After Brown took the court, the Celtics scored first on offense, with Fox receiving a pass from Duncan and hitting a three-pointer from the right corner.
Then, Dee Brown made a significant contribution on defense: while assisting against Gan Guoyang, he "intentionally" bumped into Gan Guoyang's arm, then staggered and fell to the ground clutching his mouth.
Brown rolled on the ground in pain. The team doctor came to check, and when Brown released his hand, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. Seeing this, the referee promptly blew the whistle and called an offensive foul on Gan Guoyang!
That's the fourth foul!
Gan Guoyang quickly stepped forward to explain: "He ran into my arm, he used his mouth to hit my elbow!"
This sounded too much like an excuse, akin to hitting someone and then claiming their face hit your hand.
But the problem is, Gan Guoyang wasn't making excuses this time. He indeed didn't elbow intentionally nor exert force; he merely raised his hand to prevent a steal.
Little did they know Dee Brown would lean his head in and his mouth would collide with Gan Guoyang's elbow, leading to the scene where he fell and coughed up blood.
Steve Javie, along with the other two referees, Hugh Evans and Tim Donaghy, discussed the matter briefly.
Donaghy was very young; he joined the referee team mainly to learn and prepare for the future.
Javie and Evans, both experienced referees, exchanged glances, and Javie said, "No matter what, there's bleeding."
Evans nodded, saying, "Bleeding is bleeding; we have to call a foul on Ah Gan. I'll go calm him down."
There was a replay at the scene, but the referees were not prepared to view the footage and still resolutely called an offensive foul on Gan Guoyang.
The sound of boos filled the venue, as chants of "reference-suck" began to spread throughout.
Tim Donaghy looked somewhat flustered and asked Evans, "Can we return to the hotel tonight?"
Evans replied, "Don't worry, this is the finals; Ah Gan will restrain himself."
Evans had a good relationship with Gan Guoyang. He went over and patted Gan Guoyang on the shoulder, saying, "Sonny, Brown is bleeding; there's no choice but to call a foul on you."
"Bleeding equals a foul? Can I punch him again then, since he's already bleeding?"
"Calm down, Sonny, calm down; the game isn't over yet, and there's still the next one. It's your last performance."
"You're ruining my final performance."
"We're just doing our duty."
Whether the "duty" Evans talked about was as a referee or something else, Gan Guoyang didn't know.
What he knew was that he was in excellent form right now, ready to team up with Kobe to turn the tide.
But with four fouls, he had to sit on the bench and rest, causing a major blow to the Trail Blazers' offense and defense.
Initially, the Trail Blazers had narrowed the gap to just 2 points, but the Celtics quickly scored again.
With Gan Guoyang off the court, Tim Duncan was no longer restrained, and Little O'Neal seemed a bit too naive against Duncan on defense.
Duncan's hook shot on a turn didn't go in, but he immediately followed up, using his height and wingspan advantage to make a put-back basket.
Both Little O'Neal and Duncan were officially listed as 6'11", but in reality, Little O'Neal was slightly shorter, and his shoulder width and wingspan were significantly inferior to those of Duncan.
Duncan was 23 this year and already fully developed technically, while Little O'Neal, despite having entered the league a year earlier, was only 21 since he came straight from high school and had yet to reach maturity.
On defense, Little O'Neal was doing quite well. His rebounding and shot-blocking were already above average in the league. His stats were modest only because Ah Gan occupied the position.
But on offense, Little O'Neal's efficiency was low. In high-intensity offensive and defensive battles, he was overly reliant on short-range jump shots and was prone to emotional fluctuations, leading to inconsistency.
When playing alongside Ah Gan, Little O'Neal could perform well, but once Ah Gan was off the court and Little O'Neal had to take charge, he was slightly flustered; his shots missed, and he failed to grab rebounds.
The defensive transition was slow, giving the Celtics another chance for a fast break. Paul Pierce received the ball and charged to the basket, drawing a defensive foul from Henderson. Pierce went to the free-throw line and made both shots.
The Celtics widened the lead again, prompting the Trail Blazers to call a timeout, and the score gap returned to 8 points, nullifying all of Ah Gan and Kobe's efforts and damage.
With more than 5 minutes remaining in the third quarter, the Trail Blazers had to hold firm on both offensive and defensive ends during the time Gan Guoyang was absent.
The Celtics were no longer seeking stability like in the first or second game; they would certainly go all out to attack and further expand their advantage.
At this moment, Rick Carlisle still wanted to trust the veterans and thought about bringing in Charles Barkley and Chris Mullin to stabilize the situation.
But Gan Guoyang stopped him, saying, "Rick, tonight is the stage for young players. Let Jermaine and Ben go on; they can control the paint."
Gan Guoyang already sensed that the veterans were running out of gas this deep into the series.
Mullin, Curry, and Barkley would lose points the moment they took the court. They needed to rest a game to perform in the next one.
Instead, young players like Little O'Neal, Ben Wallace, and Henderson, would perform better and better as the series progressed.
Rick Carlisle was always amenable, but in truth, having too many players capable of playing was also a headache for the Trail Blazers. How to allocate resources had always been troubling.
Listening to Ah Gan was never wrong; if it was, the coach wouldn't be blamed. Ah Gan would take the fall.
Thus, Big Ben took the court, replacing Gan Guoyang, forming the interior line with Little O'Neal.