The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 508 The Significance of Victory

Gan Guoyang's incredible putback dunk made Los Angeles fans feel that the King of Los Angeles had returned.

Gan Guoyang's winning percentage on the Western Forum this season is not high; he has only won one game so far.

That was the game where Hornacek scored the winning goal.

Los Angeles fans also thought, "Forrest Gump can finally stop hurting us in Los Angeles."

As a result, Gan Guoyang played better and better, and became unstoppable on the offensive end.

After the putback dunk, all the pressure fell on the Lakers.

The Trail Blazers' offensive success rate is ridiculously high.

The success rate is 100% after pausing and returning.

This means the Lakers have to keep up and achieve a 100% success rate.

Under normal circumstances, a success rate of 50% is already quite high.

Eighty percent is already incredibly high.

In such an intense match, making consecutive crucial shots like that would be unsustainable for anyone.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's difficult goal just now was already somewhat lucky.

The experienced Johnson attempted to drive to the basket to draw a foul, which was a good option.

But Gan Guoyang defended very well, dodging Johnson's close guard and letting Johnson drive to the basket at the last minute.

As a result, Johnson's final layup attempt was too short; the ball spun around the rim and then fell out, missing the basket!

Gilmore grabbed the defensive rebound, a crucial rebound, and the old train kept the ball firmly under control.

Gilmore didn't pass the ball to the guard, but instead to Gan Guoyang. When Gan Guoyang saw Johnson and Cooper rushing towards him, he immediately called a timeout.

The Trail Blazers led 99-96 with just over two minutes left in the game, less than three minutes.

The Trail Blazers controlled the game, but failed to secure the victory, and their 3-point lead was far from secure.

A single mistake in attack or defense could undo all the previous efforts.

Furthermore, the Trail Blazers face another problem: Gilmore is tired.

He can only last this long; staying any longer would only harm the team.

Therefore, Jack Ramsey had to replace Gilmore with Thompson.

Fortunately, Thompson was in great shape tonight, and he was even more energized after learning of the birth of his son.

"Let's take this victory and celebrate the birth of little Thompson!"

During the timeout, Gan Guoyang encouraged his teammates.

"Mitchell, what name are you going to give your son?"

Thompson said, "Mychal is one letter different from my name. I am A (Mychal), and he is E (Mychel)."

"For Michael!"

"For Michael!"

The players encouraged each other and returned to the game.

The Trail Blazers' sideline inbounds play was exactly the same as before.

Gan Guoyang ran to the top of the arc to receive the ball, putting the Lakers' defense in a dilemma.

The moment Gan Guoyang received the ball, he attracted all of the Lakers' defensive attention.

He suddenly made a no-look pass to the basket, where Thompson, who was making a reverse run, received the ball and slammed it home with one hand over the defense!

Not only did the ball go in, it also drew a defensive foul from James Worthy!
Don Nelson paid the price for his compromise.

His original three-guard lineup consisted of a center and two 7-footers.

This ensures sufficient flexibility on the outside while providing adequate height and rim protection on the inside.

Now, to save face for James Worthy, he's moving Worthy to the power forward position.

This lineup is still very strong and effective against other teams, even the Pistons or the Celtics.

Playing against the Trail Blazers won't work. The Trail Blazers have Forrest Gump, and your interior defense doesn't have a dynamic support point, so you're bound to suffer a big loss.

A missed offensive rebound and a defensive foul cost the Lakers their chances of winning the game.

Mitchell Thompson made the free throw, making it 102-96, and the Trail Blazers extended their lead to 6 points.

This is a fairly solid lead, but the Trail Blazers didn't let their guard down and maintained their defensive formation.

Gan Guoyang abandoned his one-on-one defense against Johnson and returned to the paint to guard the basket.

This is a relatively safe strategy. Now that we have the lead, we must not give the Lakers an easy opportunity to score.

Johnson drove through the middle and passed the ball to the baseline, but Byron Scott's three-point attempt missed.

But Kareem Abdul-Jabbar fought hard to grab the offensive rebound—his only offensive rebound of the game.

After securing the rebound, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar immediately called a timeout. Returning to the bench, he said to Nelson, "You should have called a timeout earlier, you were spacing out, coach!" Nelson was indeed distracted. Not only Nelson, but Johnson was too; he forgot to call a timeout, wasting more than ten seconds.

Because Nelson had been thinking that he shouldn't have used a lineup with three guards, Worthy, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Theoretically speaking, there's nothing wrong with this lineup; if it were Riley, he would use the same lineup.

