The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 871 His Unique Journey

The Trail Blazers' rotation has become shorter, but the Knicks' options are also running out.

Van Gundy is not a coach who is good at using unconventional tactics. He is not a former player but is known for his ability to study various tactical patterns.

Unlike other NBA coaches who are either former professional players or have coaching experience at colleges and universities, Van Gundy is an outlier.

He never played in a professional league because he lacked the talent. He first attended Yale, then transferred to Menlo College, and finally went to Nazareth University, where players never had the chance to enter the NBA.

In 1984, while Gan Guoyang was leading Gonzaga University to an undefeated miracle and gaining national fame, Jeff Van Gundy's achievement was simply leading the Nazarene University basketball team to the NCAA Division III finals.

He never served as a head coach at a prestigious basketball academy. After graduating, he coached in high school and later became an assistant coach for Pidino at Providence University. Subsequently, through Pidino's introduction, he joined the Knicks as an assistant coach.

After serving under several Knicks head coaches, Van Gundy finally turned his fortunes around and won the trust of the management to become the head coach.

Van Gundy lacks the keen intuition of a player-coach and the ability to befriend players, as well as the rich experience and qualifications accumulated by academic coaches.

His main path to progress was through hard work, hard work, and more hard work; through in-depth study, in-depth study, and more in-depth study.

Van Gundy is a typical bookworm, immersing himself in the world of basketball every day, studying a large amount of textual materials and data.

Like a scholar, constantly engage in theoretical innovation and practical research, create all sorts of tactical routines and ideas, and build the ideal lineup and playing style.

This path is destined to be incredibly arduous, because basketball itself contains a great deal of irrationality, belonging to the realm of talent and inspiration, and this is especially true in higher-level leagues.

The painstaking craftsmanship and accumulated experience of artisans cannot compare to the fleeting brilliance of a genius's flash of inspiration.

In a real game, the tactical routines you painstakingly design and repeatedly practice may not have the same success rate as the putback basket by the opponent's super center after an offensive rebound.

This is the reality that coaches like Van Gundy must face: how can an ordinary person achieve something in a field full of talent?

After enduring many disappointing seasons, Van Gundy and his talented players finally stood on the NBA Finals stage. But true talent stood in their way. One player, Gan Guoyang, was one thing, but the emergence of Kobe Bryant, number 8, was completely unexpected by Van Gundy.

He thought Sprewell could outmaneuver Kobe and even suppress him with his experience.

But in fact, Kobe was not at all inferior and delivered a phenomenal performance in the fourth game, putting the Knicks in a dilemma.

Van Gundy didn't have any contingency plans on the cards in his pocket, and he lacked the resources to deal with Kobe.

The Knicks' run to the Finals was partly due to luck; they were fourth in the Eastern Conference, and their overall strength was only average.

With the Chicago Bulls gone from the East, there are no more super teams, so anyone could make it to the Finals.

The New Jersey Nets died from internal strife, the Celtics died from being too young, and the Pacers died from their star players' poor performance.

The Knicks, who were in the best and most consistent form in the playoffs, stood out, but they still lacked confidence against the Trail Blazers.

During the timeout, Jeff Van Gundy tried to make tactical adjustments, shifting the defensive focus to the perimeter and requiring more players to pack the strong side to deal with Kobe's sharp drives.

Assistant coach Tom Thibodeau warned Van Gundy, "Be careful of Forrest Gump, he..."

“I know Tom, I know, but there’s no way, we can’t do both.”

“I think we’d better stick to our strategy,” Thibodeau suggested.

He believed that no matter how the situation changed, the strategy should not be changed easily.

This is a major dilemma that NBA head coaches often face: should they change their established plans?
There is no definitive answer to this question because it is difficult to predict how the situation will develop.

If things don't change, and the problem is allowed to escalate, the wound will fester, the situation will get worse and worse, and you'll lose the game. Fans will criticize you for not being flexible.

But if things change, the original problems remain unresolved, new problems arise, and the situation becomes even worse. If you lose the game, fans will criticize you for not being persistent and for jumping between different teams.

In short, whether to be flexible or firm often depends on the coach's decision.

As for how to make decisions, some coaches base their decisions on reason and experience, while others follow their intuition.

