He began to team up with Jordan to deal with Gan Guoyang, who had transformed into an outside assault monster.
And indeed, it was effective.
A strong, quick, and interception-skilled player up front kept reaching in to threaten.
Behind, a small yet sturdy player with excellent mobility and weight acted as a second line of defense, successfully blocking Gan Guoyang’s unstoppable layups in the first quarter.
The Trail Blazers finally slowed down, and the Bulls could set up their formation, competing with the Trail Blazers at a more familiar rhythm.
The Bulls once suppressed the Trail Blazers on both ends and took a 24:21 lead in the first quarter.
It was a good start, and the Bulls were encouraged, finally able to curb the Trail Blazers’ new offensive strategy.
Jackson was in a daze on the sideline, joyfully waving his arms as he saw the team take the lead, uncharacteristically ecstatic.
In the second quarter’s transitional phase, both teams played lukewarm basketball, repeatedly missing shots, with low offensive efficiency, only making fragmented scores.
From the Bulls’ side, Jordan’s offense was average as his focus was entirely on defense.
From the Trail Blazers’ side, Gan Guoyang sat on the bench constantly drinking water, continuously communicating with Bobby Berman, discussing something.
The score was very low for both teams, defenses became increasingly stringent, and the game gradually turned ugly.
With the series at this stage, no one wanted to make mistakes, preferring to forfeit some offensive opportunities rather than err, giving the opponent easy scoring chances.
Before the end of the half, with 11 seconds remaining, the score was 44:42, and the Bulls still led by 2 points.
Bobby Berman called a timeout to set up the last play of the half.
The scores were quite low, both teams were extremely cautious, and the Trail Blazers’ open style seemed ineffective.
Once Ah Gan was contained, it was difficult for others to step up and form effective, continuous offensives to crush the Bulls.
Of course, the Bulls’ offense was not great either, as Jordan shot 3 for 11 in the first half, with a low shooting percentage.
His energy was entirely absorbed by defending Gan Guoyang, contributing two fouls on him in the first half. By the latter half of the second quarter, he was cautious, afraid to act on both offense and defense.
Gan Guoyang’s performance wasn’t significantly better than Jordan’s.
The defensive combo of Jordan and Grant, plus the tenacious defense of other Bulls, restricted his overall offensive play.
Of course, he didn’t change his strategy, returning to the normal center position to contest with the Bulls.
Because he knew, both sides were using unfamiliar strategies to grind each other down.
This was a battle of attrition; whoever could outlast the opponent would be the winner of the match and even the entire series.
His halftime stats were 3 for 9, 10 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks, but also 4 turnovers.
Those four turnovers created his playoff record for turnovers.
But these four turnovers only allowed the Bulls to score one fast-break point.
For the remaining three, he managed to hustle back on defense to recover the situation.
Like Jordan, he was also desperately defending.
The closer it gets to a do-or-die game, the uglier it often becomes.
Throughout the first half, Gan Guoyang and Jordan didn’t exchange trash talk.
No time, no energy, no mood.
With the timeout over, the Trail Blazers’ last play of the half began.
seconds on the clock.
Sideline inbound, Petrović passed the ball to Sabonis, who was positioned high for support.
At this time, Gan Guoyang stood in a position even more outside than Sabonis, drawing Jordan and Grant’s attention.
As a result, Sabonis feigned a handoff screen for Ah Gan, then turned and dribbled into the middle.
It’s one thing for Ah Gan to do this, but even you, at 7’4", Sabonis!
But Sabonis inherently had such capabilities, and the Bulls’ middle was now open.
Pippen could only help defensively from the wing, and Sabonis passed to the baseline to Porter.
Pippen defended back, Porter passed to the 45-degree Reggie Lewis, and Jordan came over to help defend.
Lewis passed to Ah Gan at the front, with Grant ready to box out for the rebound.
Gan Guoyang was open, caught the ball, and shot a three-pointer from the front!
Phil Jackson grabbed his head, watching as the ball flew and flew, breaking through the Rose Garden Arena’s roof, soaring to great heights.
Then, like a meteor, it came down, swishing through the center of the net.
Scored!
The buzzer sounded, and the first half ended.
44:45, the Trail Blazers successfully turned the score around.