Chapter 890: Chapter 53: Welcome to the Finals_5
In just over a second, both of their gazes shifted away. At this moment, no words were needed. Everything was clear without being said.
This game’s referees were Jack Madden, Hugh Evans, and Hugh Hollins – all familiar faces.
Gan Guoyang’s old friend, Detroit’s "Soprano Player" and "Silver Dome Leg-Clutcher," Earl Strom, had officially retired and become a television commentator.
Before the tip-off, Hugh Evans said to Gan Guoyang: "Sonny, Earl’s retired now, so don’t go hitting people."
Gan Guoyang smiled faintly and replied: "Detroit’s been eliminated. I shouldn’t need to hit anyone."
As he spoke, Gan Guoyang swept a sharp glance over Bill Cartwright, Buck Williams, and a few others.
Cartwright felt a chill in his heart. He knew his reputation for elbow strikes was infamous, but did he dare throw an elbow at Ah Gan?
And the worst part was, the one standing at the center circle ready to jump against Cartwright wasn’t Sabonis – it was Ah Gan.
Clearly, tonight Gan Guoyang was playing the center position. It was likely he’d be defending Cartwright, which made the Bulls’ opening offensive strategy problematic.
The tip-off. The highly anticipated Finals had finally begun.
Gan Guoyang’s explosive speed and jumping power were incomparable to Cartwright’s. He easily tipped the ball to Porter.
As the ball was touched, the entire Memorial Coliseum erupted into a frenzy, and the Trail Blazers initiated their first attack.
Gan Guoyang darted to the Three Second Zone as fast as he could, where Buck Williams was defending him.
Low post positioning on the right side, fierce and relentless. Buck, already a master of low-post battles, was pinned down firmly and unable to move.
Porter passed the ball. The Bulls surprisingly opted for single coverage. Gan Guoyang took one dribble and immediately spun inside, shooting the ball forward with lightning speed.
Buck Williams couldn’t do anything to interfere; he could only hope the shot wouldn’t go in – but Gan Guoyang rarely missed such solo opportunities. The ball swished through the net!
The first score of this year’s Finals was in hand, and the cheers at Memorial Coliseum roared like waves.
Jordan ran to the baseline to inbound the ball, harboring a slight frustration because, for now, he wasn’t the primary offensive option.
In truth, Jordan agreed with most of Phil Jackson’s coaching philosophy and strategies.
However, when it came to dealing with Ah Gan, Jordan thought Jackson underestimated him.
Though Jackson naturally placed a high value on Gan Guoyang, he still hadn’t completely figured out how to counter him.
As Jordan had once said, "You don’t truly understand him."
Jackson continued to approach the game against the Trail Blazers with a holistic perspective, viewing it like a chess player.
But Jordan knew that Gan Guoyang’s control over the game was all-encompassing, embedded in every detail.
For instance, even during a simple jump ball, he would exert pressure on the opponent, fighting for ball possession.
From the very beginning, he would apply tactical and psychological blows, attacking quickly and intensely, maintaining relentless mental and physical pressure from start to finish – until the game ended, or even the whole series.
Thus, Jackson’s traditional idea of probing and adjusting later wasn’t just risky – it was perilous.
Unfortunately, these subtleties were something Jordan could only sense vaguely. He felt something wasn’t right, but he couldn’t definitively tell Jackson: "This won’t work. You should do it this way."
After all, Jordan had zero aptitude for coaching and management. He was a hypersensitive hunter but lacked a broader strategic vision.
The Bulls followed their planned attack, feeding the ball to the low post for Cartwright, intending for him to go one-on-one against Gan Guoyang.
But Cartwright couldn’t even budge Gan Guoyang. After failing to spin inside, he had to pass the ball back to Parkson.
Parkson passed it to Jordan in the middle, who quickly rotated the ball to Pippen. Pippen drove from the right side while carrying the ball.
Pippen’s drive was met with fouling action from Kossie. The referee blew the whistle for a foul, and Pippen made one of his two free throws.
Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers returned to the low post, once again feeding Ah Gan – focusing on him relentlessly, entirely contrary to their usual Princeton System techniques.
Because this was the Finals, systems aside, scoring was the ultimate priority.
This time, the Bulls double-teamed him, but Gan Guoyang executed a beautiful baseline spin, outmaneuvering Buck Williams.
Cartwright arrived too late to provide help defense. Gan Guoyang slammed it home with one arm, adding another 2 points!
Jordan muttered to himself – Ah Gan was going full throttle from the opening tip.
Theoretically, this could be detrimental later on due to fatigue.
But Gan Guoyang’s stamina seemed bottomless. If he got into a rhythm early, how would they contain him later?
Despite his inner turmoil, when the Bulls regained possession, Jordan still hesitated and opted to pass the ball to Cartwright after probing the defense.
Cartwright’s turnaround fadeaway attempt was lightly blocked by Gan Guoyang – tipped out cleanly.
After securing possession, Gan Guoyang instantly launched a long pass to the frontcourt, where Reggie Lewis charged toward the basket.
Jordan scrambled back on defense, swatting Lewis’s layup off the backboard and out of bounds. Trail Blazers retained possession.
Gan Guoyang received the ball in the low post once more. This time, three Bulls converged on him, and he immediately passed the ball to the perimeter.
Sabonis took the pass and orchestrated, sending a precise straight pass to the opposite side for Kossie, who cut toward the basket for an easy finish!
The Trail Blazers surged ahead 6:1 in the opening minutes, rapidly building a lead. At this point, the Bulls badly needed a score.
However, Cartwright still couldn’t breach Ah Gan’s ironclad defense. After getting blocked once, Cartwright started playing timidly.
Jordan barked at him: "Be decisive, Bill! Decisive!"
Cartwright took a determined shot but missed. Buck Williams grabbed the offensive rebound.
The Bulls reset, moving the ball around repeatedly, but the Trail Blazers’ man-to-man defense was airtight.
John Parkson tried driving but passed to Pippen. Pippen pulled up from mid-range – missed.
Gan Guoyang grabbed the defensive rebound but chose not to push the fast break, knowing the Bulls were quick and disciplined on transitions. Fast breaks would waste opportunities.
Slowing it down, back to half-court offense. The low-post option again went to Ah Gan, who used a masterful spin move to blow by Buck Williams, crashing into Cartwright at the rim for a ferocious slam and earning a foul!
"Rip City!" Schonely’s voice echoed alongside the roaring cheers of the crowd.
Gan Guoyang exchanged high-fives with teammates, then stepped to the free-throw line and converted the and-one. The Trail Blazers started 9:1, leading by 8 points.
Jackson refrained from calling timeout. Shortly afterward, Jordan received the ball at the high post and scored a simple mid-range jumper, temporarily relieving the Bulls’ urgency.
But Gan Guoyang wasn’t finished with the Bulls’ interior. Receiving the ball at a 45-degree angle, he faced the basket and swiftly drove. Despite the crowd of defenders, he cut directly to the rim, finishing with a sublime left-handed hook shot to halt the Bulls.
11:3. Gan Guoyang had already scored 9 points, with the other 2 indirectly linked to him.
As the Bulls players prepared for a substitution, Gan Guoyang brushed past Jordan and said: "Michael, it seems you’re not ready yet. Did you think this was an exhibition game?"
"Phil Jackson doesn’t really think letting Cartwright score a few over my head, then having the Triangle Offense rotate, you score one, I score one, and finally stringing together a few of your buckets is enough to beat me, right?"
"Think it over, Michael. Welcome to the Finals."
