"Stop double-teaming Ah Gan, revert to one-on-one defense, I’ll move ahead and block him from receiving the ball!" Olajuwon instructed his teammates to change their defensive strategy.
Olajuwon’s judgment was correct. Initially, Riley was overwhelmed, as the long-awaited revenge made him overly concerned with outcomes.
After Olajuwon received the ball, he turned and cut into the basket, using his back to force Gan Guoyang into a defensive foul. He made both free throws, stabilizing the Heat slightly.
But when one looks at the score, the Miami Heat were already trailing the Trail Blazers by 8 points. The wrong decisions at the beginning put the Heat in a huge disadvantage.
This became a turning point in the game.
Riley started to come to his senses. He subbed in Brian Shaw to strengthen the team’s backcourt defense, allowing Starks to rest for a while and prepare for the next offensive push.
Beelman likewise had Petrović take a rest and brought in Mario Ely, strengthening the defense in a leading position, engaging in attrition against the Miami Heat.
The latter half of the third quarter saw both teams engage in fierce physical confrontations. Olajuwon and Gan Guoyang were almost about to fight under the basket.
As the game deepened, the calm and gentle look in Olajuwon’s eyes diminished, replaced with more aggressiveness.
The two seemed to revert to their rookie days, when they were notorious for fighting often—three days for minor fights, five days for major ones.
Gan Guoyang controlled the situation with his strength advantage through rebounds. In a scenario where both teams had low defensive shooting percentages, rebounds became the lifeline.
In one offensive play, Gan Guoyang continuously grabbed three offensive rebounds. Olajuwon couldn’t hold back and roughly pushed him as he went for a layup.
Gan Guoyang staggered but didn’t fall; he immediately turned to charge at Olajuwon, but Sabonis quickly intervened between the two.
"Calm down, Sonny, calm down!" Sabonis loudly reminded Gan Guoyang, who quickly calmed down, realizing it was the finals.
The aggressiveness in Olajuwon’s eyes gradually faded away. He gestured an apology to Gan Guoyang while internally asking for Allah’s forgiveness.
After that push, Olajuwon had accumulated three fouls, so Riley wanted to take him off to protect him.
Olajuwon refused to leave the court, saying, "Are you crazy? If I leave now, we’ll lose this game!"
Riley wasn’t crazy, just bewildered. Upon realizing, he canceled the substitution but felt extremely anxious inside.
With Gan Guoyang making both free throws, the Trail Blazers expanded their lead to 10 points. Heat fans also felt anxious; could the Trail Blazers be unbeatable?
Actually, the Trail Blazers’ performance so far was just average, but some players on the Miami Heat were underperforming.
For instance, Cliff-Robinson, who played a critical role in the Eastern Conference Finals, was almost invisible in this game.
Facing his familiar old team, Cliff-Robinson played bewilderedly, hesitating between the interior or perimeter.
His attempts from the perimeter were all misses, and in the low post, he faced consecutive blockages. Despite having a center’s height, he wasn’t contributing enough in rebounding and defense.
Riley selected him initially for his versatility, being a jack-of-all-trades, performing efficiently against the Bulls in multiple games.
But once up against his former big brother, Portland’s Twin Towers, he appeared lost, putting immense pressure on the Heat’s offense.
Gan Guoyang frequently switched defensively to force Cliff-Robinson into misses, leaving him without a rhythm.
As the fourth quarter began, Cliff-Robinson finally received the ball outside and made his first mid-range shot of the game.
The score moved to 75:67, with the Miami Heat trailing the Trail Blazers by 8 points, as time slowly slipped away, making the situation difficult.
Riley constantly worried about Ah Gan erupting in the fourth quarter, using continuous offense to crush the Miami Heat.
However, such a circumstance did not occur. Gan Guoyang remained on the court in the fourth quarter, constantly setting screens for teammates at the top of the arc.
He frequently passed the ball to teammates, using the Heat’s defensive attention on him to great advantage. Tonight, Petrović and Lewis performed astonishingly well.
After Cliff-Robinson made his first mid-range shot, Petrović received Gan Guoyang’s assist and hit his sixth three-pointer of the game!
A fatal three from a 45-degree angle on the left side—Riley, squatting courtside, turned furiously and slammed his tactics board onto the ground upon seeing it.
All the way into the fourth quarter, the Trail Blazers still had the stamina to hit shots from long range. In Riley’s view, this was a precursor to failure.
He started pacing uncontrollably courtside, loudly directing players to defend intensely, run, move, exhaust the opponents.
But it was the Heat who were trailing, while the Trail Blazers led. At this moment, the Heat players were indeed more exhausted, relying heavily on Olajuwon and Drexler.
Drexler received the ball, made a forceful mid-lane breakthrough, intending to dunk against Ah Gan’s defense!
Direct confrontation in the air, Gan Guoyang perfectly timed his leap, stopping Drexler cold!
The Glider was shot down, heavily crashing onto the ground, as Gan Guoyang secured the ball and made a long pass to the forecourt—Reggie Lewis executed a fast-break dunk!
Riley immediately called a timeout; the gap had reached 13 points, with 5 minutes left before the game ended.
Returning to the bench after the timeout, Riley at first said nothing, his words stuck in his throat.
His long-awaited revenge match, the finals prepped for over so many years—could the first battle really end like this?
In the fans’ and audience’s view, the finals were fragmented with continuous ads and timeouts; whereas for Riley, it felt as if it passed in an instant.