The Mavericks have obviously made a lot of preparations before this round.

The arrival of this year's rookie Sam Perkins has well complemented the Mavericks' interior line, giving the Mavericks more talent and vitality on the inside, and also making up for the loss of main power forward Pete Cummins leaving New York last season.

The NBA rookies of the 80s were different from the later ones, most of them went through four years of college before running for the NBA, and even a talent like Jordan who ran early was a junior and played three years in the NCAA before leaving.

So the rookies at that time were generally stronger, and many high-pick rookies were able to bring a lot of help to the team in their first season.

And their original stable backcourt rotation lineup, the combination of Aquili, Vincent and Blackman, is still the most offensive backcourt rotation in the NBA.

However, compared to last season's record of finishing fourth in the West and eliminating the Seattle SuperSonics in the first round to reach the Western Conference semifinals, this season's Mavericks have regressed for many reasons.

Facing the Portland Trail Blazers, who are making great progress this season, the media generally believed that the Mavericks could not go through three rounds under the Trail Blazers before the start of the game.

Unexpectedly, the Mavericks relied on a stronger will to fight, as well as reasonable tactical arrangements, plus some necessary luck, to overturn the Trailblazers in the first game.

In Game 2, the Trail Blazers' opening momentum was completely expected by Mavericks head coach Dick Motta, who knew that the Trail Blazers would definitely fight back at home.

It's just that the last thing he wants to see is that the leader of the pioneers' counterattack is Gan Guoyang.

Before the series, Dick Motta thought about the preparation of the Mavericks, and when there is a gap in strength between the two sides, which point to focus on pinching the other side will hurt the Trail Blazers the most.

According to common sense, the defense is mainly aimed at the opponent's first point of attack, and cannot let the first point of attack play the state, otherwise in the playoffs, it will be quite a bad situation to be taken over by a star.

The Trail Blazers' first point of attack was naturally Vanderwicki, who averaged 22.6 points per game in the regular season and was the team's leading scorer, boasting extremely accurate mid-range shooting and unstoppable free throws.

But Dick Motta believes that Van der Vicky, despite his attacking power, is not indispensable to the Trail Blazers.

In games without Vanderwicki, although the Trail Blazers sometimes fall into the dilemma of lack of firepower, the Trail Blazers, who have a lot of outside talents, can still make up for this hole.

The real lifeline of the Trailblazers lies in the inside line, and the arrival of Gan Guoyang undoubtedly greatly enhances the interior strength of the Trailblazers, and at the same time, the entire Trail Blazers are also very dependent on Gan Guoyang's protection of the restricted area in defense.

In the offense, Mitchell Sampson also gradually conceded shots, and his average points per game slipped to 15.7 points, while Gan Guoyang's took on a lot of interior singles responsibilities.

Having a strong inside singles point is the key to a team's balanced offense and enriching the offensive system.

The Mavericks don't have a strong inside singles point, so Dick Motta decided to use his inside line as a redemption and the Trail Blazers' inside line to redeem and go all out to contain Gan Guoyang.

At the same time, let your outside line and the Trail Blazers outside line fight, and use a lot of breakthroughs and basket impacts to create pressure on the Trail Blazers.

When it came to the game, Motta didn't expect that Perkins would play extraordinarily, and compared to Gan Guoyang's abnormal play, it also gave the Mavericks more winning factors.

Of course, even so, the Mavericks won the first game badly, and judging from the signs of the opening game of the second game, the pressure on the Mavericks will be very great.

"Bag clip, we still have to resolutely wrap the clip! Don't let Gan get the ball easily on the inside, two-man or three-man, his passing ability is limited, and he will make mistakes! Motta told the players from the bench at a timeout.

Now the coaches of the league know that Gan Guoyang's ability to transfer the ball is weak, and the bag is the best way to deal with him.

It's just that in the regular season, since Gan Guoyang is not the absolute core of the Trailblazers' tactics, let him fight, and he doesn't encounter many bags.

However, in the highly targeted playoffs, both sides seize one of each other's weaknesses and play to the death, and the Mavericks want to stifle the Trail Blazers' interior offense, and they will inevitably implement the wrap-and-wrap strategy.

"Don't be afraid of the bag, be patient, give more answers, conduct more, we have to start from the inside and lead the whole team's attack. It's a brand new mission for you, but you have to bear it! Everyone, play your best! We're going to keep that intensity going until the end! Ramsey asked on the bench to continue playing Gan Guoyang.

Obviously, this is the treatment that Gan Guoyang rarely encounters in the regular season, because Ramsey also knows that the Maverick's life lies in the weakness of the inner line, and he also has to stare at the Maverick's inner line to fight to the death.

At the same time, Ramsey put Sampson on the bench in order to continue the firepower of the interior and put constant pressure on the Mavericks' three-second zone.

Soon, the 100-second timeout was over, two minutes long enough to cool down any highs, and Gan's three dunks were gone, which was only six points on the Trail Blazers' scoreboard.

The game continues with the Mavericks serving.

