Chapter 767: Chapter 13 Iron Five
The Trail Blazers, after going through several consecutive super scoring storms, found themselves stuck in a rut in the game against the Bulls.
The Chicago Bulls clearly came prepared, with both tactical planning and psychological conditioning well in place.
The Trail Blazers had an easy schedule during this period, just like last season, with particularly many home games at the start of the season.
Continuous home games, high scores, and big-margin victories over opponents led to a degree of laxity among the players.
Several games scoring over 150 points made the Trail Blazers’ statistics explode; under the Princeton System, scoring suddenly became much easier.
In the past, Gan Guoyang and Sabonis would occupy the low post space, but now they cede space and use their drawing power to create opportunities.
One cutting backdoor, one slipping along the baseline, one spin to cut to the basket, each could get a very easy scoring opportunity.
As their coordination became more skilled, everyone’s shooting touch was nurtured; the offense became smoother with fluid half-court play and sharp fast breaks, giving the Trail Blazers the feeling that "the intensity of the league’s games is nothing special."
But the visit of the Chicago Bulls taught the Trail Blazers a lesson: some teams might be nothing special, but their hypothetical adversary, the Chicago Bulls, certainly were not.
The biggest difference between the Bulls and other teams is their defense, especially their defense against perimeter players.
The combination of Jordan, Pippen, and Buck-Williams exerted such strong pressure on Portland’s perimeter players that they were completely unexpected, even stronger than last season.
In the first quarter, the Trail Blazers were hit by the Bulls with a score of 24:18, scoring a meager 18 points in a single quarter, a far cry from the team that had been scoring 150 points in previous games.
Although the Bulls had a rough start to the season, their problems were mainly on the offensive end. The question of how to integrate Jordan and the triangle offense has always been a challenge.
In this context, the Bulls were still able to win some tough games, largely thanks to their defense.
Phil Jackson has fortified the Bulls’ defense to an extreme degree and maximized the defensive talents of Jordan and Pippen on the wing.
In one-on-one defense, neither the Trail Blazers nor any other team in the League has a perimeter combination that can overpower jersey numbers 23 and 33.
In terms of help defense, both players move extremely fast and have strong explosive power; ordinary tactical movements are simply unable to shake off their entanglement.
Terry Porter, Reggie Lewis, and Petrović all found themselves in trouble.
Although neither Buck-Williams nor Bill Cartwright could stop Ah Gan on the defensive end, and their offense was no match for Ah Gan and Sabonis’ "Mount Wuzhi."
But the Bulls played it smart by avoiding Ah Gan; Cartwright gave up low-post scoring, and Buck-Williams only took some mid-range shots and slam dunks.
They stuck to the dirty and tiring work, putting all their energy into defense and assistance, leaving the scoring responsibility to Jordan, Pippen, and the outside shooters, in order to bypass Ah Gan and Sabonis’ defense.
On the defensive end, the Bulls did their utmost to prevent the perimeter from passing to Ah Gan, cutting off the inside-out connection.
When the Trail Blazers tried to play the Princeton offense, it played right into the hands of the Bulls.
Letting Ah Gan receive the ball at the top of the arc to facilitate was much less threatening than his post-up plays at the low post.
The confrontation between the two sides quickly showed the advantage of teams centering on perimeter players over those centered on interior players.
Perimeter-focused players have stronger initiative in offensive decision-making; they don’t need to be fed the ball, they can initiate the offense directly.
A defensive and offensive team like the Bulls, with its excellent perimeter, has devastating power over many team’s perimeter players.
Although basketball has long been promoted as the game of giants, with the center position producing numerous legends and always being the center of attention.
Once a team has a superstar center, they can instantly rebuild and step into the ranks of strong teams.
But a careful study of NBA history will reveal that championship teams in the NBA must have a strong perimeter core.
Having a superstar center is naturally best, but without one, it’s still possible to win championships as long as there are decent defenders in the interior.
Teams like the 1969 Celtics, 1972 Lakers (when Russell and Chamberlain had degenerated into super blue-collars focused on defense), 1975 Golden State Warriors, 1979 Supersonics, and 1989 Pistons were all dominated by their guards.
Last season’s Portland Trail Blazers were the closest to being champions with only a superstar center and without a real perimeter core.
But the Trail Blazers were special, starting with their exceptionally strong and plentiful guard rotation focused on offense.
Although they lacked an absolute perimeter core, their problem-solving ability on the outside was very strong, with Hornacek and Porter being one of the rare dual-threat guard combinations in the League.
Their attacking prowess was second only to Thomas and Dumars.
Secondly, Gan Guoyang, as a center, had the ability to play multiple positions, with precise exterior shooting, capable inside and out, a very special presence.
Even so, the Trail Blazers were fundamentally still an interior team, needing the outside to actively connect with the inside. Once the backcourt channel was cut off, the interior advantage couldn’t be played out.
Phil Jackson seized on this and made preparations before the game, putting the Trail Blazers’ backcourt under full-court tight press.
As the game moved into the second quarter, Porter faced tough on-ball defense from the Bulls’ guards, having to focus fully on crossing half-court.
This caused him to slow down in passing, degrade the quality of his passes, and by the time the ball got to Gan Guoyang, it could hardly initiate an attack.
