For Gan Guoyang, regardless of winning or losing this championship, he would not have regrets about his career.
The timeout ended, and the Trail Blazers players returned to the court with strong confidence and a relaxed mindset.
The atmosphere at the Fleet Center was exceptionally tense, but that was only for the Celtics players and fans.
The Trail Blazers were united and calm, actively engaging in defense.
Their defensive intensity dropped slightly, while the Celtics' high-position double screen strategy began to operate.
At the top of the arc, the Blazers relied on active positioning, Brellock harassing and chasing Nash, rendering the Celtics' pick-and-roll ineffective.
Tim Duncan moved down, positioning low, preparing to take on Gan Guoyang one-on-one.
But Nash hesitated, worried that Duncan couldn't move Ah Gan, as Duncan indeed hadn't been successful before.
He could only pass the ball to the weak side, giving it to Paul Pierce lurking at the baseline.
Pierce received the ball and feigned a move, attempting a baseline breakthrough, but Kobe defended very tightly.
In fact, by this point, the Celtics' tactic had already failed; it was up to the players to rely on personal ability in the end.
Pierce, a hardcore Lakers fan from Los Angeles Inglewood, had once trained with Magic Johnson, witnessing Johnson's superb skills and rich game experience, who was his idol.
Pierce's childhood dream was always to wear the Los Angeles Lakers jersey, play at the Great Western Forum arena, leading the Lakers to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers and reach the finals, winning the championship.
But at the 1998 draft, Pierce never imagined he'd be selected by the Lakers' arch-enemy, Boston Celtics, and at the 12th pick—this was a huge blow and a double whammy for someone aspiring to be top three in the draft.
However, with the Celtics, Pierce quickly found his sense of belonging. Duncan was a magical leader, Nash was someone worth befriending, and Bobby Berman, with his legendary and controversial grand slam coaching style, was shining with unique charisma in Boston.
For Pierce, although he couldn't play for the Los Angeles Lakers, facing the Trail Blazers and Ah Gan in the finals was also part of his dream.
Beating Ah Gan, beating the Trail Blazers, and winning the championship was the highest dream of many young players born in the 70s. Now the dream was right in front of him.
Pierce's breakthrough speed wasn't particularly fast, but his body was very strong. As a shooting guard, he weighed more than many small forwards.
Bracing against Kobe, Pierce charged towards the basket; Gan Guoyang swiftly came over to help defend, Pierce couldn't see his eyes.
Where were his eyes looking? Was he watching someone else? Was he preventing a pass?
The thought flashed through, and Pierce made his judgment: he could dunk directly!
Leaping up, Pierce was about to dunk with both hands—having once participated in a high school slam dunk contest, Pierce failed all four attempts in the finals, losing without suspense to the three-dunk scoring explosion of Vince Carter.
But this time, Gan Guoyang stood in front of Pierce like a mountain. Pretending not to watch Pierce, he suddenly turned, jumped up, and with a frontal block with his left hand, knocked the ball out of Pierce's hands.
Kobe controlled the ball, dribbled past the half-court; the Trail Blazers had a chance to overtake.
Gan Guoyang and Sabonis faked screens for Kobe, drawing the Celtics' defensive attention.
Kobe directly changed directions to break through, charging into the paint from the middle. Facing Tim Duncan's defense, Kobe calmly handled the ball, tossing it high to the middle.
Gan Guoyang moved down, shaking off Cliff-Robinson, jumped forcefully, and completed the alley-oop dunk with both hands!
With a thunderous dunk, the Trail Blazers overtook the score, completing a 14-point turnaround in half a quarter.
The entire Fleet Center fell silent, from the fans to legends to Auerbach—all were silent.
Bobby Berman stood with arms crossed, looked up at the time, still 4 minutes, time was enough.
But the Celtics' momentum was visibly suppressed; the young players were beginning to not know how to play the game.
Faced with the Celtics' steady arrangements, the Trail Blazers didn't cleverly change formations but faced the challenge head-on: No matter how you arrange it, I will forcefully break through you.
No matter how you emphasize defense, marshal troops, or reinforce your camp, I don't care, I will directly assault, strike straight at Huanglong.
Under the leadership of Gan Guoyang, the Portland Trail Blazers' courage and strength were fully revealed, which is the fundamental reason why Gan Guoyang achieved so many victories over the years.
It wasn't a victory of tactics, nor purely a victory of transcending times, but this kind of decisive confrontation at critical moments where they always managed to win with superior strength.
One defense, one attack, Gan Guoyang used a block and an alley-oop dunk to turn the game around.
Although shortly after, Tim Duncan successfully took on Gan Guoyang one-on-one in the low post, regaining the advantage.
But immediately, Brellock received a pass from Sabonis, made a three-point shot, and scored, taking the lead by two points again.
The Trail Blazers' momentum had been unleashed, and at this moment the pressure on the Celtics' offense became very intense.
Pierce dared not shoot upon receiving the ball, Ilgauskas at the high post also dared not attempt a shot, passing it to Duncan instead.
The result was Gan Guoyang cutting in front to steal the ball; the Trail Blazers launched another fast break; Kobe penetrated the paint, drawing a foul from Ilgauskas.