Chapter 645: Chapter 36 Doomed
The game between the Trail Blazers and the Miami Heat started promptly at 7:30 PM Eastern Time.
Although there was a disparity in strength between the two teams, the matchup was highly anticipated due to its intriguing aspects, so CBS broadcast the game nationwide.
In the 1984-1985 NBA season, when Gan Guoyang first entered the NBA, aside from the All-Star Game, there were only eight nationally broadcast games.
By the 1989-1990 season, that number had almost doubled to fifteen.
In ’89, there were three nationally televised games: one with the Chicago Bulls against the Golden State Warriors, one with the Miami Heat against the Portland Trail Blazers, and the Christmas Day game.
Compared to the NBA’s rapid development, the number of national broadcasts was still too few.
Throughout ’89, excluding the Christmas game, there was actually only one game per month.
Because in November and December, CBS focused its broadcasting on the NFL.
By 1990, the number of NBA broadcasts had increased to about three games per month.
CBS couldn’t manage to cover two or three games on the weekends; they had to reserve time for NCAA and MLB regular-season games.
CBS had just signed a broadcast agreement with MLB and also contracted with the Winter Olympics organizers for program production and broadcasting, further reducing the resources available for the NBA.
David Stern was well aware of the importance of television broadcasting for expanding the league’s influence and increasing its revenue. Since CBS was unwilling to bet on the NBA, the league naturally ended its partnership with CBS.
Therefore, the 1989-1990 season was the last season of the NBA being broadcasted by CBS, after a partnership that lasted a full 17 years.
In November 1989, as a replacement, the NBA signed a four-year contract with former partner NBC worth 600 million US dollars, which was more than triple the amount of the previous CBS contract.
In the new contract, the number of nationally broadcast NBA games on NBC increased from 16 (including the All-Star Game) to 20-26, and they had to be aired during prime time—forget about the late-night prerecorded games like the ones CBS did.
The number of playoff broadcasts was to increase to over thirty games; the intense playoffs were the best way to create fervent fans.
Tonight’s CBS live play-by-play commentator was the legendary Dick Stockton, sitting not far from Jack Ramsay.
With the NBA’s breakup with CBS a done deal, this would be Stockton’s last season commentating NBA games.
As the game was about to start, Stockton and Jack Ramsay exchanged a few words; Clyde Drexler and Gan Guoyang were both disciples Ramsay was proud of, and he knew them very well. Stockton wanted to know what the old coach thought about tonight’s game.
Jack Ramsay’s statement was simple; he smiled at Dick Stockton and said, "Clyde is toast tonight."
Stockton was surprised, thinking, ’Do the Trail Blazers hold such a grudge?’
After all, it had been an amicable parting; when Drexler returned to Portland, the fans stood up and applauded him, presenting him with a championship ring.
At this time, on the Trail Blazers bench, everyone was taking off their jackets, getting ready to go on the court.
Mychal Thompson had recovered from his injury and returned to the starting lineup.
The Trail Blazers were still running their classic lineup: Ah Gan, Thompson, Kossie, Hornacek, and Porter.
Before going on the court, Gan Guoyang told the guys, "Clyde said he’s going to score 60 points tonight. Porter, Jeff, who’s going to guard him tonight? Don’t let him get to 60."
Porter and Hornacek looked at each other, wondering if Clyde had really become that arrogant.
Though our defense isn’t that strong, you want to score 60 points? Who do you think you are, Jordan?
Gan continued, "Clyde told me that during the warm-up, and Jack heard it too. He said he’s got tonight’s victory in the bag!"
The group of Trail Blazers veterans began to feel a surge of excitement.
Hornacek said, "I’ll take him; guarding Clyde is my responsibility."
Porter said, "I’ll be ready to help on defense."
Kossie said, "I’ll make sure to watch Clyde closely so he doesn’t get any easy fast breaks."
Thompson said, "I’ll keep an eye on him. Leave the help defense to me."
The only real threat on the Heat was Drexler; the rest were not shrimp soldiers and crab generals, but their level just wasn’t that high.
"Good, let’s win tonight and give Clyde a little welcome present!"
