Gan Guoyang has declined, but he’s declined from peak Ah Gan to peak Jordan!
After the timeout, both sides returned to the court. The Knicks first scored a basket, with Alan Houston’s steady mid-range shot helping the Knicks calm the situation.
But then Kobe had the ball and noticed the strong side Knicks players crowding in, while on the other side, Gan Guoyang was actually open because Mourning had to guard the three-second zone.
Kobe immediately passed the ball to Mu Lin in the middle, who understood immediately and passed to the wing Gan Guoyang.
Gan Guoyang caught the ball, and no one was defending him!
Gan Guoyang couldn’t believe his eyes, Mourning was three steps away from him.
What the hell, the Knicks use this kind of strategy after a timeout? Underestimating me?
Gan Guoyang stood stationary, made an easy and natural mid-range shot, and comfortably scored two points.
After scoring, Gan Guoyang passed by the Knicks bench and pointed at Van Gundy, saying, "Are you fucking crazy, Jeff? Leaving me open?"
Van Gundy realized the situation was not great, and then Mourning answered with a mid-range shot.
But Gan Guoyang soon received the ball in the low post, with no double-team, he turned around and scored easily with a hook shot for another two points.
The Trail Blazers led by a large margin, fully accepting this game mode of you scoring two points, me scoring two points, as time slowly slipped away.
Moreover, the Trail Blazers’ defense was solid, Ah Gan disrupted Sprewell’s breakthrough layup under the basket and grabbed the defensive rebound.
The Trail Blazers slowed the pace. Gan Guoyang set a pick for Kobe at the high post, cut out, and Kobe passed back to Gan Guoyang.
No one came to disrupt again, Gan Guoyang even had time to adjust his stance, fired a high artillery mid-range shot again, and scored again!
Three consecutive successful shots, plus Kobe’s previous 7 points, the Trail Blazers scored successfully on six consecutive possessions.
The Knicks players were already bewildered, how do we defend this? Who should we focus on?
Van Gundy shouted from the sideline to revert to the previous defensive mode, focusing on Ah Gan.
Van Gundy realized how unreliable his previous decision was, his mind suddenly froze causing a messy strategy change.
Just during this chaotic period at the start of the third quarter, he looked up and saw the Trail Blazers had widened the gap to 18 points.
It’s another huge gap that’s hard to close; there’s still plenty of time, but such a large gap is too difficult for the Knicks.
Madison Square Garden’s fans had long lost their initial intensity, and the sound of "Stud Kobe" had vanished.
Because once someone shouted this nickname, Kobe would punish the Knicks fans’ rudeness with a goal.
During the rest of the game, the Knicks didn’t give up and continued to chase hard, at one point narrowing the gap to 11 points.
In the fourth quarter, Kobe’s shooting percentage began to decline, with an increase in missed shots, but Gan Guoyang was getting better, entering the final killing mode.
Gan Guoyang preserved a lot of stamina in the first three quarters, scoring only 15 points until the fourth quarter when the heat was at its optimal point.
Choosing from the diverse weapons in his arsenal, Gan Guoyang opted for the simple, effective, and most morale-damaging offensive rebounding.
Mourning was considered a decent defensive rebound protector, but only decent.
Data doesn’t lie; Mourning’s rebound protection in the playoffs was weaker than in the regular season.
Moreover, like his Georgetown senior Ewing, Mourning doesn’t like boxing out when grabbing rebounds.
One wonders just how much effort Thompson put in the fundamentals when coaching these tough centers back in college.
In Gan Guoyang’s view, since the 1980s, the only ones who could truly compete with him in rebounding battles were Moses Malone (though they never met in playoffs), Hakeem Olajuwon (superb positioning and a real impact exceeding his stats), Charles Barkley (incredible rebounding sense and desire), and Bill Lambier (rich technique and shameless tactics).
Aside from these guys, other players, including rebound masters like Dennis Rodman and Mutombo, in crucial moments of major games, Gan Guoyang is confident in outrebounding them, firmly suppressing them.
Rodman suffered due to poor physical quality, his tricks were largely ineffective against Gan Guoyang.
And Mutombo, too dependent on wingspan and height, would be outmatched by Gan Guoyang in mobility and confrontations, also as a Georgetown alum, he lacks some rebound instinct and dirty tricks, too straightforward.
Alonzo Mourning, with issues similar to Mutombo, lacked Mutombo’s paramount height and wingspan.
Once it came to the knife-edge moments of the game, Gan Guoyang was like a fierce tiger, grabbing consecutive boards in the Knicks’ three-second area and scoring on second chances.
As for Kemp, he was simply out of the question, if his defensive rebounding was good, the Supersonics wouldn’t have traded him to New York for Ewing.
After years of practice, Ewing had slowly turned into a good defensive rebound protector, though in his youth he wasted a lot of talent, the gap with Bill Russell was truly vast.
During the critical time of Knicks’ chasing, Gan Guoyang seized 4 consecutive offensive rebounds and converted 3 successful second-chances, completely pressing down the Knicks’ momentum.
The game gradually lost suspense, the Knicks’ resistance weakened, they still lacked the absolute talent in offense, no one could emerge to turn the tide.
Sprewell had already played quite well, but he couldn’t explode in scoring quickly to regain tempo and turn the matchup like Kobe or Gan Guoyang could within a short period.