Chapter 1346: Chapter 22: The Great Vacancy (Part 3)
The bald coach kept looking at the notes, but they were useless.
The first quarter ended, and the Trail Blazers suddenly launched an offensive surge in the latter half.
Gan Guoyang scored 10 consecutive points, helping the Trail Blazers lead the Knicks 28 to 17 by 11 points.
Bird’s adjustment of substituting Winfield for PJ Brown was a turning point.
The Trail Blazers’ style and pace suddenly changed, and the Knicks didn’t react, getting caught several times.
Gan Youwei summarized the first quarter as an anchor point for his memory.
He even placed a small bet on the Trail Blazers winning by at least 20 points.
Watching his father-in-law earnestly taking notes in the notebook, Wang Fuxi found it both touching and amusing.
"Dad, you don’t need to jot this down so seriously; the game recordings are all at home."
Gan Youwei glanced at Wang Fuxi and said, "Who’s your dad?"
"It’s me, I’m your daughter-in-law! I’m Fosse."
Gan Youwei looked at the notes and remembered that he came to watch the game with his daughter-in-law today.
"Oh, right, I almost forgot. Sometimes I suddenly lose track."
Wang Fuxi sighed; although the progression of the disease was slow under careful care, it was still developing.
Fortunately, Gan Youwei maintained a good attitude and didn’t change drastically because of memory loss; he was even more lively than before.
Moreover, in Portland, almost everyone knows Ah Gan’s father, so there’s no worry about him getting lost.
In the second quarter, Bird carried out regular rotations, putting in Kobe and Little O’Neal.
The role of Point Guard was assigned to the experienced Terry Porter to control the situation.
The veteran Point Guard leading the two rookies not only stabilized the pace but also taught them game experience.
Porter gradually overcame his early-season slump; after being assigned to the bench, his performance improved significantly.
The second lineup truly tests the coach’s ability to manage and utilize the players.
Because the players’ individual abilities are generally not as strong as the starters, the substitutes’ states and mindsets are more unstable.
This requires the coach to make proper tactical arrangements, using players in the right position and timing.
At this moment, Bird showcased his incredible game intuition and superior basketball IQ.
Van Gundy still adhered to past experience and fixed examples, relying on prepared notes in his pocket to make responsive arrangements.
Bird was different; he made plans, but all adjustments were fully based on the real-time situation for in-game changes.
In the second quarter, facing the Knicks’ strong defensive counterattacks, Bird made bold decisions to engage in full-court pressing defense against the Knicks.
Kobe, Little O’Neal, Porter, and PJ Brown used the full-court defense to wear down the Knicks’ impact, even resorting to fouls to disrupt their rhythm.
When Gan Guoyang replaced Little O’Neill midway through the second quarter, the score was 36 to 24; the Trail Blazers used the vigor of the youngsters to suppress the Knicks’ counterattack.
As the game progressed, the Knicks’ offensive performance tonight was extremely poor; nearly halfway through the second quarter, they only scored 24 points.
Sweat continuously poured from Van Gundy’s head; he repeatedly checked the notes from the inner pocket of his suit but found no relevant solutions.
Actually, in the second quarter, the Knicks shouldn’t have struggled with defense against the Trail Blazers; they should have sped up the pace for offensive exchanges to boost the score first.
Get the offensive rhythm going, build up their feel, so they can catch up later.
If both sides improve their offense feel, an 11-point gap isn’t that large.
Moreover, the Knicks aren’t lacking offensive talents.
Mourning, Kemp, Houston, and Rice are all capable scorers.
Bring their offensive feel up, and the Knicks definitely have the strength for a battle.
But Van Gundy, always keen to set defensive traps for opponents, fell into one laid by Bird instead.
The second lineup focused on defense yielded no results; instead, they lost another point.
A technical coach like Van Gundy, who hasn’t played professional basketball, often has rigid shortcomings.
Back then, Beelman was the same, but Beelman had Ah Gan; Gan Guoyang would make adjustments himself on the court, ignoring instructions.
Now Bird clearly displays excellent talent in on-site command; his ability to manage and utilize players is emerging.
Once Gan Guoyang returned to the game, he had only one goal: scoring.
He didn’t want to bother with anything else; one must be honest, and if you promise to score 50 points, you must score 50.
The Knicks’ response was simple and crude: fouling.
In the second quarter, Gan Guoyang was repeatedly fouled by Mourning and Kemp in the low post.
In a few minutes, he made 6 free throws, consecutively scoring 6 points.
When Glen Rice fouled Gan Guoyang during a defensive shift, Gan Guoyang was a bit angry.
He glared at Rice and said, "Are you guys freaking crazy? Continually fouling and sending me to the free-throw line?"
Rice shrugged helplessly: "The coach arranged it this way, we have no choice, big brother."
Van Gundy’s method to counter Gan Guoyang’s consecutive scoring was fouling; he aimed to disrupt Gan Guoyang’s offensive rhythm.
He’d rather let Gan Guoyang take one or two points at the free-throw line than allow him to score three-pointers in counterattack or drive the pace with fast breaks.
This isn’t a bad strategy; it can sometimes effectively disrupt the opponent’s offensive flow, leading into a physical battle.
However, this tactic was clearly ineffective against Gan Guoyang; an astonishing fact is that, since the start of the season in over 10 games, Gan Guoyang hasn’t missed a free throw yet.
