In the opening game between the Trail Blazers and the Kings, Gan Guoyang used two outstanding performances on the defensive end, a wonderful dunk and a hook score to sweep the decline in the first half, allowing all viewers to see the strength of this second-tier show and the MOP of the NCAA Final Four.

The three consecutive goals also allowed the Trail Blazers to widen the score gap from 7 points at the end of the first half to 13 points just two minutes into the opening of the second half.

Kansas Kings coach Jack McKen had to call a timeout, so it would not be so easy for the Kings to turn the score over.

"It's awesome! I think you guys should play rugby!" When returning to the bench, Drexler came up and patted Gan Guoyang on the shoulder and said.

"I used to complete 50-yard long passes in school football games." Gan Guoyang said with a smile.

Drexler also smiled. He thought Gan Guoyang was joking, but he didn't know that Gan Guoyang did play a guest quarterback in one game to complete a 50-yard long pass.

"Gan, you did not complete your task according to my arrangement. Although you played very well, I still like you to be able to support more at high positions. Of course, you can increase your incision appropriately. Valentine pays attention to the transmission of the inside. Also, we must continue to speed up the pace!" Ramsey was quite rude about Gan Guoyang's failure to play according to tactical arrangements.

According to the midfield arrangement, Gan Guoyang still needs to make a shaft at the top of the arc to open up the space for breakthrough and projection for the three guns on the outside. At the same time, Sampson was ambushed on both sides of the three-second zone, preparing for contact and picking up bargains.

In defense, the strategy of keeping people at the target of people and not changing pick-and-roll is the simplest and easiest defense method. The Trail Blazers want to use offense to kill the king.

In the defense, Gan Guoyang was split out to defend against the opponent's small players. In Ramsey's opinion, this was very dangerous, because once Woodson passed the ball to the center, it was very likely that it would be a misplaced.

In the offense, Gan Guoyang fell to a low post again and grabbed Sampson's position. Although he easily scored, he did not play according to the coach's routine.

"I can still play fast attack, Captain." Gan Guoyang said, standing aside, he didn't sweat much.

"I hope so, no matter what, I think the king must want to lower the rhythm. We can't let them brake the car and speed up, Valentine and Van dervich, pay attention to controlling the rhythm of the offense. Drexler, you go to defend Eddie Johnson, don't let him easily break to too deep."

Ramsey also noticed that it was not a good idea to let Van derwich deal with Johnson, and Van derwich also needed to focus more on the offense.

"Gan, if you don't follow the tactics, I will press you to the bench! I still hope you can perform well." After the suspension, Ramsey took Gan Guoyang aside and warned before the player came on the court.

"Okay, Captain, I can only make some sacrifices for victory." As long as I can stand on the court to play, Gan Guoyang would not have much objection, so he said jokingly.

The game continued, and as Ramsey expected, the king wanted to reduce the pace and began to attack more patiently.

But the king did not have the strength of the inside, they relied on a few guns from the outside.

The Kings began to rely on Johnson and Woodson to repeatedly break through - pass the ball - break through the ball to pull the Trail Blazers' defensive formation and find space and opportunities to score.

Gan Guoyang was arranged to stay in the three-second zone to protect the inside and rebounds, but the Kings did not go in at all.

"Woodson passed the ball to Johnson, and Johnson relied on a cover to break through the middle. Van dervich followed Johnson, but Johnson passed the ball! Woodson received the pass at 45 degrees, a good shooting opportunity, and the ball went in. The Kings scored two points back."

The tactic of passing the ball after a breakthrough can be said to be a small cooperation as simple as a pick-and-roll on the basketball court, but it is the most commonly used and effective way to open up space.

If a player does not have a breakthrough player, the pitcher will not have enough room to shoot.

Gan Guoyang had just scored the ball, and as soon as the ball fell from the Nets, the Trail Blazers immediately made a free throw.

Van dervich sent the ball to Valentine, who passed it to Sampson, and Drexler rushed to the front at this time.

"This guy ran so fucking fast." Gan Guoyang sighed in his heart as he looked at Drexler's figure, and at the same time he ran to the frontcourt desperately.

