On March 17, the Utah Jazz vs. Dallas Mavericks match at the Salt Palace Arena should be described as a strong confrontation.

Of the 12 teams in the 1984 West, the two teams were in the first tier, finishing second and fourth in the West in mid-March in the second half of the regular season.

The stars of both teams are two leading scorers in the same position, Adrian Dantley of the Utah Jazz and Mark Aquili of the Dallas Mavericks.

Therefore, this game can be described as full of highlights, and the Yangong Arena is also full of spectators, and it left a deep impression on Gan Guoyang with extremely noisy cheering.

When Gan Guoyang used to watch the game at the Great Western Forum Arena in Los Angeles, even if it was the finals, the audience was generally very quiet and elegant, and their applause always appeared at the right time, as if they were watching a jīng Cai opera.

The Yangong Arena is filled with all kinds of noise all the time, especially when the Mavericks players make free throws, the boos make Gan Guoyang a little unbearable.

He also has to admire those professional players who can play in such an environment.

In the game, Dantley and Aquili, two scoring masters who average about 30 points per game, started a scoring battle.

Although both of them played small forward positions, they both showed extremely outstanding low-post skills, which is very different from the style of later generations of forward players.

This is also related to the fact that three-point shooting was not common at that time, and there was no three-point strategy, and playing inside was the first choice of all players.

Among them, Dantley's foul-making skills made Gan Guoyang breathtaking, and as soon as the Jazz's offense was sluggish, he handed the ball to Dantley, and Dantley rubbed the foul in the low post, rubbing one by one.

And his free throws were unstoppable, which really made the Mavericks very depressed.

This made Gan Guoyang shake his head, he wanted to play in the NBA, how could he deal with this kind of foul player?

In the past, when he watched the game, especially in later generations, what he hated most was these players who rubbed fouls, thinking that they were "tricks", without the beauty of basketball, and ruining the smoothness of the game.

But now, walking on the road to becoming a professional player, Gan Guoyang's mood and angle when watching NBA games have also changed.

He began to look at the players' skills and the team's tactics more from the perspective of learning, not simply looking at "whether it looks good or not", but thinking more about "whether it is good or not".

Dantley used various small tricks to cheat various fouls near the free throw line and in the low post, and relied on free throws to stabilize the Jazz's offense in the fourth quarter.

And the presence of Mark Eaton on the defensive end has reduced the offensive efficiency of the Mavericks, who is too tall and has too long arms to reach the basket almost on tiptoe.

In the end, the Jazz defeated the visiting Dallas Mavericks 118-103 on a noisy home court to consolidate the second place in the West.

"My ears are still ringing, the Salt Palace Arena is terrible." On the way back, Gan Guoyang said.

"I didn't expect the fans here to be so enthusiastic, it's even scarier than Seattle." Stockton was also surprised, he didn't expect the fans in Salt Lake City to be so crazy.

"I think you'll get used to it, I don't know if tomorrow's game at the Salt Palace will be so noisy."

This NCAA game is also Gan Guoyang's first time to play on a real NBA-level venue like Yangong Arena, and the feeling is completely different from that in a college gym with 4 or 5,000 people.

Back at the residence, the two washed and rested early, and Gan Guoyang also went to bed and fell asleep after talking to Wang Fuxi on the phone.

Like other players, they tend to suffer from insomnia before such a big game, but Gan never seems to know what nervousness is.

However, when he actually stood under the tall dome of the Salt Palace Arena the next day, Gan Guoyang's heartbeat still accelerated a little.

"It's really different from standing in the audience." Gan Guoyang thought while doing warm-up training on the field.

However, unlike yesterday's NBA game, there were not so many spectators, and there were a lot of vacant seats in the stands.

After all, this is only an NCAA first-round game, and both teams are still unknown, so the audience's enthusiasm for watching the game will naturally not be very high.

But the game was enough to make the Bulldogs players nervous, and even Bellman was a little restless.

In particular, Bellman saw Princeton head coach Pete Carell, who had consulted the respected veteran coach for Princeton tactics, but he did not expect the two teams to meet in the first round.

Compared to other NCAA college teams, the Princeton Tigers are characterized by a predominantly white player, in contrast to other teams that are mostly black.

Of course, the pit bull has a yellow-skinned guy, and their other core is also white.

Compared to black players, white players are generally slower, bounce worse, and are a notch less physically gifted than black players.

But white players also have the characteristics of playing smart, reasonable, and strong execution, and white players generally have better shooting ability than black players.

Princeton University doesn't have basketball scholarships, so talented players flying around the sky don't want to go to this school, and all the basketball teams can choose are white players with very good grades and good brains but mediocre talent.

After getting a first glimpse of the team's composition, Gan Guoyang stood on the pitch and looked at the opposing players, always feeling that he was not playing against athletes, but against a group of future bankers, lawyers and politicians.

But when the game really started, Gan Guoyang realized that if there is a good set of tactics, bankers, lawyers and politicians can also play.

