Not only are the Bulls confused and bewildered, but also the TV commentators, sideline reporters, basketball experts, stars watching the game at the Rose Garden, and fans in front of their TVs are all amazed by Gan Guoyang’s inexplicable performance.
"Sonny’s first-half performance was nothing short of miraculous. He didn’t post up once, didn’t play one-on-one in the low post, and didn’t take his usual mid-range shots from the baseline. He played like a guard, like a small forward, repeatedly attacking the basket. He seemed possessed by Magic Johnson, and the entire Portland Trail Blazers played in a completely different style. Ah Gan always manages to surprise us, but honestly, tonight’s surprise was somewhat shocking—I was really taken aback!"
"In the past, such performances were rare, and we would see Ah Gan’s performance occasionally during games, but tonight it seems, as Bill said, everyone was somewhat shocked."
The TV broadcast, even Bill Walton, a die-hard fan of Gan, was at a loss for words. Gan Guoyang’s performance in the first half was indeed astonishing.
If he had scored 30 or 40 points in the half, Walton would have raised his arms and loudly cheered into the microphone, shouting "Basketball God."
But now, Bill Walton isn’t mindlessly worshipping and praising; instead, he’s furrowing his brow and thinking hard, almost overheating his brain, trying to understand what kind of logic and style Ah Gan used in the first half.
Walton can be considered one of the earliest and most successful players to transition from a center to playing on the perimeter in the NBA.
In the 60s and 70s, there was a major shift in basketball thinking. Brilliant college coaches like Bob Knight, Newell, and John Wooden sought new tactics and breakthroughs, enriching the functionality of court roles, breaking the rigid boundary between inside and outside lines, allowing outside players to cut inside and receive the ball to attack the basket, and inside players to step out and create space for others.
Since then, the facilitating role of centers has been developed and improved, continuously influencing the development of basketball tactics.
Without a doubt, Walton was a leader and a representative figure of facilitating centers, praised as one of the best passing centers.
After retiring, Walton watched Gan Guoyang improve bit by bit, being able to facilitate and pass, until finally in the 1990s, Gan Guoyang, as a center, surpassed Walton in average assists per game.
However, he didn’t expect that in the finals, Ah Gan would achieve such a breakthrough, which is beyond what a center could accomplish; he has completely blurred the positions on the court.
"Bill, do you think Ah Gan’s performance in this game was like the 1980 finals when Magic Johnson replaced Jabbar as a center, breaking the position boundaries?"
"No, no, no, I don’t think that way. Magic Johnson only took on the jump ball task at the start, but in reality, he still played as a point guard during the game. Many people say Magic could play all five positions, but actually, in the early days, with Magic’s shooting ability, he was not qualified to play the shooting guard and small forward positions. But tonight, Ah Gan really surpassed my expectations, really, I... I don’t know how to describe it."
Walton didn’t know how to describe it, and the reporters on the sidelines were also racking their brains, contemplating, and writing furiously on their notepads.
After writing a paragraph, feeling it wasn’t quite right, they crossed it out and rewrote it, and some even poked their heads around to discuss with others how to write tonight’s game report.
Everyone knows this game is of great significance, worth writing extensively about, as its impact is undeniably strong.
Fans in front of their TVs felt similarly; they’re not professionals who understand basketball tactics and history, they just subjectively sense that tonight’s game is very different.
Ah Gan played differently from past games, the game’s rhythm on the court and the style of the broadcast footage all underwent changes, Ah Gan seemed like a raptor suddenly traveling from the Jurassic to the African savannah, hunting, with lions, wild bulls, and zebras bewildered, never having seen such a ferocious hunter and such a way of hunting.
In the home locker room at the Rose Garden Arena, Trail Blazers players were also looking at Ah Gan with eyes filled with amazement, confusion, and admiration.
Just like elementary students see a senior dribbling a ball between their legs on the court, drooling with envy and wanting to learn it too.
Of course, Gan Guoyang’s skills are something no one can replicate, everyone just wants to know how Ah Gan could change so much—was he pretending all along?
"I wasn’t pretending, I just suddenly realized that we had to play differently to deal with the Bulls."
"The Bulls’ defense is good, the League changed a few rules this year to make the game more favorable for defense, and our offensive performance this year hasn’t been great either."
In both the regular season and the playoffs this year, the Trail Blazers’ offensive performance was inferior to that of 1990 and 1991.
You could see it from the qualifying process; they slipped against the Supersonics, being held back for a game by their SOS defense.
They lost two games against the Jazz team because Gan Guoyang was absent, but even without him, the Trail Blazers’ lineup wasn’t bad.
Yet the two lost games were both crushing defeats, not causing enough trouble for the Jazz, which indicates their overall strength has declined.
The reasons are multifaceted: rules, injuries, mentality, player form, roster completeness, and more.
So when they met the well-prepared, intact, and high-spirited Bulls in the finals, the Trail Blazers clearly struggled.
Especially in offense, Gan Guoyang’s traditional style could no longer lead the entire team to surpass the Bulls.