Van Gundy lacked intuition; he relied on experience. But experience told him that if you let your guard down, Forrest Gump will punish you.

At this moment, Van Gundy decided to take a gamble, betting that Forrest Gump would be out of form, would decline, and would produce an inefficient offensive performance.

Clearly, his awareness of Forrest Gump's decline in the first three games had unconsciously guided him.

In fact, there are many such "psychological suggestions" in life. A thought, realization, or discovery that happens unintentionally in one's mind can have a crucial impact on an important decision later on.

Your inner voice tells you that you have grasped the key to the problem and seen the essence of things that are different from the past.

However, reality will soon slap you in the face, telling you that the fleeting realization in your mind is not the arrival of the god of wisdom, but just a random thought that occurred to you.

Gan Guoyang has declined, but he has declined from peak Forrest Gump to peak Michael Jordan!

After the timeout, both teams returned to the court. The Knicks scored first, and then Allan Houston's steady mid-range shot helped ease the tension for the Knicks.

But as soon as Kobe got the ball, he found that the Knicks players were all crowding up on the strong side, while on the other side, Gan Guoyang was wide open because Mourning was going to guard the paint.

Kobe immediately passed the ball to Mullin in the middle, and Mullin understood and immediately passed it to Gan Guoyang on the wing.

Gan Guoyang received the ball, and surprisingly, no one was guarding him!
Gan Guoyang couldn't believe his eyes; Mo Ning was three steps away from him.

Damn, the Knicks used this strategy after the timeout? Underestimating me?
Gan Guoyang stood still and took a relaxed and natural mid-range shot, sinking the two points smoothly.

After scoring, Gan Guoyang walked past the Knicks' bench, pointed at Van Gundy, and said, "Are you fucking crazy, Jeff? Leaving me open?"

Van Gundy realized the situation was not good, and Mourning responded with a mid-range jumper.

But Gan Guoyang immediately received the ball in the low post, with no one double-teaming him, and easily scored two more points with a hook shot after turning around.

With the Trail Blazers leading by a large margin, this game pattern of you scoring two points, me scoring two points, and time slowly slipping away is perfectly acceptable.

Moreover, the Trail Blazers' defense was very solid, and Agan interfered with Sprewell's layup attempt under the basket and grabbed the defensive rebound.

The Trail Blazers slowed down the pace. Gan Guoyang set a screen for Kobe at the high post, and Kobe cut to the outside. Kobe then passed the ball back to Gan Guoyang.

With no one to stop him, Gan Guoyang even had time to adjust his posture, and then fired the anti-aircraft gun again at medium range, hitting the target once more!
With three consecutive baskets made, plus Kobe's previous 7 points, the Trail Blazers scored on six consecutive possessions.

The Knicks players are completely bewildered. How are they supposed to defend against this? Who should they focus their attention on?
Van Gundy shouted from the sidelines, "Let's go back to the previous defensive strategy and focus on Agan."

Van Gundy realized how unreliable his decision had been, that he had impulsively changed his strategy.

After a brief period of chaos at the beginning of the third quarter, looking up, the Trail Blazers had already widened the gap to 18 points.

It's another huge point difference that's hard to close. There's still plenty of time, but such a large deficit is too difficult for the Knicks to overcome.

The fans at Madison Square Garden had long lost the initial fervor of the game, and the chants of "Stallion" had completely disappeared.

Because if anyone shouted that name, Kobe would punish the Knicks fans for their rudeness with a basket.

In the subsequent game, the Knicks did not give up and continued to fight hard to catch up, narrowing the gap to 11 points at one point.

Kobe's shooting percentage started to decline in the fourth quarter, and his misses increased, but Gan Guoyang's performance improved, and he entered the final harvest mode.

Gan Guoyang conserved a lot of energy in the first three quarters, scoring only 15 points in those three quarters. He reached his peak in the fourth quarter.

Among the many weapons in the arsenal, Gan Guoyang chose the offensive rebound, which is simple, easy to use, and most demoralizing for the opponent.

Mourning is a decent rebounder, but only a decent one.

The data doesn't lie; Mourning's rebounding in the playoffs was worse than in the regular season.

Moreover, like his Georgetown senior Patrick Ewing in his early days, Mourning doesn't like to box out for rebounds.

