Sanders mentioned an exploitable advantage, that Gan Guoyang was still being tormented by hearing summons.
According to media speculation, Gan Guoyang might be summoned to New York for a hearing during the finals.
The positive side is that Gan Guoyang played only 73 games this season, the fewest in his career, allowing him enough rest and adjustment time.
Kevin Garnett heard the coach say this and was somewhat indignant: "This makes our victory unhonorable, Ah Gan clearly didn't leak secrets, if there were any, they would have found out by now, it's been a whole season! They're purely tormenting Ah Gan!"
Sanders said: "I know, I'm on Ah Gan's side too, but on the court, Ah Gan's absence is an advantage for us, it's undeniable. It's also our only advantage, we must seize it."
Garnett understood this point, nodded helplessly, and drove home.
For Garnett, Ah Gan was an insurmountable mountain.
Apart from height, Garnett was completely surpassed and covered by Ah Gan in every way.
In the high-intensity playoffs, Garnett couldn't resist Gan Guoyang's impact.
In both offense and defense, Garnett couldn't compete against Gan Guoyang independently.
This season, Garnett had abandoned the idea of overtaking Ah Gan head-on, he must unite his teammates and see the confrontation as a whole.
A very valuable reference example is from the 1996-1997 season with Karl Malone, in the Western Conference Finals against the Trail Blazers, he reasonably transformed as a team forward instead of the scoring spearhead, leaving the scoring burden to Stockton, doing coordination and those things the blue-collars should do, finally enduring through seven grueling battles of the lone Ah Gan and Trail Blazers.
This is also a blood lesson summarized by various teams inside players in the past years on confronting Ah Gan, must avoid Ah Gan, must not concentrate resources (especially ball possession) on the opposite player against Ah Gan.
Waste, pure waste, the player against Ah Gan must maintain a balanced mindset, abandon personal gains and losses, truly integrate into the team, and see Ah Gan and the Trail Blazers as a whole to find ways to defeat them, can only then approach victory.
In these few days of preparing for the game, Garnett kept thinking and summarizing, exchanging with Philip Saunders, and re-finding his position in the team.
His worries diminished, his confidence increased, no matter how strong the opponent is, the game must be played, victory must be fought for.
April 23rd, the first battle between both sides was held in Portland, the young Timberwolves challenged the strongest overlord in NBA history.
Unexpectedly, the Timberwolves played very well in this battle, both sides stayed in a struggle state from the first quarter until the fourth quarter.
Kevin Garnett as the core inside player, did all sorts of work aside from scoring, including rebound protection, extended defense coverage, and diving for loose balls.
He fought for every ball, surrounded Gan Guoyang with teammates not allowing Gan Guoyang to play an efficient game, while on offense vigorously supporting Marbury, constantly attacking.
In the crucial moment of the fourth quarter, Stephon Marbury utilized a screen on the perimeter, made a three-point shot, both sides tied at 94:94.
The Timberwolves confidence soared, they found that the Trail Blazers weren't as terrifying, indeed they aged.
Mistakes, passing pauses, lost rebounds, these issues didn't appear so often on past Trail Blazers.
Now, various little problems showed on their aging bodies.
Ben Wallace and Little O'Neal were too young, tonight their performance was completely overshadowed by Garnett.
However, in the last moments, Trail Blazers showed their experienced side.
Carlisle suddenly subbed in veteran Chris Mullin, quickly passed on the perimeter, Gan Guoyang received the ball on the middle and distributed to Mullin who circled to the corner.
The Timberwolves defense communication had problems, Mullin received the ball and accurately hit the three-pointer! Trail Blazers reclaimed the advantage.
Then Marbury was tightly defended by Gan Guoyang in the offense and lost the ball, the ball was intercepted by Charles Barkley.
The Timberwolves were forced to foul, Barkley made both free throws, they completely lost the chance to tie or surpass.
99:94, Trail Blazers ultimately still defeated the Timberwolves, a thrilling victory for the series opener.
They won relying on the experience in the final moments, ending the Timberwolves with super control ability.
From the whole game view, Timberwolves played not bad, already capable of being evenly matched with the Trail Blazers.
Especially Garnett, on defense he was everywhere, achieving his utmost.
He didn't focus solely on confronting Ah Gan, but countered every Trail Blazers player on the court.
Thus, even if Gan Guoyang scored 34 points, the performance of other Trail Blazers players was average, the team still played hard.
Although losing this game, it gave great confidence to Timberwolves, their direction was correct.
Two days later, April 26th, the second battle between both sides, Timberwolves already had the thought of stealing a victory in Portland.
However, in this battle, Rick Carlisle adjusted the lineup, putting Sabonis back in the starting roster.
The performance of Ben Wallace and Little O'Neal in the first game was poor, it seems their experience, tempering to bear the brunt in playoffs is lacking.
Key moments still need veterans, Barkley, Mullin, Sabonis, continued to have critical contributions at important nodes.
When veterans played more, Trail Blazers played more steadily, Kobe and Gan Guoyang fired on all cylinders, in the third quarter led a 14:2 offensive wave widening the score gap, gaining advantage.
Timberwolves lacked the turnover ability to surpass, their offensive explosiveness was far insufficient, ending with a 105:96 score, Trail Blazers won another game, leading 2:0 in the series.
But this loss didn't extinguish Timberwolves' hope of victory, on the flight back to Minnesota, Philip Saunders told the players: "We already smelled the giant's rotting scent, let's see if we can dig a grave for them in Minnesota!"
April 30th, game three, at Minnesota Target Center, returning to home, Timberwolves inevitably sought bottom rebound.
The crazy Minnesota fans turned the Target Center into an ocean of noise that night, veteran starter Trail Blazers were met with fierce young Timberwolves' impact.
Defensively, Timberwolves were exceptionally savage, the game saw multiple conflicts between the teams, under the rough fouls, the Trail Blazers' external shooting rate was poor——this issue troubled them for the whole season, outside shooting was too unstable, accuracy too poor.
Kevin Garnett maintained his display from the first two games, truly found his confidence, anyhow just not being isolated against Ah Gan, he could play well.
Meanwhile, when Gan Guoyang appeared more in the small forward position, he enjoyed more of the scoring outburst during the regular season, carrying the whole court, had to accept that when his defensive role was weakened in the playoffs, the team overall performance instability flaw.
Veterans performed well at home but away, physical and injury issues troubled them, playing godly one game and atrocious the next was common.
Charles Barkley made a crucial steal in the first game, this game had constant fouls, consecutively missing when subbed in, fluctuating greatly in-state.
Both Ben Wallace and Little O'Neal still needed honing, emotional players easily influenced by provoking and negative emotions on both offense and defense ends.
Under the sea of boos and screams in the Target Center, Little O'Neal shot 1 of 8, Ben Wallace was instantly on the free-throw line after debuting with 1 out of 5 on free throws.
Kobe's crucial moment missed three shots in a row in the third quarter, disrupting a powerful counterattack by Trail Blazers, the last rebound in the fourth quarter was too late.
Ultimately, Timberwolves narrowly won at home with a 99:97 two-point advantage, taking valuable victory, pulling the series score to 1:2.
For Timberwolves, the good news is, the time for the fourth battle is set on May 2nd, coincidentally when Gan Guoyang will head to New York for hearing adjustment.
If the time extends long enough, Gan Guoyang is very likely to miss the fourth game, without Ah Gan, this Trail Blazers will be vulnerable.
Timberwolves' best opportunity has come, they could drag the series into a Game 5, even possibly eliminate Trail Blazers!
Minnesota fans have already started dreaming of "ending the Portland dynasty."