"Welcome to the 1985-1986 NBA Playoffs brought to you by CBS TV, today is the first game day of the playoffs, and we will bring you the Portland Trail Blazers game at home against the San Antonio Spurs, this is the matchup between the first in the West and the eighth in the West, I am Dick Stockton, and today's live guest is Tom Heinthorne! The Portland Trail Blazers' astonishing 63-19 record this season, their rise to prominence after the 1984 draft with their No. 2 pick, and becoming the seventh team in NBA history to win more than 60 games in the regular season, they seem to have experienced some chaos at the start of the season, but the chaos has been put to rest in the middle of the season, and the whole team has come together to play a stellar record that shocked the league, and now, the real test is coming. It will be interesting to see if they can go further in the playoffs than they did last season. The top six 60-win regular-season teams in Dick Stockton's mouth are the Celtics, Lakers, Knicks, Bucks, 76ers and Bullets.

Even in 1978, when Bill Wharton won the regular season MVP and the Trail Blazers won the first place in the West, their record was only 58-24.

Tom Heinsohn immediately picked up the conversation and said: "This season in the West is undoubtedly exciting, in the past six seasons, the Lakers have reached the Finals five times, forming an absolute dominance, and this season is the most likely season for Western teams to break the Lakers' monopoly. The Rockets and Trail Blazers are two young teams that are growing at an astonishing rate, and the defending champions don't seem to be in great shape this season, but their experience is still unmatched. Of course, it's too early to say that, the Trail Blazers are still playing the first round, and their opponent is the Spurs, but never underestimate the power of the veterans. ”

"That's right, I remember in '69 everyone thought the Celtics were old, and in Game 7 in Los Angeles, the Lakers owners were ready to win the balloon, and everyone knew that the aging Russell took his last ring." Stockton talks about the past.

"Hahaha, yes, that was one of the most important Celtic wins, and this year I hope the Celtics can repeat that in Los Angeles." Tom Heyinthorne, as a veteran of the Celts, was naturally interested in hearing the good words of the Celts.

It can actually be seen from the dialogue between the two CBS commentators that they did not take the Spurs to heart, and their conversation focused on the Finals, the Division Finals, and the Lakers and Celtics as the favorites to win the championship.

When the Trail Blazers were preparing for the game, they did not devote themselves to studying the Spurs' tactical tactics, but devoted a part of their energy to focus on the possible opponents in the second round or even the Western Conference Finals, which is undoubtedly a psychology of underestimating the enemy.

Ramsey, as an experienced veteran, sometimes can't avoid this mentality, after all, this year's Trail Blazers will be his last chance to win the championship, and he really wants to lead this team to the Finals to win the championship, so like the first round against the Spurs, at least three games will be played, which makes people feel like a waste of time.

The players are also confident and slow, and they all showed confidence in the team in the pre-game interviews, and many fans directly played the "Sweep" sign, which means that the Trail Blazers want to sweep the Spurs and enter the next round as soon as possible.

A feeling of underestimation pervades the Trail Blazers, a mistake often made by teams that lack playoff experience and haven't learned enough lessons.

Gan Guoyang has also watched a lot of series in later generations, has seen the Black Eight, seen the away 2-0 lead and then was overturned, and now he has become a real player, he can smell that the Trail Blazers' teammates are a little too relaxed.

In the pre-game warm-up, everyone's expressions were relaxed, Colter also competed with Drexler to shoot three-point shots, and Kenny Carr simply took the ball there to practice dribbling under his crotch and played it.

This feeling made Gan Guoyang a little worried, and he also stepped aside and said a few words to Ramsey, Ramsay just nodded, asking Gan Guoyang to play well and control the rhythm on the field.

………………

On April 17, at 7:30 p.m. PT, the first playoff game between the Portland Trail Blazers and San Antonio and the Spurs finally began as the referee tossed the ball into the air.

"Gan won the ball on the jumper, and the game officially began, and the Trail Blazers' starting lineup was Gan, Mitchell Sampson, Kiki Vanderwig, Drexler and Steve Colt; On the other side, the San Antonio Spurs' starting five are Gil Moore, George Gervin, Alvin Robertson, Joe Sandwald and Mike Mitchell. Gervin was supposed to be traded to the Bulls in the offseason, but he didn't undergo a medical exam, so he ended up staying with the Spurs, and this playoff game will be his last playoff journey, and he will likely retire at the end of this season. George Gervin was originally going to be traded to the Bulls for point guard Wes Matthews, but it didn't happen on this plane, and Gervin stayed with the Spurs for his final season.

"Gan took the ball in the high post, turned and broke through, and gave the ball to Sampson, who dunked under the basket and scored the first point of the game!"

Gan Guoyang used his speed to easily pass Gil Moore, and the Spurs' power forward Mitchell had to step forward to wrap up, but Gan Guoyang gave the ball to Sampson in time, and Sampson dunked easily.

One offense is enough to see that the Spurs' interior line is declining with the aging of Gil Moore, and their outside line does not have the strong harassment and pressing ability of the Lakers, so their average points per game this season is a collapse, ranking sixth from the bottom in the league.

