Chapter 122: Shields and Spears
Gan Guoyang's block undoubtedly gave the Bulls players a great shock, making them understand that the Trail Blazers' interior line will not be able to impact recklessly because of insufficient height.
"If the Bulls score that goal, his stone momentum will likely rise. But that block of Gan made the Bulls' counterattack fail, and their counter-attack flame was extinguished before it could burn. β
This ball slowed down the offensive and defensive speed of both sides, and Ramsay's yelling on the side also made Drexler no longer rush forward recklessly.
The ball was back in Colt's hands again, and the Trail Blazers were ready to secure the first half advantage with a steady positional attack.
After playing more than 10 games, Gan Guoyang has slowly adapted to the format of the NBA game divided into four quarters and a total of 48 minutes, and he has also begun to slowly appreciate the different rhythm of each quarter.
Generally speaking, the first quarter is a period of experimentation, with both sides generally fielding up the most regular lineups, experimenting with their own tactics in a more relaxed state, and gradually adjusting when problems are revealed.
In the second quarter, both sides will begin to try to set the tone of the game and turn the tide in their favor.
For example, the leading team will gradually slow down the tempo to improve the success rate of the attack, and the defense will selectively grasp the big and let go of the small, and maintain or gradually expand the advantage.
The team that is backward and at a disadvantage will generally speed up the tempo, strive to disrupt the battle, and quickly grab points; In defense, the intensity will be increased across the board, forcing the opponent to make mistakes, and chasing the score back.
In the third quarter, it was a crucial adjustment period, and both sides made big adjustments at halftime according to the situation of the game at halftime.
In the third quarter, whoever adjusts more timely and more targeted will regain the advantage.
The fourth quarter was naturally a decisive battle, and both sides would use all their tricks to make a final fight for victory.
Each of these sections is actually very important, and if you make a mistake in any of them, you will have to work harder to reverse the situation later.
The key to the Trail Blazers' good record this season is that they can always gain an advantage in the first quarter of the tentative period with strong firepower.
Then in the second quarter of the tone period, set the tone of the game, let the game into the opponent chasing the Trail Blazers to run, so that the Trail Blazers have the tactical initiative, often the opponent is forced to make adjustments, and the Trail Blazers are unchanged to respond to all changes.
The three games the Trail Blazers lost, two against the Lakers, were all pressed by the Lakers at the beginning, and they never led from start to finish.
One is against the Nuggets, a team with more firepower than the Trail Blazers, who face the Trail Blazers on their home court in the plateau, and they use stronger offense to knock the Trail Blazers off the horse.
In other games, the Trail Blazers took the lead in the first quarter; Hold the lead in the second quarter; In the third quarter, indiscriminate bombardment will inevitably begin to be fired up in full force to offset the opponent's counterattack; In the fourth quarter, he survived the final struggle and won the victory.
"Give me cover!" Colter passed the ball to Drexler, who called for Gan Guoyang's pick-and-roll from outside the three-point line on the right.
But Gan Guoyang knows that Generally, Drexler calls directly for blocking and dismantling, and there is a chance that he will make a fake blocking and dismantling.
Sure enough, Gan Guoyang came to the 45-degree three-point line on the right side, opening up a channel for Drexler to break through the middle.
But Drexler didn't go from the middle, but with a false swing, breaking straight from the right side!
Jordan, who was defending Drexler, was obviously interfered with by Gan Guoyang's front cover, and Korzin was also stunned for a moment, but he couldn't keep up with the extremely fast Drexler.
At this time, Jordan can't keep up with Drexler, and if Korzin goes to defend Drexler, Gan Guoyang will be missed, Drexler has a pass, and Gan Guoyang is an empty layup.
That's the power of pick-and-roll.
"Bang!" Drexler didn't pass the ball, and how could he let go of such a scoring opportunity when he was already sprinting, and he jumped straight from outside the three-second zone to add two points to the Trail Blazers with a powerful dunk.
The goal was obviously a bit frustrating for Jordan, who was swept away and slammed inside for a dunk β something he always did.
"Drexler seems to be holding his breath against Jordan, he has been pressed to the bench by Ramsey in several previous games, with very little playing time; In contrast, rookie Jordan has become the core of the Bulls, playing more than 40 minutes per game, which should make Drexler very unconvinced. β
With the Trail Blazers having two All-Stars on the outside, Paxson and Van der Verch, and Ramsey not quite liking Drexler's style, Drexler was a little depressed.
