"You've-gotta-be-ready-to-play-defense-when-you-play-these-guys. (You have to prepare to defend well before the game against these guys.)" This is a sentence that commentator Seanley said before the Trail Blazers and Nuggets. This sentence is widely circulated in the commentator community. It comes from the 1983 Nuggets and Pistons battle.

That super high-scoring battle of 186:184 allowed everyone to see the extremely powerful offensive firepower of the Nuggets and the Pistons, so the commentator said this.

However, Ramsey is not prepared to use defense to curb the Nuggets. In fact, Ramsey's basketball philosophy is always "attack against attack". He believes that only attack can one take the initiative in the game. Even if you defend, the ultimate goal is to fight back more easily.

So, in the third minute, Gan Guoyang got out early. After the Trail Blazers replaced Sampson, the Trail Blazers and the Pistons began to bombard each other in the first quarter.

Sampson is obviously more adapted to this high-tempo offense than Gan Guoyang. He can continuously hit back jump shots and mid-range shots at the bottom line on the offensive end. His attack is decisive and fast without any drag.

On the Nuggets' side, Inglish immediately used an emergency stop to retaliate. He dribbled from the backcourt to the frontcourt, without any hesitation, directly shot at 45 degrees and 15 feet away from the basket. The ball was hollowed into the net, and Van dervich didn't even have time to jump up and interfere.

Inglish is different from several other backcourt scorers of his contemporaries. Worthy, Dantley, and Aquili are all masters of low-post offense. Generally, when opponents defend themselves, they use the power forwards in the team to fight against each other.

Inglish is a more external pitcher. His masters are so accurate in shooting. Although he doesn't jump high and is not strong enough, when he quickly turns around, raises the ball high above his head, and throws it gently, no defender is not afraid of it.

"English's shot is ugly, but it's really accurate. I would rather see him break through to the basket than see him put the ball on his head at a distance of 15 feet and throw it out... Let's see, Van dervich, the breakthrough after receiving the ball, the Nuggets' foul, Wayne Cooper's foul. After Gan got out of the field, he could only use fouls to find his presence."

When the speed of both sides is fighting, the defender's gap begins to grow, the defensive formation is likely to become loose, and shooting and breakthroughs will become simple. Van derwich's speed is not fast. Because the timing is right, Cooper has to choose to foul.

Van dervich's free throw shooting percentage this season is not a cover. He hits all two balls, and he will definitely not get involved in the basket.

At this time, the score had reached 14:8, and the Trail Blazers had slightly expanded their lead to six points.

Compared with the Nuggets, the Trail Blazers have obviously more offensive routines, especially since they have Sampson, an all-around and flexible inside line, which allows the Trail Blazers to take the initiative.

However, six points are nothing in the eyes of teams like the Nuggets.

"Valentin made a foul, the Nuggets served outside the boundary... Wow, Inglish, he shot when he received the ball, but he didn't make it. Carl got the rebound and passed a long pass! Drexler dunked it directly after receiving the ball! A beautiful long pass, this kind of ball is not only Gan... Nuggets counterattack... Knight cut a layup, the ball entered, and the Trail Blazers' defense seemed a bit relaxed... Oh Dan Issel's steal, passed the ball to Inglish in the bottom corner, shot, this time... the difference narrowed to four points."

Perhaps Seanley, like Gan Guoyang, also hates commenting on the Nuggets and the Trail Blazers, because the offense and defense rhythm of both sides is too fast, and it is impossible to tell that this is a fierce playoff game, and the shooting choices on both sides look so casual.

When Seanley almost stopped his mouth. He had just finished talking about the attack on one side and immediately put his eyes on the other half. Often, before he finished talking about the last attack, the other side might have shot.

Such a high-tempo offense allowed the Nuggets to quickly tie the score. As Fat Leaf relied on Wayne Cooper's cover to hit the top of the arc, the score between the two sides became 22:22. At this time, the first quarter had just been more than 7 minutes, and both sides scored more than ten points in 4 minutes.

"Beep! Trail Blazers' timeout." O'Donnell pointed his hand at the Trail Blazers' bench, and Ramsey called a 20-second timeout.

"We have done a good job, we have to attack like this. Don't be afraid of them. Our offense is not bad. Well, Gan, it's your turn. Score as much as possible and score more points. Don't give them too much pressure in defense, but don't let them enter the three-second zone. If they want to shoot, let them shoot well. The most important thing is to maintain our offensive success rate." After this timeout, Ramsey re-arranged Gan Guoyang and replaced Kenny Carl.

Van dervich was also replaced, which was also slightly earlier than the regular rotation.

Van derwich's end, Jerome Cauchy and Gan Guoyang made the Trail Blazers' shooting ability sharply decline from the outside, and Ramsey did not ask the two to defend desperately.

The game continued, and the Trail Blazers served the sideline ball.

