"The Trail Blazers called a timeout, and it was going to be a pivotal moment, in the second overtime, a suffocating scene, and now that the Mavericks have a six-point lead over the Trail Blazers at 127-121, the Trail Blazers have to find a way to score, and from the first overtime to now, they haven't scored for two and a half minutes! They're very dangerous, very dangerous! ”

On April 18, 1985, the NBA playoffs of this season were in full swing, and the first game of the Portland Trail Blazers, third in the West, and the Dallas Mavericks, sixth in the West, kicked off at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.

After three days of recuperation and preparation, the Portland Trail Blazers were back in full swing, with Jim Paxson back at the starting point guard and Valentin back from injury to take charge of the team's offense.

They faced the Dallas Mavericks, who had just lost to the Trail Blazers in the penultimate game of the regular season, and the preview battle for this season's play-offs also gave the Trail Blazers players a huge boost of confidence.

From the crowd pouring into the Memorial Stadium and the entire stadium to a full capacity, it can also be seen that Portland fans are full of anticipation for the team's performance.

Gan Guoyang still got up early in the morning and came to the training gym to start a day's training as usual, and he did not change his training plan because he was going to play the first playoff game tonight.

In the afternoon, the team practiced tactics, aiming at Dallas's strongest offensive point, which is also the weaker defensive point of the Trail Blazers, Ramsey made a key arrangement, requiring the interior line to make up for Aquili more and not let Aquili do whatever he wanted.

During the regular season, the Trail Blazers have died several times from the outbursts of their opponents' powerful small forwards.

However, the Trail Blazers did not conduct much offensive training, in Ramsey's view, the team's offensive system should be said to be relatively perfect, and at the same time, in the first game, he did not know what kind of defensive arrangement the Mavericks would make, so he did not respond to all changes, and asked the team to play according to the routine of the regular season.

At seven o'clock in the evening, the game officially began, and Gan Guoyang, who was not too nervous before the game, felt that his palms were a little sweaty when he stood in the middle circle and was about to jump the ball.

It wasn't until the game really started that Gan Guoyang really understood what Ramsey said, "The playoffs and the regular season are two worlds." ”

The Memorial Stadium is still the familiar Memorial Stadium, but everything here seems to be tense and dignified, and there is no longer the atmosphere of the regular season when it is easy to take out some entertainment.

The Mavericks' players are still those players, but their faces are as hard and cold as Greek sculptures, and so are the Trail Blazers' players.

The defense is no longer loose, the offense is no longer easy, and everyone is like a gladiator standing in the gladiatorial arena, engaged in a life-and-death battle.

Such an atmosphere reminds Gan Guoyang of the NCAA finals, but the intensity of the confrontation here is far greater than that of the NCAA, and every time Gan Guoyang collides, he can feel the opponent's all-out efforts.

From the first quarter, the two sides scuffled together like wrestlers, the scores were staggered, and in the second quarter, the Trail Blazers once relied on Valentine's outburst to open up the difference between the two sides.

But in the third quarter, the Dallas Mavericks' scoring guards Blackman and Sam Perkins began to exert their power, and the Trail Blazers did not lose at the small forward position, but were pierced by the Mavericks' double sword at the shooting guard and power forward position.

In this quarter, the Mavericks not only erased the score of the two sides, but also finally overtook the score.

In the fourth quarter, Vanderwig finally stepped up and scored back-to-back points to save the Trail Blazers' decline, and the two sides were once again entangled.

At this time, the biggest problem of the Trail Blazers' game was finally exposed, and they had too many fouls.

Valentin was fouled first at the end of the fourth quarter, and then Gan Guoyang was fouled five more times.

The foul not only made the Trail Blazers unavailable, made Gan Guoyang shrink, but also directly sent the opponent to the free throw line.

In the end, the two sides fought to a 121-121 tie in the fourth quarter, and the two sides began the first overtime.

In the first overtime, Gan Guoyang finally fouled the court, he saw that Blackman wanted to score a layup, but he still reached out to block it in hesitation, but the two sides collided physically, and the referee blew Gan Guoyang for a foul.

Gan Guoyang graduated with six fouls, scoring just eight points and shooting 4-of-6 from the field, but grabbed 18 rebounds, and his first playoff game was over.

However, the game continued on the court, and in the first overtime, the Trail Blazers had a chance to end the game, but they missed two shots in the final minute and allowed Sam Perkins to score a crucial goal to send the two sides into the second overtime.

In the second overtime, the Trail Blazers fell into a scoring drought again, and when the Mavericks scored six points in a row, the Trail Blazers did not score an inch, and Ramsey had to call a timeout.