"Gan got a backcourt rebound, a long pass, Colter threw a high throw, and Drexler received the ball and relayed in the air! Beautiful Trail Blazers attacking, they stabbed like a sharp knife into the heart of the Spurs! The Spurs called a timeout, and in just five minutes, the Trail Blazers were on the verge of breaking through, leading the Spurs by 11 points at 18:7! ”

In the first five minutes, the Trail Blazers showed overwhelming strength, outperforming the Spurs in both offense and defense.

This season's Spurs due to the unsuccessful trade of Gervin, so on the one hand, they continue to rely on the personal strength of Gervin and Gilmore, on the other hand, the growth of the new star Alvin Robertson in the backcourt has driven the defense and offense of the Spurs' backcourt, but he faced Drexler in the first quarter and failed to limit the glider's play at all.

Throughout the first half, the Trail Blazers showed the quality of a regular season champion team, they blossomed in all directions, scored on all points, and most importantly in defense they did a good job of containing the Spurs' offense, playing many beautiful counterattacks, scoring easily, such a game is no different from the regular season.

"Gan's wonderful pass, nice pass! Drexler went straight to the basket after receiving the ball, the two clapped and embraced, and the last goal of the first half turned the score into a 59:44, 15-point lead, the Trail Blazers' offense was too beautiful, and their pace was not very fast tonight, so the 59-point score was not high, but their coordination was quite perfect, typical Ramsey-style offense. ”

'Yes, it's hard not to win when Kimson had four assists in the first half – even though it's just the end of the first half. Hainsohn doesn't know whether to praise Gan Guoyang or hurt him, but Gan Guoyang's assist data in the regular season is really ugly, averaging 1.8 per game, less than two, and he can't pass the ball well after being trapped, which is almost his only weakness at present.

"Kill the pretty guys, but we're only halfway through the game, and the 15-point advantage is not safe, so we need to extend the score advantage further and try to finish the game in the third quarter and break them down with a wave of offensive impact." Ramsey believes that the Spurs must be killed directly in the third quarter, and the so-called long night dreams are too much, and they can continue to pull away in the third quarter, and they can rest in the fourth quarter.

But the overly impatient thought made all the Trail Blazers players start to think about where to go for a drink and relax at night.

"Let the game end early, I'm already feeling like drinking." Kenny Carr even said this to Gan Guoyang.

The difference between the playoffs and the regular season is that high-intensity confrontations can cause players to fluctuate, and the impact of these ups and downs will be magnified in the game, which is why the playoffs are often the stage for superstars, while role players tend to get lost in a different rhythm of the game.

After the start of the second half, the Trail Blazers' offense felt obviously not as good as the first half, in fact, the Spurs' defensive intensity did not increase much, they just appropriately contracted the defense and put the Trail Blazers to shoot from the outside.

This is also a common defensive strategy used by many weak teams when they are behind, which is to gamble with you with shrink defense.

As a result, the Trail Blazers really couldn't shoot from the outside, of which Colter bore the brunt of the shot, missing three shots, as a point guard, such a random shot could not be shot, and the damage to the team was great, and he was soon replaced by Ramsey.

Porter, who replaced Colt on the court, was also stupid and bold, as soon as he saw that the Spurs were desperately shrinking, he didn't let Gan Guoyang catch the ball, and he also shot outside, but he still couldn't shoot.

Several misses on the offensive side did a lot of damage to the morale of the Trail Blazers.

What's worse is that they can't stop the Spurs' offense, because George Gervin has accumulated half of the power and exploded in the third quarter.

"Gwen received the ball on the left side and broke through, and the three guys hit the basket under the defense! Singer-roll！ Also caused a foul on Gan, how many times has this been? Gan's third foul, it looks like Ramsey is going to put Gan down for a while, and if he hits the free throw, the Spurs will tie the score. ”

George Gervin scored 13 points in a row in the third quarter, he broke through with the ball on the wing, either slipped to the bottom line to rebound, or walked to pick up the basket from the middle, no one could stop him at all, Gan Guoyang made up for the defense several times, either fouled, or came to the face or let Gervin throw in, the superstar came to feel, and it really couldn't be stopped, even if it was a dying superstar.

For a championship-level team, it is very normal for players to feel bad and not shoot part of the time, and what is most needed at this time is to use a strong defense to make the opponent unable to shoot, because defense does not depend on feel.

But in the first half, the Trail Blazers basically didn't defend well, because the Spurs' offense was really poor, but in the second half, they were turned upside down by Gervin alone, and they suddenly wanted to block Gervin's progress, but it was too late.

"Gervin relied on Moore's cover, received the ball at the top of the arc, and made a three-point shot! The ball is in! Oh my God, a three-pointer, a three-pointer at the top of the arc, oh incredible, George Gervin, scored 21 points in the third quarter and turned the tide completely. This may be George Gervin's last glory in the NBA, but he is still as dazzling as his season when he scored 33 points in a single quarter. Never, don't underestimate the energy of a veteran, the Trail Blazers have to call a timeout. They are obviously not mentally prepared for this situation, they are behind, how to fight, how to turn the situation back. ”

'It's difficult, a team that's not mature yet, the hardest thing to adjust is their mentality, especially at home where they're a bit beaten!'

The Trail Blazers were indeed blinded, and the defensive formation was completely scattered, which rarely occurred throughout the season, because the Trail Blazers' defense is characterized by low intensity, but strong resilience, and the opponent can score relatively easily, but the Trail Blazers' defense will never collapse.

But now, they have collapsed, and this collapse undoubtedly comes more from the heart.