[When I try to recall the Western Conference finals of 1997, everything is incredibly, incredibly clear.
From the moment the opening whistle blew, adrenaline levels rose, and the game was more intense than ever.
Every moment of touching the ball felt like the last few seconds before the end of a regular season game, with extremely, extremely focused attention.
So everything was so clear, so distinct, etched into my sea of memory like a knife carve.
My mind was always buzzing, whether at the Rose Garden or the Triangle Center, both were deafeningly loud.
All the players existed and breathed at a level they could not imagine.
And the reason for all this was that our opponent was the Portland Trail Blazers.
It was Ah Gan.]
——Excerpt from John Stockton’s autobiography "Assisted", published in 2012.
[Many memories of the 1997 season have actually become blurry, even though it was my first season as a coach.
Perhaps because it’s distant, or perhaps because it wasn’t too perfect, but mainly because my memory has deteriorated.
In the Western Conference semifinals, we eliminated the young Houston Rockets in six games; they played excellently and had a chance to knock us out at one point.
But we made timely adjustments, I changed the starting lineup, Van Exel expressed dissatisfaction, and of course, I would not compromise.
Since then, he has never worn the Portland Trail Blazers jersey again, I respect the players, but they must understand that the coach’s decision is paramount.
Even Ah Gan has never openly opposed my decisions; if he had any opinions, he would discuss them privately, and he handled this well.
After defeating the Rockets, the Trail Blazers once again appeared on the stage of the Western Conference finals, with the opponent being the Utah Jazz.
This was the eleventh time Ah Gan led the Trail Blazers onto the stage of the West Finals; for him, reaching the conference finals every season was a baseline.
I hoped for a breakthrough, hoped to return to the Finals; otherwise, how would I be different from PJ Carlesimo?
Although without Van Exel, the semifinals proved that young players like Kobe and Jermaine O’Neal were worthy of trust.
Especially Kobe, who delivered crucial performances in the latter games, and after defeating the Rockets, he was emotional, shouting, "Let the people of Utah City come!"
I had to remind him, "Kid, Utah is a state, not a city." (It is said that Karl Malone made the same mistake, a common symptom of low education.)
The first game was held in Salt Lake City, where the fans were crazy, and the noise was so great it made people frantic; standing among them, you would feel tense and irritable even doing nothing.
Because Van Exel was indefinitely suspended, I continued to use Terry Porter as the starter, who had previously performed exceptionally well against the Jazz.
But as time passed, many things changed, and Stockton and Hornersek, as in the regular season, played dominantly outside.
Especially Stockton, in the first game, he scored 25 points, which was rare for him—correspondingly, he only delivered 8 assists.
He was fully on the attack, and his three-pointers were extremely precise; our perimeter defensive loopholes were many and were caught by him one by one.
We couldn’t expect Ah Gan to cover the three-point line’s gaps, as he had more important work to do inside.
The regular season’s problems remained unsolved, and we needed a perimeter sharp shooter to deal with Stockton and Hornersek.
These two white players played exceptionally slick and smart, and this was precisely where our problem lay, as young players lacked defensive experience.
And the game between Porter and Stockton had reversed; he could no longer score 40 points on Stockton’s head, and his defense was hard-pressed to cope with the Jazz’s fast and cohesive passing on the outside.
We regrettably lost the first game; indeed, right to the end, we still had a chance. Ah Gan hit consecutive threes to catch up.
But as the saying goes, no one is truly always accurate; he would eventually miss, and then the Jazz regained control, and we lost hope.
I placed my hopes on Kobe, hoping for improvement in the second game, having him primarily defend Stockton.
But the fact proved that placing pressure on a young rookie was unreliable, even with a rookie like Ah Gan, the game was lost.
In the second game, the Jazz team bloomed all over, while our touch was cold, lost in the noise of Salt Lake City.
Kobe was toyed with by Stockton’s passing; he was too young, lacking experience, filled with passion, but led by the nose by the seasoned Stockton.
In this game, Stockton scored 17 points and 18 assists; John burst forth with great strength against Ah Gan.
Everyone knows they are close friends, intimate college teammates who won the NCAA championship together.
Compared to Ah Gan’s shining brilliance, John was always the one overlooked; in fact, he had great energy.
In the 1992 Olympics, in the match against Ah Gan and the China Team, John’s appearance was the key to changing the situation.
He knew Ah Gan too well, knew Ah Gan’s strengths, his playing characteristics, how to avoid him, how to provoke him, and how to pass the right ball to teammates.
I could see through him, but I couldn’t stop him, I couldn’t get on the court.
Leaving Salt Lake City, everyone thought we were already out, that we had been defeated.
Ah Gan’s 1996 return would end in obscurity; his performance was shocking enough.
He won the regular season MVP, crowned the four main statistics, his personal achievements were unprecedented, unimaginable.