The game was thus delayed for about 15 minutes, giving players from both sides a chance to rest.
However, sometimes rest isn’t necessarily a good thing. The state and feel that players have worked hard to maintain can easily be worn down and cooled off during rest.
Sure enough, as the game continued, both sides started to miss shots. Gan Guoyang missed two consecutive turnaround jump shots, and the Nuggets seized the opportunity to counterattack and tie the score.
Gan Guoyang once again called for the ball in the low post. After a fake move, Petrović didn’t pass but instead drove to the basket, laying up against Mutombo’s help defense!
The ball brushed past Mutombo’s fingertips, bounced off the backboard, but failed to go in, hitting the front rim and bouncing out.
Gan Guoyang charged in from the back side, leaped up to dunk the rebound, scoring as Mutombo went to help on defense, leaving no one to guard Gan Guoyang.
"That assist was nice. Though it wasn’t your intention, passing the ball right after getting it was the better choice."
Gan Guoyang reminded Petrović, as this kid was playing overly intensely tonight with a lot of ball handling and shots.
Petrović nodded without speaking, immediately throwing himself into defense, fiercely pressuring Lawufo.
Gan Guoyang knew that basketball is a muscle memory sport, with 99% of a player’s actions on the court done instinctively.
These actions and choices accumulate from day-to-day training and many games. In high-intensity official matches, players can only rely on these memories to play.
Deep thought and careful consideration might only account for 1%. A player’s style and choice can’t be taught and changed by a few words.
Petrović’s fierce defense did not work; the referee instead called him for a foul, sending Lawufo to the free-throw line, where he made both shots.
The score between the two sides remained neck and neck, and at this point in the game, it was again time to test whose hand was tougher.
Gan Guoyang went to his familiar left corner baseline, received a pass from Ali, and facing Mutombo directly, made a strong pull-up jump shot, scoring.
The Trail Blazers took a 2-point lead, but the Nuggets quickly responded with a very crucial, clutch three-pointer on offense.
The one who made this shot was the Nuggets’ substitute center, Scott Hastings.
Dan Issel subbed him in, targeting the Trail Blazers’ power forward position’s weakness while also having him and Mutombo strengthen defense against Ah Gan.
Hastings entered the League back in 1982 and is an unabashed veteran, already at the end of his career, on the verge of retirement.
He once stayed with the Pistons for two seasons and witnessed several massacres at the Silverdome. However, because he was the bench’s waterboy, he escaped unscathed.
Having stayed with the Pistons, he seemed to have picked up a trick or two from Lan Bi’er, having a hand at three-pointers. Although he doesn’t shoot often, a rare shot can still have an effect.
The Trail Blazers, whose lineup is incomplete, exposed their defensive problems at critical moments. Hastings was left completely open, and Gan Guoyang couldn’t abandon Mutombo to cover him.
Defensive rotation issues occurred on the perimeter. To counter Lawufo, the Trail Blazers’ perimeter defense left many gaps in this game.
Lawufo had already scored 32 points this game, shooting 13 of 19, including 4 of 9 from three-point range, exhibiting strong firepower.
Hastings’ three-pointer came precisely from Lawufo’s assist, and at this crucial moment, the Nuggets overtook the score.
The Trail Blazers did not call a timeout. Gan Guoyang himself dribbled past midcourt to organize the offense, instructing Petrović and Ali to cut along the baseline to draw away defenders.
Meanwhile, a very deceptive ball-holding retreat at the top of the key followed by a quick acceleration between the legs, allowing him to step past the defending African Mountain who came out.
Pity the 2.18-meter-tall center Mutombo, pulled out to defend near the three-point line against Ah Gan’s three-point shot, not expecting Gan Guoyang’s fake followed by the drive.
His eyes and mind followed Gan Guoyang into the Three Second Zone, but his feet couldn’t keep up, resulting in a stumble and landing on his backside.
And as Gan Guoyang dashed into the basket, Hastings simply couldn’t block Ah Gan. Gan Guoyang easily scored a layup, allowing the Trail Blazers to reclaim the lead.
Gan Guoyang passed by the fallen Mutombo, gave him a hand, patted his butt, and said, "You Georgetown guys have legs that are too long, and your center of gravity is too high."
Although being shook down was embarrassing, it didn’t feel too bad as the opponent was Ah Gan, giving a slight sense of honor.
It’s hard to imagine the recent offensive move was made by a power-type center, yet it was smooth, natural, sleek, without a hint of awkwardness.
On the sidelines, Bobby Berman was confident that this season, Ah Gan had improved in skill, reaching the state where "everything can be a sword."
Even so, basketball is a team sport, and the Nuggets performed well tonight while the Trail Blazers suffered greatly from injury impacts.
The game entered the final deciding moment, and the fans didn’t anticipate that the defending champion Trail Blazers’ opening game against the Nuggets would be so tough.
But from a spectator’s perspective, tonight’s matchup was rather exciting, making the fans’ tickets well worth the purchase.
Dan Issel called a timeout to plan key moment tactics, while Berman repeatedly emphasized defensive issues.
In the short timeout, defensive issues couldn’t possibly be fully addressed. The Trail Blazers’ current lineup had too many defensive holes.
They couldn’t blatantly use zone defense like the China Team in the Olympics, as this remains an illegal defensive tactic in the NBA.