Now facing Jordan, a player who has been compared to himself many times, he naturally has to seize the few opportunities to show himself.
"Well done Clyde, if you go in two more like this, I'll treat you to steak in the evening." When returning to the defense, Gan Guoyang and Drexler said.
"Then you'd better call right now and ask Chicago where the steaks are the best."
"Chicago Bulls' steak, of course." Gan Guoyang said with a smile.
However, Jordan is not a bull to be slaughtered, and he will never watch others do whatever they want on his head.
At this time, it was no longer Paxson who defended Jordan, but Drexler, and the two super rookie guards finally began to face each other head-to-head.
"I'm going to go from the left." Jordan chewed gum and said to Drexler in front of him.
This is a naked provocation, Drexler ignores Jordan and is staring at him closely.
The Bulls are tactically simple, lacking interior offensive ability but boasting a well-rounded shooting guard and two physical, scoring forwards β Woolridge and Green.
Therefore, their usual routine is that Jordan relies on his personal ability to break through or run to attract the opponent's defense, the center responds with a high position, and the forward player cuts inside and rushes to the basket.
If the tactics don't work, it's up to Jordan to solve the problem on his own, which is also a feature of the NBA, and the star itself is a tactic.
Gan Guoyang's main pressure in defense at this time is to bear the Bulls' two forwards, which is a problem that Gan Guoyang often has to face in his basketball career.
In this regard, Gan Guoyang has summed up his own set of experience, that is, let the opponent fly in and crawl out, even if it is a foul.
He knows that he doesn't have an advantage in height and weight, unlike Eton or Abdul-Jabbar, who stand inside is a wall, so people don't rush in.
Therefore, he must use vicious blocks and even fouls to make the opponent afraid of inward impact.
In the games at the beginning of the season, Gan Guoyang was not used to the intensity of the NBA, and often did not cover the cap, but put himself in with continuous fouls.
Now, the heat under his control is slowly improving, and he will not have too many unnecessary fouls, but try to use just the right defense to make the opponent return in vain.
"Jordan catches the ball on the right side around the baseline, shakes it for a while, Drexler is tricked, Jordan bypasses Drexler and breaks through from the left baseline!"
Jordan's breakthrough is that unlike other players, his movements are big and graceful, his power is very sufficient, and his speed is extremely fast.
Gan Guoyang made up for Jordan when he was dangling, and was ready to jump when Jordan started with his strength, and when Jordan flew into the air, Gan Guoyang also erected a human wall in the air to block Jordan.
The bodies of the two collided hard, and Gan Guoyang made a mistake, he wanted to cover Jordan too much, and as a result, his arm pressed down.
Jordan didn't force a dunk, but shrank in the air, dodged Gan Guoyang's arm, and then threw the ball up when he was hit and lost his balance.
"Beep!" The referee's whistle blew, and Gan Guoyang's action in the air was fouled.
The ball bounced twice on the basket and still fell into the net.
βA-Great-PlayοΌ (Great show!) The commentator couldn't help but shout, and the Bulls fans also gave a standing ovation for Jordan's wonderful goal.
"What do you think of the goal?" Jordan turned to Gan Guoyang and said.
Jordan was hit in the air, but he didn't fall to the ground.
Because when Jordan broke through, the body tightened very tightly, the core stability was maintained very well, and the body was generally not fully stretched.
It's good for him to make moves and for him to keep his balance.
Therefore, Jordan can always land steadily after completing a difficult breakthrough layup, instead of falling on his back.
Gan Guoyang didn't speak, but he was already thinking about how to return the next ball.
However, when Jordan hit the free throw, Ramsey called a timeout, and apparently he felt that if Gan Guoyang and Drexler were allowed to be so big on the court, the Trail Blazers' offense would be chaotic in the second quarter.
Although the two are talented, they don't have the ability to control the situation, and Ramsey is afraid that the two guys will bet on balloons, although sometimes this kind of play can work wonders, but not at this time in the second quarter.
