Bird has always admired Gan Guoyang very much, because in Gan Guoyang, Bird saw a lot of things in himself.

Bird is an "outlier" in the league, starting in the seventies, as racial boundaries were broken down in the NBA, more and more blacks entered the league, until today, blacks have become the backbone of the entire league, and the vast majority of stars are black players.

Of all the teams in the league, the Celtics are special because they are the only team with more white players than black players, which of course has something to do with Boston's poor racial environment, and black players are reluctant to come to Boston.

Even so, they're still the strongest team in the league, so some of the best white players in the league are under the Celtics.

And Bird is definitely a well-deserved white king, a wonderful flower in the history of American professional basketball, his skin color makes him the "white hope" in the eyes of white people in American society, and people are looking for "Bird's successor" until he retires for many years in the future.

But Bird is sometimes troubled by the color of his skin, especially when he first entered the league, and many people think that this white man who can't run or jump can survive in the competitive professional league.

When he conquered the league with his performance, some people believed that he relied on his skin color advantage to gain a foothold in this league, and it was the league that praised this "white hope" in order to maintain the attention of white society to the NBA.

Of course, there are fewer and fewer people saying this now, on the one hand, Bird's performance is really convincing, and winning the regular season MVP for three consecutive years is not just any kind of player, and the league can get it with a bang.

On the other hand, the white man from rural Indiana, who was tough, foul-mouthed, and trash talking, made him "notorious" on the court, and earned him the respect and affection of many black fans.

From this point of view, Gan Guoyang is indeed very similar to Bird, compared to the identity of the white man, Gan Guoyang is a more vulnerable yellow skin, before Gan Guoyang, in the United States, yellow skin is simply completely insulated from sports.

As a result, Gan Guoyang first conquered the NCAA, and then completely gained a foothold in the NBA, his style of play has many similarities with Bird, tough play, full of trash talk, and a retributive style of play, so that Gan Guoyang has dispelled everyone's contempt for him in two seasons.

Not only that, but in this league of the jungle, this style of play and style has earned him more respect and fan love, and Larry Bird has to compete with Gan Guoyang on the mouth every time he plays against the Trail Blazers - of course, this makes Bird feel very enjoyable.

When Gan Guoyang said to Bird in the finals, "If I don't enter, you don't want to enter", it means that in this game, the two sides will definitely be endless, and until the end of the game, both sides will spray each other endlessly.

Gan Guoyang's block hit the ball out of the line, so the Celtics sent the sideline, and through two clever runs, the Celtics vacated the inside run, Dennis Johnson risked a straight inside, and McHale plugged in to catch the ball and put it to the basket.

As a result, Gan Guoyang seemed to be prepared again, stretched out his long arm from behind, and covered the ball again, but this time he didn't hit the ball off the baseline, and the ball went to Vanderwig's hands, and the Trail Blazers had a chance to play a quick counterattack.

Drexler, the Trail Blazers' fast-break engine, received a pass from Vanderwich at the first time, and his fast advance was almost unstoppable, and it was his two dunks in the first quarter that woke up the Trail Blazers, but in Boston Garden Square, fast-break layups were not so easy.

"Drexler, layup, cut off by Danny Ainge! Angie took the ball from Drexler and the ball was back on the Celtics' side. ”

The Celtics are not like the Rockets, several players on the outside do not have superior height and physical fitness, but their defense is unusually "chicken thief", such a small action, there are a lot of balls in the next three ways, and the key is very accurate, Gan Guoyang's ball was broken just now, not because of how fast Bird was, but because his prediction was too good.

The Celtics, who have regained control of the offense, need to stabilize, and the 7-point gap will be caught up by the Trail Blazers at any time, and the Celtics need a safer point difference.

"Dennis Johnson, Wharton stepped forward to block and cover, Johnson went in the middle, threw and missed. Wharton got the frontcourt rebound, made another layup, still missed, and Bird got the frontcourt rebound and shot under the basket...... The ball went in, the basketball still rolled into the basket, and Bird scored eight points in a row to stretch the difference between the two sides to nine points. ”

“**！” Seeing Bird score under his nose, Gan Guoyang also roared.

In this ball, Dennis Johnson was not afraid of the middle of the Trail Blazers' heavy troops, but continued to rush from the middle, but under the interference of Gan Guoyang, he missed the throw; Wharton picked up the rebound in the frontcourt, and the layup was also intercepted by Gan Guoyang and did not score.

But by this time, Bird had already stuck in another very good position under the basket, and the inexperienced Cauchy was blocked by Bird, who barely jumped to get the rebound, and then dodged Gan Guoyang's block and stumbled the ball into the basket with both hands.