At this time, the ball had already been passed to Drexler's hand. He got the ball on the right side of the court, but the Kings returned to defense quickly, and two players had already stepped forward to attack.

Just when Drexler was unable to dribble and continued to break through, Gan Guoyang had already inserted it from the middle and raised his hand high.

Drexler quickly made the ball. While Gan Guoyang held the opponent's player with his back, he jumped up and caught the basketball in the air.

After receiving the ball, Gan Guoyang made a layup, but this was just a fake move, which deceived the opponent's center.

Then Gan Guoyang dribbled the ball under the basket and came to the back of the basket.

But this did not hurt him. He pushed back and squeezed away the opponent's inside line, and unexpectedly used his left hand and a side hook, and the ball flew to the basket with a spin.

"Bang!" A board was erased, and the ball bounced on the basket again, easily entering the net.

This ball showed Gan Guoyang's calm ability to handle balls, delicate skills and flexible steps. No wonder the commentator said the word "Slik" after seeing the ball, which means that he is as smooth as silk.

In this way, the King's points continued to rise, but they could not suppress the Trail Blazers' scores. Not only could they not suppress them, but they even had a tendency to collapse the defense line.

Gan Guoyang's outstanding performance at the beginning of the third quarter set the tone for the second half. After that, the Kings never could close the score.

In the end, the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Kansas Kings with a 140:117 and 23 points at home, achieving a good start.

In this game, the Trail Blazers performed best in Van dervich. He scored a high score of 47 points in the first game of the new team, especially in the first half, he set the tone for the whole game with his wonderful shooting and low-post offense.

On the Kings' side, Eddie Johnson scored 30 points. In the first half, he and Van derwich were indistinguishable, but in the second half, Johnson's performance, who was targeted to defend, was discounted.

On the contrary, Van dervich, who had no defensive pressure, had full firepower.

When the beep of the game sounded, Gan Guoyang, who was sitting on the bench, stood up with the other players to greet the audience, and then returned to the locker room.

Gan Guoyang was replaced in the second half of the third quarter, and he still spent the entire fourth quarter on the bench.

Although the fourth quarter has entered garbage time, Gan Guoyang still hates the days of staying on the bench very much.

"The time I spent on the bench before was not as much as today. If I stayed for a while, I could hatch a chick under my butt!" In the locker room, Gan Guoyang complained to Drexler while changing his clothes.

At this time, Coach Ramsey was being interviewed by the media, and Gan Guoyang complained so unscrupulously.

"The same was true for my first game in the NBA. I played the Clippers at that time and I only got 2 points. Oh my God, at that time I was wondering whether I could play in the NBA." Drexler said with a smile.

In the limited time in the second half, Gan Guoyang made 5 of 5 shots, plus two free throws and scored 12 points, and he contributed 3 blocks, all of which were done in more than 6 minutes in the third quarter.

It is conceivable what kind of terrible data he could get if he had made a 40-minute real game.

"I would rather not score a point on the court than watch a group of guys running around in shorts off the court." Gan Guoyang was always worried about wearing shorts and vests in basketball games at that time. He was always thinking about when he would take the lead in wearing longer sports pants.

"Okay, prepare for it. It's time to be interviewed by players. You must be asked a lot of questions. Remember, you have to control your mouth." Drexler reminded.

At that time, the NBA stipulated that before and after training, before and after the game, players and coaches had to accept media interviews to increase the team's exposure.

"Okay, I really hope I can pretend not to understand English by then. After all, I am a foreigner." Gan Guoyang has always hated media interviews. In his opinion, some of the reporter's questions are really boring and idiotic.

…………

"What do you think about your first NBA game? We know you missed the preseason because of some minor injuries."

"I think it's great. If the stadium can be larger and the number of players on each team can be higher, such as 11 people in each team, I think it would be even better."

"Do you care about your NCAA Finals opponent, Olajuwon's performance? Would you like to know how the Houston game is?"

"No, I think Clyde should care more than me. He loves Olajuwon more than he loves me."

"Will you buy more playing time in the next game? We can see that you are very efficient on the court, especially in the second half, but you don't seem to have much time."

"I think Coach Ramsey definitely wants to use me in a more important game. Of course, I don't look down on the Kings, but obviously their strength is not strong enough."

