post, while A.C. Green kept attacking the basket to grab offensive rebounds.

The Lakers' aggressive play tonight put the Trail Blazers on the back foot.

One of the biggest criticisms of the Trail Blazers this season is that when they are down at halftime, their ability to turn the tide in the third quarter, which used to be their strength, seems to have failed them.

The reason is the decline in the team's defensive intensity and the lack of speed on the offensive end.

The best way to close the gap is with high-intensity defense and fast counterattacks, which can erase the score difference in just a few minutes.

However, this season, the Trail Blazers have become a slow team that emphasizes efficiency in half-court sets.

They excel at overwhelming others with their momentum, quickly gaining an advantage at the start and then maintaining a lead throughout.

Once the Trail Blazers seize control of the game's rhythm, it becomes virtually impossible for their opponents to turn the tide.

Tonight, Nelson seized the initiative by using a three-guard lineup.

The game became quite tough when the Trail Blazers started to come back from behind.

The inconsistency of outside shooting makes players susceptible to the influence of the game situation.

When things are going well, outside shots become more and more accurate; when things are going poorly and the intensity is high, outside shots become less and less confident.

Moreover, the two sides know each other too well. When the game enters the third and fourth quarters, it is no longer a battle of tactics, but a battle of game state and willpower.

Both teams played like they were going to have a Game 7 in the first game. The Lakers were all on fire, and tonight they grabbed an incredible 17 offensive rebounds.

The Trail Blazers fought hard to catch up, but in the final moments of the fourth quarter, trailing by three points, Gan Guoyang missed a three-pointer.

The Lakers employed a rotation strategy against him, sending wave after wave of players up to wear him down and disrupt Gan Guoyang's shooting touch.

They don't want to be like last season, getting blown out by Gan Guoyang in the first two games.

Nelson's early double-teaming system played a crucial role.

Even if they get called for illegal defense three times tonight, the Lakers will not hesitate.

The Trail Blazers lost Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals 104-108, a four-point deficit.

Gan Guoyang's 29 points and 12 rebounds were in vain; he only made 1 of 3 three-point attempts, contributing to the team's poor three-point shooting.

To make matters worse, two days later, on May 26, the Trail Blazers suffered a collapse at the Western Conference.

With a score of 91:112, they suffered their most devastating loss in the playoffs, falling behind 0-2 in the series.

The situation is precarious for the Trail Blazers.

(End of this chapter)