Sabonis knew very well the immense energy Gan Guoyang possesses in a single game.
The most terrifying aspect of Ah Gan isn’t his scoring skills, nor his strength, trash talk, or psychological control — though these are indeed formidable.
What frustrates defenders the most is his stamina, almost limitless stamina, active from the first quarter to the last, and even throughout overtime.
Sabonis prides himself on his extraordinary endurance, yet he is still plagued by injuries, playing sporadically this season, with his knee heavily braced.
The NBA season is dull, long, and exhausting. On many nights, Sabonis could feel how lousy his form was, especially on away games.
On such nights, Sabonis knows how to cope; he can hide behind his teammates, engage opponents using his brains rather than muscles, and contribute to the Trail Blazers Team.
But there’s one person who is tireless, contributing high-quality games every night, attacking, defending, organizing, all-round, the cornerstone of the team, the umbrella shielding everyone from the rain.
Many times, Sabonis hides behind this umbrella for a moment’s respite, to catch his breath during the long and grueling season.
Now, this umbrella is on the opposite side, Sabonis has contended with him in the three-second zone for half the game, and is thoroughly suppressed.
The coach and teammates still think Sabonis is retreating, a bit afraid, but they have no idea what a feat it is to single-handedly face Ah Gan for half a game.
On the other side, in the China Team’s locker room, Gan Guoyang is critiquing their halftime performance.
Today’s game was theoretically a strategic concession, but everyone played with great effort on the court, not casually.
On the offensive end, Sun Jun and Hu Weidong, the two young forwards, performed brilliantly, shooting decisively with high accuracy.
Song Ligang, Ma Jian, Shan Tao, these inside players, under Gan Guoyang’s constraint, also got some opportunities beneath the basket, and they capitalized on them.
As for the guards, Zhang Yongjun scored three goals, showing excellent shooting form.
Overall, China Team’s offense was noteworthy, playing briskly and nimbly, with distinctive characteristics.
Their confrontation was average, but stamina was good, basic skills solid, able to accurately hit shots during fast runs, confrontations, and transitions.
Coach Jiang’s ’Three From One Big’ strategy showed its intended effect; at least they didn’t miss free throws or constantly miss from open positions.
However, the defense presented major issues: poor confrontation, poor footwork, poor hand habits, poor defensive awareness, poor teamwork consciousness.
It’s clear that the Chinese National Team relies mainly on individual fighting spirit on defense, lacking a complete defensive system.
During training in Portland, Gan Guoyang thought about solving this issue, but one month’s time was too short to build a framework.
Moreover, many habits of Chinese players are formed from a young age, and can’t be changed easily.
Another point Gan Guoyang couldn’t stand during defense was the players being too civilized.
"Are all of you mute? Are you all delicate girls, shy and unwilling to speak up on the court? Don’t you know defense needs shouting! Everyone shout at each other, remind teammates, remind positions! Everyone relying on eye communication, are you all telepathic or what? Speaking so softly, afraid others will hear and see through you! Can the opponents understand anyway? Everyone, let your vocal cords out!"
Defense requires more passion than offense, but at the time, Chinese players were all very reserved.
During defense, you wouldn’t see them roaring, shouting, or charging at the opponent fiercely, all playing indifferently.
This was related to the times; back then, Chinese people were generally introverted, even when conflicts arose during games, they wouldn’t outwardly express it, but rather quietly exert force behind the scenes.
Yet, this is the Olympics, the opponents Lithuania are fervent, willing to give everything for the newly founded country and victory, their morale was exceedingly high.
"Do you think we’re strategically conceding this game, so just play it out and call it a day, win the next game? I’m telling you, strategic concession means saving energy in our rotation policy, not hard fighting, it doesn’t mean you can play casually when you’re on the court, play sluggishly. If there’s a chance, we still need to try to win! This is the Olympics, a chance every four years, if there’s a chance to win, we absolutely shouldn’t give it up!"
Gan Guoyang issued a final ultimatum, demanding everyone to boost morale and compete hard; losing isn’t important, but they must show their style.
"As long as the Lithuanians show vulnerabilities, I will seize the opportunity to crush them." Gan Guoyang said with a firm gaze.
Jiang Xingquan initially wanted to add something, but after Gan Guoyang finished speaking, he realized anything he said would be redundant.
Everything that needed to be reprimanded was said; for the second half, just prepare the rotation, ensure stamina, and leave the rest to Ah Gan and the players on the court.
Coach Jiang suddenly found coaching quite relaxing, not much pressure, feeling reassured and stable.
When he first took office, Jiang Xingquan felt immense pressure, especially when reorganizing the National Team, making way for new players, and arranging a lot of high-intensity training tasks, many veterans were driven away by him.
This offended some people in the domestic basketball circle who valued interpersonal relationships, and his upright character burdened him heavily because of it.