The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 608 Knowing it well
With Hornacek's departure, Reggie Lewis successfully entered the Trail Blazers' starting lineup, taking on the starting shooting guard position.

Reggie Lewis stands at 6'7", and like Drexler, the Trail Blazers' height at the wing has increased dramatically, making them one of the tallest starting lineups in the league.

With Sabonis at 7'4", Gan Guoyang at 6'10", and Korsey a typical heavy small forward (whose weight is approaching 240 pounds), plus Lewis and Porter, the Trail Blazers once again have an outstanding starting lineup height.

Therefore, before the start of the new season, many media outlets speculated that the Portland Trail Blazers' defense would be even better, and they might return to the style of play they had in 1987 and 1988, using wave-like high-intensity defense and continuous one-on-one attacks to overwhelm their opponents.

However, the Trail Blazers displayed a very unusual starting move in tonight's opening game against the Rockets.

During the scramble, Sabonis passed the ball to Porter, who then passed it to Sabonis, who was positioned high at the top of the penalty arc, after crossing half-court.

The Trail Blazers started with a classic Princeton offense: a 2-2-1 formation.

In theory, the Princeton offense doesn't have clearly defined positions; each player can play all five positions.

This is because Princeton University often fails to attract top-talented high school players, especially tall, elite centers, when recruiting players.

Firstly, Princeton is not a basketball powerhouse and cannot attract basketball talents. Secondly, Princeton is an Ivy League school with very high academic requirements. Those talented black players who can only play basketball simply do not meet Princeton's admission requirements and cannot get scholarships (Princeton does not offer athletic scholarships).

Therefore, Pete Carell only had a few average players with mediocre talent who couldn't make it into the professional league after college.

These players are not outstanding in height, build, or speed, making it difficult to find specialists in any particular area; often, it's impossible to find even a tall center.

Simply obscure their positions and have them perform the same tasks on the court: dribbling, passing, and shooting. This makes it harder for the opponent to defend.

However, the situation is different when applied to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers have a group of basketball talents who can play many positions and functions, not out of necessity, but because they really can.

Domantas Sabonis is 7 feet 4 inches tall, a classic center height, but he is also a threat on the perimeter. He can play the power forward position, shoot from long range, pass the ball, and dribble from beyond the three-point line to initiate attacks inside.

Needless to say, Gan Guoyang is at position 5 in this possession, serving as the pivot of the team's half-court offense. In the next possession, he can move to the high post, and in the possession after that, he can go to the wing to serve as a spot-up shooter.

In the NCAA, the ambiguity of positions in the Princeton offense is a necessity. In the NBA, however, the ambiguity of positions in the Princeton offense can actually enhance the team's tactical flexibility and fully unleash the players' versatility.

Rick Adelman thought of Pete Carell's Princeton offense because he realized that the Trail Blazers' three big men were all very versatile centers.

They are versatile, capable of playing both inside and outside, especially with a very good outside shooting ability and excellent passing talent, which can turn the limitations of the Princeton system into advantages.

Unfortunately, Divac has left for the Boston Celtics, which Adelman regrets greatly, as he believes Divac is a better fit for the system than Sabonis.

Positional ambiguity can raise the ceiling for both players and teams; consequently, tactics will inevitably become more complex, and players will have to think about more things.

With a fixed position and tactical routine, once players know their role, they can simply follow the established procedures on the field.

Like the Trail Blazers' "two reductions and one increase" strategy in earlier years, the tactics were initiated by the point guard, while the wing players could cut and roll around.

Earlier, like in 1987, the simplest approach was to set up Forrest Gump in the low post for a one-on-one game. If someone double-teamed him, he would pass the ball; if no one double-teamed him, he would just stand outside and watch.

If you send a high school student who has never been to college to practice for a morning, he'll know how to play a match by the afternoon.

The Princeton offense is different. It's similar to the triangle offense, emphasizing player autonomy. Players have to make their own judgments and decide how to play based on the defensive situation.

This puts a great strain on a player's basketball IQ, on-court experience, individual skills, and teamwork.

