Chapter 697: Chapter 65 We All Died
During the Suns’ timeout, Rambis hardly listened to a word Fitzsimmons said.
His mind was occupied by Ah Gan’s words, "You should have lived," and the long-ago uttered "You are already dead."
That curse-like phrase "You are already dead" had troubled Rambis for a long time.
He had seen psychologists, visited hypnotists, and even sought out an Indian wizard, hoping to calm his inner turmoil.
Hard to believe, he often truly thought he was dead, especially when facing the Trail Blazers, during which his performance was horribly bad, like a dead man.
He thought he was scared, but upon reflection, it didn’t make sense; he wasn’t afraid of Ah Gan, who was a good person off the court.
On the contrary, he somewhat admired Ah Gan; they were quite normal when they met off the court, but on the court, Rambis clearly felt abnormal.
He became irritable, panicked, neurotic, unable to focus, and had difficulty thinking; these symptoms appeared during the 1988 game where the Mavericks faced the Trail Blazers.
This year, the situation had worsened.
The Indian wizard told him he needed to find the person who cursed him to lift the curse.
At the time, Rambis found it laughable; curses, really? Was Ah Gan some kind of Eastern wizard?
Just because he said he was dead, was he really dead?
But now that Ah Gan had said "You should have lived," Rambis suddenly felt like he was surfacing from underwater, able to breathe again.
He had been suffocated underwater for five whole years, and no one knew how he had survived those years.
Now that he had surfaced and could breathe deeply, Rambis felt an urge to cry.
Fitzsimmons set up the strategy, noticed Rambis’s pale face, and took off his glasses to clean them.
"Kurt, what’s wrong?"
"Nothing, I... I feel good, I... I can play..."
"I know you can play, you’re already playing. The game has just begun."
Fitzsimmons, seeing Rambis’s distracted and disjointed appearance, grew more anxious.
Everyone knew the Trail Blazers were strong; the Suns were likely to be outmatched in Portland.
But it was only a few minutes into the first quarter and it was already 8:0, was the gap really that wide?
Moreover, Fitzsimmons really didn’t know how to defend against Ah Gan; they didn’t even have a proper center, while the opponent had two major centers, with another one on the bench.
Fitzsimmons’ strategy was speed; they must exhaust the Trail Blazers with speed, and the forward group and two guards must go all out in the offensive.
Then there’s the forward position, the Suns’ bench had Marley and Eddie Johnson, two strong offensive players.
The Trail Blazers’ forward line was weak, with only Jerome Kossie as a full-sized strong small forward.
Of course, that was if Ah Gan didn’t play in the small forward position...
Fitzsimmons couldn’t manage that much anymore, during the timeout he kept emphasizing speed and counterattacks, and prayed internally that Ah Gan’s offense wouldn’t be so accurate.
As timeout ended and they returned to the court, Kevin Johnson’s breakthrough layup still missed, with Ah Gan haunting the Suns’ guard line like a ghost.
However, inside the court, Mark West slapped the ball out, picked up by Danny Ainge outside, who faked and then stopped abruptly for a jump shot which was successful.
Old ghost Ainge, his hands were still very steady, the Suns had a combination of young and energetic Kevin Johnson and the mature and experienced Ainge, which was quite a good mix.
If there was any flaw, it was that both were small in stature, unable to impose much pressure on the defensive end.
If they encountered strong guards like Jordan or Drexler, they would struggle.
Luckily, the Trail Blazers’ backcourt was comparable to theirs.
Following that, in defense, the Suns changed their strategy, starting to actively front and double-team.
Rambis no longer defended Ah Gan, with Mark West assigned to front defense against Gan Guoyang to prevent him from receiving the ball.
In the meantime, Rambis was assigned to the small forward position against Jerome Kossie, with Tom Chambers guarding Sabonis.
The Trail Blazers attempted to lob the ball inside, but the Suns’ strong defense caused the Trail Blazers’ lob attempts to fail, putting them at a disadvantage.
Eventually, Hornacek took a hard outside shot which missed, and Chambers grabbed the defensive rebound, initiating a counterattack for the Suns—they tried to avoid settling into positions.
Ainge passed the ball with a bounce to the lightning-fast Kevin Johnson, who got away from Terry Porter for a right-handed layup.
But Ah Gan emerged like a raptor from behind, delivering a left-handed monster block to Kevin Johnson!
Jerome Kossie secured the ball, and the Trail Blazers counterattacked, with Gan Guoyang charging ahead again, giving a ground pass to Hornacek when he reached under the basket.
Hornacek scored a steady two-handed layup, Trail Blazers pulled a 10:2 against the Suns, continuing to firmly control the game.