The Bulldogs, who easily won the ball in the opening game, took the lead in attacking, and their routine was very simple, letting Gan Guoyang do it alone at the beginning, and Bellman also wanted Gan Guoyang to find his form earlier.

Facing the opponent's 6-foot-9 white center, Gan Guoyang wiped the basket with a relaxed back turn after receiving the ball, and shook the opponent's double block with a feint, and sent the ball to the basket. 2：0。

Back defensively, the Bulldogs used a 1-2-2 combination in the opening game, because according to Bellman's understanding of Princeton's tactics, this tactic that requires a lot of cover should be very fearful of joint defense.

Cover, the simplest and most commonly used coordination tactic, often appears when facing a zone defense, and the screener does not know where to go.

As the pillar of the inner line in the joint defense station, Gan Guoyang guards in the three-second zone, and the tiger does not come out of the hole, waiting for the meat to come to the door.

Because one of the most important tactical scoring methods in Princeton's tactics is to cut and run back to the basket, in this case, Gan Guoyang is dead to the basket, and no matter how you run, you can't make the basket empty.

The opponent's center was suddenly pulled to the periphery, standing at the top of the arc in the Tigers' 2-3 offensive position.

At this time, Gan Guoyang found that his two sides could be said to be empty, not only did he not have the opponent's players, but even his teammates on his own team also mentioned the line, and he was alone in the entire low position.

The Tigers' point guard first passed the ball to the small forward who was standing on the outermost side with him, and then began to cut in from the edge of the left three-second zone with the help of the center at the top of the arc.

At the same time, the No. 19 small forward, who received the ball, handed the ball to the power forward on the far left, and also cut diagonally from the right side with the help of the cover of the center at the top of the arc, and went straight to the bottom right corner.

The shooting guard, who was originally ambushed on the right side, was raised to 45 degrees on the right side.

The Tigers' movement is obviously very skillful, so skilled that the defenders in the four areas outside the pit bull are suddenly dizzy and don't know who to star.

And Gan Guoyang also hesitated all of a sudden, there were people on both sides, where should he make up for it?

Before he could react, the Tigers' No. 15 power forward had already passed the ball to the 45-degree shooting guard on the right side, because the cut of the No. 19 small forward on the right disrupted the pit bulls' defensive position, leaving the position vacant at 45 degrees.

Carter, the No. 7 shooting guard, shot directly from 16 yards and hit it without any interference, 2-2.

"How the fuck is this prevented?" Gan Guoyang frowned and thought when he served the baseline ball, he felt that he was standing in the three-second zone and had no effect at all.

The whole Bulldogs' defensive system is also completely not functional, the 1-2-2 defense is a variant of the 2-3 defense, and it is also a defensive formation that Bellman likes to use very much, because it looks similar to marking at first glance, but in fact he can be transformed into a strong 2-3 at any time, or it can be transformed into a 3-2 to press the opponent's outside ball.

However, the opening position of the Tigers was extremely outward, and they did not drill into the defensive pockets of the Bulldogs at all, but easily cut a big hole in the defensive formation of the Bulldogs with two in-cuts.

If the pit bull uses human marking, as long as the defense is not out of position, so that the two in-cut runs do not work at all, but the pit bull uses zone defense, which is a typical horse's tail and rubbing the rope, and it is not energetic.

Obviously, Bellman, as a new college coach, was still inexperienced, and ventured to use zone defense in the opening game, only to be caught by the opponent's cunning Carell.

Fortunately, back in the attack, the Tigers have nothing to do with the bulldogs, or there is nothing to do with Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang was still asking for the ball in the low position, the whole team pulled away, Gan Guoyang faced the double bag, turned around with a bottom line, hooked his hand, and hit it easily.

Since the low-touch game against the Jays, the feeling of Pisa Gan Guoyang has stabilized, especially his finishing ability under the basket, as he has better and better control of his power, and his shooting percentage has also increased.

It is rare for the basket to go to the basket and the basketball slides out in a circle on the basket.

His right-hand hook hand is an invincible hand all over the northwest coast, and he is becoming more and more proficient in using it, but the main drawback is that the development of the left-hand hook hand is not perfect, and the left hand is rarely used when playing singles.

Defensively, Bellman on the sidelines was already shouting "man-to-man", asking the team to change chéng rén.

Gan Guoyang, who has always been the commander of the team's defense, immediately directed the team to change formation, and himself mentioned the position of the arc of the free throw line.

This position can not only take care of the basket, but more importantly, it can delay the opponent's inward cut, if the previous attack Gan Guoyang was blocked in this position, the opponent's cut will definitely not be so easy.

But the Tigers' offensive thinking has also changed with the Bulldogs.

They still use a 2-3 position on the outside, but the whole formation is flatter than the position of the last attack, and there are no Tigers players below the arc of the free throw line.

And their center pulled to the top of the arc again, and the opponent's small forward took control of the ball and put the ball in the hands of the center.