The Mavericks' strongest two points are all on the perimeter, so their formation is more open, leaving only Sam Perkins below the free throw line.

Aquili didn't move to the low post this time around, but picked up the ball in the high post, and his ball handling caught the attention of two Trail Blazers players.

On the outside, if Kenny Karl defends Aquili alone, his footwork will obviously suffer, so Valentine has to come up from time to time to harass Aquili, and other players should also pay attention to Aquili's breakthrough.

But in addition to Aquili, Blackman's individual ability is equally terrifying, and Drexler does not dare to relax his defense for a moment, which is also the best part of the Mavericks.

Aquili broke inside with the help of Bryant's screen, Gan stepped forward to make up for the defense, and distributed the ball to Blackman...... Blackman broke through the pass, Perkins under the basket was empty, and Perkins scored on a layup. A nice fit. ”

The Mavericks' offensive coordination was quite good, making full use of the individual abilities of Aquili and Blackman, mobilizing the Trail Blazers' defense, allowing them to concentrate on the left side, and leaking Perkins on the right, as a result, Perkins scored an easy layup, 9:6, and the Mavericks pulled back two points.

It's hard to avoid this, and the Trail Blazers don't have a very good rotation system defensively, and they've always pursued a one-on-one defensive strategy of blocking and pick-and-roll.

But Ramsey also knows that in the face of Aquili and Blackman, if he does not borrow the defensive ability of other players to make up for the defense, he will undoubtedly die a miserable death, so he will ask Valentine and Van Dewicki, who are under less defensive pressure, to make up for it.

However, the speed of the Trail Blazers' defensive rotation is not as fast as the Mavericks' passes, and the Mavericks often get a good offensive opportunity as long as they pass three or two leads.

It's just that now this problem can't be solved by the Trail Blazers for the time being, but fortunately, they have a greater advantage on the offensive end.

"Gan took the ball, in the high post, he gave the ball to Valentine...... Gan squeezed to the inside and Valentine passed! Gan catches the ball in the three-second zone and hooks his hand! The ball is in! Gan scored ninth points in the first quarter, surpassing the total score in the previous game. ”

The Trail Blazers' coordination this time was quite clean, Gan Guoyang took the ball high at the top of the arc, Valentin picked up the ball from the right side, Vanderwich covered Valentin and walked out, Gan Guoyang squeezed into the three-second zone with a stride after passing.

If the defender of Van Decwig comes to defend Gan Guoyang, Valentin passes the ball to Van Devic and throws it long, if not, then he passes the ball to Gan Guoyang.

It was Aquili who defended Vanderwicki, but Aquili hesitated for a moment, and he subconsciously focused on the top scorer of the Trail Blazers.

Just when he hesitated, Valentin had already passed the ball to Gan Guoyang's hand, Gan Guoyang easily pushed Bryant away with his left hand, and hooked his right hand to shoot, which was his most comfortable shooting position, the ball went in, and two points were in hand.

"Gan! You are the best! Come on! At this time, Gan Guoyang finally heard Wang Fuxi's voice shouting in Chinese on the sidelines, and he also turned his head slightly to see that Wang Fuxi was sitting not far from the Pioneer bench, still wearing a pink cap on his head, waving vigorously at him.

"Concentrate Gan!" Just when Gan Guoyang was slightly distracted, Kenny Carr reminded Gan Guoyang with a loud shout.

Gan Guoyang immediately came back to his senses and threw himself into defense.

This time Aquili once again stepped into the low post on the right, his favourite point of attack.

Davis picked up the ball at the top of the arc, Blackman passed through the baseline and went around the 45-degree three-point line on the right, Davis passed the ball to Blackman, who then passed the ball to Aquili.

It was a typical tactical run to the low post, with a triangle to give the low post the best pass, so Aquili was once again able to receive the ball with ease.

Aquili faced Kenny Carr's close-up, arched twice with his big ass, and slammed an inside turn into the three-second zone.

But as soon as he entered the three-second zone, he found that there were already two people blocked in front of him, Gan Guoyang and Van Dewych! There was also a Carl in the back, and the three of them surrounded Aquili like three walls!

"Aquili was caught by three people, he wanted to get up, but he couldn't get up, the ball was lost!" With a trio in the middle, Aquili's ball was knocked out by Kenny Carr.

But Aquili has the advantage of being short, he has the advantage of being short, his center of gravity is lowered quickly, and as soon as the ball falls to the ground, he immediately bends down and hits the ball inside, and the ball is pushed right into the hands of Perkins on the inside.

Because Gan Guoyang came out to wrap up, Perkins picked up another gap on the inside, but the moment he bent down to pick up the ball gave Gan Guoyang time to react.

"Gan covered Perkins' shot! Blackman grabbed the rebound, made a layup, and was blocked by Gan again! Aquili picked up the ball, but it was still covered! Gan controls the ball! Gan controls the ball! Three blocks in a row! Three blocks in a row! It was perhaps the Trail Blazers' greatest first quarter of the season, and Gan dominated the opponent in less than five minutes. ”