The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 918 I Don't Want to Say Goodbye

Gan Guoyang's physical fitness is indeed not as good as before. He was even a little out of breath after playing a few minutes of high-intensity offense and defense.

Despite their heavy breathing, they could still play from the third quarter into the fourth, but they were no longer as relaxed and confident as they were in their youth.

Bellman's timeout gave Gan Guoyang a chance to catch his breath. He thought to himself, "Bobby is too conservative. Why call a timeout?"

They should take advantage of the window of opportunity when the Trail Blazers' momentum is gradually weakening, and use the energy of the young players to catch up in one go and reduce the point difference to within 10 points.

Calling a timeout at this point, or waiting for the Trail Blazers to call a timeout, would be a better option.

Unfortunately, when not coaching Gan Guoyang, Bellman did not possess such sensitivity.

As a head coach, Berman also lacked the on-court intuition of Larry Bird; he was too conventional.

Steve Nash, however, had his own ideas. During a timeout, he told Berman, "We should go on a run, not stop. Stopping will make it harder to play."

Nash's intuition was correct. What was the point of calling a timeout? To try and hold the line? That would only allow the Trail Blazers to slowly wear them down.

It would be better to push forward, close the gap, and force the Trail Blazers to change their lineup or pace, because the Celtics are the younger team.

Bellman realized that Nash was right. If Forrest Gump were here, he would have waved his hand to signal not to call a timeout. He would have played several games in a row to keep the score close and force the opponent to make changes.

But the timeout had already been called, and it couldn't be taken back. Bellman could only take it as a lesson learned.

His extensive experience in the Finals was actually incomplete; Forrest Gump had taken on too much work for him.

Often, he acts more like an assistant coach playing a supporting role than a head coach in charge of everything.

Leaving the Trail Blazers and Forrest Gump, and coming to the Lakers and the Celtics, he finally became truly independent and walked on his own, without crutches.

Bielman gritted his teeth and made adjustments. He still had a lot of tactical options in his repertoire. He replaced Ilgauskas with Rick Fox at power forward and moved Duncan to center.

With a lineup of one big man and four small men, Berman knew he had to find a way to attack and catch up; continuing to play defensively and fight a stagnant game would be a dead end.

Unable to withstand the pioneers' relentless bombardment, they simply opened the gates and engaged the pioneers in a direct confrontation.

This tactic worked quite well. With the two towers down and Duncan moving to the center position, the Celtics' offensive space was completely opened up.

After the timeout, Rick Fox received a pass from Nash and hit a three-pointer from the corner to stop the bleeding for his team.

Then Sabonis missed a shot, Duncan grabbed the rebound, Nash initiated a fast break, cut along the baseline and passed to Duncan who was cutting into the middle.

Duncan received the ball and attacked the basket, dodging Gan Guoyang's block, and slammed it home with one hand!

With that dunk, Duncan finally released his pent-up frustration. Only then did the young Celtics finally start to find their rhythm.

Bellman realized that he had been too controlling and suppressing the young players. These guys were real geniuses, and the Finals stage should give them more room to perform.

Besides, he really had no other choice.

After the timeout, the Celtics responded with a 6-0 run, narrowing the gap to 9 points.

However, the Trail Blazers did not call a timeout and continued the game.

Slowing down the pace, Gan Guoyang received the ball in the low post and backed down Duncan.

The Celtics double-teamed Gan Guoyang, but his hook shot missed; Duncan defended well.

But Sabonis came over a bit and put the ball into the basket.

Without the twin towers, the protection of the defensive rebounds will be affected.

The Celtics continued to pick up the pace, with Nash sprinting across the court like he was riding a scooter.

He charged into the paint again, circled around, and passed the ball to the right corner. Bowen caught the ball, took a three-pointer, and made it!

Another three-pointer! Bellman clenched his fist as the Celtics slowly closed the gap, bringing the deficit to eight points.

The Trail Blazers still didn't call a timeout. Sabonis received the ball at the top of the arc and made a pass to Gan Guoyang under the basket.

If Duncan can defend the ball in a head-on confrontation under the basket, and the Celtics can then score on the fast break, the momentum will shift back to the Celtics.

But how could Gan Guoyang allow such a thing to happen? He positioned himself very deep, received the ball, turned around, and used his strength to push Duncan aside—there are very few people in the entire league who can beat Duncan in a head-on physical confrontation under the basket.

