On the first training day back in Portland, the Trail Blazers had bad news, Arvidas Sabonis had a swollen knee and was diagnosed with water in it, and the team doctor recommended that Sabonis be out for two weeks, meaning Sabonis would miss the entire Western Conference semifinals.

Sabonis had a knee injury before coming to the Trail Blazers, and when he came to Portland for a tryout in the summer of 1986, the Portland team doctor examined and treated Sabonis, but after returning to the Soviet Union, the level of medical care in the Soviet basketball league was certainly not as high as that of the United States.

And Sabonis entered the Soviet national team when he was very young and still growing his body, and carried out high-intensity and large-scale training in the national team, and started strength exercises early, which was a great injury to Sabonis, who is 2.21 meters tall, and Sabonis was also a player who could fly and dunk in the early years, and now his knees no longer allow him to do such movements.

If Sabonis had entered the NBA a few years later, he would have been completely reduced to a floor, and his injury is not particularly serious now, but he has played the whole season after all, and it is not surprising that there will be some minor situations now.

At this moment, the coaching staff of the Trail Blazers is going to be busy again, the opponent of the Western Conference semifinals has not yet come out, and the game between Seattle and Phoenix Suns is difficult to solve, and the two sides have now fought 2:2, and the life-and-death battle will be played on the home court of the Suns.

The coaching staff of the Trail Blazers is going to make new preparations for Sabonis's absence, whether the opponent is Yin or the Suns, without Sabonis Trail Blazers play tactics differently, this is Sabonis's status in the Trail Blazers, although his data is mediocre, but the tactical influence is very strong.

When Sabonis is on the court, Gan Guoyang is very comfortable in the high and low positions in the attack, Sabonis's high strategy, low post inside and outside are quite good, so the Trail Blazers' offense will be very smooth.

Sabonis is not there, and when Gan Guoyang is in the low position, there is one less high-level transit point; Gan Guoyang is in the high position, and there is one less attack point in the low position, and the Trailblazers will return to the situation in 1988 when Gan Guoyang mainly played in the low position, did a big shaft and then forced the attack with three or four people on his body, Gan Guoyang lost weight this season, so it will obviously be pressure to play him.

Moreover, Buck Williams has also adapted to the role of sixth man, and he has fully demonstrated his versatility in the sixth man position, and if it weren't for not not playing enough games as sixth man, Williams has a good chance of winning the title of sixth man of the season.

Now, if Williams were to return to the power forward position, the Trail Blazers' rotation would be disrupted, and the sixth man position would be filled by guard Jim Paxson.

After returning from injury in the second half of the season, Paxson has returned to form and has become an important outside shooting point, but he is not that All-Star after all, and his influence on both offensive and defensive ends is not as good as that of Buck Williams, and if he is allowed to play the sixth man with a second team, the Trail Blazers may struggle.

So this also stumped Adelman and the coaching staff, in the process of training, Adelman began to try different lineup combinations for deployment, Williams and Gan Guoyang Gan Guoyang re-paired to play, the two sides are still a little uncomfortable, after all, Williams has just transferred this season, and there are not many games with Gan Guoyang.

After that, Adelman also drew different forwards from the Trailblazers' thick forward group to partner with Gan Guoyang, but the effect was average, and it was obvious that the help to Gan Guoyang was not particularly great in attack and defense, basically what they could do Gan Guoyang alone could do it all, and their offensive and strategic abilities were average.

"Why not let Duckworth try? Maybe he and Gan can cooperate. At this point, Bellman was on the sidelines to give Adelman advice.

Adelman looked at Duckworth, who played opposite Gan Guoyang, in fact, Duckworth's progress this season is very great, and he can feel that he is trying to keep up with Gan Guoyang's rhythm in training, Gan Guoyang is also happy to play with Duckworth, as a second-round pick, he will inevitably be evaluated as a lack of offensive talent, suitable for becoming a meat shield coolie center; But this season Duckworth has shown his talent on the offensive end, and in several games, Duckworth, who came off the bench, was able to show his solid offensive skills in the low post, especially the hook hand he learned with Gan Guoyang.

