Time was squeezed down to 7 seconds left, Duncan came out to set a screen, Nash held the ball to break through, but was surrounded by Brellock and Gan Guoyang, the ball hit his foot.
The ball rolled out of bounds! Trail Blazers' possession! The referee gave the Trail Blazers possession without hesitation, Nash committed a fatal error in the final moments, leaving the Trail Blazers with 5 seconds.
Carl immediately called a timeout, the entire Rose Garden, along with Portland, was on the verge of exploding, they had a chance to complete a super upset in the final moments!
Everyone's hearts were about to jump out, but all the fans at this moment believed, Ah Gan could score, definitely could, just like he had done many times before.
Time ticked away, everyone knew who would execute the final shot, the Celtics would certainly defend rigorously, but Carl still had to find a way.
"I'm going to use this tactic..." Carl started drawing on the strategy board.
The timeout quickly passed, the game reached its climax, the most thrilling moment.
A game deciding the series trend, would it be 2:2 or 3:1? It depended on this final shot.
Unexpectedly, Gan Guoyang was inbounding, which left the Celtics' defense somewhat confused.
Ah Gan inbounding, was the final action not going to be executed by him?
No time to think deeply, the whistle by the referee had sounded, Gan Guoyang inbounded, Kobe emerged, Brellock emerged, Gan Guoyang didn't pass.
Ultimately it was Sabonis, Sabonis again, the towering figure caught the ball, Gan Guoyang delivered a high pass to avoid interception by the Celtics!
At this moment, Kobe had already run a big arc from the outside and was headed straight to the basket, and without any pause after catching the ball, Sabonis made a beautiful direct pass to Kobe under the basket!
Kobe had the opportunity for a direct layup to tie the game, but Duncan was already aware, he had rushed to the basket along with Pierce to block Kobe, Kobe didn't force the layup, but instead ran out.
This was part of the tactical plan, the real endpoint was Gan Guoyang, who was now positioned at a 45-degree angle on the right, ready to catch and shoot, Kobe delivered a cannonball-like direct pass to that spot.
No one was marking Gan Guoyang, the Celtics' man-to-man defense system was already in disarray, they hadn't expected Gan Guoyang to be the free-throw shooter, nor had they expected Kobe to not seize the basket opportunity but pass it out.
The closest person to Gan Guoyang was Steve Nash, he desperately rushed over to try to interfere with this catch, this shot, but it was all in vain.
Gan Guoyang smoothly caught the ball, at a very comfortable spot, in a very comfortable rhythm, took a three-point shot, the ball carried an indisputable spin and arc, heading towards the center of the basket.
As the ball flew, the entire world seemed frozen, everything stopped, breathing, heartbeats, blinking, speech, even the movement of the sun, moon, and stars paused for this shot.
The entire Portland was encapsulated in a 1-second time capsule, this 1 second was extracted from the timeline, this 1 second was exclusively for the rise and fall fate of this shot.
1 second arrived, the high arc descended, a delightful "swish" sound reached the ears of fans near the basket, the ball went in cleanly, also toggling the switch on time freeze.
Rose Garden Arena, Portland, and even the entirety of Oregon erupted, unimaginable cheers echoed, Gan Guoyang sank the game-changing three-pointer.
97:98, Trail Blazers lead by 1 point, just 1 second remaining in the game, and the Celtics were out of timeouts.
They could only make a desperate inbound free throw, and then Rick Fox threw a completely speculative long three-pointer, breaking his perfect three-point shooting percentage record tonight, though he didn't seem too bothered.
The ball landed, the buzzer sounded, time was up, the game was over.
The Trail Blazers won with a 1-point advantage, miraculously reversing the home game against the Celtics.
Leading the Finals with a big score of 3:1, only one win away from the 2000 Championship!
The title wasn't in hand yet, but the fans couldn't contain themselves, rushing onto the court.
Gan Guoyang was engulfed by the crowd, soon, he was lifted up.
Soon, his jersey was gone.
Soon, his pants were gone too.