Portland fans are in high spirits, and their desire for a championship has returned after entering the semifinals.
Owner Tang Jianguo has been talking about "four consecutive championships," attracting more media attention and bigger newspaper coverage.
The championship genes of the Trail Blazers have been triggered, and the war machine has started to operate from top to bottom.
It’s spewing thick black smoke, making explosive sounds, crushing Western Conference opponents.
However, sitting in the driver’s seat is Beelman, and at the heart of the team is Gan Guoyang, who knows best that the Trail Blazers are weak.
They are much weaker than in past seasons; although a 58-win record in the regular season is still impressive, a record is always just a surface number.
Once the playoffs begin, the only role of the regular season record is to determine whether you have four or three home games, and nothing more.
The Trail Blazers’ main issue remains injuries; although the whole team is playing, Terry Porter, Petrović, and Sabonis are not at their best physically.
Porter’s calf muscles are tight, greatly affecting his performance against the Lakers in the first round, with movement, defense, and shooting all lacking.
Petrović, no comment needed, the tear in his knee’s cruciate ligament remains, and he will wear thick knee pads throughout the playoffs.
Sabonis is the most stable of the three in terms of injury; he’s always been injured anyway, and the decline in his mobility and defense impacts the team greatly.
Among the starting five, three are playing injured; their condition is certainly not optimistic.
Fortunately, Reggie Lewis does not have major issues; besides occasional back pain, his knee and ankle are fine.
He and Ah Gan, one inside and one outside, have contributed significantly on both offense and defense.
The worst situation is Jerome Kossie, whose mid-season rape incident greatly impacted him.
He couldn’t focus on basketball for a long time, exhausted from dealing with lawsuits and negative publicity.
The Trail Blazers have very good and close relations with the Portland local community.
Because of Kossie’s incident, some fans have become distrustful of the team, believing the players’ character is problematic.
Kossie had to spend a lot of time participating in community activities to repair his relationship with the fans.
His own emotional life was also destroyed by this incident, leading to a breakup with the girlfriend he was going to marry.
Off-court troubles ruined Jerome Kossie’s court status, and he delivered his worst performance since the 1986 season.
All statistics fell to their lowest in nearly six seasons, the number of appearances dropped to 50 games, and attendance time reached an all-time low.
In the latter half of the season, Mario Ely had completely replaced Kossie as the team’s top choice at the three position.
After Bernard King joined, Kossie’s time was further squeezed.
With the championship and big contract in hand, Kossie wasn’t particularly concerned about it.
Often he happily waved towels for Ah Gan from the bench.
That counts as luck in misfortune; the Trail Blazers locker room hasn’t had issues.
In short, injuries and slumping performance are objective facts.
They cannot be changed by will; stirred championship hearts won’t instantly regain peak status.
Against the Lakers in the first round, Porter’s stopped jump shots weren’t there, Petrović’s scoring explosiveness diminished.
Kossie’s scavenging and sneak attacks during chaos vanished, and Sabonis frequently fell into foul troubles.
The Trail Blazers’ coaching staff sees these, so they must be strategic when facing the Supersonics in the next round.
Hard power is sufficient; before power, all tactics are foam.
But when your hard power isn’t enough, strategy becomes crucial.
Supersonics are a tough bone to chew and aggressive.
Last year they suffered in the first game, overturned later with all-out strength.
If this year’s first game suffers again and they lose home-court advantage, the following games will be tough.
So in strategy formulation, Gan Guoyang and Beelman agreed to hold back a bit first.
The Supersonics will definitely defend like crazy, Gan Guoyang will avoid their sharpness, not engage head-on.
You defend, I defend too, let’s play a defensive game, deplete each other.
Once the Supersonics exhaust their sharpness, at the decisive moment, Gan Guoyang will strike to seal the victory.
In the first half, Gan Guoyang played very conservatively; without his firepower, the Trail Blazers struggled to keep up in scoring.
Porter looked quite embarrassed under Gary Payton’s defense, Petrović struggled against the Supersonics’ wings.
Sabonis fell into foul trouble, Jerome Kossie didn’t get much playing time, he couldn’t keep up with the rhythm.
Fortunately, their defensive foundation was intact; once it comes to the crucial playoff moments, they can still deliver quality defense.
Lewis, Ely, and Curry contributed a lot of points, especially Ely and Curry.
Their wing threes gave the Supersonics a big blow, punishing their flat, frantic switching and double-teaming.
Of course, the Supersonics wouldn’t abandon their defensive strategy because of such punishment.
At halftime, George Karl demanded the team increase defensive intensity.
"Our goal is to strangle them!"
"We will build a solid advantage in the third quarter, letting them get lost in our defense."
"Energy, energy, energy! They are approaching their end, don’t see fans still clinging to championship hopes and the owner shouting ’four consecutive championships’; that’s just a dying fantasy. I bet this year the Portland people are doomed, we are their grave diggers, sending them into the grave, I am sure of it."