Chapter 121 The first conversation
"After the first quarter, the Trail Blazers led the Bulls by 30:25. In the last two minutes, Gan scored 5 points in a row, including a 2 plus 1. This season, Gan scored 2 plus 1 goals in the game. Does this show his uniqueness?" asked NBC commentator Hamilton.
"Yes, according to my observation and analysis of the Trail Blazers game in the previous period, Gan's strength is actually beyond many people's imagination. During the rookie camp physical test, Gan did not participate, so no one knows what level his bench press reached. I guess this number will be quite amazing; on the other hand, his core strength of the waist and abdomen is very good, and his control ability in the air is quite strong; in the end, he feels very good and soft, and some balls stumble into the basket in the end." Commentary guest Crouch replied.
"Then what are his shortcomings? Have they been exposed in the current game?"
"From the current game, this is a very talented center with no particularly obvious flaws. His main problem at present is that he lacks experience. In the first quarter, we can find that he seemed a little uncomfortable with the experienced center, Korzin, and made several mistakes. Also, his offensive skills are not comprehensive enough, his left hand seems to be improving, and he does not show the ability to jump shots. From a defensive perspective, the inherent defect in height will suffer when facing players with strong impact."
NBC TV has begun to invite some professional basketball players as commentators in recent years. Their analysis is often more professional and detailed than media commentators, which has also allowed TV commentators to get rid of the radio commentary model and start a brand new Talk model.
"What about Jordan, how about Jordan? After he got out, the Bulls didn't score." Hamilton continued to play the role of ignorant novices.
"Jordan seemed very different in the first quarter. His offensive desire did not seem to be particularly strong. He passed several good goals to allow his teammates to score. In fact, Jordan is a great team player, his breakthrough is extremely lethal, and the passes used by Jordan to amplify this lethality several times, and he revitalized the Bulls' offense alone."
"Okay, the second quarter is about to start soon, let's take a look at the players on both sides. Jordan is back on the court, and the Bulls without Jordan are really lacking in offense. On the side of the Trail Blazers, Gan is already on the bench. He has no rest in the first quarter, and it's time for him to sit off the court. Ramsey sent a substitute Kenny Carr."
The Trail Blazers' lineup at this time is center Mitchell Sampson, power forward Kenny Carr, small forward Drexler, shooting guard Jim Paxson, and point guard Cort.
This is a Ramsey's most commonly used second team. Drexler is allowed to be a substitute. After the opponent's main player is out, he will use his personal ability to continue his firepower, and it is best to be able to stop the opponent from playing timeout.
However, Drexler does not like to be a substitute or play as a small forward. He always defines himself as a comprehensive defender who can control the game, rather than a forward who can only charge.
When he saw Jordan revitalizing the entire Bulls' offense on the court, able to score goals by himself and assist teammates, Drexler kept thinking in his mind, "I can do this too."
So as soon as he got on the court, Drexler had to pass the ball from Colt and began dribbling through half the game, and he had to control the team's offense.
To some extent, Drexler and Jordan are very similar, but not at all.
They are all 6-foot-6 guards, all of whom can run and jump, all have talents that surpass ordinary players, and all have extraordinary confidence in themselves.
However, Jordan is a new era guard who combines all the characteristics of traditional guards. He can be everything a traditional guard can do, CS, peak jump shot, empty cuts at the basket, and emergency stop jump shot.
In addition, his ability to surpass traditional defenders in breakthroughs, counterattacks, passes, and low-post offenses.
Drexler is different. He doesn't like the traditional defender's set and doesn't want to do it. This is an important reason why Ramsey doesn't like him.
He has his own set, he has his own favorite game style, he likes to lower his head and charge, likes to compete for rebounds like power forwards, likes to ask for balls at low posts, likes to play single-roll, and wants to win games the way he likes.
So although he also listened to Ramsey's advice to improve his shot, he just didn't want his posture, didn't want to put the ball on his chest, or straighten his legs.
Now, he has to compete with Jordan in his own way, because he knows that the team gave up Jordan because of himself, and he wants to prove that the team is right to do this.