The No. 19 small forward then made a screen for the point guard on the left side, and the point guard began to lift up to the line and began to cut through the center with the help of the center's screen.

Of course, Gan Guoyang will not let him succeed, he will block the middle door alone, so that the opponent's center has no chance to take advantage of it, and he can't pass the ball to the inside.

At this time, the No. 19 small forward, who had covered for the point guard, also wanted to walk around the center again, and Gan Guoyang thought that he could still block you with another one.

didn't expect that No. 19 was simply pretending to be raised, he suddenly turned around and went directly to the basket!

The pit bull was completely empty from the arc of the free throw line, and Leinart, the small forward of the pit bull who was marking No. 19, was also the same as Gan Guoyang, thinking that the player he was opposing would continue to run in with the help of cover, but he didn't expect that the person he was defending disappeared all of a sudden.

At this time, Gan Guoyang realized what is called the back door, and what is called "the back door opens as soon as you turn your head".

The entire defensive formation of the pit bulls was flattened by the Tigers' positioning, and no one took care of the basket with the hole wide open in the back of the head, and Gan Guoyang's invincible outside pressure sweeping defense in the past was also useless, because the opponent did not rely on the guard to pass the ball at all, but used the center.

This white center, who looks soft and slow, is not as thick as Gan Guoyang, but has an outstanding pass, which is human to the ball, and the No. 19 small forward can easily score by catching the ball under the basket.

The few spectators on the sidelines also began to applaud Princeton University, because their coordination was really quite beautiful, and the defense of the pit bulls was simply brushed under this wonderful cooperation.

Gan Guoyang, who was completely unable to do anything on the defensive end, could only vent all his jīng power on the offensive end, and today he opened the game in surprisingly good form, after two successful singles, he and Stockton did a simple block and dismantle the third ball, and then went straight down, received Stockton's pass, and dunked with both hands under the basket! 6：4。

Obviously, Carell is a master of attacking tactics, but his team's defense is really not flattering, which also stems from the fact that he doesn't have talented players at his disposal, and defense is still very physical.

The first half of the two sides can be said to be evenly matched, the problem is that Princeton University is doing its best on the offensive and defensive ends, but the defensive end is really unable to prevent it, especially against Gan Guoyang, there is no way, so he scored 20 points in the first half.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs are extremely easy and simple on the offensive end, just hand the ball to Gan Guoyang, but the defensive end is not powerful, changing various defensive formations, but the Tigers will always find a way to deal with it.

In this way, Gonzaga University was brought into the rhythm of Princeton University, and it became an offensive battle, and the audience at the scene felt that it was extremely enjoyable, and the golden autumn on both sides continued.

However, Gunzaga was still superior, and they led Princeton by four points at halftime, 43-39.

"Boys, I think we're in trouble, and even though we're still four points ahead, don't you think your defense is a fucking piece of shit? It's a person who will bypass it when he sees it! A piece of! 'The midfielder was in the dressing room and Bellman was furious.

The Bulldogs players didn't bother to admire the dressing room of the Pro League arena either, and they all lowered their heads to listen to Bellman's reprimand, and they also felt that the game was not their rhythm at all in the first half.

"Well, I'm also responsible, I thought we could crack Princeton's tactics according to our usual training, but unfortunately that's just because the Princeton we used was so bad." Bellman also began to be self-critical.

"However, we played well and the opposition couldn't stop us defensively. By the way, we still have to be careful of that number 19, Kevin Mullin, we gave him too many chances. Bellman thought of the opposing team's No. 19 small forward, who was the Tigers' top scorer in the first half, scoring 11 points.

"Lennart, pay attention to your steps when you are on guard, don't look too far ahead, don't be afraid of the opponent's air cuts." Bellman said the starting small forward on the Wizards.

"But Mr. Bellman, I've already committed three fouls." Leitner responded that he had been whistled for a foul near the end of the half, having already done twice before.

"Three times too!" It was Anderson, the team's power forward, who spoke.

"I had two fouls." Gan Guoyang also said that he was angry these two times, and he pounced on the opponent who was in the empty position for the layup from afar.

"Fuck, that's terrible, we've got foul ......" Bellman realized that the team was starting to have foul problems, and he was making a lot of mistakes today, probably because the first NCAA game was too tense.

The pit bulls originally had fewer people to play, and they were dismissed from the two main forces because of unqualified results, and the team's frontcourt players all had a certain degree of foul problems, so how to play in the second half will be a big problem.

"That No. 19, that Kevin Mullin, he made at least three fouls for us in the first half, this guy has a lot of ability to make fouls." Stockton, on the sidelines, said he had always been very observant.

"That's right, this guy is just like Dantley!" Gan Guoyang also remembered that if he had a foul, he would lose it to No. 19, and his ability to make fouls was simply that Dantley.

"In that case, let's use the most familiar method to strangle the opponent!" Bellman said firmly.