The Trail Blazers, who had gained offensive possession, didn't waste the opportunity as Mitchell Sampson passed the ball to Valentin, who, after a little observation of the dribble, made a diagonal pass and the basketball flew straight to Drexler.

Drexler returned to the team in the final game of the preseason and after a recovery session, he played in this preseason game and had a good performance.

So Ramsey also put Drexler in the starting list in this game, and Drexler finally really became the starting point guard for the Trail Blazers.

"Clyde Drexler, received a pass from Valentine, dribbled to a layup! He was fouled by Sanders, and I don't know if his leg injury will affect his play. ”

In this case, Drexler failed to get the ball up, and Sanders crashed away from Drexler on the back, affecting his movements.

Obviously, Drexler is still affected by a leg injury, and if he is in normal health, Drexler will dunk the ball directly to the basket instead of choosing to go to the basket.

With Drexler hitting both free throws, the Trail Blazers opened the game with a 4-0 lead.

Humphries didn't rush through the middle this time and started to flank, where he played the ball 45 degrees to Alwan Adams in the low post.

Adams was shallow and Gan didn't go all out to defend because he had to focus on the area near the free throw line.

Bellman's purpose for Gan Guoyang to be promoted is still very clear, that is, to use Gan Guoyang's strong mobility ability, but to make up for the lack of single defense ability of the Trail Blazers' outside players.

You must know that the Trail Blazers are different from the Lakers, and several of the Lakers' backcourt, Cooper, Magic, Worthy, and Scott are all tall and long-arm players, fast moving, and outstanding defensive ability.

When needed, the Lakers can play a very pressing perimeter defense and make the opponent's offense disjointed and paralyzed.

Therefore, even though Abdul-Jabbar is old, the Lakers still have a very good defensive level when they can't do anything else on the defensive end, except for single defense, guarding the restricted area, and not even grabbing rebounds in the backcourt.

The Trail Blazers can't do it, except for Drexler, Valentin, Vanderwic, Colt, and Paxson, who are either slow or short, young or injured, and the pressure of the defense is not good at all, and they must rely on the strong support of interior players.

"Adams passed the ball back to Humphries, Adams continued to be in position, Humphries passed the ball, and Adams went deeper...... Turn around and go to the basket! Gangay dropped this layup! Once again, the Trail Blazers rejected the Suns' shot, and Gan accepted the ball. ”

Adams wanted to adjust the tempo with passes in and out, while also being able to go deeper.

Gan Guoyang did not stop Adams from receiving the ball closer to the basket because he was confident enough to defend Adams.

Sure enough, Gan Guoyang gave Adams a pegboard hat and successfully defended again.

The strategy of the pioneers in the positional attack is very clear, first find Gan Guoyang, let Gan Guoyang solve the weak inner line of the sun.

"Gan catches the ball on the left side, the Suns still don't have a pinch, Gan dribbles to the basket, turns and hooks his left hand! The ball scored, Adams Nagan was helpless, 6:0. ”

In the face of Adams, who is inferior in height, strength and weight, Gan Guoyang showed no mercy, and he used his strengths to experiment with the new techniques he learned in the offseason.

But the Suns players quickly adjusted, and Humphries dribbled past half court and immediately handed the ball to Adams, who was at the top of the arc, while walking to the baseline himself.

At 45 degrees, Walter Davis gave Humphries a cover and opened Valentine.

Vanderwich couldn't make a quick change of defence, allowing Humphries to slip in from the baseline, and the high post Adams immediately made a through ball into the hands of Humphries, who was deep into the heart.

Because Gan Guoyang mentioned the high position, the Trail Blazers' basket was relatively empty, and Humphries faced Sampson's defense, and the master threw and hit, 6:2.

In the coach's seat of the Trail Blazers, Bellman also shook his head, in order to make up for the Trail Blazers' control of the outside line to the top of the arc and the horn position, Gan Guoyang sacrificed the baseline and basket to mention this strategy.

Mitchell Sampson's defensive ability is actually underrated, and his blocks and supplements are above the level in the entire league, but compared to Gan Guoyang, his weight and defensive deterrence are still a little worse.

At that time, when the Trail Blazers coaching staff was discussing, the core focus was also on whether Mitchell Sampson could make up for the defensive vacuum brought to the basket by Gan Guoyang's expanded defensive area.

In the end, this strategy was approved, partly because of trust in Sampson's defensive ability, but more importantly because Sampson was not part of the Trail Blazers' long-term plans to build the team.

“run-run-run！ (Run, run, run!) Losing a ball was nothing, and Ramsey immediately roared from the sidelines, clapping his hands constantly, and for Ramsey, offense is the foundation of the Trail Blazers' life.

It may be that Ramsey shouted too quickly, Valentine quickly dribbled the ball over the half court and passed the ball to Drexler, who received the ball at 45 degrees on the right side, and saw that the opponent was not in place, and directly pulled up and shot.

"Phew!" The ball smashed into the neck of the basket, the rebound was grabbed by the Suns, and the Trail Blazers players were not in position.

