Chapter 992: Chapter 27 Forward_3
Game 4, Malone stepped up again, scoring 37 points, grabbing 11 rebounds, dishing out 3 assists, and making 2 steals, helping the Jazz secure another victory.
The two teams tied 2-2, and the Jazz team will return to Portland to face the Trail Blazers in a critical game for the match point.
However, everyone on the Jazz team knows this game is likely unfavorable.
It’s said that Ah Gan, after receiving the suspension penalty for Game 4, immediately flew back to Portland to prepare for Game 5.
In Game 5, Ah Gan and the Trail Blazers are certainly out to seek revenge.
Before the decisive match, in the locker room, Malone was so nervous that he had a gastric spasm and vomited in the bathroom.
When he took to the court, the Rose Garden’s big screen repeatedly showed the scene of him being knocked over by Ah Gan, and the boos on-site were relentless.
More importantly, Gan Guoyang appeared on the court wearing number 11, with the music of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra - Sunrise," his presence was overwhelmingly intimidating.
In this game, the Jazz team had no chance; from the first quarter, the Trail Blazers held them down, and they fell behind by a large margin early on, without any resistance.
Moreover, their offense was extremely poor tonight, ending with only 64 points, while the Trail Blazers scored 103 points.
64-103, the Trail Blazers won by a margin of 39 points, decisively sweeping the Jazz team at home and easily taking the series point.
After this game, everyone on the Jazz team was very depressed, showing not even the slightest competitiveness in the match for the match point.
Malone, compared to his performance in Games 3 and 4, was a completely different person, shooting 4 of 12 from the field, only scoring 12 points and grabbing 7 rebounds.
The towering image of a player with 50% field goal percentage and scoring 35+ in Games 3 and 4 was nowhere to be found; he was completely a pushover.
During the match, Gan Guoyang couldn’t even be bothered to mock Malone, as he just played normally, and the Trail Blazers crushed the Jazz.
With Ah Gan there, the Game 6 return to Salt Lake City actually holds little suspense, as the Trail Blazers’ morale, unity, and determination for a three-peat have already risen.
Before the start of Game 6, Gan Guoyang told his teammates, "We will definitely win this game, whether I’m here or not, the Trail Blazers will win this battle and enter the Finals!"
Whenever Gan Guoyang confidently declares such things, the Trail Blazers are unstoppable, not because Gan Guoyang can make it happen, but because he sensed the team’s unwavering confidence in victory and just stated it.
Sure enough, this battle was also without suspense, with the Trail Blazers leading from the first quarter, relying on their powerful offensive and defensive explosiveness to freeze the Jazz’s tactical system.
105-89, the Trail Blazers easily defeated the Jazz in Salt Lake City and held up the Western Conference champion trophy in the Triangle Center’s locker room, reaching the Finals for the sixth time in eight years.
Gan Guoyang scored 31 points, grabbed 19 rebounds, and had 7 blocks throughout the game, while Malone still only had 15 points, shooting 5 of 15 from the field.
After the game, the Jazz team owner Larry Miller was very dissatisfied with Karl Malone’s performance in the last two games. He rarely openly criticized Malone after Game 6, calling him "too soft."
Indeed, in games with Ah Gan, I was compliant, and a mid-range shooter, relying on persistence to ban Ah Gan, then striking hard, becoming the top scorer among power forwards, continually putting up high scores.
Malone was very saddened by this, and he held a press conference where he revealed for the first time that his father’s death was by suicide, not cancer. He talked about his mother’s hardship in raising so many children, and his own long-term frustration and sense of abandonment.
This provided a reasonable explanation for the contradictory, sensitive, and vulnerable aspects of Malone’s character, but it did nothing to change the outcome of the games.
Surprisingly, after the press conference, Malone received a call from Gan Guoyang’s father, Gan Youwei, who got the number from Stockton.
Gan Youwei, speaking in somewhat broken English with a noticeable Chinese accent, told Malone, "I’m very sorry to hear this news. I apologize for my son’s actions. He will never apologize, but I will. I’m sorry. Live well, you’re great and successful, good luck, kid."
Malone was holding the phone, sobbing uncontrollably.
Malone still cannot forgive his father, he does not accept his decision to leave.
He is learning to be a real man he can respect, though it is a slow process.
But he will keep moving forward, always.