Gan Guoyang was one of them. Even though he was slightly lighter than Duncan, he still managed to squeeze out a gap with his powerful strength, then quickly turned around and slammed a one-handed dunk over Duncan!

With a powerful dunk, Duncan knocked the ball out of bounds, bending the rim under Gan Guoyang's weight, and the net vibrated for a while before returning to normal.

As he entered the later stages of his career, Gan Guoyang dunked less in games, relying more on shots and hook shots to finish his shots.

But when needed, he can still destroy the rim, scoring points while dealing a heavy blow to the opponent and boosting the team's morale.

This powerful dunk not only widened the gap back to 10 points, but also secured another victory in the old-timer versus newcomer matchup against Duncan.

The atmosphere in the Rose Garden reached a new climax, with the big screen repeatedly playing Gan Guoyang's explosive dunks. After scoring, he showed off his hot biceps to the fans.

The Celtics' comeback momentum came to an abrupt halt, their three-point shooting cooled down, Nash missed a tough three-pointer, and the Trail Blazers launched another counterattack.

Dell Curry and Chris Mullin, who came off the bench, received passes from Gan Guoyang and hit consecutive three-pointers, giving the Trail Blazers a new surge.

The point difference returned to over 15 points, and the Celtics' efforts to close the gap at the end of the third quarter failed.

While a combination of one big man and four small men is certainly fast on the offensive end, it presents many problems on the defensive end.

The interior defense couldn't contain Gan Guoyang's drives, and once the defense collapsed, there were many open shots on the perimeter.

If the Celtics weren't so far behind, they might have been able to keep up by playing a combination of big men and small men.

However, a 15-point deficit is simply too large; their offensive and defensive consistency is not strong enough to turn the tide.

When the fourth quarter came and there were only 12 minutes left, they opened their eyes to find a 17-point deficit. How could they possibly win?
Unless the Trail Blazers suffer a severe drop in physical condition or become complacent, they will not be able to squander their 17-point advantage.

Otherwise, it would have been very difficult for the Celtics to recover such a large deficit in just one quarter.

Throughout Gan Guoyang's career, he has never lost a playoff game when leading by more than 10 points in the fourth quarter. He simply doesn't know how he could lose. He can come back from a 10-point deficit, so a 10-point lead gives him a huge psychological advantage.

Why did Gan Guoyang never lose a game when leading by 10 points in the fourth quarter? Because he was never arrogant. The greater the advantage, the more he would make good use of it and turn it into a winning advantage.

In many sports competitions, some coaches and players fear defeat more than they desire victory.

This often leads them to become hesitant and timid when they have an advantage, focusing only on maintaining it without considering how to truly turn it into a winning position.

The Chinese men's football team has repeatedly encountered "black X minutes" in recent years, all of which are when they suddenly collapse and are eliminated after having a lead in a single game or points to qualify.

There are certainly many reasons, but if it happens repeatedly, there must be a problem with the mindset. The fear of failure and the desire to maintain the advantage are often the culprits.

Throughout his long professional career, Gan Guoyang has never been afraid of failure. Whenever the team has a huge advantage, he will make good use of it and continue to expand the advantage, instead of being complacent and adopting a defensive mentality, grinding out the game and waiting for the victory to be in his hands.

Therefore, at the start of the fourth quarter, Gan Guoyang didn't rest at all and continued playing from the third quarter onwards, having already rested enough in the first half.

On the defensive end, Gan Guoyang moved more towards the inside, covering a large area on defense, especially targeting Nash, to delay and harass him.

Gan Guoyang has already discovered that the Celtics rely heavily on Nash's ball distribution and disruptive play in their offense.

Nash's individual statistics weren't particularly outstanding, but he had a long ball-handling time, strong playmaking ability, and every offensive play was closely linked to him.

Despite his skills not being fully developed, he shouldered a significant offensive responsibility—after all, he wasn't very useful defensively.

In this situation, focusing heavily on shutting down Nash would cause the Celtics a lot of trouble on offense.

It's clear that the other Celtics players, especially the forwards and guards, lack the ability to handle the ball.

Pierce is too young, and Rick Fox and Bowen are role players.

Ilgauskas, the center, is a good playmaker, but he's a center, so pulling him out of the paint requires a different tactical approach.

If Nash is shut down, the Celtics' offensive cohesion will be greatly affected when they pass the ball out from the backcourt.

If Pierce continues to develop over the next few years and gradually reaches his peak, the Celtics will be able to effectively counter this perimeter defense and make the Trail Blazers pay the price.

