The more grand the farewell ceremony, the larger the void left after it’s over, the harder it is to fill.
Anyway, that’s Gan Guoyang’s personality; he won’t accept a so-called retirement tour, he just wants to leave as a victor, giving everyone a cool back view that they’ll never catch up with.
Kobe received Gan Guoyang’s instruction and activated the single scoring mode in the second half of the second quarter.
Of course, Kobe’s skills were not yet mature, and when facing the defense, some of his handling wasn’t clever enough.
This gave the Warriors some counterattack opportunities and at one point brought the score difference closer to 10 points.
But soon, Gan Guoyang collaborated with Kobe at the low post, using the low post attraction to create space for Kobe to attack.
Kobe broke through successfully twice, this kid’s speed is quite fast.
Although his explosion wasn’t as strong as Jordan’s, his combination of person and ball was good, and his finishing ability was strong.
Kobe’s physicality is inferior to Jordan of the same period, so he’s more reliant on technique and high-difficulty moves, which makes his goals look quite spectacular.
The point difference opened back up to over 15 points and remained that way until the first half ended.
Both teams played at a fast pace, generally intense, few errors, many offensive rounds.
Although the Warriors were trailing by more than ten points, the fans on site were thoroughly entertained.
In this era, we’ve seen too many defensive battles, such offensive duels are still very exciting.
By the third quarter, Gan Guoyang’s performance time finally arrived.
Van Exel hit a long-distance three-pointer from the outside.
Gan Guoyang immediately responded with a pull-up three-pointer from the top of the arc.
In these two games, Gan Guoyang’s three-point shooting rate is very high, he shot with decisiveness.
Van Exel was unconvinced, still wanting to shoot another, but Gan Guoyang, who came over for supplementary defense, reached out and swiped it away.
Of course, Gan Guoyang knew Van Exel’s habit well; once this guy makes a three-pointer, he’d certainly try again afterward.
So, Gan Guoyang stared at Van Exel like a wolf, Van Exel didn’t believe in evil, he just wanted to score on Ah Gan’s head.
The result was blocked by Gan Guoyang, although the ball was still the Warriors’, their offensive rhythm was already disrupted.
Glen Rice’s breakthrough floater missed, Little O’Neal grabbed the rebound and passed to Gan Guoyang.
Gan Guoyang held the ball to launch a counterattack, he didn’t rush, but observed outside the three-point line.
The Warriors’ defensive formation was a complete mess, he dribbled with his left hand and charged into the basket, faced the defense, performed a beautiful spin move to get past Jamison, and lightly laid it in with his right hand for two points.
The fans at the venue cheered loudly, even louder than the cheering for Warriors players scoring; this is the treatment Gan Guoyang has always had at the Warriors’ home court over the years.
While returning to defense after crossing half court, Gan Guoyang high-fived a little Chinese girl on the sideline, and the atmosphere became even more heated.
The Warriors players’ morale hit rock bottom, whose home court is this?
The fans’ enthusiasm spurred Gan Guoyang’s desire to perform, afterward he made a distant single-handed floater following a spin move, rendering Jamison’s defense useless.
The point difference headed toward 20, and Van Exel kept trying to catch up, but his intermittent threes did nothing to close the gap.
Making one, followed by missing twice, gave Trail Blazers counterattack opportunities, the Warriors couldn’t stop Trail Blazers’ fast attacks at all.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Gan Guoyang and Kobe both scored over 30 points, Gan Guoyang 33 points, Kobe 30 points.
When the point difference stretched toward 25 points or even larger, Warriors coach Gary Gene knew it was time to give up.
Timeout, substituted main players, substituted garbage players, entered garbage time.
Unexpectedly, Van Exel didn’t want to leave the court, he scored 27 points, the best performer for the Warriors tonight.
On the bench, he argued with Gene, saying there shouldn’t be giving up and they should keep playing.
"If you want to score more, you just keep playing." said Gene.
"No! This has nothing to do with stats, it just shouldn’t be given up!" Van Exel shouted forcefully to express his unwillingness.
But Gene didn’t argue anymore, adopting an indifferent attitude, you want to play, play, if not, just sit.
On Trail Blazers’ side, the main players had already rested, Gan Guoyang’s leg was already tied with ice bags to ease knee swelling.
Van Exel’s persistence didn’t get any response from others, which made him very hurt yet helpless.
Jamison came over to pat Van Exel on the shoulder, but Van Exel didn’t appreciate it, said: if you can’t defend Ah Gan, score at least 30 points on him! Otherwise, we wouldn’t be so passive!"
Jamison was a bit embarrassed, but he wasn’t angry, just shrugged and quietly sat on the bench watching the game.
Jamison wasn’t particularly concerned about victory or defeat, at least he wasn’t filled with the hatred and resentment like Van Exel.
Jamison didn’t perform well tonight, only scoring 13 points, he lost his aim under Gan Guoyang’s defense.
Actually, he had many chances, quite a few easy shooting opportunities from the outside, mid-range.
Gan Guoyang’s recent defense, really just defends the inside not the outside, defends critical moments not overtime.
If he feels good, grasped the relatively easy seesaw stages during overtime, the score wouldn’t be little.
But Jamison was still too young, in his second year, his skills were good, but his experience and game mentality were average.
Blocked by Gan Guoyang at the start, later guarded by Gan Guoyang twice, afterward Jamison just didn’t dare to play.