Chapter 765: Chapter 12 Borrowing Your Auspicious Words_4
Injuries struck the Trail Blazers early, but luckily, their frontcourt is now amply staffed.
Reggie Lewis can play the small forward, with Cliff Robinson and Mike Sanders coming off the bench.
But it seems that no one enters the NBA without carrying some injury.
For example, after the start of the season, Sabonis had some fluid accumulation in his knee, causing him to miss the high-profile battle against the Detroit Pistons on November 9th.
After the life-and-death struggle of the 1990 finals, the enmity between the two teams has deepened ever further.
Due to Sabonis’ absence, Gan Guoyang started as the center, and for the first three quarters he continued with a pass-centric style of play.
Before the game, Bobby Beelman was somewhat worried, concerned whether their unpolished Princeton System would work against the Pistons.
To their surprise, during the game, the Trail Blazers discovered the Pistons’ weakness: their defense was no longer as ferocious as in previous seasons.
One reason is the introduction of new rules against flagrant fouls, and on another front, the overall condition of the Pistons players was declining.
Bill Lambier, now 33, had not had a double-digit rebounding performance since 1988.
His stats for blocks and scoring were in decline year by year; the crafty and cunning white center was aging.
Although players like Salley, Rodman, and Melvin Turpin were growing, Lambier was the soul of the Pistons’ defense.
Once the soul grows old, the decay of the body is just a moment away.
Lambier was completely handled by Gan Guoyang in the game; Gan achieved his season’s first triple-double with 33 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists, and an addition of 3 big blocks.
101:119, the Trail Blazers triumphed with an 18-point lead at home over the Detroit Pistons.
A meet-up of finalists turned out to be the most leisurely victory.
The NBA regular season is like that, fraught with uncertainties.
Defeating the Pistons put the Trail Blazers into a good state of form, as they gradually overcame their initial discomfort.
At the beginning of the season, the doubts about the Princeton System lessened a bit, but players still expressed, "It’s a bit too slow."
Especially for Petrović and Reggie Lewis, Lewis candidly said, "I feel like I’m back in the NCAA, in some situations we could clearly fast break."
Lewis’s public questioning of Beelman resulted in being targeted with dirty plays by Beelman in training. It was rumored that at the end of training, there were tears in Lewis’s eyes.
However, starting from the fifth game, Bobby Beelman made a tangible adjustment; with Jerome Kossie absent, he moved Reggie Lewis to the small forward, let Petrović start as the shooting guard, forming a dual backcourt attack with Terry Porter.
At the same time, he further altered some of the requirements of the Princeton System.
For instance, the Princeton Offense emphasizes a slow pace, avoiding fast breaks, and using slow tempos to wear down opponents.
Coach Capen even went so far as to forbid fast breaks at one point, requiring at least five passes before a shot could be taken.
Beelman believed that the NBA was different; with the Trail Blazers possessing good offensive resources, too slow a tempo was a waste of talent.
In the past, it was reasonable to play at a slower pace with Gan as the core, after all, Gan was a center.
And at that time, the league was generally fast; slowing it down, suppressing the rhythm, actually left the opponents confused.
Now, adopting a more team-oriented offense, with talented players, playing too slow will likely stifle the players’ offensive talent.
Moreover, as the whole league was slowing down, Beelman wanted to go against the tide; as they slowed, he would appropriately speed up.
Therefore, on November 11th against the Los Angeles Clippers, combining the Princeton System’s half-court game with fast breaking, the Trail Blazers rained down 138 points on the Clippers’ heads.
Eventually winning with a 27-point margin of victory.
On November 13th, facing the defensively lax Denver Nuggets, the Trail Blazers were unapologetic, 159:125, a 34-point advantage to rout the opponent.
Without overtime, 159 points set a new scoring record for the history of the Portland Trail Blazers Team.
Petrović scored a new career-high of 22 points in the game, while Gan Guoyang easily grabbed 40 points.
The first 40-point game of the season came a bit late.
On November 15th and 17th, the Trail Blazers scored 144 and 145 points respectively.
Three consecutive games with over 140 points, for a time, the Trail Blazers’ offensive firepower swept through the League.
In the game scoring 145 points, the opponent was the New York Knicks, with the Trail Blazers having 5 players scoring double digits, Reggie Lewis scoring 31 points.
Rarely surpassing Gan Guoyang’s 30 points, becoming the Trail Blazers’ leading scorer for that game.
After the game, Reggie Lewis stated that Bobby Beelman was the greatest coach he had ever encountered.
As expected, Beelman scolded him, stating he disliked any player who buttered him up.
However, when Gan praised Beelman in a news conference by saying, "Bobby did not rely on the system but continuously tested the system’s fit with us, his adjustments were perfect," Beelman smiled and seemed very pleased.
The continuous high-scoring games allowed people to see the Trail Blazers’ exceptional offensive talent and the true importance the Princeton System brought:
Not the tactical routines, not the easy scores from backdoor plays, but the spirit of sharing the ball, and the unlocking of the offensive talents of perimeter players.
The Trail Blazers welcomed an 8-game winning streak, quickly securing the top spot in the League.
On November 18th, a battle of focus arrived, with the Trail Blazers hosting the Chicago Bulls at home, the first encounter of Gan vs Joe of the 1990-1991 season.
On the 17th, the entire Bulls team flew to Portland. In contrast with the Trail Blazers’ robust winning streak, the Bulls had faced repeated setbacks since the start of the season.
