The Salt Palace Arena in Salt Lake City, one of the most feared home stadiums in the league, is a high-decibel noise that makes people feel like they're playing in a wood processing plant from start to finish, coaches are going to roar when they lay out tactics, players are barely audible when they communicate on the field, and fans make loud noises from start to finish, doing everything they can to disrupt the visiting team's state of play.

Therefore, the Salt Palace Arena is also a nightmare for many players, this court is mainly arranged in cold colors, and once you enter it, you will feel like you are in the middle of a snowy mountain, and the noise will invade the eardrum like an avalanche.

For Gan, there are many fond memories of the Salt Palace Arena, such as Gan's first NBA-level arena at the Salt Palace Arena in Salt Lake City, when he and Stockton represented the Gunzaga Bulldogs in the national tournament, where they defeated Princeton University.

At that time, he also met Mark Eaton, who had entered the NBA, and the two were half UCLA alumni, and this big man and Gan Guoyang have always maintained a good friendship; Then there's Bob Hansen of the Jazz, who went with Stockton to Hansen's hometown of Muscatine in the summer of 1985, where they had a wonderful vacation.

It can be said that the Jazz team and Gan Guoyang still have a fate, but this does not prevent Gan Guoyang from being overjoyed by Jazz fans when he stepped into the venue of the Salt Palace Arena, where any star of the away team will be treated like this, and Gan Guoyang will never show mercy to the Jazz.

If the Cleveland Cavaliers are the biggest surprise in the East this year, then the Utah Jazz are the little dark horses in the West this year, the Jazz achieved the fifth place in the West last season, which should be said to be good, but they were eliminated by the Portland Trail Blazers in the second round, Gan Guoyang played an average of 30+15 per game in that series, leading the Trail Blazers to play the Jazz a 4:1.

The reason for this is that the Jazz have always pursued a non-containment strategy in the series, allowing Mark Eaton to defend Gan Guoyang, and they believe that the best defensive player, block king Eaton can contain Gan Guoyang.

But in addition to the first game Eaton's defense played an effect and helped the Jazz take the next city, the next four games Eaton was no longer able to restrain Gan Guoyang, and was completely defeated by Gan Guoyang, and the Trailblazers also passed easily, and the gentleman swept.

The biggest change for the Jazz this season isn't their roster, it's their head coach.

Former Jazz decorated head coach Frank Rearden decided to voluntarily resign as coach after 17 games this season, and the amiable fat grandfather became the general manager of the Jazz team — he had previously held two hats, and he handed over his coaching authority to his successor, Jerry Sloan.

Jerry Sloan, who has been an assistant coach to the Jazz, should be said to have taken over Redden's class perfectly, completed the transition smoothly, and became the head coach of the Jazz.

However, after taking office, like all rookie coaches, he went through a difficult period, the team suffered a four-game losing streak, and after a good start to the season in November, the winning percentage continued to decline in December, but in January '89, Sloan and the Jazz finally got better, and the team's record began to stabilize, and firmly occupied the top spot in the Midwest Division, leaving the previous leaders of the Midwest Rockets and Nuggets behind.

However, in the face of the Pacific Trail Blazers and Lakers, the Jazz still have little certainty, especially against the Trail Blazers, after Gan Guoyang changed to the No. 4 position, Sloan has another problem in front of him, whether to clamp Gan Guoyang or not?

In the wave of the league-wide pinching Gan Guoyang in January, many teams thought that they had found a way to contain Gan Guoyang, who knew that Gan Guoyang suddenly turned into a little prince of mid-pitching, and entered a state of insolvability in the position of the horn position and the top of the arc, and these two positions are the most difficult to wrap up, where the distribution route can be described as extending in all directions, and the pinch attack often outweighs the loss.

After thinking about it for a while, Jerry Sloan decided that he would not be able to include Gan Guoyang, he decided not to spend energy with the Trail Blazers on defense, but to overwhelm the Trail Blazers on offense, that is, "Since I can't defend you, then you don't want to defend me, and when the time comes, I will win if I score more points than you."

This strategy is the core idea commonly used by the Trail Blazers in the regular season, which is based on their extremely strong offense, and on the Jazz side, Sloan's confidence is simple, coming from their power forward, Karl Malone.

