As a guard, Jordan’s threat to interior defense is unparalleled by any other shooting guard in the past.
His rim protection, behind-the-back blocks, low-post steals, and double-teams are all extraordinarily intense.
Without exceptional awareness and lightning-fast reflexes, anyone facing Jordan inside will suffer greatly.
The Bulls seize this opportunity to counterattack, Pippen dribbles all the way, passes to Jordan, who soars in for a dunk.
However, Gan Guoyang sprints fiercely, catches up from behind, leaps, and the two clash in mid-air.
Jordan tries to evade the defense with his hang time, but Gan Guoyang’s body control is superb.
In the end, he still disrupts Jordan’s shot, and the ball bounces twice on the rim and doesn’t go in.
Purdue grabs the offensive rebound and tries to layup, but Gan Guoyang has already reacted.
He jumps up to block, swatting Purdue’s putback attempt away, and gains possession.
Gan Guoyang dribbles and initiates a fast break, with Lewis waving his hands upcourt.
Gan Guoyang throws a lob to Lewis, who charges into the paint and leaps, finishing with a one-handed jam!
After the score, they high-five; on this play, Gan Guoyang went all out in offense and defense.
This was a morale-boosting play that absolutely couldn’t be let go.
The cheering fans have lost count of how many times this duo has worked together like this this season.
Gan Guoyang, after blocking or grabbing a defensive rebound, the center directly pushes up to initiate the counterattack.
Lewis spearheads the charge, receiving Ah Gan’s pass to successfully attack the basket, igniting the entire stadium.
Without an extra pass and the Point Guard as a middleman, Trail Blazers’ dunks are even more ferocious.
Moreover, every time Gan Guoyang pushes up with the ball, the opponents dare not slacken their defense.
If you only focus on the front and ignore Ah Gan, Gan Guoyang will just rush straight down for a dunk.
This kind of power surge matches the Lakers’ Showtime of yore.
Thus, even with an overall decline in form and poor defense, tickets to the Rose Garden Arena are still in high demand.
The seats are in short supply and the games are always sold out, a trend that has continued for nearly 20 years since 1974.
This offensive and defensive exchange shows both teams’ intensity as top-tier offensive and defensive powerhouses in the league.
At this moment, Jordan knows he must stand out and score.
After the referee calls a foul on the Trail Blazers for an inside confrontation.
Jordan, using his footwork and movement, pulls out, a right-side 45-degree opportunity arises.
Receiving Pippen’s pass, his mid-range jumper hits the mark steadily.
A plain two-pointer, producing the same result as Lewis’ dunk.
To cope with Ah Gan’s seemingly limitless stamina, Jordan has come up with the countermeasure of improving the efficiency of his stamina usage.
This season, Jordan avoids dunking whenever possible, favoring the simplest and most energy-efficient way to complete his offense.
The mid-range jumper is his favorite, especially catch-and-shoot; this simple and relaxed way of scoring is his favorite.
Switching hands in mid-air, driving through traffic, low post power plays, these are saved for crucial moments.
For regular scoring, he uses this energy-saving mode; to handle Ah Gan, he has no choice but to do so.
In this respect, Jordan is at least two steps behind Gan Guoyang in the realm of understanding.
He is entering the stage of "The Heavy Sword Has No Edge; Great Skill Seems Clumsy."
Gan Guoyang reached this state in 1988.
His masterpiece was the 1988 West Finals, where he vanquished the Lakers with his unsolvable mid-range game.
Now, Gan Guoyang has already broken through this realm, advancing two more levels.
No wonder Jordan is always chasing, unable to defeat Gan Guoyang and win the championship.
After Jordan makes the mid-range jumper, Gan Guoyang takes the ball to organize the offense.
He knows playing this way will make it tough for the Bulls; he intentionally wants them to struggle.
Purdue and Grant are forced to stay outside, resulting in Gan Guoyang pressing backward into the post.
Suddenly a direct pass to the low post, handed off to the cutting Lewis.
Lewis catches the ball for a layup but is disrupted by Pippen and misses.
Sabonis follows up, makes the putback, and grabs another two points.
The Bulls’ defense has done their best, but the Trail Blazers’ offense is meticulously linked.
Gan Guoyang starts it off, giving Lewis an excellent scoring opportunity.
Pippen and Jordan both have strong defensive recovery abilities, but the Trail Blazers have Sabonis as a backup plan.
Tonight, the Bulls got off to a mediocre start, quickly falling behind against the offensively aggressive Trail Blazers.
Midway through the first quarter, the Trail Blazers lead the Bulls by 11, 17:6.
It seems Phil Jackson’s earlier timeout and harsh words didn’t work at all.
Jackson makes a personnel change, substituting Buck-Williams in for Purdue.
The Bulls are reducing height to increase speed, choosing to battle offensively with the Trail Blazers.
Jordan significantly raises the pace of ball-handling—this season, Jordan takes on heavy responsibilities in handling the ball in offense.
BJ Armstrong looks more like a spot shooter, lurking in the corner waiting for opportunities.
Against Petrović, Jordan lightly stops just outside the arc, pulls up for a jumper, and scores.
Another effortless, simple point.
Jordan decides to stay within reach this way in the first half.
Gan Guoyang’s attempt for a three-point shot from outside misses.
Jordan grabs the defensive rebound and orchestrates the fast break.
The Bulls are very fast; Buck-Williams and Grant have already rushed into the three second zone.
Gan Guoyang has to follow closely, but Jordan distributes the ball to the right corner for Armstrong.
Armstrong catches and shoots for three, scoring!
A very crucial three-pointer.
The Bulls chase 5 straight points, narrowing the deficit to 6 points.
If the deficit continues to widen, the Bulls will be out of contention early.
It’s clear Jordan is becoming more mature.
Meanwhile, Gan Guoyang matured long ago.
Their confrontation lacks the exuberant passion of youth.
There is more calm decisiveness and strategic foresight now.
Both are considering the latter stages of the game.
Gan Guoyang hopes to gain an advantage quickly.
Jordan aims to stay close while conserving his energy.
Each follows their own plan to control the pace of the game.
Jordan uses organization and mid-range jump shots to slowly eat away at the Trail Blazers’ advantage and stabilize the situation.
But at the end of the first quarter, Gan Guoyang seizes the opportunity and hits two consecutive three-pointers from the top of the arc!
The deficit, originally narrowed to 4 points, suddenly widens to 10 again.
23:33, the Trail Blazers lead as the first quarter ends.
"Shit!"
Having patiently endured the first quarter, Jordan didn’t expect Ah Gan to dump two clumps of crap on them at the end.
Back on the bench, he throws down his towel angrily, then starts berating Grant for not keeping a tight guard on Ah Gan.
Grant can’t be bothered to argue with Jordan, thinking to himself, I’ve had enough of being here.
This is your territory, say whatever you like, my contract is almost up, I’m leaving soon.
And perhaps this is the gap between the realms of the "Heavy Sword Has No Edge" and "Bound by Heart."
Sitting on the bench, Jordan lifts his hand and mimics two shooting motions.
Thinking internally, how does this guy casually shoot, and it just goes in?