"Iseer, keep an eye on Gan when you get on the court, and if he's still on the court, don't let him shoot in the open space anymore! Increase our defensive pressure, to limit their shooting percentage, we must be spirited, we didn't completely win this game, don't be careless, don't underestimate the enemy! ”

In the eighth minute of the first quarter, when Gan Guoyang received a pass from Drexler and hit a shot, giving the Trail Blazers a 12-point lead over the Nuggets at 22-10, Doug Mo had to call the second timeout in the first quarter.

After Gan Guoyang shot a chasing mid-range shot in the fast break, Doug Mo did not make targeted adjustments to Gan Guoyang's sudden transformation into a mid-range shooting prince, he believed that Gan Guoyang just happened to score two, and did not really develop a mid-range shot.

After all, the season has come to this time, and Gan Guoyang, who has not shown his mid-range shooting ability for a season, suddenly became possessed by Ervin Hayes at this time, and no one believes it. (Hayes, who was also No. 11, retired after the season before Gan entered the league.) ）

But Gan Guoyang's performance after the timeout made Doug Mo have to believe that either Gan Guoyang is really possessed by Elvin Hayes, or Gan Guoyang has always been able to shoot from mid-range, but it has been useless to hold back, just waiting for this game to amplify the move.

On the offensive end, as long as Wayne Cooper dares to put Gan Guoyang two steps, Gan Guoyang will really dare to shoot, and his shooting posture is standard, his movements are fast, his shots are decisive, and the arc of the ball is very high.

The Nuggets' defense was also messed up because of Gan Guoyang's mid-range blow, and they didn't know whether they should go out to make up for the defense when Gan Guoyang pulled out, and whether they could let him go two steps when Gan Guoyang got the ball in the high post.

This hesitation caused the Nuggets' defense, which was not very tough, to be smashed by the blocking duo of Gan Guoyang and Drexler.

The poor defense made the Nuggets' offense sluggish, without sufficient backcourt rebounds, so they didn't have a chance to counterattack, and almost every offense had to grind their positions.

The Trail Blazers' positional defense is getting more and more vigorous, the pressure on the ball is getting stronger and stronger, and everyone spares no effort to defend every opposing Nuggets player, which also leads to the Nuggets, who have strong firepower, only scored 10 points in the first eight minutes.

"Beep! The pause is over! The referee's whistle blew and the 20-second timeout passed quickly, and Doug Mo looked at the Trail Blazers' re-playing lineup, Gan Guoyang was still inside, and he thought to himself that it didn't seem wrong to let Doug Mo play.

However, Doug Mo was just paying attention to Gan Guoyang, but he didn't notice that Jim Paxson also replaced Drexler on the court.

Maybe Paxson is really not as talented as Drexler, and what he did after Game 3 was really wrong, but one thing Paxson was right, he did perform better than Drexler against the Nuggets - except in this game, because Gan Guoyang's sudden mid-range shooting allowed Drexler to brush up several assists and make several breakthroughs.

"Come on, Paxson, give them some color." Gan Guoyang walked beside Paxson and punched him in the arm.

"I know, Gan, I'm not going to let Coach Ramsay down." Paxson said as he glanced back at Coach Ramsey slightly, and the guilt in his heart flooded.

After questioning Ramsey that day and asking Ramsey to change the starter, Paxson regretted it a little, after all, he can have today, and Coach Ramsey is indispensable.

However, in a few years of NBA career, from obscurity to becoming an NBA All-Star, Paxson has grown a lot, but also lost a lot, he is no longer as humble and low-key as he was in his rookie days, and he took it for granted that he played as a starter in the Trail Blazers until Drexler came along.

This black kid from Houston has shown unparalleled talent in basketball, his super physical fitness, sharp ball ability, and open vision, all of which make Paxson feel the crisis.

However, Ramsey has always been on Paxson's side, which makes Paxson slowly feel that Ramsay should be on his side, after all, he was cultivated by Ramsey.

But as the season progressed, the two struggled for playing time until the end of the season, when Paxson began to suffer from a foot injury, and Drexler stepped up to the top and played well, and from then on, Paxson began to get impatient.

He has spoken to Ramsey a few times individually, and Ramsay has always assured Paxson that he will give him plenty of playing time, but it will always be in the interest of the team.

When the playoffs began, Drexler's starting position became more and more solid, and his performance was getting better and better, Paxson finally couldn't sit still, he chose the wrong way at the wrong time, and did the wrong thing to a deservedly respected coach.

The temper cultivated in his years of NBA star career made him unwilling to bow to Ramsey and admit his mistakes, even if he regretted it in his heart, and after losing to Tianwang Mountain in Game 5, listening to Ramsey's affectionate narration and generous tolerance, Paxson could no longer wear a proud mask to face this fatherly coach, he sincerely apologized to Ramsey, and expressed his deep apologies to all the Trail Blazers players.

Now, he's on the court like a reborn and he's going to deal a fatal blow to the Nuggets, considering that in the previous five games, Paxson had shot 25-of-33 from the field against the Nuggets, missing just eight of them, and shooting a terrifying 75 percent from the field.