Ramsay, who was still shouting "run, run, run" just now, immediately shut up, as if he had been slapped by Drexler......

Of course, Ramsey now sees Drexler's shooting posture and wants to slap him too, but there is no improvement at all.

But Drexler quickly made amends, and at the top of the arc he and Gan Guoyang quickly pinched ball carrier Walter Davis, and the two broke the ball together.

"Drexler breaks the ball, and the front is flat! Drexler glides and dunks! Once again, the glider flies in the sky of the Memorial Stadium! ”

In the absence of defenders, Drexler showed his superhuman ability to bounce and glide, and the beautiful dunk made the Trail Blazers fans go crazy, and many people came to the Memorial Stadium to watch the game and wait for Drexler's shot.

"Are your legs okay?" Gan Guoyang was more concerned about Drexler's injury than a dunk, and he stepped forward to ask after the goal.

"No problem, it feels great, I can win another dunk this year......" Drexler said with a smile.

The morale-boosted Trail Blazers are back on defense, and Suns head coach John McCraw has noticed that the Trail Blazers' defensive strategy is very different from last season, and they are extremely frequent.

While this often left the Trail Blazers' defense with big holes, the Suns didn't move the ball well, with some players having opportunities and others not being able to get the ball to him in time.

The Trail Blazers' offense is as sharp as last season, once the Suns can't score, the Trail Blazers will launch a fast attack, and the Suns, who lack height and speed, will be difficult to stop the Trail Blazers' sharp knives.

Coupled with Gan Guoyang's absolute advantage in the interior offense, the score between the two sides was already 14:6 in the opening five minutes, and the Trail Blazers led the Suns by eight points, and their shooting percentage was amazing.

John McCraw saw that the margin was widening and immediately called a timeout to make some adjustments.

"Good job boys, our defense is starting to pay off, but we still have to be cautious, we need to be more tacit, and don't leave too much space for the opponent." Ramsey instructed during the pause.

In the past, Ramsey's defensive philosophy was relatively simple, which was to rely on the players' individual defensive ability, coupled with the tacit understanding between each other, to interfere with the opponent's attack and reduce the opponent's shooting rate.

Bellman's strategy is much more complicated, and the reason why the Suns can't pass good balls when they have open spaces is not only because of the lack of personal ability of the players, but also because Gan Guoyang holds the free throw line, which is a "traffic artery" that extends in all directions.

The entire Trail Blazers' defensive formation is to close to the middle and release the bottom line, so the Suns players will go to the bottom line unconsciously, and the vision of the bottom line is the worst, and it is normal to not be able to pass the ball.

Therefore, the Suns' six points are all won by playing alone, or switching offense and defense, and they are a little helpless in positional attack.

To this end, the Suns made personnel changes, and they replaced the backup center James Edwards, the 7-foot veteran interior player, a fairly versatile interior player, as soon as he came on the court, the height of the Suns' interior line immediately increased a notch, and Adams also returned to the more suitable power forward position for him.

As soon as Edwards came on the court, Gan Guoyang's defensive pressure instantly increased a lot, and he had to pay more attention to the basket, because the previous opponent of Sampson was the Suns' mini interior Charles Jones, who was only 6-foot-8 tall.

Edwards' most striking feature is his hollow mustache, which looks like an old cowboy in the West, but his own style of play is quite delicate and technical.

Sure enough, the Suns sent the ball directly to the hands of Edwards on the inside after the timeout, and Edwards pushed away Sampson, who was defending him, and hit a light hook shot, 14-8.

Edwards' impact is not only on the offensive end, but also on the defensive end, he has begun to play a role, and he will be the main defense of Gan Guoyang, who is obviously more difficult to play him than Adams.

"Gan was holding the ball in the low post again, he was facing the basket and breaking through with the ball in his left hand! Edwards layup...... The ball didn't go in, Edwards grabbed the rebound, and his defense was pretty good. ”

Gan Guoyang wanted to try to break through the basket under the frame, but he didn't succeed, of course, Edwards was not comfortable, his weight was only 225 pounds, and he couldn't withstand Gan Guoyang's impact at all, but he interfered with Gan Guoyang's layup with his height and arm length.

"Hurry back to defense!" The Trail Blazers in regular time still adhered to the habit of attacking the front court without hitting the frontcourt, but to retreat quickly.

The Sun saw that they could not seize the opportunity of a quick counterattack, so they could only attack from the ground.

"Let me defend him." Gan Guoyang said to Sampson, and then quickly staggered his position with Sampson and came behind Edwards.

It seems that after Edwards comes up, the Trail Blazers will also change their defensive strategy and return to a regular defensive state, while Sampson played Gan's previous role, mentioning near the free throw line to delay the Suns' passes.

However, the referee's whistle blew and referee Earl Stam pointed at Sampson and made a foul gesture.

"We see, the referee blew the illegal defense of the Trail Blazers! The Suns are to make one free throw. ”

When Bellman saw the decision, he thought to himself, "Damn, you really have to be more careful." ”

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