It's just that Sabonis's existence overlaps with Gan Guoyang in terms of function, so Duckworth doesn't get enough playing time, so the data is mediocre, and if he is given enough playing time, his performance will definitely be a qualified center.

"Maybe you can try, after all, Gan is not the Gan of last season, we can try to slow down the pace of the game, but it depends on whether the opponent is Yin Ai or the Sun." Adelman said what he thinks, the sound is a team with more defensive power, and the alto gave the Trail Blazers two of the 13 losses this season, relying on a strong defense on the outside, which was also so restrained by the Bucks that year.

If the Trail Blazers encounter tone, it will be better to use Buck-Williams, who is more flexible in the position and can act as an outside line to help the backcourt transition to a certain extent, and Williams plays fiercely, just to contain the same fierce tone front.

The Suns, on the other hand, have historically been an offensive team, and this season the Suns are second in the league in points per game after the Portland Trail Blazers and the second-strongest offensive team in the league.

In the playoffs, the Trail Blazers can of course choose to fight against the Suns, but this is obviously risky, because the offense is never as stable as the defense, and the offense needs the state and feeling of the players. The defense relies on tactics and attitude, the execution is in place and the attitude is positive, and then whether you can score or not depends on the level of the opponent.

Therefore, Adelman is also calculating in his heart, if he finally enters the semifinals, he will return to the beginning of the season, and Yin Pin's attack; If the Suns make it to the semifinals, then try the combination of Duckworth and Gan Guoyang to strangle the Suns with defense.

“duck！ (Duck!) Come here, stop, pause, let's reconfigure the lineup, duck you into the lineup, replace Buck, so you're on the court with Gan. ”

After speaking, Adelman pulled Gan Guoyang aside again and said to him: "Lower the tempo, play more positions, and see the effect." ”

Gan Guoyang nodded when he heard this, he understood what Adelman meant, due to Sabonis's absence, the Trail Blazers' mode of positional offense will definitely change, so Adelman wants the lineup to play more positional offense and see the effect.

However, after a few rounds, Adelman appeared, when Duckworth was on the court, the fluency of the Trail Blazers' offensive position was obviously reduced by a notch, without Sabonis as a passer, the transfer of the ball became slower, and the range became smaller, and the substitute players on the opposite side quickly followed Bellman's guidance and began to contain Gan Guoyang.

After Gan Guoyang tried to hit the high post, the opposite bag lost its effect, and at the same time, Duckworth also began to show his skills on the offensive end, and even replaced Gan Guoyang in the low post to hit consecutive shots.

However, Adelman still shook his head on the sidelines, because what Duckworth can do, Gan Guoyang can also do, and he can do better, and it doesn't make much sense to let Duckworth go up and score in the low post.

But soon, the significance of Duckworth emerged, that is, on the defensive end, because he has been Gan Guoyang's substitute, Duckworth can be regarded as the defensive core of the second team, his height of 7 feet and weight of 26o pounds is more than enough to fill the interior line.

And he has better defensive experience and confrontation ability than Sabonis, when Sabonis is there, Gan Guoyang often has to wipe Sabonis's ass, Duckworth is here, Gan Guoyang can be more relaxed on the defensive end.

A day's training passed quickly, and for the Trail Blazers, all they had to do was quietly wait for their next opponent.

………………

At the same time, multiple series of rounds have also decided the winner, West, Los Angeles Lakers showed strong energy in the playoffs, they played against the Denver Nuggets in the round, the Nuggets were swept by the Lakers at their peak, not to mention entering the decline period, the whirlwind Purple and Gold Army 3:o sent the Nuggets to the Grand Canyon to fish.

And the Utah Jazz faced the Houston Rockets, a strong lineup composed of Carl Malone, Stockton, Mark Eaton, and Bailey crushed Olajuwon 3:1, and Olajuwon fell into deep confusion and distress after being eliminated, he was called a cancer, and soon, he will have to find spiritual sustenance in religion.

In the East, both the Detroit Pistons and the New York Knicks settled their opponents 3:o early and began to prepare for the semifinals; The Cavaliers, the dark horse of the season, were dragged to the death by the Bulls, and the Bucks also dragged the Hawks, who were ambitious before the start of the season, to Game 5.

Add to that the duel between Sun and Tone, and everything will be settled after a match.