"Drexler dribbled on the outside, Jordan defended him. Is this a one-on-one challenge? Drexler started the breakthrough, and he was very fast, from the front...beautiful pass, Sampson received the ball and dunk!" Drexler was too fast, and Hamilton didn't have time to describe his movements.
Drexler broke through directly from the front. This was a simple and rough attack. Jordan failed to block Drexler's footsteps because Carl stepped forward to block Jordan.
The Bulls' substitute center Jones stepped forward to make up for defense, and naturally missed Sampson. The Bulls didn't rotate in time, while Drexler's pass was very timely, and Sampson scored the ball with a double-handed dunk.
"The story is beautiful!" Gan Guoyang stood on the sidelines and shouted loudly for Drexler. His energy seemed to be endless.
But how could Jordan show weakness? He also passed the ball from the point guard and dribbled through half the game.
On the left, far from the three-point line, Jordan was preparing for acceleration like a lion waiting for the opportunity.
Some people have described Jordan's breakthrough in the early days, that is, you know where he is going, but you just can't stop him.
That's how Paxson was. After the start of the second quarter, he still went to defend Jordan, although he was already a sieve by Jordan in the first quarter.
This time, he had already seen that Jordan was going to go from the front again, but when Jordan started to rush towards him, he still couldn't keep up with Jordan's footsteps.
"Jordan rushed from the middle, and a fake move changed direction... dunk! dunk directly, oh my god." Hamilton, who had a machine gun-like mouth still couldn't keep up with Jordan's movements.
Jordan made two fake moves in front of Paxson, tricked Paxson with his body shaking, and then cut from the edge of the three-second zone on the left. No one stepped forward to stop him, and no one could stop him, because he was too fast and his pass was too fatal.
Sampson and Carl could only watch Jordan end the attack with a relaxed dunk.
"He turned a corner in front of Paxson like a flash of lightning, and then the Trail Blazers' basket was split."
"This guy is so fucking fast." Gan Guoyang, who was sitting on the bench, couldn't help but shake his head and said.
"He has the same shoes as you passed on, why aren't you that fast?" said Van dervich on the side.
Gan Guoyang wore Nike's AF1 sneakers on his feet, which were the same as Jordan's. Their exclusive sneakers are still in the design and are expected to be launched in 1985.
"I'm very fast, I mean at my height, I can let anyone eat my butt ass ass." Gan Guoyang has always been so arrogant, although he is indeed very fast, especially his speed of turning.
"I think our fastest one should be Clyde!"
Before Van dervich finished speaking, Drexler had already run from the backcourt to the frontcourt with the ball. He lowered his head and plunged into the Bulls' basket like a rugby player.
But the Bulls' players have returned to defense, and three players have arrived at the penalty area.
Drexler broke into the inside from the right baseline. Instead of choosing to force a layup, he passed the ball to Paxson who was inserted on the right.
Paxson is a white player who doesn't have much ability to break through, but he is very accurate.
If a white outside player can't even shoot accurately, he will basically have no effect. You can't expect him to tear his opponent's defense.
Paxson received the ball from the left bottom line, and he was empty in front of him, but he didn't shoot.
Because Jordan chased him up, he flew into the air to try to cover him off.
Paxson made a fake move and Jordan flew out of the bottom line.
Paxson dribbled and adjusted his shot, shot at 18 feet away, and the ball entered.
This is Paxson's basketball method, using what he is good at to fight against what his opponent is not good at.
He can't defend against Jordan, but Jordan doesn't want to stop him from scoring easily.
"Another beautiful assist, Drexler showed his excellent vision and good passing ability in both consecutive goals, and he was comparable to Jordan in this regard."
Indeed, if you only talk about passing, Drexler is no worse than Jordan.
Jordan also seems to want to prove that his passes are equally good.
He passed the ball to point guard Mattus, who immediately passed the ball back to Jordan who ran to the right three-point line.
Jordan broke through the middle again. He broke through directly after receiving the ball. He passed the ball to Mattus just to adjust his pace. In this way, Paxson couldn't react even more and was taken another step.
But this time, the Trail Blazers' defense line quickly contracted, and Drexler on the left responded quickly and immediately stepped forward to delay the obstacle.
Sampson, who was inside, did not leave the three-second zone this time, but waited inside for Jordan to come.
