At that time, Walton was troubled by injuries and in the final stage of his career, only able to perform at a high level for 15 to 20 minutes per game. Therefore, the Trail Blazers’ three towers always appeared at critical moments, leaving their opponents helpless.
At that time, Gan Guoyang was already playing the small forward position with his excellent shooting skills.
However, back then, Gan Guoyang had almost no passing or playmaking abilities, and his dribbling breakthrough capability was also quite average.
The power of the three towers was still manifested in the inside game, along with Gan Guoyang’s unexpected long shots.
Now, the situation with this version of the three towers is quite different. Gan Guoyang has become a more genuine small forward.
Of course, the Lakers players and Del Harris didn’t know, thinking the Trail Blazers were crazy, putting three inside players on court to deal with O’Neal?
O’Neal saw the three inside players and felt tense. One Ah Gan was more than enough, what else did they want? Even using a Little O’neal?
Isn’t one O’Neal enough? Then another O’Neal? O’Neal was sweating.
But when the attack was positioned, O’Neal found Sabonis was actually matched against him?
O’Neal was delighted, immediately demanded a position on the right low post. Although Sabonis was considered a heavy center, his strength and weight couldn’t hold off O’Neal.
O’Neal received the ball, turned and pushed Sabonis aside, bumped once, and scored a one-handed dunk with his left hand!
This was O’Neal’s first dunk of the night, it had been stifling him.
The Lakers reduced the deficit to two points, and that’s when the Lakers players realized that Ah Gan wasn’t in the paint, he completely moved to the perimeter.
Gan Guoyang received the pass from Kobe outside, Holi stepped out to defend, sticking close, afraid of Gan Guoyang’s three-point shots from earlier.
But Gan Guoyang immediately lowered his head and body to break through, like a tank charging to the basket, in mid-air he pushed aside O’Neal and placed the ball into the hoop.
This ball was really placed into the hoop rather than a traditional layup off the board, Gan Guoyang wasn’t very fast, but he was very steady and extremely strong.
After jumping, his body control in the air was top-notch, able to hang and then steadily touched the rim, putting the ball into the hoop.
The referee blew the whistle, calling a blocking foul on O’Neal, and Gan Guoyang had an extra free throw.
Before the free throw, Gan Guoyang even asked O’Neal: "How did it feel to dunk, Shaq?"
O’Neal mumbled and didn’t dare to respond directly, Gan Guoyang then threw for the extra free throw and made it, this guy was too accurate with free throws.
Since Gan Guoyang was not single-handedly defending O’Neal anymore, the Lakers threw the ball into the Shark’s hands again, but Jide quickly found out it wasn’t going to be easy.
After Gan moved to the outside, the backcourt defense intensity suddenly increased.
Gan Guoyang’s height was average among centers, but among small forwards, he was absolutely monster-like, along with his wingspan.
Back then Kevin McHale often defended the small forward position, his terrifying wingspan caused huge troubles for opponent small forwards.
Now Gan Guoyang was similarly causing trouble for the Lakers’ front line, Jide encountered Gan Guoyang’s sweeping defense, almost resulting in a turnover.
Tracy McGrady’s dribble breakthrough was swatted away by Gan Guoyang who came over for help defense, the Trail Blazers counter-attacked, with Gan Guoyang charging forward again.
A great opportunity for a fast break!
Of course, Gan Guoyang wouldn’t miss it, turning forward toward the frontcourt.
Bird on the sidelines sighed, "More enthusiastic than anyone in fast breaks."
Seeing Gan Guoyang’s excited look after receiving the ball and dunking, Bird realized he envied Ah Gan.
This guy seemed to do everything, with no mental burdens, no many taboos, clear and bright, always radiant.
You let him be a workhorse center, he has no complaints, let him play small forward, he’s also happy, with world-class offense and defense, yet also jogs for fast breaks, playing joyfully.
He seemed like the sun, shining everywhere.
But Bird, having gone through much, knew people must have shadows.
No matter how hot the sun is, it can’t eliminate all shadows, rather shadows must exist.
But where exactly is Ah Gan’s shadow? Why does it seem no one ever sees it?
Or is it hidden in an unseen past?
Bird thought about some random books he’d been reading recently, one being the multi-editioned "Gump’s Secret," a still bestseller.
The book said Ah Gan had escaped from an Eastern European biochemical lab, he was an utter scientific experiment product, so his childhood and adolescence were unreliable, very dark and obscure.
This book was published in the early 1980s, till today God knows how many editions, endlessly hyped, never ceasing to be popular, recently starting to trend again, with talks of making it into movies and TV shows.
Bird didn’t believe it at first, but suddenly thought, maybe what the book said is true?
Ah Gan’s past shadow was so big, now the sunlight burns so fiercely?
Bird misguidedly mused, while Gan Guoyang led a 11:4 offensive surge with the Trail Blazers.
Apart from O’Neal scoring a basket, making 2 out of 4 free throws, the Lakers had no points.
Whereas on the Trail Blazers’ side, once Gan Guoyang started holding the ball at small forward, the Lakers had no answer whatsoever.
How to defend? Defend what? McGrady and Holi took turns being schooled, Gan Guoyang teamed with other players, the young Lakers front line had no way to handle it.
Finally, they could only foul, sending Gan Guoyang to the free throw line, just giving away points, six consecutive free throws a perfect hit, expanding the score.
The Trail Blazers finally pulled ahead in the final stage of the fourth quarter.
Harris called another timeout, but Gan Guoyang started single-handedly defending O’Neal at the critical moment.
O’Neal dared not go one-on-one, could only pass outside, the Lakers’ offense stagnated, finally forcing Jide to throw a three-pointer.
It didn’t hit, Gan Guoyang grabbed the defensive rebound, was about to push ahead, but when about to speed up, McGrady reached out and fouled.
The Lakers were scared of being crashed upon, experienced the fear of being dominated by Gan Guoyang in the 1992 Chicago Bulls finals.
The Lakers’ excessive fouls sent Gan Guoyang straight to the free throw line again, more points gift, two free throws made it, the gap widened to over 10 points.
The biggest score gap between the two sides this game, and if they continued like this, it would expand further and further.
Gan Guoyang displayed his era-surpassing offensive capability at the small forward position.
With the inside having traditional centers standing and outside players able to handcheck, he dismantled all defense attempts with skillful ball handling, strong physicality, and diverse offensive techniques.
The only thing that could hinder him was his own touch.
Oh, and his teammates.
Next, Kobe refused to pass for three lynching attempts, helping the Lakers recover 4 points.
Gan Guoyang furiously rebuked, retrieved ball possession, hit a three-pointer himself, and assisted Little O’neal in dunking.
Only then did the Trail Blazers completely secure victory.
Gan Guoyang scored a whopping 47 points in this game, leading the team to a 122:113 victory, a 9-point win over the Los Angeles Lakers, achieving an unprecedented and hard-to-repeat 34 consecutive wins.
At the moment the match ended, red and white plastic confetti scattered across the venue, fans rejoicing, 34-0, the Trail Blazers made history!
Gan Guoyang waved to the whole stadium, with TV cameras focused on him, glowing like the sun over the arena, showcasing a basketball king’s demeanor to Portland, Oregon, All-America, and even the world.
"Sonny, is this the most important win in your career?" NBC’s reporter interviewed Gan Guoyang amidst the colored rain.
"Tonight’s victory is significant, and I’m very happy, but it might not be the most important."
"Then which win would be the most important?"
"Well... I think it should be the next one."