This ball was supposed to be a sure score for the Suns, Kevin Johnson had not expected Ah Gan to return so quickly, slapping away the guaranteed score with a huge block.
This is only the first quarter, why so serious, brother?
But this is the playoffs, Gan Guoyang always goes all out in the playoffs.
His stamina allows him to play as energetically in the first quarter as in the fourth.
The Suns’ set offense really has no good solutions left, passing the ball around outside.
Tom Chambers takes the ball, defended by Kossie, Chambers directly shoots a three-pointer.
The ball arcs very high and unexpectedly goes in.
That shot was lucky, but it also showcased Chambers’ personal abilities.
When the team is completely outmatched tactically and in arrangement, they need stars to solve problems with individual ability.
Chambers is exactly a scorer for the Suns.
The point difference quickly came to 5 points.
The Suns continue with their fronting defense to cut off Ah Gan’s low-post strong attack.
However, this time the Trail Blazers bypass Ah Gan, Sabonis comes out to set a screen, Porter circles around and receives a pass from Hornacek, and scores with a mid-range jump shot.
The Trail Blazers’ double guard lineup is quite formidable, it’s a nightmare for many teams unless facing Jordan Richmond with his full capabilities.
Both teams enter a stable scoring phase, Kevin Johnson uses a step-back move, hitting his first mid-range jump shot of the game.
He finally scores.
Immediately after, Hornacek also makes a jump shot.
The Suns quicken their inbounds play, and Kevin Johnson desperately tries to accelerate.
But Ah Gan acts like a roadblock, hindering Johnson’s dribble penetration on the sideline.
Once past the midcourt, he quickly retreats near the top of the key, one man disrupting a large area.
As for the three-second zone, Sabonis is now stationed there long-term, forcing the Suns to seek opportunities from the perimeter.
Like attempting three-point shots.
Kevin Johnson passes to Chambers, who then passes to Danny Ainge on the wing, Ainge catches and shoots a three-pointer.
It’s good!
Tonight, the Suns’ perimeter shooters are indeed in excellent form.
The NBA playoffs in the 90s have already significantly differed from the 80s.
The ball moves more broadly, the low post is no longer the primary offensive solution, three-pointers are being used increasingly frequently.
The Suns are keeping up with their three-point shots in the first quarter, not letting the score gap widen too much.
However, Kevin Johnson, the backcourt engine, only has 2 points in the first quarter with no assists, as Ah Gan, like a ghost, constantly hovers around him.
Whether it’s ball-handling or passing and organizing, sometimes Ah Gan would even abandon guarding Chambers, just to cut off Johnson.
And Gan Guoyang is very familiar with Kevin Johnson, having done a lot of research before the game, very familiar with his moves and habits, playing very targeted defense.
In Fitzsimmons’ view, Ah Gan’s defense is very headache-inducing; he seems to see through that the Sun’s offensive key is Kevin Johnson’s assault.
Kevin Johnson not only delivered the most critical buzzer-beater in the series against the Jazz but also averaged 9.2 assists per game, the highest in the team.
Although he’s not the top scorer nor has the highest shooting percentage, he shoots the most because he has to handle a large amount of the team’s shooting rights.
In the first game against the Jazz, Kevin Johnson only played 9 minutes before leaving the court early due to an injury, resulting in the Suns suffering a 17-point loss to the Jazz.
With one less game played, Johnson still dominated the team’s shooting, indicating no one else could take over his part of the ball rights.
Now, Johnson’s shooting is completely shut down by Gan Guoyang in the first quarter, let alone making a shot or assisting his teammates.
Fitzsimmons can only substitute Kevin Johnson out, letting Eddie Johnson replace him, at the same time giving Kevin a good rest to think about how to deal with Ah Gan’s annoying defense.
Rambis is currently sitting next to Kevin Johnson, resting off the court, the Suns trailing the Trail Blazers 19:29, behind by 10 points.
Suddenly Rambis asks Kevin Johnson, "Kevin, do you know why Ah Gan is so determined to defend you?"
Kevin Johnson replies, "Coach said I’m the key to the offense; Ah Gan will definitely target me."
But Rambis shakes his head, "It’s not about whether you’re the key or not, he just wants to target you, to break you. This is his fun in the game, do you understand?"
Kevin Johnson turns to look at Rambis, who still wears his black-frame glasses, eyes staring straight at the court, muttering somewhat incoherently.
Inside the noisy Memorial Coliseum, Kevin Johnson asks loudly, "What did you just say, Kurt?"
"I said... we might all be already dead..."
