The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 562 Wish you good luck
Learning the triangle offense is like learning a foreign language; just when we think we've mastered it, trouble strikes again.

Some of us hoped Phil would change his mind and abandon the whole plan.

Now I understand why Doug never changed his mind—all head coaches are equally stubborn.

“That’s what we’re going to do,” Phil told us. “You’ll have to figure it out yourselves.”

We achieved this through constant repetition.

The players are more confident in the defensive weaknesses they identify and are no longer blaming themselves.

In the 1989-1990 season, we achieved a record of 14 wins and 3 losses from the end of November to the beginning of January.

Perhaps believing in this system will make us winners. Who knows? Who cares?

Anyway, I've fallen in love with the triangle offense.

Almost every player on the court touches the ball every time they have possession; they all feel like they are part of the offense, whether they shoot or not.

Through our joint efforts, we learned to respect and trust each other, and to believe in one another.

Phil offered constructive criticism; instead of embarrassing us in front of the fans and teammates, he pulled us aside or had the assistant coach explain what we had done wrong.

As a player, I felt respected; more importantly, as a person, I was respected.

I disagree with some of the Zen concepts he introduced to the team, such as burning sage and having us close our eyes to meditate.

I'm sorry, Phil, I know you mean well, but that's too advanced for me.

I have not read the books he distributes as gifts every year.

On the other hand, I completely agree with his point that a basketball team is a group of people, not a collection of individual people.

He united us.

When playing away games, Phil doesn't necessarily go directly from the hotel to the stadium for training.

He would occasionally take us to visit Washington's landmarks or the Statue of Liberty, but he would control the timing and frequency.

There is a subtle dividing line between the inside and outside of the stadium, and Phil, having been a player for many years, knows where that dividing line is.

Our training sessions are usually more intense than actual matches.

Most of the time, Michael and I were in the first group, and every now and then, Phil would put me in the second group to play against Michael, Horrys, and the other starters.

I enjoy challenges, and I'll be primarily guarding Michael in the second group.

My strategy for defending Michael is not a mystery:
This forces him away from the basket and into the so-called "help defense" zone, allowing his teammates to come and double-team him in time.

Michael wouldn't choose to pass the ball at this point; he would launch an attack despite being guarded by two or even three people.

At the same time, he would also come to defend me on the defensive end, and we continued to improve in each offensive and defensive confrontation.

Phil didn't push us too hard, especially after we turned thirty. He saved our energy and physical strength for crucial moments.

Our training is structured; every movement and every exercise has a purpose.

He told us, "Train hard, shorten working hours, and improve work efficiency."

Although he believed in love triangles, Phil believed even more in something else: victory.

Translate this: Pass the ball to Michael. The rest of you, move aside.

This would typically be devastating for the opponent, as they are focused on defending the triangle offense.

Now they have to suddenly change their entire strategy and focus on stopping one player.

And this player's name is Michael Jordan.

good luck.

Of course, this "you" does not include Forrest Gump.

Those who know, know.

—Excerpt from Scott Pippen's autobiography, Unguarded, published in 2021.

After Jordan and Gan Guoyang entered the game, the offense and defense of both sides immediately revolved around the two players.

Instead of getting worked up and taking the lead himself, Jordan continued to use his defensive presence to create opportunities for his teammates.

During the counterattack, Jordan, with his keen eye for the ball, delivered an accurate bounce pass to the right side, where Hodges caught the ball and made a jump shot for the score.

After the Bulls made that basket, Gan Guoyang couldn't help but say to Jordan, "Michael, you're playing more and more like me now, you know how to pass the ball."

Jordan was speechless. "So sharing the ball is like you? What does it have to do with you?"
"I'm not like you, it's just that your scoring is getting worse and worse," Jordan said.

Gan Guoyang's scoring has indeed been declining in the past two years. After his peak season with 38 points, Gan Guoyang no longer pursues high scores.

His average points per game dropped to around 30, and the scoring list became Jordan's domain, with no one able to compete with him.

Gan Guoyang didn't say anything, but immediately scored two consecutive baskets against Stacy King on offense. The second basket was a three-pointer, which drew a foul from King.

Jin shook his head, thinking to himself, "It's fine for you two bosses to trash talk each other, but don't drag me, your little brother, into it! I'm still a rookie!"
Phil Jackson did not commit heavily to defending Gan Guoyang, nor did he devise any special tactics, relying mainly on one-on-one defense with occasional help defense.

He knew that Pippen was very effective at helping defend Forrest Gump, but based on past experience, it was often counterproductive to have Pippen devote a lot of energy to helping defend Forrest Gump.

Pippen could get into foul trouble, or if Forrest Gump explodes, he could leave Pippen mentally disoriented and unable to perform well on offense and in other areas.

Jackson needs Pippen to do more: to organize, to score, to defend the opponent's perimeter, to rebound, and to cover for weaknesses in the paint.

Tying him to Forrest Gump is a dead end and a waste of his talent. For an inside player, just send multiple bodyguards to keep an eye on him the whole time.

So, after going around in circles, Phil Jackson's defense against Forrest Gump has returned to the primitive rotation strategy employed by many coaches in the past.

All the coaches in the past failed. Forrest Gump's scoring ability far exceeded the imagination of ordinary people, and the rotation of players could not wear him down at all.

