The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 680 Rain Man
By May, the riots in Los Angeles had gradually subsided thanks to the efficient suppression by the government, police, and National Guard, including actions such as cutting off water and electricity.

In addition to Los Angeles, small-scale riots also broke out in cities such as Chicago, Phoenix, New York, Seattle, and San Francisco.

In an effort to stop the escalating riots, the United States even deployed the Marines, resulting in the arrest of a large number of people. It is estimated that a total of 53 people died in the riots.

Although the riots were quelled, the contradictions and divisions between different ethnic groups in the United States, an immigrant country, had already begun to emerge in the early 90s.

Portland is one of the calmer cities, with residents' attention focused on the Portland Trail Blazers and their second three-peat.

Fans have high expectations for the Trail Blazers. If they can achieve a second three-peat, the Trail Blazers will become the most dominant team in the NBA since the Boston Celtics in the 60s.

From the playoffs onward, or even from the regular season of 1991-1992, the second three-peat was the only thing Portland fans cared about.

This is undoubtedly a huge pressure for the entire Trail Blazers team.

They remain united, they remain strong, but in the face of victory, they feel more relieved than elated.

Mental fatigue is inevitable; everyone becomes numb to victories other than the championship.

A big win in the regular season, a comeback in the playoffs, and a smooth advancement could not boost the team's morale.

On May 6th, at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, the Western Conference Semifinals game between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle SuperSonics.

The atmosphere in the Trail Blazers' locker room before the game was somewhat subdued, and Bobby Bellman, who is usually full of passion and swears, seemed rather dejected.

The reason is simple: this guy recently broke up with his girlfriend. The female lawyer he had been dating couldn't stand the long-distance relationship and chose to break up with him.

Berman readily agreed to the breakup and threw himself back into his basketball coaching career, though his mood was still somewhat affected.

Gan Guoyang was a quick-witted fellow. Knowing that Bellman had lost his love, he not only didn't comfort him, but also made sarcastic remarks, "Bobby, you betrayed basketball, and this is the punishment you deserve."

"Shut up, Sonny. Breakups and makeups are normal. Don't bring this up."

"You didn't suffer any financial loss, did you? Did you pay any breakup fee?"

"This has nothing to do with you! Just focus on playing basketball. I bet the SuperSonics will target you tonight, so watch out. George Karl is a dangerous guy."

Gan Guoyang shook his head and said, "The danger is not George Carr, but Cloppenburg."

The SuperSonics have been quite turbulent in the past two years, with the head coach, management, and core players changing one after another.

But one person's position remains as secure as a rock: SuperSonics assistant coach Kloppenberg.

Kloppenberg has been the team's assistant coach for seven years, since the 1985-1986 season.

This is enough to demonstrate the confidence that the SuperSonics management and players have in his abilities.

In recent years, Kloppburg has continuously optimized his SOS defensive system. Regardless of who is in charge, his defensive setup is very important for a team.

In the 1988 playoffs, the Trail Blazers faced another Trail Blazers opponent in the second round. At that time, Kloppenberg used the still-developing SOS defense against the Trail Blazers and Forrest Gump.

Because they were not yet mature enough, the SuperSonics were easily broken up by the Trail Blazers' strong interior defense and suffered a quick defeat. The SOS defensive system did not truly unleash its power.

Over the next few years, Kloppenberg continued to refine this defensive system, deeply imprinting it into the SuperSonics' playing style and significantly influencing the SuperSonics management's player selection criteria.

According to the SOS defensive system, players are required to have extremely high energy, strong mobility, fierce defensive temperament, and outstanding physical qualities.

Based on this standard, the SuperSonics recruited a group of forwards and guards with good physical qualities and aggressive playing style, such as Kemp, McMillan, Payton, Derrick McGee, Michael Cage, and so on.

It's no wonder that KC Jones couldn't coach this group of players well. Jones' coaching style was too quiet and classic, the style of the old-generation college basketball. How could he bring out the ferocious nature of the wolves?
The eccentric George Karl was a perfect fit for the SuperSonics, as evidenced by his 27-15 record and the team's run to fifth place in the Western Conference.

George injected vitality into the SuperSonics, while Kloppenberg's long-term defensive training was the foundation for the SuperSonics' immediate success and rapid rise.

Compared to 1988, Kloppburg has much better defensive resources, and he agrees with George Carr that they are going to pull off something big.

At 7:30 p.m., the semifinal match between the Trail Blazers and the SuperSonics began at the Rose Garden Arena.

George Karl, abandoning his humility from pre-game interviews, roared in the locker room, demanding a decisive blow to the Portlanders tonight.

"I don't want the Trail Blazers' home playoff winning streak to end at 22 after tonight's game! End it, win this game, and then win the series!"

Karl tried his best to encourage the players, even though he knew in his heart that it was a pipe dream for the SuperSonics to defeat the Trail Blazers from the perspective of the series.

The current SuperSonics are still too young and lack the raw strength, but if they can go toe-to-toe with the Trail Blazers in the series, or even take a bite out of them, what about next season? And the season after that?

