As the point guard, Brellock originally had to take on a lot of offensive tasks with the Eagles Team.
As a point guard, he needs to be observant and attentive, constantly communicating with teammates and calling out strategies.
The coach laid out a set of plays at the start, and he is the primary executor, the chief commander on the court.
If the tactics unfold smoothly, he needs to get the ball to the right person at the right position, and if the tactics don’t go well, he must execute Plan B.
If both Plan A and Plan B don’t work, he has to find a way to create opportunities himself, score by himself, or pass the ball after a breakthrough, or force a shot.
In short, the point guard is often the smallest player on the team, but often the one who thinks the most and the quickest.
Brellock wasn’t considered a great offensive player. In the 1993-1994 season when he was selected as an All-Star, his two-point shooting percentage was only 44%, and his overall shooting percentage was 41%, which can be said to be quite inefficient.
Moreover, he was not a shooting-obsessed guard. Whenever he took a shot, it was usually because the team’s overall offense had failed, forcing him to act on his own.
In such a situation, the shooting percentage is naturally not high, but a 41% shooting percentage is indeed excessively low.
When he was with the Eagles Team, Lenny Wilkens’ team took a defensive approach, often struggling with offense, requiring Brellock to force plays and think of ways during the offense.
But when he arrived at the Trail Blazers, after attending training camp, playing the preseason games, and then in the first regular season game, he played only one quarter and found offense to be really simple.
His task on the offensive end was to dribble the ball past half-court, hand it off to the approaching Gan Guoyang, Sabonis, or Mu Lin, and then squat behind the three-point line, ready to catch and shoot.
Brellock’s three-point shooting percentage was quite good, and he had a high output; last season, he made more three-pointers than Van Exel.
Now with Gan Guoyang and Sabonis attracting defense inside, plus Mu Lin facilitating, Brellock felt that dribbling one more time was wasting time.
In the first quarter, the Trail Blazers had not completely gotten into their offensive rhythm, with a general shooting percentage, but still led the Miami Heat by 5 points at 27:22, maintaining their lead.
After the first quarter adjustment, Carl was satisfied with the players’ "fluid offense."
He hadn’t set up any tactical routines before the game but rather instructed the players to move around Gan Guoyang and Sabonis, utilizing the two high-post areas in the three-second zone.
During the break, Riley tried to strengthen the team’s defense to compress the Trail Blazers’ offensive space, feeling their offense was too smooth.
In the transitional stage, young players like Kobe, Little O’Neal, and Ben Wallace got opportunities to play.
They all seemed a bit more mature.
Kobe changed his hairstyle, opting for a retro little afro, making him look less green.
Little O’Neal wore a white headband to cover his massive forehead.
Ben Wallace wore a white armband on his right arm, imitating Gan Guoyang.
Ever since he did it in the ’80s, many young inside players have been copying it.
The young players played without much structure, eager to showcase the results of their summer training.
Kobe made two consecutive mid-range jump shots, while Little O’Neal scored on a low-post turnaround jump shot.
Ben Wallace guarded the three-second zone, actively fighting for rebounds and blocking shots promptly, allowing the Trail Blazers to widen the gap.
The Miami Heat looked somewhat unprepared in front of the powerful and fit Trail Blazers.
When the point difference stretched to 10 points, Riley had to call a timeout to make adjustments, dissatisfied with the players’ lax state.
After the timeout, Charles Barkley took the stage and continuously overpowered Little O’Neal to score, helping the Heat to recover.
However, when Gan Guoyang, Sabonis, and other starters returned, Barkley could only try his luck shooting threes from the outside.
Gan Guoyang suddenly made a forceful play at the end of the second quarter, making several consecutive mid-range jump shots and scoring on breakthroughs, leading the Trail Blazers in a scoring surge.
At that time, the game started to spin out of control, with Brellock hitting two consecutive three-pointers from the outside, and Mu Lin also made a three-pointer on a fast break.
Gan Guoyang added fuel to the fire, blocking Drexler’s layup and then storming the basket on a counterattack, scoring on a layup and drawing a foul from PJ Brown.
The Trail Blazers’ machine finally warmed up and got rolling.
At halftime, the Trail Blazers led the Miami Heat by 17 points, with a score of 62:45, scoring 35 points in the second quarter.
After two quarters, Carl sat on the sidelines without calling a single timeout.
During the halftime break, Gan Guoyang took the Bird photo from the bench back to the locker room.
He told Carl, "Rick, I told you, being a head coach is easy. Just concentrate, focus!"
Gan Guoyang pointed to his eyes, reminding Carl that he could simply call a timeout when necessary.
Carl casually took a sip of water and asked Dick Hart on the way back to the locker room, "Is being a head coach really easy?"
Hart replied, "Depends on the situation. With Portland’s situation this year, even if my grandma were here, she could do a good job as a head coach."
Carl thought for a while and asked, "May I ask, is your grandmother still alive?"
Hart rolled his eyes and said, "She passed away a long time ago! But I can bring her photo with me."
With that, the two thought of Bird’s photo and burst out laughing.