It's just that he didn't play enough minutes to do the Nuggets enough damage, and Doug Mo ignored the terrible outside shooter.

After the timeout, the two sides returned to the court, with the Trail Blazers replacing Drexler with Paxson and Sampson replacing Kenny Carr; On the Nuggets' side, Doug Mo sent Dan Isele, presumably hoping that he could limit Gan, Mike Evans replaced Leaf, and both sides began to enter the normal rotation. ”

"That's right, we should see if the Nuggets' offense can improve through this round of adjustments, Leaf seems to have been completely understood by his old coach Ramsey, and he was very restricted, and the Nuggets' offense is less organized by Leaf, which is even more chaotic."

One of the major changes to the Trail Blazers' defense of the Nuggets is to strengthen their defense against Leaf, constantly using double packs and presses to affect Leaf's handling of the ball.

Evans held the ball, Iseer made a screen, Evans held the ball and broke inside and made a layup...... didn't score, the ball was interfered with by Sampson, Sampson won the rebound, and the Trail Blazers were about to launch a counterattack again. ”

"The Nuggets' offensive options don't seem to be very good, could it be that the tactics they put in place after a timeout are to let Evans break through the singles?" James Brown shook his head and said.

However, Doug Mo's tactics were really to let Evans play alone.

Because offensive organization is not Mike Evans' strong point, as a substitute, his ability lies in daring to shoot, dare to attack, and in the last game, he gave the Trail Blazers a desperate shot at a critical moment.

Therefore, Doug Mo also sent him up to rely on his momentum to lead the Nuggets' current weak offense.

It's a pity that the ball didn't go in, but gave the Trail Blazers a chance to counterattack, Valentin still cautiously pushed forward the fast break, at this time the Trail Blazers' lineup on the court is the team's starting lineup at the beginning of the season, and the essence of this lineup is to spread out on both wings and follow up inside.

Paxson and Van der Vercic had already sprinted left and right to the baseline, and Valentin cut straight into the three-second zone from the middle.

Because Paxson and Vanderwig were on the wings, the Nuggets' defensive formation was stretched wide, and the hole door was opened in the middle, Valentin suddenly accelerated and rushed to the basket, and Evans stuck to Valentin to prevent him from giving him a good chance to make a layup.

Valentin did not attack, but passed the ball to Gan Guoyang who followed behind, Gan Guoyang received the ball and dribbled to make a strong layup, at this time Dunn on the right side made up for the defense, stood under the basket and prepared to make Gan Guoyang hit people with the ball.

"Gan passed the ball out, he didn't go to the basket, the ball went to Paxson's hand, the unguarded Paxson, the corner jumper...... Ball in! It's very easy, it's too easy for him. ”

After the goal, Paxson raised his right hand high, held out a finger, looked at Ramsay on the sidelines, and immediately went back to defending.

At 24:10, the Trail Blazers' lead has reached 14 points, and the Nuggets are still at a loss on the offensive end...... Isher has the ball at the top of the arc and will see if the veteran can ease the offensive crisis for the Nuggets......"

Before Frank Graeber's words were finished, Iseer was copied by Gan Guoyang when he broke through with the ball, and the Trail Blazers made a steal.

Gan broke the ball, the Trail Blazers launched a counterattack again, Gan threw the ball directly to Paxson, Paxson held the ball and went straight to the basket, and the rebound was successful! A beautiful layup to dodge the opposing defense. ”

If the ball had been replaced by Drexler, he would have dunked directly on the opponent's head, while Paxson cleverly dodged the opponent's block and successfully rebounded on the other side of the basket.

Paxson returned as he raised his right hand aloft again, this time with two fingers out.

Subsequently, the Nuggets finally scored, and Evans' play did have an effect, after he broke through to the inside, he dodged Gan Guoyang's giant palm with a small throw, and finally scored the 12th point of the game for the Nuggets, at this time, there were less than 2 minutes left before the end of the first quarter.

Less than 20 seconds after the Nuggets scored, Paxson raised his right hand for the third time.

Paxson caught the ball at the top of the arc with a double screen and made a shot...... Hit again, Paxson has already hit three goals in a row after coming on as a substitute! ”

After hitting three shots in a row, Paxson stretched out three fingers.

Paxson's gesture of raising his hand instantly became the last thing the home fans wanted to see, and he was like a fellow executioner, holding out a finger for every time he chopped off a person's head.

And three fingers are far from enough.

When Paxson raised his right hand for the eighth time in the second quarter — plus his left hand, five to the right and three fingers to the left, it meant the shooter had hit eight shots.

"Paxson, eight shots! I can't believe it, the Nuggets called a timeout again, the score is already 38:18, and the Trail Blazers lead by 20 points! The second quarter had just three minutes into the game. ”

Doug Mo reluctantly took a timeout, and on the Trail Blazers' side, Ramsey hasn't even used a timeout because the players are playing well.

"Well done, Jim." Ramsey said to Paxson, who was off the court.

"This is for you, Mr. Ramsay."

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