It's hard to imagine how much effort Thompson put into the fundamentals when he coached these tough centers in college. According to Gan Guoyang, the only players who could truly rival him in rebounding since the 1980s were Moses Malone (whom he never faced in the playoffs during his prime), Hakeem Olajuwon (top-notch positioning, his actual rebounding impact was greater than his stats), Charles Barkley (amazing rebounding instincts and desire), and Bill Laimbeer (rich skills and shameless tactics).

Aside from these few guys, Gan Guoyang is confident that he can grab rebounds over other players, including rebounding experts like Dennis Rodman and Mutombo, and steadily suppress them in crucial moments of important games.

Rodman was at a disadvantage due to his physical attributes; his techniques were not very effective against Gan Guoyang.

Mutombo relies too much on his wingspan and height, which makes him vulnerable to being outmaneuvered by Gan Guoyang in terms of movement and physicality. Furthermore, as a graduate of Georgetown, he also lacks some rebounding flair and dirty tricks, relying too heavily on hard-hitting tactics.

Alonzo Mourning has similar problems to Mutombo, but without Mutombo's superior height and wingspan.

When the game came down to the wire, Gan Guoyang was like a tiger, grabbing rebounds repeatedly in the Knicks' paint and scoring on second-chance opportunities.

As for Kemp, needless to say, if he were good at rebounding, the SuperSonics wouldn't have sent him to New York to trade for Ewing.

After years of honing his skills, Ewing gradually became a very good rebounder, but he wasted a lot of his talent when he was young, and the gap between him and Bill Russell was really too big.

During the crucial period when the Knicks were trying to catch up, Gan Guoyang grabbed four consecutive offensive rebounds and scored three second-chance points, completely suppressing the Knicks' momentum.

The game gradually lost its suspense, and the Knicks' resistance weakened. Their offense still lacked absolute talent, and no one could step up to turn the tide.

Sprewell played very well, but he couldn't score explosively in a short period of time like Kobe or Gan Guoyang, quickly regaining the rhythm and turning the tide.

In the ebb and flow of your score, I score; if you don't score, I don't score either, and time is slowly being wasted.

The Knicks fans in the arena grew increasingly frustrated, with many burying their heads in their hands. If they lose tonight's game and fall behind 1-3, the Knicks won't have many chances left.

The arrogance they displayed at the start of the game vanished completely, and their malice and slander against Kobe could no longer be sustained.

Is it really true, as Kobe said, that the Trail Blazers will lift their tenth championship trophy at Madison Square Garden?
Kobe only scored 4 points on 2-of-5 shooting in the final quarter, but that didn't stop him from racking up a game-high 35 points.

Before Kobe, no 20-year-old player had ever scored that many points in the Finals—because in the past, most superstars of that age were in college.

In short, Kobe made history tonight and delivered his first playoff masterpiece.

When the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the game, the score was 106-94, with the Trail Blazers defeating the Knicks by 12 points on the road.

Despite missing two young rotation players, the Trail Blazers managed to withstand the Knicks' comeback attempt by relying on a short rotation.

Besides Kobe's 35 points, Gan Guoyang scored 24 points, a rare occurrence in the Finals where the player who wasn't the team's leading scorer wasn't the one scoring.

Sabonis contributed a solid 17 points, Mullin added 12, and no other Trail Blazers player scored in double figures.

In rebounding, Gan Guoyang continued to dominate, grabbing 23 rebounds throughout the game and maintaining an average of 19 rebounds per game in the series, consistently serving as a stable cornerstone of the Trail Blazers' interior defense.

Kobe was very excited after winning the game with a high score, but he tried his best to hide his smile and joy in front of reporters, just like Gan Guoyang's calm demeanor.

It wasn't until Gan Guoyang entered the locker room and exposed him in front of the reporters that he finally saw through his act, saying, "Stop pretending. If you want to laugh, just laugh. I can see your white teeth."

Not only Kobe, but the reporters who gathered around to interview him also laughed, and the locker room was filled with a joyful atmosphere.

After this game, people started discussing whether Kobe would win the Finals MVP.

In terms of overall statistics, Kobe is still a step behind Gan Guoyang, but in terms of scoring, Kobe is getting closer to Gan Guoyang with his 35 points tonight.

