Gan Guoyang and Jordan’s scoring duel sparked a frenzy of spectatorship.
According to rough statistics later, over a hundred million people worldwide watched the game in front of their televisions just during the first half.
This figure far surpassed any previous NBA finals and far exceeded the NFL Super Bowl.
It created a miraculous viewership.
China’s widespread television adoption in the mid to late 90s contributed significantly to this.
From 1984 to 1998, Gan Guoyang cultivated China’s earliest, widest, and most loyal group of sports television viewers.
At the same time, in the mid to late 90s, many fans were attracted by Michael Jordan’s wonderful and graceful basketball skills and became die-hard Bulls fans.
Thus, the duel between the Trail Blazers and the Bulls in China had extremely high attention as well, along with the large domestic population, countless viewers sat in front of their televisions watching the game that day.
The game was held in the morning Beijing time, and many primary and secondary school teachers opted to temporarily suspend classes to let everyone watch the game.
If the number of students gathered around each television is added in, the viewership would rise even higher.
A sporting event in China with such influence could only be matched later on by when China’s men’s football team reached the World Cup.
Gan Guoyang’s four three-pointers in the second quarter almost single-handedly shattered the Bulls’ hope of victory.
But Jordan, after showing a hint of helplessness and making adjustments in the locker room, perked up again in the third quarter, continuing to fight according to his own rhythm.
Just as he demonstrated in the first half, Jordan did not lose his composure or get caught up in fervent one-on-one combat with Gan Guoyang. He continued striving to support the whole team.
The most significant manifestation was that Jordan didn’t relax on defense and rebounding. He participated extensively in double-teaming and actively fought for rebounds to offset the team’s rebounding disadvantage.
If not, Ah Gan would not only depend on three-pointers but also crash the Bulls’ interior through offensive rebounds, a death worse than by three-pointers.
Simultaneously on the offensive end, under Jordan’s leadership, the Bulls launched a wave of counterattacks in the second half.
Jordan’s weapon was his precise mid-range and graceful fadeaway jumps.
Rodman once said, what is the Triangle Offense?
"The Triangle Offense is to find a way to get the ball into Jordan’s hands."
Through the spatial structure and passing lanes of the triangle formation, Jordan could easily receive the ball closer to the basket.
Since 1994, to achieve higher offensive efficiency in half-court sets, Jordan focused on developing his post-up game and fadeaway jumps.
Especially after losing to Olajuwon in the 1993 playoffs, the Bulls urgently needed a ball-consuming machine capable of contending with the Big Dream in the low post.
The Bulls couldn’t bring in such a center, so the task fell on Jordan’s shoulders.
Now, although Jordan is a shooting guard, his weight and strength are enough to match with many regular power forwards.
On the Trail Blazers’ side, neither Riddle nor Kobe could pose even a slight challenge to Jordan in post defense.
The red number 23’s fadeaway jumps dominated the viewers’ vision at the start of the third quarter.
Jordan used coordinated and elegant jumps, coupled with a flexible release, to send the ball into the basket.
One shot, two shots, three shots, four shots, continuous scoring in response to Gan Guoyang’s consecutive three-pointers in the second quarter.
Besides Jordan, Pippen, Harper, and others sped up their offensive pace and shot more decisively.
Jackson changed his strategy during halftime, the Bulls no longer slowed down the pace merely to focus on defense, because playing like this wouldn’t help the score catch up.
They needed to narrow the gap as soon as possible, aiming to reduce the deficit to less than 5 points by the fourth quarter, and then engage in a tug-of-war with the Trail Blazers.
In contrast, the Trail Blazers fell into a brief slump, where Gan Guoyang faced multi-person encirclement on the perimeter, with Jordan being the main protagonist.
Once Gan Guoyang had the ball beyond the three-point line past midfield, Jordan would promptly approach to defend closely, preventing Gan Guoyang from easily shooting a three-pointer.
At Riddle’s position, Jordan could choose not to focus defensively, as the Trail Blazers’ backcourt wasn’t as strong as compared to the Bulls’, having a disadvantage.
When Gan Guoyang attacked with full force holding the ball, Mu Lin, Riddle, and Brellock revealed their personal ability deficiencies due to lack of Gan Guoyang’s screens, assists, and tactical support.
Riddle is too rough, Brellock too short, Mu Lin too old, and they must execute team tactics with Ah Gan, integrating into the team to leverage advantages and conceal deficiencies.
But Gan Guoyang seemingly had no intention to revert to team tactics and continued recklessly, making hefty solo moves, making Mu Lin, Brellock, and others often resolve issues with personal abilities when receiving the ball.
The Bulls were gradually catching up from trailing by 9 points, to trailing by 7 points, continuing to wrestle, tugging, seizing an opportunity to close the gap to 5 points.
Larry Bird called a timeout, feeling dissatisfied with Ah Gan’s insistence on holding the ball extensively for offense, Rick Carlisle responsible for offense was somewhat discontent.
"You can’t maintain your three-point touch the same way as in the first half."
"You stand on the perimeter, hold the ball, toss around for a while, and end up not attacking, passing to teammates who have to rely on themselves to handle it, the rhythm is completely disrupted!"
"This isn’t our basketball, Sonny, shouldn’t the conflict with Michael take a backseat? Redirect your focus back to the team."
Carlisle was anxious, watching helplessly as the previously perfect team basketball was destroyed by their core, Ah Gan, and felt reluctant.