Because Riley would also lose to Forrest Gump and the Trail Blazers.

Nelson's dilemma was that he knew how to deal with the Trail Blazers.

He knew that a three-defender formation would likely be effective.

He should use Edwards at the power forward position.

While protecting the paint and rebounds, the guards should make frequent and thorough cuts to the basket, allowing them to dominate the offense.

They can definitely break through the Trail Blazers' defense, just like Cooper's two go-ahead three-pointers.

But he compromised, and he felt frustrated, yet he didn't know how to vent his emotions.

Is he going to go and yell at Worthy? Worthy didn't do anything wrong; aside from the game against the Trail Blazers, he was actually in very good form.

Nelson could no longer remain calm; he snapped at himself and paused the timeout.

When Earl-Stromb came over to urge him, he yelled at Stromb.

Stromb said, "Nellie, don't take your temper out on me unless you want to be kicked out!"

Nelson roared, "Punish me! Go ahead and throw me out! Fuck you, fuck!"

Strom's officiating tonight was without much problem or controversy; he officiated well.

Seeing Nelson's agitation, Strom hesitated for a moment before blowing the whistle he had in his mouth.

He said, "I know you're unhappy about the loss. You want to leave early? No way."

With that, Strom urged both sides to continue the game, and then ignored Nelson.

After being calmed down by the assistant coach, Nelson returned to the bench. He was indeed angry, angry at himself.

Back in the game, the Lakers first gave the ball to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Scott cut in from the middle to receive a pass from Abdul-Jabbar.

As a result, his layup was blocked by Gan Guoyang, who came over to help defend!

Thompson got the ball after the block attempt, and the Trail Blazers were fully in form on both offense and defense.

On the contrary, the Lakers were in disarray, their morale was low, and Scott's layup attempt, despite his attempts to dodge, still ended up being blocked.

With that block, the Trail Blazers have the victory firmly in their grasp.

Drexler dribbled past half-court and passed the ball to Gan Guoyang at the top of the arc.

Michael Cooper came over to defend closely, and Gan Guoyang passed the ball to Hornacek.

Hornacek then passed the ball to Porter on the wing, who then passed it to Mitchell Thompson in the low post.

Thompson had a chance to post up Worthy and hit a hook shot after a turnaround!
A man with a son is different; Thompson scored 5 points in a row!
The last man with a son this strong was Dell Curry.

His son, Stephen Curry, was born in March, and Dell Curry's performance has been on a steady upward trajectory ever since.

His best performance this year was shooting 4 out of 5 three-pointers in the semifinals against the Mavericks.

In what was arguably the most crucial game of the season, Thompson, now a father, shook off his regular season slump and played a key role.

With a score of 104-96, the Trail Blazers had extended their lead to 8 points and secured the victory.

Although Scott made a three-pointer, giving the fans in the arena a glimmer of hope.

However, Drexler made his free throws with ease, and Cooper missed his three-pointer, bringing the score to 106-99.

When the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the game, the Trail Blazers players cheered and ran back to the locker room.

Back in the locker room, everyone was chanting "Mitchell," "Mitchell," "Mitchell!"
Then, Gan Guoyang announced to his teammates, somewhat embarrassed, that he was going to be a father.

The locker room erupted in madness as everyone rushed over to hug and kiss Gan Guoyang, congratulating him in advance on becoming a father.

At this moment, the team atmosphere is incredibly harmonious. When the team wins, all the bad things from the past can be temporarily forgotten.

This is perhaps the meaning of victory.

On June 3, the Trail Blazers returned to their home court and defeated the Lakers again by 4 points, 119-123.

They defeated their strongest opponent of the season with a score of 4-2 and advanced to the finals.

The Portlanders have taken an incredibly solid step toward defending their title.

"Kersey said: "1988 was a magical year. Dell Curry became a father, Mitchell Thompson had his first son during the Western Conference Finals, then Forrest Gump said in the locker room that he was going to be a father too, followed by Hornacek getting married and becoming a father as well."

We went crazy after Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals. We celebrated in the locker room, both for the victory and for the birth of a new life.

To be honest, back then I couldn't understand why we needed to have children or get married.

My childhood experiences instilled in me a fear of marriage and a fear of having children, so it wasn't until much later that I decided to have a child of my own.

—Excerpt from "Jerome Kersey—Overcoming The Odds," a biography of Jerome Kersey written by Kerry Eggers and published in 2021.

(End of this chapter)