If Kobe can continue to perform like this in Game 5, and have such outstanding performances in the last two crucial games, the voting committee might very well give the Finals MVP to Kobe, the newcomer.

Just like in the 1980 NBA Finals, based on statistics and performance, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the undisputed Finals MVP.

It was only because of injury, Magic Johnson's amazing performance in the final game, and the TV station's desire not to miss the Finals MVP award ceremony that Johnson's legendary rookie Finals MVP story came about.

Of course, it was mainly the New York media that spread this topic.

Seeing that the Knicks had no chance of winning the championship, they were already thinking of other ways to annoy the Trail Blazers.

If they could stir up conflict and antagonism within the Trail Blazers team, that would be even better; maybe they'd have a chance to win the championship.
However, it's clear to everyone that the Knicks have no chance of winning the championship now.

Even if they win Game 5, how can the Knicks possibly win Game 6 and Game 7 in Portland?
Gan Guoyang's ninth championship, his third consecutive title, and the team's tenth championship are just around the corner.

On June 12, the Trail Blazers and Knicks played Game 6, a crucial match for the Trail Blazers to clinch the championship.

David Stern and the gleaming Larry O'Brien Trophy have both arrived at Madison Square Garden.

Stern's face still wore that enigmatic smile, making it impossible to discern his emotions.

As the president's power and achievements grew, his authority became increasingly prominent, and people became less and less aware of his secretive practices.

Stern was extremely protective of his family's privacy and kept the NBA's decision-making process completely confidential; everything was under his control.

But before the game started tonight, a hint of anxiety and worry was visible in his eyes.

The game itself didn't offer any surprises or shocks, although Knicks fans continued their frenzy, hoping for a miracle and at least a win to force a sixth game.

Anyway, the sixth game is in Portland, in the Rose Garden, so whatever, I don't care anymore. As long as we win in New York, everyone will be happy.

The problem is that they really can't win; Gan Guoyang is not going to give the Knicks any chance in a game like this.

He wouldn't give Kobe the chance to win the Finals MVP either; Gan Guoyang controlled everything from the very beginning of the game.

After two consecutive "mediocre" performances, he finally finished his ultimate move and began to bombard the Knicks.

In Game 5, he was in excellent form, but he remained calm and composed throughout the game, completely controlling the situation and scoring against the Knicks with a series of one-on-one plays, passes, and long-range shots, disrupting their defense.

The Knicks had lost all will to fight, and Jeff Van Gundy had run out of options by Game 5.

He even came up with the suicidal tactic of starting Kurt Thomas in place of Shawn Kemp to defend Gan Guoyang one-on-one.

The result was that the young Kurt Thomas was completely outmatched by the hot-tempered Gan Guoyang in a one-on-one match, and had no chance to fight back.

Gan Guoyang scored 12 points in the first quarter, 14 points in the second quarter, 11 points in the third quarter, and 10 points in the fourth quarter, for a total of 47 points in the game.

The Trail Blazers once again defeated the Knicks 109-96, a 13-point advantage, in an easy away victory to win the NBA championship trophy for the second consecutive year.

The NBA players' feeling was right: when Forrest Gump started winning championships, he wouldn't just win one; he would definitely win back-to-back championships.

The basketball mecca witnessed one of the greatest players in basketball history adding to his legacy. Gan Guoyang received the Larry O'Brien Trophy and the Finals MVP trophy from Stern for the ninth time, completing this ceremonial handover.

There aren't many people left at Madison Square Garden, and nobody likes watching the away team get crowned.

Stern repeated his usual rhetoric, congratulating the Trail Blazers and Gan Guoyang on their championship win.

This kind of drama, let alone the audience, is probably something that the two of them are tired of looking at each other.

Gan Guoyang noticed the anxiety and worry in Stern's eyes; the two understood each other well.

Gan Guoyang whispered, "Are you worried about me winning the championship again?"

Stern frowned, but then said something that surprised even Gan Guoyang.

"The FBI is about to launch a formal investigation into you. A special investigation committee will hold hearings and question you. Be prepared."

"Soon? When is 'soon'?"

"Probably tomorrow... or maybe in an hour."

The 1999 NBA season came to an end, and Gan Guoyang achieved another championship.

However, his unique journey and complex battles have only just begun.
(End of this chapter)