"Van de Wywig, Paxson takes a break. Gan, put your experience on defense, make sure you are resilient and don't give too many chances to the opposing striker. If Jordan wants to attack, let him go, and leave this to Clyde to solve. Be sure to control fouls, reduce the number of fouls the team, and not send opponents to the free throw line in the second half. Offensive power, KiKi has to take on more, and Karl gives inside support. Our defense should be further contracted, protect the backcourt rebounds, reduce turnovers, and reduce the speed appropriately. β
Ramsey is obviously seeking stability, shrinking the defense line is to let you shoot, if you shoot, it's yours, if you can't shoot the rebound, it's mine; Attacking is no longer fast, it is required to play simply, relying on stars to play, which can reduce mistakes and not give the opponent a counterattack.
"Gan, if you just hold the ball and attack, I'll push you back to the bench!" Ramsey still didn't forget to threaten Gan Guoyang at the end, he knew that this guy had always disobeyed commands.
"Okay, I know." Gan Guoyang agreed, but who knows what he thinks in his heart.
After the Trail Blazers replaced Van Deweic, they were a lot more monotonous in their offense, mainly relying on one or two transmissions to pass the ball to Van Dewecki's hands and let Van Dewecki solve the problem.
For a team's offense, it is necessary to rely on the individual ability of a star player part of the time, as not every offense can play a wonderful team game.
And the more complex the cooperation, the more likely it is to make mistakes, and for a leading team, the most feared thing is to make mistakes and be counterattacked by the opponent.
Vandewic's offensive efficiency is not bad, he maintains a fairly strong offensive threat in the two bottom corners, whether it is a step-back jumper or a baseline break, the Bulls' defense can't resist.
The Trail Blazers' defense is quite resilient, although the Bulls can still score, but the Trail Blazers' defense is not loose because of continuous conceding balls, especially the backcourt rebounding protection is very good.
Gan Guoyang has grabbed 16 rebounds in the first half, all of which were backcourt rebounds.
In this way, the score gap between the two sides has been maintained at about 10 points, which is also a situation that Ramsey would like to see.
But Gan Guoyang was not so comfortable, he only scored 5 points in the half, which in itself was nothing, Ramsey did not give him the right to fire.
But Korzin's entanglement and the small movements of the Bulls' front line really made him a little unbearable, as long as he got the ball, even if he didn't make an offensive move, the Bulls players would come forward and harass him repeatedly.
"Gan Guoyang took the ball in the high post, oh, Korzin posted it again, and Walridge stepped forward with him. Gan Guoyang's ball was a little slow, he was caught by two people, and the ball was about to be lost! β
Gan Guoyang was not in a good position to receive the ball in the high post, too close to the touchline, and was caught by Wolrich and Korzin on the flanks, and the two entangled Gan Guoyang like wrestlers.
Seeing that he was about to lose the ball, Gan Guoyang wanted to call a timeout, but he couldn't free his hand, and he decided that his arm was scratched several times.
And the referee's whistle never sounded.
Gan Guoyang resisted the urge to swing his elbow, held the ball in his arms, and shook off the entanglement between the two.
But Wohlridge still reached into Gan Guoyang's arms, trying to pull the ball out.
"Beep!" The referee finally blew the whistle and signaled for the two to fight for the ball.
Wolrich still refused to let go, and waited for Gan Guoyang to let go; And Gan Guoyang also didn't let go, and the two stood there like this and confronted each other.
At this time, Gan Guoyang's waist suddenly sank, pushed Volrich away with his shoulder, and snatched the ball at the same time.
Wolrich didn't expect Gan Guoyang to come with such a hand, and the whole person took several steps back.
"Are you *** looking for death?" Korzin on the side roared, and he couldn't help it when he saw Gan Guoyang's movements, who hadn't spoken much.
"It's you *** looking for death, hairy guy, what do you want?" Gan Guoyang, who was holding back his anger, replied without hesitation.
"Bitch yellow pig, you'd better keep your eyes bright, this is Chicago." Wolrich also joins the warband.
"You're a fucking bitch, I can get you in minutes, fuck you don't even know your mother." Gan Guoyang has rarely used his trash talk since entering the NBA, and today he finally got his chance.
"Beep beep beep!" The referee saw that the momentum was not right, and blew the whistle again, separating the two groups of people who were getting more and more angry.
"Stay calm and don't let others influence you!" Ramsey shouted from the sidelines, worried that Gan Guoyang would lose his mind.
Gan Guoyang looked at Ramsey and nodded, he knew that he was calm now.
Because he has already figured out that there must be eighteen ways to tear up the Bulls' interior line in the second half.