"I'll let you go straight to Gan one-on-one, do you have confidence?"

"I'm going to say no, you're going to take me off?"

"No, I'll make you die of exhaustion on the court."

"Okay, I'm confident."

On December 28, 1997, in the away locker room of the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, before another NBA regular season game was about to begin, Spurs head coach Popovich questioned Tim Duncan, who was sitting in a daze, and the above conversation was born.

It's already six o'clock in the afternoon, and there is still an hour before the start of the evening game, Popovich decided to make a temporary change and make some changes in the alignment, because the news came before the game that the Portland Trail Blazers' center Sabonis will miss the game due to injury, which means that the Trail Blazers' main power forward Gan Guoyang will be in the center position. Popovich doesn't want David Robinson to face the opposing team's number one man, but instead leaves the burden to the team's rookie No. 21, Tim Duncan.

"Never, never talk back, remember Tim, whatever that fool says to you, just keep your usual expression, ignore him, don't think about what kind of trash talk I'm going to use against him later, do your job on the field, 100 percent focused. Distracting others is his specialty, and as long as you do your own thing, we can win. Well done, Tim. In the tunnel, David Robinson leaned over to Duncan's side and told him seriously that the Spurs were ready to start warming up.

"Can I call him a fool then?" Duncan asked.

"Of course not...... Robinson glanced at Duncan, he was still expressionless, Robinson had fallen in love with this big man with a wooden expression since they first met. Halfway through the start of the new season, Robinson felt that his scepter in the Spurs could be handed over to the No. 21 rookie without worry.

In the 27 games that have ended, Duncan has averaged 19 points, 12 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game, and his performance is no different from a veteran who has been in the league for ten years. And Robinson knows that Duncan's role on the court is by no means something that can be summed up by these few simple numbers. His defense, his coverage, his judgment, and...... His dry humor has been influencing this team all the time, bringing the Spurs, who were at the bottom of the league last year, back into the ranks of the Western powerhouses.

As long as he's on the field. Robinson is absolutely relieved that he no longer has to pay attention to possible defensive holes all the time, and no longer has to put the burden of the team's interior offense on his shoulders, after all, he is thirty-four years old, and there is no way to "walk" around the training ground with his hands upside down like he did when he was younger. He had just suffered a major injury last season, and when he returned from injury, he knew he was no longer the omnipotent admiral.

After all, not everyone is a Michael Jordan or Gan Guoyang.

As he walked up to the red court in Rose Garden, Robinson saw the Trail Blazers players who were already warming up on the court, and Gan, who was standing with his waist crossed near the center circle and simply dribbling the ball. Robinson only saw his back. It's intimidating, and Robinson has to admit in his heart that no center in the league dares to say that he doesn't have the slightest fear in his heart when facing Gan, just like every guard does when he faces Jordan.

Robinson remembers coming to the NBA in the 1990 season after completing his military service, and he was even crazier than Duncan is now in the early part of his rookie season, averaging nearly 25 points and 15 rebounds per game. The Western Conference was ravaged for a while, including the second home game of the new season against the defending champion Trail Blazers. Robinson grabbed 21 points, 18 rebounds and three blocks at the head of the Portland Twin Towers.

It wasn't until January '90 that they met the Trail Blazers for the second time, in the Rose Garden, when the injury-prone Sabonis missed the game, and Gan stepped into the center position, which was the first time Robinson and Gan faced each other directly. With a super double-double of 41 points and 22 rebounds, Gan gave Robinson a belated "Welcome to the NBA." ”

That year, the Portland Trail Blazers defended their championship and stepped into the Finals with a 4-0 run over the bodies of Robinson and the Spurs in the Western Conference Semifinals. The next time I have such an experience will be five years from now.

Thinking of this, Robinson felt sweat on his body before he even started to warm up. He glanced in the direction of the Trail Blazers to see what Gan was doing there, but no matter how he glanced at it, Gan was just a mechanical, monotonous dribble near the halfline, not shooting, not running, like a piledriver, as if trying to hit the ball into the floor.

"David is still afraid of Gan inside, he's a good player, he's a talented and hard-working guy, but he's a little bit of a gap from the people who stand on the top of the mountain, the kind of gap that manifests itself from the bottom of his heart. Hopefully Tim will be different. Popovich, who was standing on the sidelines, took Robinson's small movements into his eyes and rated David Robinson in his heart.