Starting the offense from a 2-2-1 formation, Pete Carell's playbook for the Trail Blazers contained hundreds of follow-up variations.

It's simply impossible for a training camp to fully grasp all these changes and apply them flexibly in a match.

It's no wonder there are doubts within the Trail Blazers team. They've won four championships with their simple and efficient tactics in the past, so why do they need to learn new things?

Bobby Bellman and Adelman worked together to screen and streamline these tactics, eliminating some that were unsuitable for NBA rules and pace, overly complex, or required too much passing and movement.

Only a few classic tactics that are tactically deceptive and suitable for the NBA are retained and incorporated into daily training.

Even after screening, these strategies can be divided into three major series, more than a dozen basic schemes, and hundreds of subsequent variations.

It was still quite complicated, so the Trail Blazers' first offensive play was not successful.

Gan Guoyang was in the low post and communicating with Porter, trying to implement a high-post playmaking tactic.

Gan Guoyang set a screen for Porter at the corner, Porter passed the ball to Sabonis, and then cut to the basket using the screen.

Sabonis has three options: shoot himself, pass to Porter cutting to the basket, or pass to Agan.

As a result, Porter's pass and cut weren't fast enough, and Sabonis hesitated when making his choice.

The Rockets' defense caught up, and Porter had no chance to get to the corner under the basket. Sabonis had no choice but to pass the ball to Gan Guoyang, who received the ball at the corner and faced Olajuwon. A high post play turned into Gan Guoyang having the ball at the corner and going one-on-one with Olajuwon.

Facing Hakeem Olajuwon, Gan Guoyang took a probing step and then shot a jump shot. Olajuwon defended very well and interfered in time, and the ball spun around the rim and fell out.

At this point, another problem arose with the Princeton offense: because the power forwards and center were positioned far out, they had difficulty grabbing offensive rebounds.

The Princeton offense doesn't prioritize offensive rebounds because it uses players with mediocre physical attributes and short stature. They're lucky if they can get back on defense in time, let alone fight for offensive rebounds.
But the Trail Blazers are different. With Reggie Lewis joining the starting lineup, the Trail Blazers have one of the tallest average heights in the league, and they also have two strong offensive rebounding big men, Forrest Gump and Domantas Sabonis.

Not grabbing offensive rebounds is undoubtedly a huge waste of resources, and this is an issue that the Trail Blazers need to address and resolve.

The shot missed, and Bobby Bellman on the sidelines yelled at Gan Guoyang, "You should have driven past Sonny! The paint was open, that's another opportunity!"

Bellman was right; a face-up drive was indeed an opportunity. However, Gan Guoyang also had his own thoughts: Olajuwon defended that shot very well.

Their positioning was precise, leaving no gaps on either side. They spread out two steps to allow Gan Guoyang to shoot. If he tried to drive, he might not be able to get past him. Meanwhile, Lewis and Agan on the flanks clearly lacked coordination, standing too close together and not creating enough space.

Unfortunately, Lewis is accurate from mid-range, but three-pointers are not his strong suit. At training camp, Lewis has focused on developing and training his three-point shot.

But this is not something that can be mastered overnight; it takes at least a season of honing skills.

The Trail Blazers' first offensive play at Princeton ended hastily due to the players' lack of coordination and teamwork.

This was expected, and the Rockets' tactics were very simple and clear: give Hakeem Olajuwon the ball in the low post to isolate and attack Domantas Sabonis.

Sabonis was significantly larger than Olajuwon, but Olajuwon still used his speed and footwork to turn inside and hit a high hook shot with his right hand, scoring the first point of the game.

After scoring, Olajuwon tracked back and said to Gan Guoyang, "Sonny, is the team afraid to let you mark me anymore?"

Gan Guoyang smiled and said, "Sabonis has done enough to deal with you."

Hakeem Olajuwon then said, "What kind of bullshit tactics are you using? Are you so spineless that you're just throwing from the outside?"

Gan Guoyang did not answer. This time it was his turn to go to the outside to receive the ball and provide support. Gan Guoyang chose to make a through pass to Sabonis at the corner position.

