Actually, neither Gan Guoyang nor Jordan had expected that their official match partnership would be this effective.
You could say it wasn’t until the twilight of their careers that they truly found teammates who could sync with them on the court.
In the past, they were always rivals, leading their respective teams and studying and confronting each other.
The teammates they’d collaborated with each had their own strengths, but also their unspeakable shortcomings.
Take Jordan, for instance; Pippen was his best partner, but he often let him down at critical moments. During major games, he either got headaches or caught a fever, either disappeared during crucial moments or made dumb mistakes.
That missed dunk in the 1992 Finals was something Jordan remembered vividly; even till his last breath, he never forgot to say, "Pippen was an amateur; he couldn’t even make a dunk."
Among the many "what if" scenarios in the NBA, Pippen’s missed dunk is one often discussed; had he made it, the Bulls would have nabbed the crucial game, with an 80% chance of winning the 1992 championship, as the last two games were in Chicago, and the Trail Blazers almost had no way to win them all.
If Jordan could win against Gan Guoyang once in their career confrontations, he and Ah Gan would truly be on par, even if a little lower, they would overall be equals.
Losing all three finals, even though Gan Guoyang acknowledges Jordan’s extraordinary skills as second only to his, missing a victory to break the stalemate remains a lifelong regret.
Besides Pippen, there were also Grant and Rodman, who could only be considered borderline star players, each with significant flaws, causing the Bulls to repeatedly falter against the Trail Blazers.
For instance, Grant’s "Gan phobia," where his stats would zero out against Gan Guoyang, rendering his playing nearly pointless.
And the teammates around Gan Guoyang were generally of higher quality than Jordan’s because they won more championships and had three eras of dynasties.
Starting with Drexler, who couldn’t shoot, his shooting was a mess, while Vandeweghe’s defense was abysmal.
At that time, Gan Guoyang was young and, being the top star, had to play the role of the workhorse to clean up for these two clowns, winning his first three consecutive championships.
The second dynasty, the socialist camp, had no genuine superstar assistants from start to finish, just borderline All-Stars.
Individually, they were not even as good as Pippen, but they were well-integrated together.
Back then, Gan Guoyang was at his peak; there wasn’t a game he couldn’t win or a challenge he couldn’t overcome.
Even when two players were down, he could still turn the tide and bring home the championship. That ruthlessness, when reflected upon years later, even scared Gan Guoyang himself.
By the third dynasty, with a team of the old, weak, sick, and young, they relied on experience and tactical synergy to achieve an unprecedented team peak.
At that time, only Kobe, who was just growing, could barely keep up with Gan Guoyang’s pace, but Gan Guoyang had left.
Gan Guoyang had 10 championships, Jordan 3; they were absolute leaders, undeniably strong, but often felt lonely.
They stood too high, their abilities too strong, and others could not resonate with them in the spirit of basketball.
This is why, as rivals, they often called each other after games, a habit maintained for many years.
Neither of them could become a coach as they lacked the basis for communicating with ordinary players.
"Do this, that, then this, and the ball goes in. What’s to fear with two defenders? It’s a great opportunity. Three also don’t matter, just shoot, and who cares how many are there?"
"Get two in the first quarter, three in the second, a few free throws, some three-pointers, and isn’t 30 points in a game not that hard?"
"Why don’t you defend two people at once? Is it that difficult? Just keep an eye on both, and when the ball passes, just turn around."
"Grab the ball with one hand, take a step, dash forward, turn around... What? You can’t grab the ball with one hand? Then why are you playing basketball."
Gan Guoyang was slightly better than Jordan; he could understand ordinary people because he had been an ordinary person, but only in daily life.
On the basketball court, being the world’s number one for 20 years, he couldn’t possibly understand or tolerate ordinary players’ mistakes and inabilities.
Finally, these two individuals, these two good friends, became teammates, genuine teammates, not just messing around for fun.
Both stood in a high position, viewing and understanding the court from a high perspective, with dimensions different from other players.
They seemed to argue all the time, yet they reached more consensus in understanding offense and defense, and in their ability to adapt to the game.
Especially in adaptability, they no longer liked playing by the book but relied more on observation for spontaneous decisions.
In the past, teammates often couldn’t keep up with their thinking, but now that wasn’t an issue. Their thoughts were very similar and straightforward.
When resting off the court, they remained the center of attention, with TV cameras occasionally panning to the Glory Team’s bench to capture Gan Guoyang and Jordan.
They talked and analyzed the situation on the court, though they might just be chatting because tonight’s game was nothing to discuss.
The home team Bucks didn’t easily give up, seizing the opportunity to chase vigorously when the two big stars were off the court, and Ray Allen finally seemed to find his shooting accuracy.
With consecutive hits from the outside, the Bucks slightly narrowed the point gap, but they still had the same problem—long-range shooting in this era hardly finished a game.
Every team typically had just one bona fide three-point shooter, two at most, which was already considered a luxury for strong teams.