"Can you adapt to the NBA's game rhythm? The NBA and the NCAA seem to be very different."

"Yes, many times I think the NBA is more like a track and field game. The events I participate in are mainly about running back and running and touching highs. To be honest, I still prefer to throw balls with both hands."

……………………

"Oh my God, I can't believe it. Your answer to reporters' questions is like an old fry." After the interview, Drexler and Gan Guoyang walked together on the way out of the court, saying as they walked.

"I just hope they don't add fuel to what I say. I can already imagine what effect some guys will get by modifying my words." Gan Guoyang sighed. He was deeply touched by the ability of these media to spread rumors.

In the interview after the NCAA finals, a reporter asked Gan Guoyang how to view his skin color.

At that time, Gan Guoyang said that he was proud of being a yellow person and believed that people with yellow skin could achieve outstanding achievements in various fields like white skin and dark skin.

As a result, if this passage is very reasonable, it becomes "yellow skin rising in the sports world and threatens other races" in some newspapers, which is linked to "yellow peril".

The key is that the weakness of Chinese people in the United States makes those media dare to make a fuss about their skin color. If they were replaced by dark skin or Hispanics, such remarks would undoubtedly be labeled as "racial discrimination", causing another round of big storm.

Gan Guoyang has become accustomed to this. Now, whenever a reporter wants to set up a public opinion trap for him on his skin color, Gan Guoyang ignores it.

"Hey Clyde, Gan, do you want to go out and have fun? We can go dance, I know a new dance hall has been opened in the city center." At this time, Van dervich walked over and invited the two to dance.

Disco was quite popular in the United States at that time, and these NBA players also liked to go to the dance hall to have fun and relax after the game.

In Portland, there are really few entertainment activities. Gan Guoyang remembers it very clearly that after 10 o'clock, most stores were closed.

"Gan, or we'll go together?" Drexler rarely refused the invitation from his teammates.

"Oh no, I made an appointment with a friend and agreed to meet after the game." Gan Guoyang politely rejected the invitation from his teammates.

Twenty minutes later, in an Italian restaurant in Portland, two tall people looked unusually eye-catching.

"Try the noodles here, to be honest, the noodles here are better than the noodles in some Chinese restaurants, and of course they are still not comparable to those in San Francisco."

"Thank you, I actually thought about contacting you before coming to Portland, but I couldn't find your number."

"Oh, I changed a new phone number and I wrote you the number; I didn't pay attention to the opponent's roster before the game, but I forgot you. I didn't remember until you got on the court, Otis, you are in the Kings."

These two are the opponents of both sides today, Gan Guoyang of the Trail Blazers and the No. 33 power forward of the Kings, Otis Thorpe.

The two met and the summer draft. When they were sitting off the court waiting for Stern to claim their talent, Otis Thorpe was sitting next to Gan Guoyang.

Thorpe was selected by the Kansas Kings in the first round, and he attended Providence University when he was in college, and he was also the top star in the team.

Because Providence is located in the strong Big-East, it is always difficult to have the opportunity to enter the national competition.

At that time, Providence's strongest opponent was Georgetown University where Patrick Ewing was.

The topic of conversation between Gan Guoyang and Thorpe was Ewing. The two had a lot of fun chatting as Ewing's opponent and soon became good friends.

In tonight's game, Thorpe's performance was very good. As a rookie, he scored a good score of 21 points and repeatedly made shots against the old No. 1 pick Sampson.

It was not until Gan Guoyang came on the court that Thorp's vitality in the inside was curbed.

However, the confrontation on the field did not affect the friendship between the two. During the game, Gan Guoyang said that he would invite Thorpe to have a meal and chat after the game.

Gan Guoyang knew Thorpe because he later saw the 1994 finals and knew that he was the most reliable inside helper around Olajuwon. In 1995, he was traded to the Trail Blazers and moved to Drexler.

It can be said that he and the Trail Blazers will have a lot of relationships, but after the arrival of Gan Guoyang, everything is likely to change.

"We're going back to Kansas tomorrow. Do you know who we're going to play against?" Thorpe asked suddenly.

"Hmm? I don't know." This guy Gan Guoyang has not liked to watch the schedule since high school.
Chapter completed!