"In the last five seconds, the Trail Blazers still had a chance, and the two-point gap was over, but the Trail Blazers players hadn't returned to the court yet, and Ramsey was still telling them something...... The atmosphere has reached its most tense moment. ”

The ups and downs of the second game, Gan Guoyang made two fouls in the first quarter, the Trail Blazers fell into passivity, and the Rockets began to gain the upper hand by relying on the inside advantage.

The Rockets' advantage continued to expand into the fourth quarter, and the Rockets maintained an eight-point lead less than two minutes before the end of the game.

Gan Guoyang suffered from fouls throughout the game, and his playing time was fragmented, making it difficult for him to stay on the court and contribute to the team continuously.

It's very tough for the players, it takes time for the players to get into the groove when they play, and if they go up and down all the time, they won't be able to find the feeling of the game, especially on the offensive end, Gan Guoyang only scored 17 points in this game, which is a new low since the playoffs.

However, the Trail Blazers' bench players were still powerful, and more or less made up for the loopholes caused by Gan Guoyang sitting on the bench on the offensive end, but in the end they were still eight points behind.

Seeing that the game gradually fell into the control of the Rockets, time was being consumed a little bit, Vanderwig was the first to stand up, in the case of the Rockets' offensive misses, in the process of fast break push counterattack, Vanderwig used a cold arrow outside the three-point line, a 23-foot three-point shot, which narrowed the difference between the two sides to 5 points, which was also the first three-point shot of the Trailblazers in this game.

Immediately afterwards, in defense, Gan Guoyang finally took a bad breath in the first quarter, causing an offensive foul by Olajuwon, the Rockets made a mistake, and the Trail Blazers gained offensive rights again.

This time it was Paxson's turn to make a move, Paxson still felt the same in this game, Ramsey also put Paxson on the court at the last moment, he lived up to expectations, in the case of Drexler's layup, Gan Guoyang struggled to pull the ball out, Paxson just received the ball outside the three-point line, and shot without hesitation, another three-pointer.

The Memorial Stadium detonated in an instant, and the gap of 8 points suddenly became two points, and the Trail Blazers saw the hope of turning the tables.

Then both sides wasted an offensive opportunity, and the Rockets had the ball 30 seconds before the end of the game.

The Trail Blazers defended the Rockets with a successful defense for 24 seconds and had one last offensive opportunity with more than five seconds left in the game.

"Beep beep!" The referee blew the whistle sharply, reminding the Trail Blazers players that they had to get into the game as soon as possible, and Ramsey was still dragging the players to tell the tactical details, after all, the last five seconds were too important.

Ramsey's tactics are not complicated, but he has made several preparatory options in case of various unexpected situations, and the tactics he designed are a set of relatively safe combinations that have been used, Drexler serves from the outside, Gan Guoyang responds to the outside of the three-point line, and Drexler sends the ball and cuts in directly with Gan Guoyang's cover.

If the Rockets' defender doesn't stick tight enough, Gan Guoyang will pass the ball to Drexler and let him break through and throw, if it sticks tightly, Paxson will go around the right side to the middle to receive the ball, and Gan Guoyang can choose to pass the ball to Paxson.

If Paxson can't catch the ball, then Gan Guoyang can choose to attack by himself, although the three-point line is a little far away from the basket, but from this outside breakthrough, throwing, he can do it.

This is a very big test of Gan's judgment and ability to handle the ball, but Ramsey is willing to put such a responsibility on Gan's shoulders, which is a test that a superstar must endure, and Gan's performance in key moments in the regular season is worth looking forward to.

At the urging of the referee, the Trail Blazers players returned to the court "reluctantly" to meet the test of the last five seconds.

"Draxler serves from the outside...... Gan catches the ball, he doesn't pass, Paxson ...... Still didn't pass the ball, Gan Guoyang broke through with the ball, pay attention to the time...... Three-point shot! ”

The Rockets' defense gave Gan Guoyang no chance to pass the ball at all, Drexler was pressed by Lloyd, Paxson ran to the top of the arc with the help of Sampson's cover, but Ralph Sampson switched to Paxson, and the lob pass to Mitchell Sampson was too dangerous, and Van Devic was in the bottom left corner as a piece to attract the attention of the defense, and there was no chance to pass to him.

Gan Guoyang could only hold the ball and break through horizontally, but Olajuwang defended very well and blocked Gan Guoyang's breakthrough route, which was Gan Guoyang's feeling that he had shot 22 three-pointers in the noon training, so after dribbling to the top of the arc, he suddenly pulled up and threw three points.

"Three-point ......"

"Bang~"

It could have been the winning shot, hitting the front of the basket, Gan Guoyang missed a three-point shot, and the game was over.