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After Gan Guoyang walked on the court, he was very familiar with everything in the Salt Palace Arena, even the opponent on the opposite side was very familiar to him, and he was even able to step forward and talk and laugh with Stockton and Mark Eaton, but both sides knew in their hearts that they would not recognize each other when the game started.

Karl Malone ignored Gan Guoyang and was there silently practicing his mid-range shots, and the hard-working power forward never let go of any opportunity to improve himself.

From 1985-1986, he entered the league and was not favored, to 1987 when he entered the All-Star in the regular season, and in 1988 he became a league scorer.

At the All-Star Game, Ma Long, who was unwilling to play a supporting role, directly stole Gan Guoyang's limelight at the last moment, won the MVP of the All-Star Game, and completed a counterattack of a low-post lotto show.

Gan Guoyang looked at Carl Malone who was practicing in the middle pitch there, but he didn't have the impression that Malone gave him in later generations, Ma Long in 1989 was not as strong as he was later, his hair was not shaved, his arms had not become iron tongs, and his face still had a green feeling.

Gan Guoyang, who has fought with Ma Long many times, also knows that Ma Long is still a fierce and fierce insider, belonging to the height of a typical big forward, the strength of the center, the speed of the small forward, and the strong basket in the position attack Gan Guoyang sometimes can't stand it, and the fast speed is close to Drexler, and the impact is extremely strong, the confrontation is very good, and it often hits 2+1, which is a sharp weapon for charging.

However, Gan Guoyang, who is more experienced, has already figured out how to deal with him in the game.

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"It's going to be a game, get ready to die, hillbilly, crybaby." When the players on both sides stood on the field and were ready to start the game, Gan Guoyang approached Ma Long and began his trash talk attack.

This bit of trash talk is still pediatric for Ma Long, and Ma Long also knows that Gan Guoyang's mouth is like this, the two have fought many times, and Ma Long is slowly getting used to it, he didn't pay attention to Gan Guoyang, but focused on the jump ball, standing in the middle circle are two super giants, Sabonis and Mark Eaton.

Eaton has played in the league for many years, and his block is invincible, but his bounce is very average, and many times he relies on his height and long arms, and he can get the opponent's ball down without jumping.

Sabonis is different, Sabonis at this time has not been troubled by a knee injury, under the careful protection and treatment of the Trailblazers, Sabonis still maintains excellent physical fitness, so in the jump ball with Eton, Sabonis, who has an advantage in height and bounce, was the first to touch the ball, and he dialed the ball to Gan Guoyang.

At this time, Karl Malone was prepared, he took a step forward, pushed Gan Guoyang away, took the lead in jumping and scooped the ball with one hand, Gan Guoyang was not very prepared, and was almost pushed by Ma Long.

Malone grabbed the ball and ran directly to the frontcourt, no one on the Trail Blazers' side could stop Malone at all, Porter's attempt to steal was also dodged by Malone, and finally Malone ended with a dunk with his left hand on the back of his head, and also fired the first shot of the game.

The Salt Palace Arena suddenly became even more noisy.

Ma Long triumphantly ran back to the backcourt, and then said to Gan Guoyang: "I learned this move from you." ”

Malone still remembers that when he just entered the league and faced the Portland Trail Blazers for the first time, he missed the game due to injury, and during the game, Gan Guoyang showed him the action of propping his left hand on the back of his head and then dunking with his right hand, which left a deep impression on Malone.

Jerry Sloan stood on the sidelines, watching Malone show good form and exuberance at the beginning, and he knew that without Dantley, Malone was the most important output point of this Jazz team, and there was no second point other than him that averaged more than 20 points per game, as long as Malone could output steadily, the Jazz would have a chance to win.

However, Sloan's mind was not yet spinning, and the Trail Blazers' side was also open, Gan Guoyang blocked and Drexler at the top of the arc, and then stepped back to hit a jumper and a three-pointer.

Since Gan Guoyang's range of activity was set in the fan area, and a large number of blocks and demolitions, his three points have become more and more terrifying.

"Girls are always out there shooting." Ma Long was careless in this goal, and he didn't guard against Gan Guoyang's three points at all.

"I'll let you know who's the."