"Clyde, it's up to you to organize this attack, remember, fight inside, fight inside. We completely cleared the right side, Vanderwich and Colt ambushed on the left, Karl you were in the high post, and Sampson served. The ball is given to Drexler, Clyde you can choose to break through, if it is blocked, pass the ball to Sampson, Karl up to Sampson as a cover, Sampson cuts straight to the basket from the right side, as long as you can receive a pass from Clyde, score him, score! In the next attack, we have to make the most of the high position, take advantage of our high position! Ramsey laid out a typical "Trail Blazers" tactic, which was called "Trail Blazers" not because of the Portland Trail Blazers' specific tactic at this time, but because he had a huge area on the right side to create offensive opportunities for an offensive player.

At the same time, Ramsey also asked for more use of breakthroughs and high-post offense, and in this game, the Mavericks unexpectedly did not pinch the Trail Blazers' outside projection, but used ferocious wrapping and wrapping forward to disrupt the Trail Blazers' low-post offense.

On the offensive end, the Mavericks broke through twice as many times as the Trail Blazers, for which they also made more than double the free throws of the Trail Blazers and caused the Trail Blazers to fall into a foul crisis.

There is no doubt that the Trail Blazers lost to the Mavericks in their pre-game preparation, or Ramzic was a bad move, and in fact he had already thought that Dick Motta (Mavericks head coach) would most likely pinch the Trail Blazers' interior.

But Ramsey thought that it was impossible for the Mavericks to pinch around the front interior throughout the game, but he didn't expect that the Mavericks would really do just that.

What's more, the Trail Blazers were too relaxed about this game, they didn't play with the playoff intensity of the Mavericks, they shot too much and killed too little.

And the gap in these details is reflected in the game, that is, although the Trail Blazers have a smoother offense and a higher shooting percentage, and the momentum on the court is also on the Trail Blazers' side most of the time, the score has never been opened.

In overtime, with the main team of the Trail Blazers being sent off, especially Gan Guoyang's down, the Mavericks began to see the dawn of victory.

"Let's see if the trailblazers are in trouble and can find themselves again in the last few minutes, they certainly don't want to be disappointed with the more than 20,000 spectators in the stadium." CBS TV commentary continues to explain the game.

"The Trail Blazers were actually very efficient offensively tonight, but they seemed to play a little too soft, their free throws were too few to the Mavericks, and none of the Mavericks' main players were plagued by fouls. Looking at the rebounding again, if the Trail Blazers don't have Gan, their rebounds are really a bit bleak, on the other side of the Mavericks, Aquili is their highest rebounding player, 14, and he puts more energy on rebounding when the offensive end is limited, which is obviously good, which boosts the momentum of the Mavericks. On the contrary, Van de Veric, five rebounds, oh my god, two overtimes, I can go up and pick up five now. The game's guest commentator, the famously foul-mouthed Rick Barry, was unceremoniously critical of the Trail Blazers' performance in this game.

It is true that the Trail Blazers' tactics and abilities are stronger than those of the Mavericks, as can be seen from the shooting percentage and on-court offense, but they lack a lot of hard work and bravery, which is fatal in the life-and-death playoffs.

"The game continues, let's see what kind of changes the Trail Blazers will have...... Sampson serves, the right side of the Trail Blazers is completely empty, the ball passes to Drexler's hands, Sampson inserts into the basket with the help of cover, Drexler passes! …… Sampson's layup was blocked by Nimfius! Sampson's layup was blocked by Nimfius! Perkins got the rebound! The Trail Blazers are in danger right now, with a six-point gap and more than two minutes to go before the end of the game. The Mavericks, they were not in a hurry anymore and began to slowly attack and play the success rate. ”

At this time, Gan Guoyang could only sit on the bench because he was sent off, and watched Sampson's ball being covered by Nimfius, a player whose name Gan Guoyang couldn't even name.

The Trail Blazers' tactic has been played, Sampson's cut is beautiful, Karl's cover is no problem, and Drexler's pass is very good, but this goal just didn't score, it was taken by a little-known center of the Mavericks.

It can also be seen from here why the Mavericks were able to take the victory into their own hands in this game.

For Gan Guoyang, this kind of helpless situation of watching the team gradually enter the abyss of death really made him feel tormented.

Before the start of the game, he also thought about killing all sides in the first playoff game and beating the opponent's Nimfius into scum - in the previous encounters, Gan Guoyang had never treated him as nothing.

Nimfius was still unable to fight against Gan, but with the help of his teammates, they limited Gan's shots and minimized Gan's impact on the Trail Blazers' offense.

Gan Guoyang was also repeatedly attacked by opponents on the defensive end, and the harsher playoff whistle also made him very uncomfortable, causing him to become a spectator at the most critical moment.

"Buzz~~" The buzzer sounded, the game ended, the score was fixed at 138:132, and the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Portland Trail Blazers, the second seed in the West, on the road, catching everyone off guard, and the total game between the two sides became 1:0.

Gan Guoyang looked at the disappointed spectators, the lonely teammates, and the Maverick players who gathered around to celebrate wildly, and his heart was mixed.

His first playoff game ended in a hurry like this.

Thankfully, the series has only just begun.