Gan Guoyang, who missed three points, stood still outside the three-point line for a long time, he crossed his waist and lowered his head, looking at the Rockets players hugging each other and cheering, his heart was extremely heavy.

"It's just the beginning of the series, it's not your fault, Gan." Drexler walked up to Gan Guoyang and comforted him, he knew that Gan Guoyang hated defeat, especially this game, because he was in great pain because of his poor foul and missed the kill.

In contrast, Olajuwon fulfilled his promise, and he scored 37 points and 16 rebounds in this game, which was the MVP of the Rockets' victory, completely overshadowing Gan Guoyang's performance of 17 points and 11 rebounds.

After the game, Gan Guoyang was inevitably criticized, and his foul in the first quarter and his choice of last shot all became the object of criticism from the media, fans, and the public.

Even the local media in Portland were mercilessly critical of Gan Guoyang's performance, and on the front page of the "Oregon Sports", the cover was Gan Guoyang's lonely figure standing on the field after losing the shot.

It looks like Portland has lost the series, in fact, the two sides are only a 1:1 draw, and the Trail Blazers players are still full of confidence in the series, they want to fight with the Rockets until the last second when Gan Guoyang is out of shape, as long as Gan Guoyang returns to normal, it is natural to win the Rockets.

Many fans who support the Trailblazers also think the same, but they didn't expect that since Gan Guoyang would play abnormally, then other players would naturally do the same.

In the first two games, the role players of the Trail Blazers were all playing at a super level, like Paxson, Kenny Carr, and even Ken Johnson at the end of the bench.

Comparatively, the Rockets' bench has always had no bright spots, and the reason is simple, because they are on the road.

For superstar players, the difference between away and home is not big, but for role players, the impact of home and away is still very large, especially the impact of the whistle, which is sometimes very crucial.

The Trail Blazers' players have overlooked this, and it will be even more difficult for Paxson to shoot 15-of-18 from the field in two games, making it even more difficult to replicate at the Summit Arena in Houston.

………………

On May 15, after a two-day break, the Trail Blazers arrived in Houston to begin preparing for Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

The Trail Blazers' squad is arguably ready for a tough challenge, and Summit Arena hasn't been breached in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

But the difficulty of this game is still beyond the imagination of the Trail Blazers players, including Ramsey, perhaps after this game, both the Trail Blazers players and coaches should be able to understand the mood of the Los Angeles Lakers.

The biggest adjustment of the Rockets in the game was to let Ralph Sampson play against Gan Guoyang in defense, and then let Olajuwon make up for Gan Guoyang at the right time and give up the defense against Mitchell Sampson.

This trick worked, in the semifinals the Rockets used this trick against Abdul-Jabbar, Sampson relied on his height to top in the back, no matter what Gan Guoyang did, he only opened his arms to interfere, never jumped, never moved the center of gravity casually.

Olajuwon set up a fly swatter behind Sampson, although Gan Guoyang has a strength advantage and can resist Sampson's small hook hand, but he can't keep an eye on Olajuwon's defensive block that fully jumps behind him, Abdul-Jabbar was covered half to death several times in the semifinals, no matter how powerful Gan Guoyang is, his height and experience are not as good as Abdul-Jabbar, so he has naturally been seriously disturbed.

Mitchell Sampson was liberated and became the interior offensive point of the Trail Blazers, but the Rockets didn't care at all, they knew that relying on Sampson, in the third and fourth quarters, the Trail Blazers couldn't kill people at all.

What's worse is that the outside line of the Trail Blazers is finally inaccurate, and those fleeting opportunities in the previous games have been seized by role players, but when it comes to the summit arena, iron has become the main theme.

The No. 1 scoring point on the inside was suppressed, the substitute microwave ovens lost power, and the Trail Blazers quickly collapsed.

When the maximum point difference between the two sides became 21 points in the third quarter, Gan Guoyang tried to use his offense to drive the whole team, but the suppressed offensive feeling in the first half and the physical strength that was consumed a lot of physical strength could not be adjusted if he wanted to.

The Rockets' strategy of top defense, co-defense, and supplemental coverage of Gan Guoyang has been consistent from beginning to end, and Gan Guoyang has worked extremely hard to score, and it is more difficult to score a score than to eat.

The Trail Blazers have never been a team that is good at turning the tables, and this is a characteristic that people have summed up for the Trail Blazers over the past two seasons, and the players seem to have accepted this trait, with the bench becoming lifeless and the TV cameras beginning to show the so-called "looks".

After the first win, the Trail Blazers, who were still full of confidence and ambition, were met head-on in Houston, and this script was almost exactly the same as the Rockets' last opponent, the Los Angeles Lakers.

It can only be said that the ups and downs of life are really too fast, so fast that they are unimaginable, so fast that they can't bear it.