The Trail Blazers’ style of play is not something every team can mimic.
On the contrary, in this playoff series, among the top six teams in three-point attempts and shots made, apart from the Trail Blazers, the other five teams were all eliminated in the first round.
The Trail Blazers’ three-point tradition has been gradually developed since Gan Guoyang entered the NBA in 1984; they are the most shooting-focused team in the league, bar none.
Every player who joins the Trail Blazers must pass a test of their long-range shooting skills, and they are also the first team in the league to equip a shooting coach.
Of course, the most important factor is their center, Gan Guoyang, who possesses extremely refined shooting skills; his presence has overturned the traditional game yet is difficult to emulate.
After Jordan retired, many guards have been labeled as Jordan’s successors, but so far, none have truly inherited his legacy.
And what about Gan Guoyang? With so many "Ah Gan IIs," it seems no one can match his shooting average.
Tim Duncan, claimed to be the closest to Ah Gan as a super interior player, only has a free-throw percentage of just over sixty percent, a barely passable level.
In comparison, Gan Guoyang’s free-throw shooting percentage has never dropped below 88% in so many seasons, most of which are above 90%.
This is an astonishingly accurate and stable shooting ability, even Reggie Miller, known as the league’s top shooter, has had seasons where his free-throw percentage was around 85%.
Tim Duncan, who is said to have peaked from the start with a high degree of skill completion, certainly cannot reach the shooting heights of Ah Gan.
Faced with the extremely sharp blade that is Gan Guoyang, the entire Knicks team maintained a tense mentality throughout, using a wheel strategy in defense to deal with him.
Van Gundy, summarizing from a lot of video and match experience, told himself one thing: "Ah Gan is terrifying, but he’s declining; we can limit him."
This was his judgment of the situation and his self-encouragement: no matter what, they must limit Ah Gan.
In the first quarter, Shawn Kemp and Kurt Thomas alternated in front to guard, and after the second quarter began, Alonzo Mourning took on the heavy responsibility of countering Ah Gan.
After Sabonis went to rest, the Trail Blazers brought in Little O’Neal and Ben Wallace, utilizing a three-inside lineup.
With Porter and Kobe on the outside, the probing and tactical change period of the first quarter was over; Bird decided to initiate a head-on confrontation with the Knicks in the second quarter.
When facing the Trail Blazers’ three-inside setup, Mourning no longer cared whether Ah Gan was playing center or small forward; he kept a close guard throughout, not daring to relax for a moment.
The center guarding the Three Second Zone for the Knicks was former Trail Blazer Chris Dudley.
Dudley left the Trail Blazers last summer, signed with the Knicks, and became an important interior substitute for them.
Van Gundy thought that since Dudley worked with the Trail Blazers, he understood his former teammates well and early on put him in to guard the basket.
However, precisely because Dudley had played for the Trail Blazers, he deeply knew how terrifying Ah Gan was.
Fortunately, Mourning was defending Ah Gan instead of him; Dudley stayed in the Three Second Zone to complete other tasks.
As a result, Gan Guoyang seized the opportunity to face Mourning on the perimeter and broke through strongly, scoring on him twice.
Mourning, being a slightly shorter and stout interior player, was most susceptible to being beaten in front of Gan Guoyang.
Without the advantage of height, he couldn’t stand his ground, and once drawn to the perimeter, he could easily be overcome in a single step.
After being beaten twice consecutively, Mourning complained to Dudley, "Why aren’t you coming over to help?"
"It’s useless, I might as well look after others; you handle Ah Gan."
Mourning shook his head helplessly, then tried to score in the low post using the Georgetown bunny hop and hook shot.
The result was a clean block; such formulaic and unimaginative low-post offensive methods were likely to be blocked by Gan Guoyang’s super quick reactions.
But the good news for Mourning was that after scoring twice in a row, Gan Guoyang didn’t maintain his firepower to crush the Knicks’ inside.
Instead, he stepped out more to set screens for his teammates, creating scoring opportunities for Kobe and Little O’Neal.
Kobe and Little O’Neal dominated the Trail Blazers’ offense in the second quarter, playing pick-and-rolls and high-low coordination with great finesse.
Due to Gan Guoyang’s presence, the Knicks’ defensive setup was constantly being controlled, but they didn’t know when Ah Gan would explode.
In the end, in the whole second quarter, Gan Guoyang only scored those four points at the beginning, spent the rest fakely attacking, and facilitated and passed to his teammates.
Moreover, after the Trail Blazers widened the gap to 10 points, the guy even stood with hands on hips watching after teamwork on the defensive end.
He left rim protection and help defense to Ben Wallace and Little O, while on the outside he was leisurely walking and opportunistically reactive.
Unfortunately, they failed to catch opportunities for fast breaks; the Knicks were extremely quick in transition defense, putting a stop to fast break chances.
Amid high-intensity duels, the superior strength of the Trail Blazers still saw them leading 57 to 50, ending the first half 7 points ahead.
The Knicks’ roster truly isn’t lacking in talent, but their mini Twin Towers couldn’t get the best performance against the Trail Blazers’ deep interior strength.
Mourning had 4 points and 6 rebounds at halftime, and Kemp had 3 points and 4 rebounds, completely failing to exert their offensive prowess.
Alan Houston was the Knicks’ best player in the first half, scoring 14 points with a high shooting percentage.
But the Trail Blazers were clearly allowing Houston to attack, not deploying any defensive tactics against him, always guarding him one-on-one.