The Trail Blazers’ Princeton System played a role, with Petrović and Reggie Lewis continuously cutting to the basket, catching the ball and attacking the rim.
Cliff-Robinson and Grant Long committed consecutive fouls, sending Trail Blazers players to the free-throw line. The Trail Blazers gradually caught up.
In this back-and-forth rhythm tug-of-war, the two teams ended the half at 42:43, with the Heat leading by one point as they entered halftime.
Gan Guoyang shot 4 of 10 in the half, scoring 9 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, with 4 assists and two turnovers.
This was already considered a poor performance for him.
Jack Ramsey said at halftime, "We must admit, Hakeem performed better than Ah Gan in the first half’s confrontation. Ah Gan was rarely suppressed and caused two turnovers, which is incredible."
"Ah Gan rarely makes mistakes, right?"
"Exactly. I once wished that every time Ah Gan made a mistake, I would grow a hair. Look at my head now. I should have said, every time Ah Gan makes a mistake, I lose a hair."
Since he stopped coaching, Dr. Jack’s sense of humor has exponentially increased.
So before the game started, Ramsay said to Beelman, you look much older, Bobby.
And Beelman said, I really envy you, remember to save a seat for me next to you.
"Coaching Ah Gan is not easy. He always wins, so the pressure is intensely huge. And many times he sees things clearer than you do, making it easy to fall into self-doubt, constantly overturning and rebuilding yourself. This process is so painful."
"But facing Ah Gan would be more painful. I’m sure Riley understands this the most."
Jack Ramsey, as the first coach to lead Gan Guoyang to three consecutive championships, remembers those times vividly.
He misses those days, but he never wants to return as the head coach of the Trail Blazers.
During halftime, in the Heat’s locker room, Riley was quite dissatisfied with the players’ performance.
The reason was simple: the team exhausted Gan Guoyang too little, and he played the first two quarters rather easily.
"Exhaust, exhaust, we haven’t even caused Ah Gan to commit a single foul, not even one!"
"We lead by 2 points at halftime, but what about the third quarter? The fourth quarter? Will we let him save all his energy for the last moments?"
"Do you have the confidence to compete with Ah Gan in terms of success rate in the final moments?"
The Heat locker room was silent. In fact, everyone played pretty well in the first half, yet did not receive the coach’s encouragement.
Someone spoke up; it was Olajuwon, who said in a deep voice, "I have confidence, Coach. We actually played well, we have our rhythm, and there’s no need to follow Ah Gan’s mindset. He’s an extremely cunning person, following him will definitely lead to a trap. Only by playing our own game can we win."
In many ideas, Olajuwon and Riley differ.
Olajuwon often used a calm, composed tone to argue against Riley in the locker room, which made Riley a bit embarrassed.
But for the sake of victory and the common enemy, both sides often take a step back, reaching compromise and consensus.
Riley suppressed his inner displeasure, chewing his gum more vigorously, and said, "You’re right, Hakeem, I believe in you. Follow our rhythm, follow our rhythm!"
As the game was about to resume, Olajuwon patted Riley and said, "Coach, I want revenge more than you do. I’ve been waiting longer."
Riley said, "Then let’s hope the hatred doesn’t blind your eyes."
"You too, Coach."
They encouraged each other and joked with each other.
They were contradictory, sometimes capable of bursting with power, and sometimes falling into chaos.
Whether it would be strength or chaos depended on the situation and circumstances on the court.
The third quarter began, and sure enough, Gan Guoyang started to exert himself, attacking Olajuwon continuously from the low post.
"Low post, relying on strength, turning jump shot, and it’s in! Beautiful!"
"Still the low post, quickly going through the middle, and a hook shot scores!"
"A direct step, stop and jump shot, and it’s the third hit!"
Gan Guoyang made three consecutive shots after the start of the second half, all of them successful solo plays against Olajuwon.
Olajuwon tried to counterattack, but three times he was disrupted twice and only managed to score once.
At this point, the gap in efficiency between the two began to show, with Gan Guoyang’s one-on-one play being unparalleled.
In a full-on head-to-head confrontation, Olajuwon was still at a disadvantage.
Seeing such a situation, Riley became a bit anxious, hurriedly called a short timeout, and demanded a double-team on Ah Gan.
Olajuwon, however, thought it wasn’t the right time, and the timeout was wasted, completely unnecessary.
"Coach, you’re too anxious."
"But the situation is urgent, we need to respond."
"I can contain Ah Gan, I will stop him."
"No, we can’t take that risk, we need to change our strategy!"
Olajuwon repeatedly shook his head, believing Riley was too impatient.
Ah Gan’s existence distracted his judgment; the game was far from the point where harsh measures were needed.
Sure enough, when the Heat started to double-team, the Trail Blazers activated their spread shooting mode.
Gan Guoyang attracted the defense, the Trail Blazers continuously rotated the ball on the outside, and Petrović hit consecutive three-pointers!
Tonight, there was no scene for Porter. Petrović already hit four three-pointers, shooting the Heat’s perimeter defense into a frenzy.
Drexler was already going all out to defend, his height and wingspan covering Petrović, but Petrović was quick, fierce, and precise.
Tonight, Petrović’s threat from the perimeter was greater than Gan Guoyang’s. In fact, most of the time, Gan Guoyang was more like bait.