But Kenny Carl made a mistake. After Drexler made a backup defense, Wallridge missed it. Carl did not go to make backup defense, but watched Jordan rush in, preparing to make up defense or grab rebounds.
Wallridge took the opportunity to cut from the left and slipped to the basket. Jordan was already flying in the air to make a jump shot.
Jordan showed his super ability to stagnate the air and made a pause in the air. He saw Wallridge under the basket and passed the ball in the air.
After receiving the ball, Waldridge was ready to dunk directly, but Sampson turned around and pressed Waldridge down."
"Beep!" The referee whistle sounded and Sampson fouled.
"Gan, be prepared to play. Pay attention to your foul and don't do it casually." Ramsey was about to replace Gan Guoyang with Sampson, and at the same time told him not to foul easily.
Gan Guoyang immediately stood up from the bench, took off his coat, and went on the court and pointed at Sampson.
On the other hand, the Bulls also replaced them with center Korzin, which seemed to be trying to use it to deal with Gan Guoyang.
"You coach actually asked you to play. Are you here to bring us warmth?" Gan Guoyang looked at Korjin who was standing next to him and started nagging again.
Although Korzin plays well, his mouth is very clean and he doesn't say anything, so Gan Guoyang naturally won't get any advantage.
Wallridge made one of two free throws, and the Trail Blazers pulled the score gap to 6 points.
"Slow Clyde, slower!" Ramsey couldn't help but shout as Drexler rushed to the frontcourt with the ball on the sidelines.
"This guy just doesn't know how to control the rhythm." Ramsey shook his head, not knowing when Drexler will mature.
Although the Trail Blazers are good at playing fast counterattacks, it is obvious that this is not the time to play fast counterattacks. The Trail Blazers are leading in the score, not too much or too little, but because they steadily score a few and consolidate their advantages.
And Drexler had already rushed to the frontcourt with the ball.
Drexler did not make any breakthrough because Jordan had already pressed up tightly, so he turned back and wanted to push all the way into the inside from the left.
"Drexler hit Jordan on the left, squeezing in, but the Bulls' double-team has already come up! Jordan knocked out the ball in Drexler's hand, and Jordan intercepted the ball! The Bulls launched a fast attack!"
Drexler was obviously a little anxious. His turn was not in a good position, too far from outside, and the opponent's attack was too easy.
As a result, his teammate was not found under the attack, and the ball was knocked out by Jordan.
"Jordan passed the ball to Matthews. The Bulls' fast break, Matthews passed the ball to Green! Green jumped and dunked! Oh! It was blocked by Gan! It was blocked and the ball was directly put into Gan's arms!"
The Bulls fans at the scene swallowed the prepared cheers and turned into a roar of surprise.
Drexler ran too fast, and Gan Guoyang saw that the ball was broken and immediately ran back to the basket to defend.
Only Gan Guoyang was at the basket, while the Bulls were in the fourth-tier fast break. Green and Wallridge advanced together, and Jordan and Mattus came from behind.
Mattus passed the ball to Green on the right. Green looked at Gan Guoyang under the basket and wanted to give him a head-on dunk.
But like many players who have suffered losses in Gan Guoyang, he ignored Gan Guoyang's strength and arm span because of Gan Guoyang's skin color and body shape.
Gan Guoyang was like an iron tower, withstood the impact of Green, and at the same time pressed his left hand on Green's ball.
In the air force confrontation, Green was completely defeated and was hit on the ground by Gan Guoyang. The ball in his hand was also directly taken away by Gan Guoyang.
"A wonderful block! Poor Sidney Green, the referee didn't call a foul."
The whistle was relatively large at that time, and Gan Guoyang did not hit the ball, but was pressed on the ball, so this was a good ball.
"If it were me, I would dunk this ball on your head." Gan Guoyang passed the ball to Corte, but Jordan ran to him and said.
Gan Guoyang looked at Jordan, his extremely familiar face, his idol in his later generations, the omnipotent Jordan.
He knew that as long as Jordan wanted, he could dunk on anyone's head.
But now Gan Guoyang is no longer the fan Gan Guoyang. He is a rookie with Jordan and an NBA player who wants to be at the same level as Jordan.
Chapter completed!