Entering the playoffs, the rotation definitely shrinks. The main substitutes for the Glory Team are Van Exel, Porter, and Willis, with Riddle and Cole occasionally coming on to hold the fort for a bit.
Tracy McGrady got free with off-ball movement, caught the ball at the left corner along the baseline and pulled up for a mid-range jumper, tying the game at 27:27.
Gan Guoyang tried a mid-range jumper and missed, but on the ensuing defensive possession he successfully trapped and stole the ball from O’Neal.
O’Neal fought hard too. After the ball was stolen he desperately gave chase, ended up on his knees, but Gan Guoyang still poked the ball away.
To prevent the Glory Team from running a fast break, Pippen fouled and stopped Gan Guoyang.
In the regular season this ball would definitely have been let go, but in the playoffs you fight for every possession; you don’t give up transition chances.
Gan Guoyang gave Pippen a shove. Pippen stepped up to him, and Gan Guoyang glared at him and said, "What, you wanna hit me? Hit me! You hit me, I hit you, what can you do about it?"
Pippen chewed his gum, raised both hands to show he surrendered—"I don’t dare hit you, let’s just play ball."
The two are old opponents. Pippen was once put into a psychological shadow by Gan Guoyang, and to this day he still hasn’t fully recovered.
Now they’re matching up more and more on the court, because Gan Guoyang’s game is moving further outside, playing more and more like a small forward.
Sideline inbound, Gan Guoyang caught the ball facing the basket against Pippen. After a triple-threat, he drove, stopped on a dime and pulled up—two points, good, taking the lead again, 29:27.
Tracy McGrady tried to answer with a pull-up of his own but missed; his arc was way too flat.
Gan Guoyang reminded Gerald Wallace that the main thing when guarding McGrady is to key on his drives. As for his pull-up jumper, you can sag off a bit; that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Tracy McGrady’s shooting has never been all that stable. His pull-up looks gorgeous, but the arc is flat and he relies too much on finger and wrist strength, so the consistency is just so-so.
You can see it from his free throws. Among the shooting guards of the same generation—Kobe, Carter, Allen Iverson and the others—Tracy McGrady’s free throw percentage is the lowest, not to mention compared with someone like Ray Allen.
Gan Guoyang grabbed the rebound and the Glory Team ran. Van Exel drove into the paint, kicked it to Willis, and Willis immediately swung it to Gan Guoyang at the top of the arc.
Gan Guoyang used a pump fake to shake Holi, then pulled up from the free-throw line—money again! 31:27.
The Glory Team had already built a 4-point lead in the first quarter. Gan Guoyang and Van Exel used an ultra-high field goal percentage to keep the Lakers suppressed.
The situation turned bad for the Lakers, and what was worse, on the next offensive possession O’Neal was baited into an offensive foul by the crafty Willis.
A very fatal offensive foul: O’Neal picked up his second foul of the first quarter and had to sit.
On that play O’Neal got impatient on offense, turning and using his elbow to clear Willis out.
Willis sold it half real, half flop, fell backward, the whistle blew, and O’Neal had two fouls.
The home crowd showered the refs with boos, but there was nothing they could do. A foul is a foul; O’Neal could only head to the bench.
The situation was very unfavorable for the Lakers, and Jackson burned a short timeout to let his players catch their breath.
"We’re playing with zero energy, can’t hit our shots, and I haven’t seen a single half-court drive from you guys. Just because they’re in a zone, all we can do is shoot jumpers?"
"Forget the regular-season standings. Think about who you’re up against! Snap out of it, guys! First game at home—show some fight!"
Jackson did his best to fire up his players. He knew this first game was extremely dangerous.
Ah Gan is a player who loves to steal Game 1 of a series, especially on the road.
Gan Guoyang has never believed in "striking later to prevail"; seizing the initiative is always his core strategy.
No matter how many troops he has, he never gets cocky. He always concentrates his forces for a fierce early assault to gain a local tactical advantage.
Then he presses the advantage, expanding the margin of victory and turning a small edge into a decisive lead.
Against Ah Gan, you must be ready to go all-out from Game 1, from the very first quarter of the series.
Otherwise, by the time you "find your rhythm" and think you’re ready to ramp up, the opponent is already on the verge of clinching the series.
Back when Ah Gan’s team was head and shoulders above the rest of the League, they always tore through the playoffs like a storm, leaving no survivors in their path.
Even after the decline, Gan Guoyang still never adopted a conservative, defending-champ style. He favored swift battles and quick decisions, trying to seize the advantage as early as possible.
If an opponent can drag it out and grind with Gan Guoyang, exhausting his edge and his stamina, they can win the series.
But it will inevitably be a pyrrhic victory, the kind that "strips a layer of skin off you." By the time you get to the next round, odds are you’re in trouble.
That’s why nobody wants to meet the Glory Team and Ah Gan in the first round—whether you win or lose, it’s miserable.
Of course, winning is definitely better. No one wants to lose.
Samaki Walker checked in and immediately committed a turnover, getting stripped by Wallace.
Fast break—the Glory Team ran, Gan Guoyang cut to the basket, caught the pass, and finished the layup!
But he was whistled for a pushing foul, and the two points were waved off.
The ref was obviously making a makeup call. They’d just tagged O’Neal with two fouls, so now they gave Ah Gan one to balance things out.
The two sides kept battling fiercely in the final stretch of the first quarter. Pippen finally hit a mid-range jumper, 31:29.
Then the Lakers relied on strong defense to force a steal. Tracy McGrady led the break, Pippen posted up low and hit a cutter in Walker.
His layup was blocked by Gan Guoyang! Holi slipped in from the weak side, grabbed the rebound, turned and shot—blocked again by Gan Guoyang!
Two blocks in a row, and he controlled the ball. On defense, Gan Guoyang still had rim-protecting dominance; his anticipation was even sharper than before.