But it was 2000, and Pierce was only a sophomore. He had too little experience in this area, and his attention on both offense and defense was mostly focused on Kobe.

When Nash was double-teamed, Kobe came over to receive the pass, but his position was wrong. Nash's pass was not received properly and was instead stolen by Kobe.

The Trail Blazers seized the opportunity to counterattack. Charles Barkley charged forward, received a pass from Kobe, and drove into the paint for a powerful two-handed dunk!
Next, Gan Guoyang disrupted Duncan's floater in the paint, Barkley grabbed the rebound and continued the fast break, and Gan Guoyang cut into the middle to receive Barkley's through ball.

He missed a layup, grabbed the offensive rebound, and went for another shot, drawing a foul from Duncan.

Duncan did his best on that play, but in the end he had no choice but to foul, sending Gan Guoyang to the free-throw line.

With Gan Guoyang making both free throws, the Trail Blazers extended their lead to 21 points, essentially extinguishing the Celtics' hopes of a comeback.

What followed was torture for the Celtics, but for the Trail Blazers fans both in and out of the arena, it was a time for some fun and drama.

Although everyone agreed before the game to give Forrest Gump a nice farewell, let him end his career happily, and pray for his future comeback.

But as the game went on, seeing that Forrest Gump was still alive and kicking, suppressing Tim Duncan and beating him like a pig, who wouldn't want him to continue playing?
Even if he gets older and the Trail Blazers can't win a championship anymore, many fans are still willing to watch Forrest Gump play.

So as the outcome of the match became clear, spectators kept shouting, "Forrest Gump, keep going!"

"You should play for another 10 years! We're willing to stay with you for another 10 years! Or even longer!"

Some fans even held up signs that read, "I don't want to say goodbye."

Faced with the fans' deep affection, Gan Guoyang didn't know how to respond.

When he was substituted off the field in the final stages of the game, he could only smile and wave to the cheers and applause from the crowd.

He was reluctant to give up, but his body could definitely keep going.

But given the situation, there was no other choice. The reason he announced his retirement before the finals was because he was afraid he would waver.

The Trail Blazers ultimately defeated the Celtics 116-103, a 13-point victory at home, securing their third win.

The Trail Blazers have taken control of the series, leading 2-1.

When he left the stadium after the game, the fans were reluctant to leave, and many of them surrounded him for autographs, which Gan Guoyang obliged.

Although there are still matches to come, some fans were unable to buy tickets to the game, so tonight's match is theoretically the last one they will see Gan Guoyang play live.

It wasn't just the young fans who love following stars; even the usually calm and restrained middle-aged and elderly fans couldn't contain their emotions and gathered around Gan Guoyang to leave some souvenirs.

Fifteen years have passed, and many teenagers have grown up, started families, and become fathers or mothers. They bring their children to watch the games of their childhood idols.

Some of those middle-aged people from back then have now turned gray. As fans of the Portland Trail Blazers, they spent the best, most fulfilling, and most glorious years of their lives.

One of the elderly men took out a notebook with a photo inside, hoping that Gan Guoyang could sign his name on the photo.

Gan Guoyang picked up the photo, thinking it would be a picture of his championship victory, or a moment of dunking or scoring, but it turned out to be none of those.

Instead, it was the silhouette of a person running on the road, a tall figure in sportswear running forward in the misty morning fog.

Although the photo is a bit blurry, Gan Guoyang can tell at a glance that it is himself, and the location is near the Willamette River.

Gan Guoyang asked, "When...when was this photo taken? Did you take it?"

The old man nodded and said, "Yes, I took the picture. It was in the winter of 1984. In the morning, I happened to be taking my camera to the park to photograph birds when I saw a very, very tall person running. I took a picture, and later I found out that it was you, Forrest Gump, jogging in the morning. You haven't run on the streets of Portland for a long time."

When Gan Guoyang first came to the Trail Blazers, he had a habit of jogging in the morning. He would run through the streets of Portland, waking up and breathing with the city.

Gan Guoyang maintained this habit for many years. Later, as his fame grew, the security situation in Portland deteriorated, and the risk of star players running on the streets became too high, so Gan Guoyang stopped running in the morning.

Unexpectedly, a moment from his early days as a rookie was captured in a photograph by a citizen.

Gan Guoyang was filled with emotion as he held the photo. He carefully wrote his name on it: Gan Guoyang - Portland Trail Blazers (1984-2000).

(End of this chapter)