The Trail Blazers will eventually decline, and when that time comes, the mature Supersonics will climb to even greater heights by stepping over the corpses of the old kings.

This is a recurring theme in the NBA: young teams facing dominant forces, even if they can't secure the final victory, must build enough confidence to prepare for the next challenge.

Compared to the SuperSonics' high spirits, the Trail Blazers were undoubtedly somewhat complacent. They didn't take the SuperSonics seriously and were only focused on the Bulls in the Eastern Conference.

Bobby Bellman stood on the sidelines, reminding himself to stay focused, but his emotions were still inevitably affected.

Love truly corrupts. Facing the SuperSonics, Bellman didn't even have time to seriously study their game footage or figure out how the SuperSonics managed to upset the Golden State Warriors.

The fans in the arena were also very relaxed. For two whole years, the Trail Blazers had never disappointed Portland fans in the playoffs, winning, winning, and winning again.

Even top teams like the Chicago Bulls and Detroit Pistons couldn't secure a victory here, and fans on the sidelines were already holding up signs proclaiming a 22-game winning streak.

All of this did not deter the young supersonics; on the contrary, it brought out their arrogant side.

The SuperSonics' starting five consisted of Gary Payton, Derrick McGee, Shawn Kemp, Ricky Pierce, and Benoit Benjamin.

With Glen Rice, Nate McMillan, and Michael Cage on the bench, it's a pretty competitive lineup.

Apart from the coach, none of them were white; they were all greasy, dark-skinned guys.

Except for Benoit Benjamin, they were all lean and wiry, like hungry wolves.

Both their offense and defense are highly aggressive.

From the jump ball onwards, the entire SuperSonics team seemed to have springs in their feet, constantly running, jumping, and moving.

In 1988, the Trail Blazers' secret to breaking the SOS defense was that their passing was faster than the SuperSonics' rotations.

Four years have passed, and the SOS system still exists in the supersonic world; they are faster and more ferocious than before.

George Karl focused his defense on two players: Gan Guoyang and Porter.

Whenever either of them gets the ball, they are inevitably subjected to a strong and rapid double-team.

The SuperSonics double-teamed even more aggressively than the Bulls and were very good at forcing players into the corners.

They form a "triangle defense" and an "I-shaped" defense in the paint, and like a pack of wolves, they attack players near the three-second zone at any time.

Meanwhile, Payton began intermittently harassing Porter, adhering to the first principle of SOS defense: disrupt the first pass. Porter's importance to the Trail Blazers is often underestimated; the Blazers have always had a question: who is the team's number two?

In 90 and 91 it was Sabonis, and in 92 Reggie Lewis was more like the team's second-in-command. Meanwhile, Petrovic has always had a strong influence, and this season he is a strong contender for the Sixth Man of the Year award.

But if you ask who the team's number three player is, Terry Porter is the obvious answer, and he has worked with Gan Guoyang the longest, and the two have an excellent understanding.

In crucial moments, Porter's long-range shooting and connection with Gan Guoyang are the fundamental guarantee for the Trail Blazers to score. He is the backcourt player who is most comfortable feeding Gan Guoyang the ball.

George Karl capitalized on this, and Payton's defense against Terry Porter was quite successful. He started pressing him intensely from the first quarter and constantly used trash talk to disrupt Porter.

Porter, with his solid technique, outstanding physique, and rich experience, was still caught off guard by Payton's excellent one-on-one defense.

If a team's number one player is entangled and unable to concentrate on directing the attack, and even the first pass is affected, the team's attack will definitely be affected.

Bobby Bellman quickly made adjustments, following the usual approach, with Sabonis moving up to the high post to provide support and screens, helping Porter reduce the pressure on the playmakers.

However, the SuperSonics did not let up on their pressure on Porter. George Karl chose to strategically leave Sabonis open and double-teamed Porter on the perimeter to prevent him from passing the ball to Gan Guoyang.

Sabonis, left wide open, got a lot of opportunities to shoot from the outside, but his shooting touch wasn't good tonight. Partly, he's been hampered by injuries throughout the season and his performance has been mediocre.

On the other hand, the Supersonics set the pace of the game very fast, with constant back-and-forth running and high-intensity offensive and defensive exertion, which undoubtedly had a negative impact on the players' outside shooting touch.

The direct consequence was a significant drop in the Trail Blazers' offensive efficiency and scoring rate, which was brought down to a level where they could be suppressed by the SuperSonics.

At halftime, the score was 54-52, with the visiting SuperSonics leading the Trail Blazers by 2 points.

Fans were unconcerned, believing that Forrest Gump and the Trail Blazers would step up their game in the third quarter and take down the SuperSonics in one fell swoop.

But things weren't that simple. At the start of the third quarter, the SuperSonics continued their defensive strategy from the first half, launching a full-court press like a pack of wolves.

This is similar to the defensive strategy used by the Trail Blazers in the 80s, where they would suddenly increase their defensive intensity at certain stages of the game, pull ahead in points, and then gradually reduce the intensity to play slowly.