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The first quarter quickly got underway, and Gan Guoyang won the tip-off against Ronnie-Cecali, initiating the Trail Blazers’ first attack.
Cecali was a Lebanese player, selected by the Heat in the 1988 draft, a center standing 6 feet 11 inches tall.
Riley knew that it was challenging to secure a prominent interior player for a new team—other teams wouldn’t let go of quality centers for the list.
So in 1988, Riley’s top target was Ah Gan; if he could have lured Ah Gan, the Heat would have instantly become a strong team.
Unfortunately, having won a championship, Ah Gan wasn’t willing to move, so they settled for Drexler, picking centers from overseas—there simply weren’t any high-quality centers in ’88.
Cecali’s skills were pretty decent, and although he was a white player, he belonged to the Southern European cohort rather than the "big white softies" of the north, so he had good explosive strength.
Under the rigorous training of Riley, his offensive and defensive skills improved rapidly.
But when facing Ah Gan, he wasn’t up to the challenge; Gan Guoyang strong-armed him in the low post on the first play.
Using his strength to push inside, Gan turned and attacked the basket, drawing a foul from Cecali.
In addition to Cecali, another one of the Heat’s rookies on the inside was Grant Long.
Long was a solid, practical blue-collar center who, like Cecali, would become a quality power forward given time.
However, he had the same problems: not the highest in talent, and having entered the league in ’88, he was still lacking in experience and was too slow in help defense.
Normally, if he started the game with a foul like this, Riley would definitely have some choice words.
Tonight, however, he held his tongue; he knew there was no handling Ah Gan.
Gan Guoyang made both free throws, starting the scoring.
Drexler took the ball and started the attack after crossing half-court.
Since arriving at the Heat, Drexler had become the undisputed top player on the team.
None of the other players, whether in seniority or capability, came close to Drexler.
He wielded absolute control in the Heat’s tactical system, and he was exactly the kind of versatile player needed for that role.
As the dominant player, the advantage was having the ball in his hands to do as he pleased.
But the downside was also having the ball in his hands; aside from himself, the help from others was minimal.
Drexler passed the ball to Billy Thompson in the low post, trying to let Thompson take on Kossie.
Thompson entered the NBA in 1986, playing for the Lakers as a benchwarmer under Riley.
In the ’88 expansion draft, the Lakers left him unprotected, and Riley brought him over upon noticing this.
As the saying goes, in the absence of a good general, Liao Hua serves as the vanguard; Billy Thompson was a prime example.
Riley knew that Billy’s technique was fairly good, a classic small forward.
He was in the same category as Worthy, Mark Aguirre, and Dantley, with good post-up skills but only average shooting.
His weakness was his overly slender build, not as strong as Aguirre or Dantley, nor did he have the long arm span and explosive power of Worthy.
After all, professional basketball ultimately comes down to physical fitness.
Thompson had a high success rate when up against average small forwards.
His field goal percentage was the highest on the Heat, at 51.6%.
But against a heavy-duty forward like Kossie, his back-to-the-basket game was ineffective.
Kossie blocked his turnaround shot, and Gan Guoyang pushed off Cecali, securing control of the ball.
The Trail Blazers counterattacked; Porter got the ball but didn’t speed up.
He passed instead to the quickly positioned Gan Guoyang, who turned and cut to the basket.
Cecali dared not commit another foul and simply watched as Gan Guoyang made an easy layup.
The players on both teams had a noticeable gap in individual ability; you could tell this game would be tough to play.
At this point, as the team leader, Drexler had to stand up and score.
Following Cecali’s pick, Drexler broke through the middle, and Gan Guoyang leaned in.
At the three-point arc, Drexler stopped abruptly for a jumper, his legs slightly bent as he pushed forward!
He shot an airball...
The ball landed in Gan Guoyang’s hands.
Gan was stunned for a second, and so was Drexler.
In the end, Gan passed to Porter, and the Trail Blazers went on the counterattack again.
Crossing half-court, Gan couldn’t help but ask Drexler, "Clyde, isn’t Riley feeding you?"
Embarrassed, Drexler didn’t respond but just ran forward, dedicating himself to defense.
Bragging feels good in the moment, but the boasts have to be followed through, otherwise it’s truly a huge loss of face.