But Jackson still had to do it because, firstly, if Pippen was sidelined, and Forrest Gump used his passing to organize the entire Trail Blazers team, the Blazers would be even more powerful, making it even harder for the Bulls to compete. Secondly, other coaches didn't have Jordan, but Jackson did.

Using Jordan and Forrest Gump as trade bait is the biggest source of confidence for the Bulls, Jackson, and the Trail Blazers in their competition.

Pudu received a pass from Jordan at a 45-degree angle, turned and shot, but missed.

But Jordan had already driven from the middle to the basket and scored on a putback dunk!

Jordan passed the ball to Purdue, knowing he definitely wouldn't be able to make the shot against Forrest Gump.

So he was already prepared to drive to the basket for a putback, while Divac was unprepared and didn't position himself properly beforehand.

But immediately on offense, Divac received the ball at the high post and made a clever pass to Gan Guoyang. Gan Guoyang was unguarded and cut to the basket to receive the ball and easily dunked.

The Bulls' defense also had problems; when faced with a rotation of one-on-one defenders, they weren't focused enough on guarding Gan Guoyang.

This made Gan Guoyang very angry.

He ran to the sidelines and yelled at Jackson, "Phil, are you looking down on me? You let me score an easy basket? Where's your defense? Where's the double-teaming? What are you doing?"

Jackson shrugged and said, "We're just being respectful to you, Sonny! Two more people can't do anything to you anyway!"

Gan Guoyang smiled and said, "You speak much better than that guy Pat, but if you don't send more people to guard against me, I won't be polite."

Since Larry Bird, almost no player has been as arrogant and confident as Gan Guoyang; even Jordan is somewhat lacking.

After all, Jordan hadn't won a championship yet, but Forrest Gump was already a true dynasty builder.

After Gan Guoyang finished speaking, Phil Jackson broke out in a cold sweat.

He glanced at the stats; Forrest Gump had scored 12 points so far, clearly without putting in much effort.

Jordan was in a similar situation, scoring only 10 points in the first half.

With five minutes left in the second quarter, is Forrest Gump about to unleash his full potential?

Both teams' starting lineups gradually returned to the field. Berman replaced Divac with Thompson, Robinson with Korsey.

Jackson brought Cartwright back in, replacing Purdue, then John Paxson, and finally Hodges.

Paxson dribbles, Jordan receives the ball at the top of the key, and passes it to Cartwright in the middle.

Cartwright knew he couldn't beat Forrest, so he passed the ball to Grant, who was cutting to the basket.

Grant's layup was blocked by Thompson, and Gan Guoyang got the ball and immediately started a counterattack.

Gan Guoyang's dribbling skills are so good that he's not afraid of smaller players trying to intercept him; he just knocks anyone who dares to get close.

And once he gets going, who dares to stop him? Who dares to draw an offensive foul? Would the rest of the game even be possible?

So Gan Guoyang charged straight to the blocker and slammed the ball in with one hand!

While gliding through the air, he also makes sure to brace himself with the back of his head, a classic dunking move.

The Memorial Stadium was brought to the first climax of the night's game.

Seeing this, Jordan knew that Forrest Gump was starting to accelerate, and he had to keep up.

Otherwise, the Bulls would have been pulled away by the Trail Blazers in the final stages of the first half.

"Serve, quick!"

Jordan reminded Pippen that after receiving the ball, Jordan would quickly cross half-court.

He easily dribbled past Petrovic with a simple change of direction.

A pull-up mid-range jump shot, and it went in!

Petrovic stopped competing with Jordan and obediently passed the ball to Gan Guoyang.

A classic baseline catch, facing Cartwright, a mid-range jump shot for the score.

Jordan dribbled with his back to the basket, pushing past Petrovic as he drove inside.

Terry Porter came over to double-team in the middle, quickly turned around, cut in at a 45-degree angle, faced Agan and pulled up for a jump shot, which went in off the backboard.

"Your defense has dropped, Sonny!"

"No, it's just that your luck has improved!"

Gan Guoyang also turned his back to the basket, quickly turned and leaned forward to shoot, making a clean shot.

The game turned into a duel between the two players at the end of the second quarter, with everyone else becoming spectators.

If there were spotlights on the court, they would be shining on the two of them right now, while the rest of the court would be completely dark.

At that moment, Pippen suddenly appeared, and after Jordan was double-teamed, he received a pass and cut into the middle, attempting to complete a dunk.

As a result, Gan Guoyang blocked his shot so hard that he flew off his feet, lost his balance, and fell heavily to the ground.

That was a great block, no foul whatsoever. The Trail Blazers launched a counterattack, exploiting a numerical advantage, with Petrovic leading the charge.

When he drove into the basket, he passed the ball backwards to avoid Jordan's block. Gan Guoyang caught the ball and easily dunked it!

At this moment, Pippen had just gotten up from the ground; his back had been hurt and was throbbing.

Pippen dunked over Olajuwon and Ewing, and more than once.

But he couldn't dunk on Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump wasn't as tall as those two guys, but he was faster, more explosive, and stronger.

More importantly, he shouldn't have tried to steal the spotlight. He thought he could get into the limelight, but instead, he was kicked out.

(End of this chapter)