After receiving the ball, Sabonis observed the situation for a moment and then suddenly made a behind-the-back pass to Kosi on the wing, who was cutting to the basket using Gan Guoyang's screen.

Kossi dunked with both hands!

A brilliant backdoor tactic that utilizes the "cut" strategy in the Princeton offense to create an open three-second zone for the small forward.

After scoring, Agam high-fived Sabonis and Kossi. The excitement brought by this tactic of running into complete open space and then successfully scoring was truly different.

Off the court, Adelman and Bobby Bellman were also very excited. Although they were expressionless, you could see from this play that the Trail Blazers players really have a talent for this system.

Although Sabonis is not a playmaking center forward, his passing in short passing combinations is truly outstanding. He has large hands, quick passing, deceptive movements, and precise through balls, making him best suited for this kind of cut-and-push style of play.

However, such a successful backdoor tactic is not easy to execute, and the Trail Blazers' starting five players still lacked tactical chemistry.

Especially Reggie Lewis, who didn't participate much in this system. He was a newcomer, just joined the Trail Blazers, and was new to Princeton.

He ran back and forth for several rounds, but barely touched the ball. When he did touch it, he hesitated, unsure of what to do next.

Should he pass, shoot, or drive? Many times he chose to pass back to Gan Guoyang or Porter, resulting in ineffective passes and causing the team's progress to stagnate.

The Rockets capitalized on the opportunity to launch a series of fast breaks. Kenny Smith received the ball and drove to the basket, but was blocked by Gan Guoyang.

Hakeem Olajuwon grabbed the offensive rebound and slammed home a one-handed dunk.

In their half-court offense, the Rockets also focused on lobbing the ball to the basket, allowing Olajuwon to take one-on-one shots.

If Olajuwon misses, Thorpe will rush in to cover, or pass to Maxwell or Kenny Smith for a drive.

In short, the Rockets' style of play is simple and direct, just like the Trail Blazers used to play.

The Trail Blazers are currently playing a bit like Zhang Fei embroidering flowers – they've done most of the work and have indeed embroidered a few flowers, but looking at the score, they're down by 4 points against the Rockets.

John Weitzer's concerns were valid; the Trail Blazers failed to adapt to the new system, relying too much on their brains during the game.

It's not that you shouldn't use your brain when playing, but in the high-speed competition of the NBA, instinct and teamwork play the majority of the game.

When you start thinking a lot, it means you're going to hesitate, and once you hesitate, your opponent's defense is ready.

In the first quarter, Princeton's offense not only failed to provide the Trail Blazers with a smooth attack, but instead, it was like a rusty water pipe, intermittent and dripping.

At the end of the first quarter, the score was 27-23, with the Trail Blazers trailing the Rockets by 4 points.

A score of 23 points is not the level of offense the Trail Blazers should have.

During the break, Bobby Bellman reminded everyone, "Our system isn't indecisive. I've given each of you the power to make choices, and you need to use that power wisely. Of course, we need time, but I believe in you, and I believe you'll use your brains to solve problems. We have plenty of time, and I have plenty of patience!"

Berman encouraged the players, but to be honest, he wasn't very confident.

He had already discussed it privately with Rick Adelman and they would experiment for two weeks.

If things don't go well and the results are poor, you should consider reverting to the original, simpler strategy.

As the defending champion, the pressure is immense.

However, Gan Guoyang seemed very relaxed. He asked Shalov how many assists he had in the first quarter.

"It should be three assists."

"Three times? Impossible, there should be four. Doesn't my pass to Petrovic count as an assist?"

"He dribbled from the baseline to the basket, faked out his opponent before going for the layup, so it shouldn't count."

"Really? The movements looked fluid, so I thought it was an assist. Three times... so-so."

Gan Guoyang is clearly more mentally stable than the coach; playing ball is like driving a car.

When driving fast, the driver is often not afraid, but the person sitting in the passenger seat is extremely nervous.

Bellman and Adelman were like navigators in the passenger seat. Although they planned the route, Gan Guoyang knew exactly what was on the steering wheel and the accelerator.

(End of this chapter)