Gan Guoyang hasn’t lost his temper with referees in a long time. Most of the time, they respect him quite well.
The NBA referees today are very different from those in the past, especially the younger ones, who carry much less of a streetwise character.
Besides antiques like Bavetta, many NBA referees haven’t been in the League as long as Gan Guoyang or Jordan.
Tonight’s head referee is the famous bald Joe Crawford, who is considered one of the more senior ones among the referees.
He started blowing the whistle during the 1988-1989 season and has officiated some major games involving Gan Guoyang. He’s somewhat renowned for his performance art on the court.
But facing Ah Gan, he has no desire to perform, only explaining to Gan Guoyang, "The new rules are like this, I didn’t make a wrong call, I know you two haven’t had much contact, but you invaded his shooting space."
"You should explain to me, what the hell is invading shooting space! If I were to give him all the shooting space, would I even need to defend?"
"Sonny, it’s the rule, I’m sorry."
Bald Crawford could only apologize to calm Gan Guoyang’s sudden anger. If he issued a technical foul, it would be a problem with the referee committee later.
Though the committee won’t openly punish Crawford or favor him, if he angers Ah Gan, it might prevent Crawford from officiating important games, and referees earn their money by officiating games.
Recently, Donnici was secretly dismissed, causing panic among the referee community because the committee didn’t clarify the reasons, leading to rumors fermenting among them.
And according to very reliable sources, Ah Gan was the key figure who exposed Donnici. His vast influence in Las Vegas made the referees’ actions invisible.
In truth, Gan Guoyang didn’t use any means, he just reported a name. After all, it was quite a scandal back then.
Joe Crawford, of course, didn’t want to offend Ah Gan and, in declaring there was no issue with his officiating, apologized to soothe Gan Guoyang’s mood.
Bald Joe caved in, so Gan Guoyang naturally didn’t make things difficult for him. He wasn’t deliberately troubling the referee; he was just genuinely dissatisfied with his defense.
Since the League introduced the defensive three-second rule, Gan Guoyang’s rim protection level declined. He could no longer hunker down in the three-second zone and needed to have reaction time—the big men’s rim protection throughout the League were on the decline.
The NBA implemented this rule to combat zone defense and give outside players more opportunities to attack the rim.
It was evident from the average blocks per game, the numbers have been declining over the past two seasons. In the long run, the survival environment for centers standing in the three-second zone will become increasingly harsh.
Allen Iverson made the extra free throw, completing a three-point play.
Then on offense, Gan Guoyang and Raja Bell executed a pick and roll, receiving the ball and forcing his way into the paint, drawing a foul successfully.
Bald Joe is returning a favor to Gan Guoyang; both free throws were good, and the two teams began a tug-of-war in the second quarter, which is the pace the 76ers like.
However, as Iverson had to take a break, the game situation began to change drastically—it was just horrible for the 76ers offensively without Iverson.
They dragged on, dithering, the ball passed around outside with no way to penetrate Glory’s zone defense.
While Larry-Brown couldn’t keep using up Iverson, it’s impossible to play him for 48 minutes in one game, he had to have some rest time.
During this short rest period, Glory could always guarantee either Jordan or Gan Guoyang was on the court, which was just too unfair for the 76ers.
Glory isn’t even employing Princeton; against a disciplined yet talent-lacking team like the 76ers, using team tactics would fall right into their hands.
Switching to the UCLA system to create isolation opportunities on offense, Gan Guoyang scored repeatedly with jump shots from the low post, baseline, and top of the arc with precise shooting, tearing apart the 76ers defense effortlessly.
The 76ers couldn’t even find anyone to match up with Gan Guoyang; Fan Huo’en, and Coleman’s defense were too mediocre, unable to pose any threat to Gan Guoyang.
After scoring 10 consecutive points to force a timeout for the 76ers, Gan Guoyang didn’t hesitate to remind the 76er players: "I’m too old now, or you’d be trailing far more. Seriously, you need to shore up your defense."
No one objected because everyone knew he was right; he indeed was old, and during a scoring surge of consecutive offensive plays, he seemed remarkably gentle.
Perhaps it’s because most of the finishes came from mid-range shots, or maybe it’s due to the use of tactics, it was nowhere near as explosive or deadly as when he was young.
Back on the bench, after Jordan received simple treatment, he returned to normal, and after the timeout, he was back on the court, Glory was up 46:34, a 12-point lead over the 76ers.
Iverson was only resting on the bench for little more than four minutes before returning to the game, continuing to drive the ball, challenging this mighty giant.
Iverson drove to the basket, faced the help defense, dished the ball to the wing; McGee caught it and jumped to shoot, only to have it blocked by the charging Gerald Wallace!
Glory on the fast break, Gerald Wallace and Andre Miller teamed up for an alley-oop slam dunk!
The gap in strength between the two sides gradually became apparent. Throughout the Eastern, apart from the Celtics, other teams were two classes below Glory, including the New Jersey Nets.
As long as Glory doesn’t fall into a team-wide shooting slump, playing normally, the 76ers don’t stand a chance.
Moreover, the morale of the 76ers is quite average; they exert themselves at first, then get demoralized, and finally, exhausted—2001 drained too much of the 76ers’ energy.