Larry Bird is such a ubiquitous player, you treat him as an outside line to defend, but he is also a good power forward, he is a big forward when the Celtics won the championship in 1981, and he can pick up an astonishing 15.3 rebounds per game on the head of Moses Malone, which is the team's number one rebounder.

In this ball, Bird showed his strong upper body, turf strength and good position awareness, as well as good time difference control under the basket, successfully dodged Gan Guoyang's block, and put the ball in a very ugly posture.

"That's the terrible thing about Bird, you think he can't run fast or jump high, but he can always be in the right place at the right time." Tom Heinsohn doesn't shy away from his praise.

The Celtics continued their steady, efficient offense in the second quarter, and the addition of Bill Wharton added another passer to the Celtics' lineup, adding pressure to the Trail Blazers' defense.

Wharton's transfer speed is extremely fast, rarely staying in his hands, and although his offensive ability is degraded, it still cannot be ignored, so the Trail Blazers have switched back to man-to-man defense, otherwise the Celtics will definitely exhaust Gan Guoyang who is wandering around.

At the same time, Gan Guoyang, who opened up, also began to put more energy into offense, he did not fight hard like in the last round against the Rockets, a trick to beat you to death, which is ineffective for the old and spicy Celtics, they can think of a minute to get Gan Guoyang.

So, Gan Guoyang used the "rubbing score", reducing the number of singles he played, playing more with Drexler, and then looking for opportunities to pick up leaks under the basket and make empty jumpers after receiving the ball.

Although this style of play is not as shocking as consecutive single scores, the score does not lie, and at 49:54, the Trail Blazers bit the score and maintained a gap of about five points.

Gan Guoyang also saved a lot of physical strength because of this.

"Gan's style of play is easy and efficient, which is enough to prove that the Trail Blazers have a well-functioning offensive system, especially Gan and Drexler's pick-and-roll blocking, I think their pick-and-roll coordination is generally underestimated, which is perhaps the most effective means of cooperation for the Trail Blazers."

Tom Hayin Thorne, in addition to Kwa Celtic and Bird, is still very insightful, in the regular season, Gan Guoyang and Drexler's blocking and pick-and-roll cooperation is not particularly mature, last season's playoffs, the two often have a stroke of genius, but it is not a conventional tactic.

In this year's playoffs, Drexler began to cooperate more and more with Gan Guoyang in blocking and dismantling, and was able to play a relatively rich tactical change, although limited to Drexler's clumsy mid-range shooting ability, the weakness of the two cooperation is still more obvious.

But Drexler's super athleticism, excellent combination with Gan Guoyang's high-quality cover, comprehensive scoring methods, and more skillful coordination make the duo more and more powerful.

Bird's jumper at the top of the arc didn't go in, Gan got the backcourt rebound, passed to Drexler, pushed the fast break, and the Celtics' defense was fast...... Gan followed up, stepped forward to cover Drexler, Gan turned over and cut in, and relayed in the air! A beautiful aerial relay with just three points separating the two sides before Celtic called a timeout. ”

Drexler saw that the Celtics retreated very quickly, so he changed the speed and stopped, and Gan Guoyang, who was keeping up, immediately went to the left side to make a cover for Drexler, the quality of the cover was very high, and the number of Celtics retreating was not much, so after covering Gan Guoyang, he reflexively rushed to the basket, Drexler understood the pass, Gan Guoyang received the ball and dunked, and Wharton, who was defending him, couldn't keep up at all.

"Pretty Clyde." Gan Guoyang punched Drexler after scoring a goal, Drexler pursed his lips and smiled, he has always been so "shy".

'We're going to put more pressure on them defensively, you're too relaxed, yes you're attacking well, but if you can't defend the opponent, it's all for nothing. We're too casual in our defense, and remember, put two jumpers, don't give Draxler a break, and don't give Gan Shun, that's what I'm asking for. Casey Jones stressed to the players that the Celtics were relatively smooth on offense and a little lax defensively, but the Trail Blazers took advantage of the loophole and the score was close.

"The other side may be relatively light on the enemy, but we must not relax, grasp their weaknesses and give them some color." Ramsey also saw that throughout the first half, the Celtics were always in a relatively relaxed state, the offense was very smooth, and the morale was very high, but the score did not open up, because the Celtics' defense did not really increase the intensity.

If the Celtics come back to their senses in the second half, the Trail Blazers are likely to be in trouble.

(Nine-headed Bird Academy)