Chapter 665: Chapter 52 The Wall of the Empire_2
In the first two rounds of play, Johnson had easily dished out two assists, and both were in set plays.
The Magic was no longer the "ornamental" player of the past who only initiated fast breaks and kept feeding Jabbar in set plays.
His ability to organize set plays and find opportunities was second to none in the League.
Gan Guoyang immediately took the ball in the low post, turned around for a quick shot, and scored two points, tying the score at 4:4.
Gan Guoyang’s scoring on shots had also reached the point of being effortless. He was not yet at the realm of doing whatever he wished, but he was actively working towards that state.
At the start, both teams played rather relaxed, with Gan Guoyang not immediately putting pressure on the Lakers’ perimeter.
Launching into full force too early could easily expose tactical intentions and lead to foul trouble.
For an inside player, controlling fouls was an essential skill.
In November’s games, Sabonis often fouled four or five times after playing just over ten minutes.
Such frequent fouling made it impossible to play as the main center.
By December, as Sabonis became more accustomed to the NBA rules and better controlled his fouling, Beelman promoted him to the starting lineup.
The first and second quarters of the game were primarily about maintaining a stalemate, leaving the third and fourth quarters for the real show.
Especially for teams with superior strength, the opening approach was more conservative, adopting an immutable strategy.
If you are much weaker than your opponent and can’t maintain a stalemate, launching your killer move early might not be a bad strategy to turn the tables.
The Lakers and Trail Blazers players had played against each other for many years and knew each other well, so the opening game was quite standard.
James Worthy tried to post up Kossie down low, but his turnaround shot didn’t fall—Kossie wasn’t so easy to beat now.
The Trail Blazers grabbed the rebound. After receiving a pass from Gan Guoyang, Sabonis charged under the basket, faced a group of Lakers crowding around, flicked his hand, and distributed the ball to Kossie, who had followed up.
Kossie caught the ball and easily made the layup, putting the Trail Blazers in the lead.
Johnson then passed the ball to Worthy again. Kossie took a risk trying for the steal but was evaded by Worthy.
Worthy drove straight to the basket, but in the three-second zone, Sabonis stood in front of him like a mountain.
On the side, Ah Gan hovered over like a specter, forcing Worthy to jump and pass—an overthrown ball, out of bounds.
The Lakers’ offense was somewhat disorganized in these two rounds, while the Trail Blazers’ defense remained as reliably shrinkable as ever.
The kind of opening present just moments ago was now sealed tightly, leaving Johnson no cracks to exploit.
Of course, the best approach then would be to lean in hard in the low post, but Worthy no longer had a low-post advantage against Kossie.
Moving inside, there was Sabonis, the big mountain, and as for the ghostly Ah Gan—Lakers players knew his time to be really annoying at the power forward hadn’t come yet.
Hornacek, using a simple single screen, took a mid-range jump shot and scored.
The Trail Blazers were leading 8:4, and the Lakers had to adjust their offensive strategy now.
Johnson took charge, first passing the ball to Duckworth, who came up to assist, then calling for the ball himself in the low post backdown position.
Receiving the pass, he backed in, then spun around to shake Porter off with a fake before jumping for the shot.
The ball didn’t go in, but the referee called a defensive foul on Porter, sending Johnson to the free-throw line.
A noticeable improvement in Johnson’s skills was his ability to draw fouls.
As a wily point guard, drawing fouls to get to the free-throw line was a requisite skill.
This season, Johnson’s average free-throw attempts had reached a career-high of 8.1 per game.
With rigorous training, his free-throw percentage had soared to 91%, making him one of the best free-throw shooters in the League.
The free-throw percentage indicated that Johnson, a player not known for his shooting talent, must have invested considerable effort and sweat to reach this level.
Off the court, he lived a fast and happy life with a succession of women, but on the court, he truly never neglected his training.
Johnson made both free throws. His timing and technique in drawing fouls and deceitfully earning free throws were just right, demonstrating his reading of the game and control over it.
Next, Johnson double-teamed Gan Guoyang on defense. Guoyang passed the ball to Sabonis at the top of the arc. Sabonis attempted to drive but was thwarted by Duckworth, got tangled up on his feet, and was called for traveling by the referee.
Johnson passed the ball for the third time to James Worthy in the low post, asking for the ball. This time Worthy didn’t waste the opportunity, making a left-handed hook after an inward spin.
The score was tied, 8:8.
Both teams exchanged blows, the tacit understanding of old rivals.
Hornacek used Ah Gan’s screen again and took a sudden stop-and-shoot from 45 degrees on the left side, scoring again.
Whenever Gan Guoyang rolled off a screen, it always drew the defensive attention of the opponents, thus creating shooting opportunities for Hornacek or Porter.
This was the most fundamental scoring method for the Trail Blazers, practised to perfection.
Duckworth’s low-post turnaround single play missed, and the Trail Blazers took the defensive rebound and countered. Porter threaded a pass under the basket to Sabonis, whose layup was disturbed by AC Green and missed.
AC Green grabbed the rebound and passed to Johnson, who avoided Porter’s steal attempt and immediately initiated a counterattack.
James Worthy led the charge, receiving Johnson’s signature, long-distance bounce pass, gliding into the air, and scoring with a one-handed dunk!
The fast break connection between the Magic and the Cobra was one of the few relics left from the Showtime era.
The Trail Blazers countered quickly, with Gan Guoyang quickly throwing the ball from the backcourt, then bulldozing through the middle like a bulldozer.