"Try to use your breakthroughs and use your face frames to attack more often. The Nuggets' defense is not dense, and their height is not enough. Use face frames to attack them."

Gan Guoyang remembered what Ramsey said to him yesterday. When facing players taller and stronger than him, or intensive and tough defense, playing back-to-back singles is the best choice; and when facing a short team like the Nuggets and not strong in defense, it is best to use breakthroughs to kill the opponent.

As a center forward, Gan Guoyang's height of 6-foot-10 became his advantage when he faced the frame. He came back and had a great ball sense. Strong attack from the front has always been Gan Guoyang's unexpected weapon.

"The Trail Blazers serve on the outside and cover them. Gan received the ball from the left and broke inward! Layout! Foul caused Cooper's foul again. This was Cooper's second foul in the first quarter. He had to go off the court and rest, and Gan stood on the free throw line."

The Trail Blazers made a simple serve cooperation, and Gan Guoyang provided a stake cover for Drexler and Valentine at the top of the arc, but neither Drexler nor Valentine received the ball, but Gan Guoyang received the ball.

The Nuggets' defense was not ready. After receiving the ball, Gan Guoyang broke through from the left to make a layup in the inside. Cooper blocked Gan Guoyang, but the two collided together, and Cooper was judged to be blocked and foul.

"One of them was made in two free throws, 23:22. Gan had already scored 9 points in the first quarter. Apart from the free throw, he has not missed the basket." Seanley can be said to be very fond of Gan Guoyang, and he always has to say a few more words about Gan Guoyang's personal performance.

On the defensive end, although Gan Guoyang did not understand Ramsey's meaning, he still did as Ramsey's arrangement, guarding the inside and grabbing rebounds with peace of mind, and the Nuggets on the outside would be able to shoot with him.

The Trail Blazers have always adhered to the strategy of man-to-man defense. They are good positions, do not change defense, do not shrink, and do not expand. Anyway, they are the most ordinary defensive strategy.

Therefore, the Nuggets also maintained a relatively high shooting rate and scored tremendously. The Trail Blazers were not polite. They used all eighteen martial arts, and the feel on both sides was obviously the more they shot, and the more they attacked, the better they felt.

If the NBA still manually flipped the scoreboard at this time, the staff who flipped the scoreboard today would have to be at peace for a moment. They would have to flip it in a while, and they would have to flip it in a while.

At the end of the first quarter, the score between the two sides was 39:38. The Trail Blazers still rely on Gan Guoyang's free throw to lead the Nuggets by one point.

At the beginning of the second quarter, everything was still similar to the first quarter. Both sides made few mistakes and had a relatively high offensive success rate. Gan Guoyang played for 2 minutes in the second quarter and sat down.

"... Van dervich dribbled the ball, he observed it left and right... took action directly, at 20 feet, the ball entered, this is his best shot point. Inglish used Knight's cover to circle, received Leave's pass and shot directly, the ball entered, and a board shot on the right... Sampson dribbled the ball at the top of the arc, and directly shot! The ball did not enter, Leave got the rebound, but Leave fell to the ground, scrambled the ball, and Cort and Leave both fell to the ground... Van dervich got the ball, dribbled the ball outside the three-point line, and faked it past England, and the ball entered! Oh, three-pointer, I think there is no need for England to block this ball. If he didn't jump, I think... the Nuggets launched a fast break, beautiful pass, and Knight received the ball and scored a layup! Carl still couldn't keep up with Knight's footsteps..."

Seanley's commentary speed tonight was twice that of usual. He had no chance to explain it. It was like two high-speed rotating grinding wheels were polished together. As the speed became faster and faster, the sparks became more and more dazzling.

This may be the easiest first half for Gan Guoyang. In the first quarter, he went up and down, leaving his teammates to run in the middle, and the same was true for the second quarter, he sat on the bench and watched both sides run back and forth.

Gan Guoyang's data is not bad. He scored 11 points in the first quarter and 5 points in the second quarter. Before he knew it, he had already scored 16 points and had many rebounds. Although the Nuggets had a high shooting percentage, they could not resist the number of shots, so there were naturally many blacksmiths. Gan Guoyang scored 10 rebounds in the first half.

If Gan Guoyang plays against teams like the Nuggets in the regular season, then Gan Guoyang will have no problem averaging 3020 per game in the season.

At the end of the second quarter, the score between the two sides was an astonishing 67:66. The Trail Blazers were still one point ahead of the Nuggets and led to the second half. This was the "good habit" of the Trail Blazers.

"Very good, we will fight against our opponents. We will continue to fight against them in the third quarter. If nothing unexpected happens, we will maintain a small gap. But, if we want to win, how can we win? We will defeat them at the end of the third quarter! At the end of the third quarter!" Ramsey held the statistics table in his hand and said to the players.
Chapter completed!