After the third game, in the Trail Blazers' locker room, everyone was feeling a bit dejected.
Although the team was leading 2-1, the situation was not particularly favorable for the Trail Blazers.
The first two wins were hard-fought, and the third game was a regretful loss in Minnesota, missing the chance for a quick resolution.
Everyone knew that Gan Guoyang would still have to attend a hearing in the fourth game and might miss it, so they wanted to finish this series early to prepare for the semifinals.
A veteran-led team is like this, they have to maintain momentum, and the longer it drags on, the more it tests the team's stamina and injuries.
Sabonis, Barkley, Mu Lin, A.C. Green, Terry Porter, and Gan Guoyang all wore thick ice packs, lying down or sitting, receiving simple massages from therapists for relaxation.
Gan Guoyang scored 30 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, and made 7 assists this game, which for him was just a standard performance, and no other player scored over 20 points.
The Timberwolves' defensive strategy was quite correct, using Kevin Garnett's coverage to block the Trail Blazers' other players' firepower, reducing their shooting percentage, while playing aggressively on offense.
With this kind of play, it's hard for Gan Guoyang to use super-efficient offense to kill the opponent in every game of a playoff series; this is 2000, not 1987, nor 1997.
A 50% shooting rate for 30 points is a very good performance, but to win, it's lacking the 5% higher shooting of peak Ah Gan, scoring one more three-pointer, drawing one more foul for free throws, and hitting two more solo shots.
That's how the playoffs are; many games have minute differences, leading to a complete turnaround, where a few percentage points in shooting, a few points in score, make the difference between victory and defeat.
"It's just one game lost, don't be so down, guys, the playoffs have just started; it's just the beginning."
Seeing everyone silent, Gan Guoyang took the initiative to comfort them, not losing his temper at his teammates over the loss, even though their performance was not great.
Kobe made 7 out of 21 shots, only a 33% shooting rate, wasting many opportunities, but if he didn't shoot, it would be even harder for others.
Charles Barkley came off the bench and missed both three-point attempts and had three turnovers.
His hip and buttock muscles were always sore, and after a season's grind, his body was nearing its limit.
In the absence of Gan Guoyang for various reasons, Charles Barkley had to step up for low-post offense, playing 80 out of 82 regular-season games; since the 1987-1988 season, Barkley hadn't reached such attendance levels.
For the championship, Barkley really gave his all, being disciplined, training hard, and playing seriously, with no negative news during his half-year in Portland.
Of course, this wouldn't be without Gan Guoyang's discipline, but Gan Guoyang often couldn't take care of himself, let alone Barkley, it mostly relied on self-discipline.
However, in the playoffs, Barkley's form fluctuated greatly across the three games, with the pattern of one great game followed by two poor ones likely to continue.
Similarly, players like Sabonis, Mu Lin, and Porter faced this issue, with the fuel in the veterans' tank determining that they couldn't push forward with full throttle every game.
One game on full gas might mean the next game requires major repairs, making their performance on the court less ideal.
The young players, playing as main forces for the first time in the playoffs, clearly were not yet adapted; starting and being a substitute felt completely different.
Main forces must bear the most responsibility and pressure, which places high demands on intensity, endurance, and details; in the first three games, Big Ben and Little O were somewhat underperforming.
This presented a high demand on the coaching staff for rotation, tactical arrangement, and psychological guidance; Rick Carlisle was already turning in circles, thinking about how to play the fourth game.
With Ah Gan absent and playing away, the team would take a heavy hit in morale, tactics, and rotation, even though losing the fourth game meant a fifth game tiebreaker, but who would want to play all five games in the first round?
The fifth game had too many uncertainties, and even winning it would be a huge drain on the veterans' physical state, especially with the risk of injury, which would be greatly detrimental to the Trail Blazers in subsequent series.
So, Carlisle was deeply troubled; this season, his troubles seemed endless.
Even though he realized the true meaning of "put Ah Gan through some pain" midway through the season, damn it, what if they banned Ah Gan in the end?
Throughout the season till now, Carlisle was like a makeshift tailor, learning sewing skills while patching things up left and right, using everything he learned to support the team.
Years later, Rick Carlisle recalled this season, saying half of what he learned in his coaching career was from the 1999-2000 season.
"Especially, learning how to face despair."
Gan Guoyang encouraged his teammates in the locker room, and everyone's spirits were lifted again.
Only Carlisle kept his head down, discussing strategies with Spoelstra and Dick Hart in a corner.
Even when they got on the bus and returned to the hotel, Carlisle's face was still full of concern.
As a rookie coach, the pressure on his shoulders was imaginable, and the first round of playoffs was such that if the series were lost, the overwhelming storm of criticism might drown him, possibly ending his newly started head coaching career.
In all of Ah Gan's past seasons, they at least reached the West Finals; no matter which coach was leading, even an idiot like P.J. Carlesimo could guide him to the Western Conference Finals for some fun, elevating his career ceiling altogether.