Chapter 859: Chapter 43 Dream Shattered_3
His set-play offense was lacking, but when it came to pushing the fast break, no one could compare. He sped up the pace of the game, leaving spectators, teammates, and even opponents dazzled.
Jerry Buss had just arrived in Los Angeles, purchasing the Los Angeles Lakers from Cook—a team teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, dull and uninspiring, unable to sell tickets.
Buss transformed the team, bringing in attractive cheerleaders, building entertainment bars, and renovating the arena—for all of this, he found himself buried in debt.
Then, they skyrocketed, creating "Show Time." They were dazzlingly glamorous, as radiant and captivating as the sunshine on Los Angeles beaches, drawing the attention of all basketball fans.
They didn’t just win championships; they made the games exciting, gave fans reason to spend money to watch games at the arena. Jerry Buss always declared that he had not only saved the Lakers but also rescued the NBA.
Indeed, no matter how you look at it, the Lakers of the 1980s undeniably played a central role in the NBA’s revival, and those glorious days will continue to be reminisced about fondly.
Under Magic Johnson’s leadership, the Lakers unleashed wave after wave of offensive surges, their speed fully ignited.
Don Nelson then came to his senses. He didn’t stop Johnson, didn’t substitute in a big lineup, but instead yelled: "Attack! Attack! Attack!"
No one knew that before tonight’s game, Don Nelson had already made up his mind. He was going to embrace offense entirely, determined to build a completely and utterly offensive juggernaut in the future.
Defense? Balance between offense and defense? Big men in the paint? To hell with all of it!
"Because the ultimate game is to initiate offense wherever the ball is, right from the moment you get your hands on it."
Don Nelson recalled the words in his mind and wondered who had said them.
After pondering for a while, he realized the words might have been spoken by Gan Guoyang?
"Fuck, I think it was Gan during some summer coaches’ conference..."
Don Nelson remembered correctly; Gan had indeed said those words, but they were not his original creation. He was merely quoting Dr. Naismith.
With high morale, the Lakers, led by Magic Johnson, relived the Show-Time era glory, delivering spectacular fast-break plays.
The Trail Blazers, disrupted in the first quarter by Reggie Lewis’s fouls, lost their rhythm, and from then on, remained a step behind the Lakers.
Trying to catch up became increasingly difficult; the players also lacked the morale to push themselves to the limit to ensure victory.
Yet even so, the Trail Blazers managed to chase the score down to just a one-point deficit by the fourth quarter.
With Petrović and Lewis both underperforming, Gan Guoyang once again stepped up.
Using mid-range jump shots that haunted Los Angeles fans like a nightmare, he chipped away at the score—bringing back horrifying memories for many fans of the 1987 season, when Gan Guoyang decimated them with his mid-range shooting.
Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers’ defense tightened further and further, making it nearly impossible for the Lakers to execute fast-break plays in the fourth quarter.
Jack Nicholson screamed courtside, "Stop shooting! Stop shooting, Sonny!"
He even shouted at Jerry West, "Jerry, tell Sonny to ease up a bit!"
During this period, Jack Nicholson would occasionally ask West, "When are you bringing Ah Gan to Los Angeles?"
West could only respond to Nicholson, "When did I ever agree to bring Ah Gan to Los Angeles?"
"I don’t even plan on coming back to Los Angeles; I’m fine staying in Portland."
When Magic Johnson’s layup was blocked by Sabonis, the score tightened to 103:104, with the Lakers only ahead by one point.
Terry Porter dribbled into the frontcourt and executed a pick-and-roll with Gan Guoyang. Everyone knew Ah Gan was about to make his move to attack, but no one could stop him.
Gan Guoyang cut to the outside, caught the ball at the top of the arc, faced double-teams from Edwards and Campbell, and after two consecutive pump fakes to reset his shot, he rose directly for a mid-range jumper!
The ball traced a beautiful arc, like a curved blade, a sight familiar to Lakers fans at the Great Western Forum.
With a "swish," the ball sank cleanly into the net—a stunning contested mid-range jumper lodged firmly in the netting.
The Trail Blazers had successfully taken the lead!
To be honest, the Lakers played very well tonight, while the Trail Blazers were not at their best.
The Lakers seemed to relive their Show-Time golden era.
But back then, Ah Gan had already forcefully shattered their dreams of golden-age glory.
Gan Guoyang had scored 45 points, and the Lakers’ morale was thoroughly depleted.
Don Nelson called a timeout, but everyone understood that this series was already over.
Even if the Lakers managed to win this game, what about the next one? And the one after that?
They’d already played their best and still couldn’t beat the Trail Blazers on an average night.
The main problem was they couldn’t contain Ah Gan. That decisive shot to take the lead—if it had been Malone instead, he probably wouldn’t have even attempted it, wasting the opportunity.
But Ah Gan could withstand the double-team from two big defenders, adjust, and hit a high-difficulty jumper, completely altering the game’s momentum.
A golden dream belonging to the Los Angeles Lakers had officially come to an end.
Of course, Lakers fans hadn’t yet realized this, not until months later, when Magic Johnson publicly revealed his HIV diagnosis, and the dream truly shattered.
