Under the leadership of Gan Guoyang, the Glory Team maintained their lead until the end of the first half.
56:50, Glory leads the Lakers by 6 points, Gan Guoyang scored 17 points in the first half, Van Exel scored 18 points in the first half, with Glory hitting 7 three-pointers in the first half; it was the veterans who carried the offensive load for Glory.
On the Lakers’ side, O’Neal was a dominant force, scoring 21 points in the first half, commanding the paint at will.
But aside from O’Neal, other players performed averagely, with Tracy McGrady unable to activate the Lakers’ perimeter shooting.
Whether through assists or isolation plays, Tracy McGrady could only be described as average, not showing the star level he should have.
Pippen’s shooting accuracy was even worse, missing all three of his three-point attempts, with both his offense and defense deteriorating significantly.
The Lakers are an old-team, relying on experience and defense to play, while on offense they heavily depend on the individual abilities of O’Neal and McGrady.
No matter how much Phil Jackson praises the Triangle Offense, many tactical examples from other teams and the future development of the NBA show that the Triangle Offense is a very good concept, having a profound impact on offensive formations and player positioning.
But it also heavily relies on the individual skill of the players, and as Phil Jackson gradually exits the league, the Triangle Offense will fade away, becoming a principle of ball distribution, integrated into various tactics.
The future fate of the Princeton is similar, becoming an offensive philosophy and principle, rather than merely a set of plays and tactical routes.
The problem with Tracy McGrady is that when the intensity of the game increases, his not-so-accurate mid-range shots cause his offensive efficiency to decline significantly.
During the regular season, with O’Neal attracting defense in the paint, McGrady has more space and opportunities.
And with Pippen supporting, the two collaborating in organization, it makes their job less tiring.
But in this match against Glory, Glory basically let O’Neal do as he pleased, "if he scores 20 points by half-time, so be it, suit yourself."
Outside, whether it’s a zone defense or man-to-man, they resolutely did not give away any space, putting considerable pressure on Tracy McGrady and Pippen.
Pippen, getting older, struggles to withstand the exertions from younger players like Gerald Wallace, his condition is troubling.
Whereas Tracy McGrady is repeatedly defended by Raja Bell, Porter, and even Gan Guoyang, forcing him to increase his contested jump shots.
In the early 21st century, several ball-dominant Shooting Guards give an overall impression of struggling with shooting accuracy.
Among them, Kobe started was given the nickname "Iron King" in two years, and Allen Iverson frequently shot bricks.
Though in actuality, Kobe managed to have a 46% field goal percentage in the regular season, even higher in the playoffs, reaching 47%.
Allen Iverson had the lowest field goal percentage, only 40% in the regular season, dropping to 38% in the playoffs, but the pressure of offensive output he endured was unlike any other typical player.
Even with the destructive force that is O’Neal in the paint, McGrady’s shooting percentage remained around 45% during the regular season, dropping to 42% in playoffs, which is admittedly a bit low.
In this era, many players in the league still do not place enough emphasis on shooting, not refining the shooting technique, primarily relying on hard practice.
The most alluring part of a guard’s game has always been breakthroughs, changing hands on layups, reverse layups, and dunks.
Breakthroughs and at-the-rim offense are considered core weapons, with shooting being a supporting means that revolves around breakthroughs and at-the-rim offense.
However, Gan Guoyang was one of the first to begin designing and planning his shooting technique, striving for the improvement in those few percentage points.
Together with the Trail Blazers, Celtics, those deeply influenced by Gan Guoyang all prioritize the application of shooting techniques.
The Trail Blazers, Celtics, and Glory are few teams in the league with specialized shooting coaches, oh, and also the Heat, Riley always likes to follow Ah Gan’s lead.
These seeming insignificant percentages, on average, might result in making one more shot per game.
In the fiercely competitive NBA games, a single shot, two points or three points, can often be the deciding factor between victory and defeat.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many fans lamenting while looking at the final score: if only one more shot had gone in, we might have won, if only one was stopped, we’d go to overtime.
Jackson, having contended against Gan, and faced off against the Trail Blazers, lost to the Trail Blazers three times, yet didn’t quite learn from those lessons.
He insists on his basketball philosophy and ideology, in his published books, he talks about Zen, about defense, about the Triangle Offense, about the team and the individual, but he has never discussed shooting, the most fundamental basketball technique.
Perhaps in Jackson’s view, this belongs to the realm of "technique," while he pursues the "Tao."
But Jackson probably wouldn’t anticipate that playing shooting to perfection, as the most important scoring method in basketball, is the most direct pathway to victory.
Old Tang, compared to Phil Jackson, does not have those elaborate concepts, he is more practical, more inclusive.
During halftime, he presents statistical data, analyzing briefly the players’ offensive choices with footage from the first half.
"This shot should have been taken."
"What kind of shot is this?"
"You dare to take this shot?"
"You don’t dare to take this shot?"
"Ah Gan shot well."
This seemingly empty analysis actually judged and graded the players’ every choice.
Over time, players learn to know which shots should be taken decisively and which should be taken with a bit more thought.
The Glory team also extensively uses data analysis and video footage; Bobby Berman’s success once sparked a trend of data analysis.
But soon some teams realized the limitations of data analysis, and certain authoritative coaches did not want their decisions to be swayed by numbers, they trusted their experience more.