Robinson has a good background, a good education, a high IQ, a high education, a wide range of hobbies, a strong sense of responsibility, he has a very, very perfect elite resume, including his performance after entering the NBA, in terms of statistics and honors. But Popovich knew that as an individual, Robinson was so well-rounded and perfect that he wasn't so perfect on the court. Basketball is an important part of his life, but it is not the only one, and his too smooth growth experience has made his character too tolerant and kind, but less resolute and persistent.

Now, Popovich is worried that Tim Duncan, like David, will be destroyed from the depths of his heart by Gan's strength, which is not good for the development of a young player. After a magical season in 1997, Sonny Kimball reached the pinnacle of personal accolades and fame, and he even became president of the players' union in the summer elections. It is ironic that a big capitalist with billions of dollars in assets should become the president of a labor union, even though the members of this union are millionaires.

But Popovich knows that no matter what kind of aura he has off the court, Gan on the basketball court will always be the tough, fierce and even brutal super center, he has always shown no mercy to his opponents, starting to build up fear in the regular season, and then letting this fear explode in the playoffs, and finally completely crushing the opponent. That's one of the secrets of his dominance of the West since 1989.

When Gan returned last season, no matter how many media questioned his comeback, Popovich didn't say a word in the media, and in fact, no Western player or coach dared to say a word more, Gan was even more terrible than Jordan in destroying the opponent's confidence, so that for three years, no one dared to take a step beyond the thunder pool easily.

Popovich also glanced at Gan, where he was still mechanically warming up with his dribble and his back to the Spurs, seemingly disdainful of looking back.

……………………

"Good evening spectators, another night of NBA games, welcome to the 1997-1998 NBA regular season, the Portland Trail Blazers vs. the San Antonio Spurs, and I'm your old friend, Bill Shanley, sitting at the Rose Garden Arena to explain the game. I have two pieces of news to tell you before the game starts, one good news and one bad news. As is customary, I'm going to start with the bad news, Portland's center Sabonis will miss this game due to injury, he has been suffering from a big knee problem, and a good rest is also to prepare for the next game. The good news is that Gan will take the center position in this game, and well, the Portland audience can watch Gan wreak havoc in the center position again......

Portland's old friend Bill Shanley sat in the commentator's seat on the sidelines as usual and started his commentary night once again, having been with Portland fans for twenty-eight years at this place, and the truth is that this will be his last year here. With the rapid growth of live television, TV commentators are replacing him as a live play-by-play radio commentator. Radio has begun to fade away from the sports streaming stage, and some of the league's newcomers have no radio commentators on the sidelines, replaced by TV presenters and commentators.

Even so, Shaunley is still full of enthusiasm, he loves the field as much as the Portland fans, loves the Trail Blazers, loves Gan, he knows everything about Gan on the court, such as when he plays the center position, there is always a good performance, and if the opponent is still strong inside, such as the Twin Towers, then Gan is likely to play super stats.

Tonight's Spurs are exactly such an opponent.

"Gan won the ball on the jump, the Trail Blazers are about to launch their first offense, and we introduce some starters from both sides, the Trail Blazers are Porter, Richmond, Bruce Bowen in place of McDaniel, Jermaine O'Neal, and Gan, Spurs, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Jalen Johnson, Avery Johnson and Sean Elliott. The coaches on both sides were Bellman and Popovich, well for the Trail Blazers' first offense...... Gan got the ball in the low post, it was Duncan who was defending him, Gan turned and pushed Duncan away! Hook Hand Hit! ”

Duncan felt a pain in his left shoulder blade, and he had just been hit by a ferocious blow before losing his balance and watching his opponent hook the ball into the basket.

"It's too strong, the shoulders are like iron...... this is Duncan's inner thought after watching the ball go in, such a static impact, he only experienced this experience when he played against the Lakers on the 4th last month, misplaced to defend O'Neal. And O'Neill brought a crushing thrust and a big elbow that was exposed, like a bulldozer, and this time he received a real and powerful impact, like a bison.

And the hook was so quick that Duncan didn't have time to adjust to interfere, which meant that he didn't lose his balance when he hit with force. Terrible body balance and coordination.

However, the game was just beginning, and Duncan went to the baseline to serve, and he had already forgotten about his first defensive failure and began to devote himself to attacking. (To be continued.) )