Back then, the Trail Blazers were a forward-oriented team, tall, strong, and fierce, with a very strong full-court pressure. Gan Guoyang often rushed to the three-point line to hunt down the opponent's ball handler.

Now, Gan Guoyang is more often positioned in the three-second zone as the last line of defense, while the younger supersonics are starting to increase their intensity during the crucial periods of each quarter.

The Trail Blazers started making more mistakes, and what worried the fans and Bobby Bellman the most was that the ball couldn't be passed to Gan Guoyang in time.

The SuperSonics knew that if Gan Guoyang got the ball, their defense would be 80% doomed, so to succeed, they had to stop him from receiving the ball.

Even when Gan Guoyang tried to get the ball in a relatively shallow position, the SuperSonics still defended him tightly, even at the cost of leaving the three-second zone open, allowing the Trail Blazers to cut and run to the basket.

Their forwards use their speed and explosiveness to rotate and help on defense in a timely manner, with Michael Cage and Shawn Kemp putting on many impressive chase-down blocks during the game.

This is Gan Guoyang's biggest weakness as a center: he needs to be fed the ball and needs ball possession support from the outside.

Since the league banned isolation plays, this has been a key tactical issue that the Trail Blazers have been focusing on researching.

Of course, he can choose to receive the ball further out, beyond the three-point line, or even near the center circle.

Gan Guoyang can also kill opponents from beyond the three-point line, but his efficiency is definitely lower than when he's under the basket.

George Karl knew that Gan Guoyang could shoot three-pointers and long-range shots. Unlike the Bulls' all-out defense, the SuperSonics simply let him shoot.

Go ahead and shoot. If you can really bombard me with six or seven three-pointers, I'll consider myself unlucky. Anyway, don't expect to get any one-on-one opportunities in the low post, and don't expect to receive the ball easily near the three-second zone.

Gan Guoyang's three-point shooting was really off tonight. He made 1 of 3 attempts in the first half and missed both of his attempts in the third quarter.

In the playoffs, the inconsistency of three-point shooting is easily exposed, and even the best shooters have their off days.

Without a stable low-post offense as a foundation, relying solely on three-pointers can easily lead to an offensive collapse if the three-point shot doesn't find its rhythm.

Tonight, the Trail Blazers' offense showed signs of collapsing under the SuperSonics' highly targeted and excellent defense.

The reason why the point difference did not widen and remained around 3 points was entirely due to the individual abilities and experience of the Trail Blazers players.

But as time went on, the SuperSonics played better and better, with more and more passion, and the young team gained confidence.

At this point, some incredible shots and lucky shots can easily occur. When facing Gan Guoyang, Shawn Kemp actually broke through and scored a 2+1.

Kemp roared with joy after scoring, even happier than after a successful dunk. Completing a 2+1 like Forrest Gump is no small honor.

Gan Guoyang has always been very good at controlling his fouls. His defensive skills and reaction ability are top-notch, so it is rare for him to be caught out by a 2+1 play.

The referee's call was correct, and Gan Guoyang raised his hand to acknowledge the foul.

After Kemp made the free throw, Bobby Bellman called a timeout, and Gan Guoyang took a big gulp of water.

Kemp's offensive performance tonight wasn't great, far from the overwhelming dominance he displayed against the Warriors.

But Kemp did a great job on defense and rebounding; this impulsive young man has really matured.

He competed with Gan Guoyang on both offense and defense with all his might, focusing his energy on rebounding and defense as an offensive power forward.

His frantic saves and defensive rotations, his fearlessness in the face of the league's best player, were a stark contrast to his disheveled and bewildered state during the 1989-1990 season.

This is only his third season in his career. He is only 22 years old this year and entered the league after graduating from high school. He is young, energetic, and full of possibilities for the future.

Payton, only a sophomore, and McMillan worked together to contain Porter on the defensive end, causing Porter to underperform tonight and fail to fulfill his role as point guard.

The SuperSonics, growing stronger with each game, gradually pulled away from the score and tenaciously withstood the Trail Blazers' final comeback, bringing the final score to 98-94.

With a 4-point lead, the SuperSonics ended the Trail Blazers' 21-game home playoff winning streak and became the only team in recent seasons to lead the series 1-0 against the Trail Blazers.

After winning the game, George Karl kept clapping and encouraging every SuperSonics player. They played exceptionally well tonight, and David took down Goliath.

Kemp only scored 11 points in this game, but he grabbed 14 rebounds, added 3 blocks and 2 steals.

Under his defense, Gan Guoyang only scored 28 points and did not take enough shots, which caused the Trail Blazers' offense to become disorganized.

At the end of the game, Gan Guoyang felt frustrated but also greatly relieved, as his 21-game home winning streak had finally come to an end.

Losing isn't necessarily a bad thing; it means they can start over, after all, the series isn't over yet.

When the two shook hands at the end of the match, Gan Guoyang hugged Kemp and praised him, saying, "You played well, young man. You beat me tonight."

Kemp was flattered and proud, and for a moment he didn't know what to say, he just smiled foolishly.

Gan Guoyang continued, "The title 'Rain Man' is yours today, and you deserve it."

(End of this chapter)