With Kobe continuing his offensive barrage, the Trail Blazers extended their lead to 17 points, forcing Popovich to call a timeout and bring back the starters early.
He knew that tonight’s prospects were bleak; the Trail Blazers were not just a cut above other teams—they were on another level entirely.
Privately, league coaches had already begun discussing strategies on how to restrain the Trail Blazers’ tactical system and how to control their sharp offense.
Popovich participated in the discussions; everyone offered advice and suggestions, but no solutions were found, and many aspects couldn’t be changed mid-season.
Moreover, many coaches raised a fundamental issue: "The best way to restrain the Trail Blazers is to take down Ah Gan; without taking him out, nothing else matters."
Indeed, when the Trail Blazers used Jack Ramsey’s strategy of two reductions and one increase, no one could beat them.
Later, when the Trail Blazers adopted Bobby Berman’s Princeton strategy, they were still unbeatable.
Ultimately, it boiled down to Ah Gan; tactics are just tools, and it depends on who wields them.
The timeout ended, and Gan Guoyang returned to the court, and the Trail Blazers employed another peculiar lineup.
Inside, they had Ben Wallace and AC Green; on the outside, it was Kobe, Gan Guoyang, and Chris Mullin.
This was a lineup without a point guard; Bird was truly bold. Did he intend for Little Kobe to play point guard?
In reality, Gan Guoyang, Kobe, and Mullin all could handle the ball and organize plays.
The key to Bird’s unusual lineup was, of course, Gan Guoyang. He didn’t move to the point guard position but remained at the small forward spot.
Bird completely treated Gan Guoyang as a stronger version of himself, allowing him to do what he once did with the Celtics, both the good and the bad.
A versatile 6’10" shooter standing outside, the Spurs had no idea how to defend. Gan Guoyang first hit a three-pointer, followed by a drive to the basket for an ’and-one,’ pushing the lead to 20 points.
In the defensive sequence that followed, Gan Guoyang roamed the perimeter, constantly intercepting the Spurs’ passes.
He wasn’t stealing; he was simply delaying, making each of the Spurs’ tactical moves a bit more painful.
This accumulative delay slowly affected the offensive terminal with a drop in accuracy because the tactics weren’t executed well, and the players’ rhythms were off.
Once they missed, Gan Guoyang would push for a fast break, charging like a tank, unstoppable, executing several consecutive fast breaks.
By halftime, the score differential approached 30 points, but the Trail Blazers showed no signs of stopping, nor did Gan Guoyang.
At this point, David Robinson finally understood what Gan Guoyang meant when he said something would happen before the game.
Robinson didn’t back down; while his personality wasn’t particularly tough, he wasn’t a complete pushover either, determined to defend his home court.
So in the subsequent matches, David Robinson took on guarding Gan Guoyang, even at the small forward position, staying glued to him on the perimeter.
However, Robinson, known as the "center of small forwards," was no match for Gan Guoyang, who genuinely played the small forward position.
With his relatively short 6’10" height at the center position becoming an advantage, his low center of gravity and superior dribbling made Robinson unable to defend him one-on-one in the wide-open perimeter.
Often, with just a not-so-fast acceleration or a change of direction, Gan Guoyang would break past Robinson. After breaking the Spurs’ defense, without Robinson anchoring the three-second zone inside, it became a free-for-all.
In the third quarter, Gan Guoyang played the entire time at the small forward position, resembling Bird of old, doing whatever was possible on offense.
A 42-20 outburst, with the Trail Blazers scoring 42 points in a single quarter, expanded the lead by another 20 points!
With the Spurs scoring 20 points in a quarter, they performed normally, indicating the Trail Blazers didn’t focus solely on defense; they excelled in offense alone.
After three quarters, the Trail Blazers had expanded their lead to a staggering 44 points, leaving the more than 39,000 Spurs fans in attendance in despair.
Defeat was certain, a massacre in progress. The only question now was if the Trail Blazers might ease up in the fourth quarter to avoid embarrassing the Spurs too terribly.
However, the Trail Blazers clearly had no intention of sparing the Spurs’ home turf. Though Gan Guoyang rested early, with Bird pleased with his experimental performance tonight, Kobe remained on the court.
This guy had no concept of taking it easy, believing instead this was an opportunity to boost his stats, score high, and hone various offensive skills.
Therefore, led by Kobe, the Trail Blazers’ second unit continued the massacre in the fourth quarter, breaking the Spurs’ spirits completely.
The point differential at one point reached over 50 points, with the final score locked at 136-85. The Trail Blazers decimated the Spurs by a whopping 51-point advantage at Alamo.
They sought not revenge but delivered a warning to the league’s other teams: anyone who dares to provoke us will face dire consequences.