Jordan nodded to show he understood, and he reminded Gan Guoyang that they would take the court in three minutes, one minute earlier than usual, to seize the window and strive to overtake the score.
Andre Miller started posting up Nash with great persistence, a highly targeted move, exploiting Nash’s poor defense by using Miller to apply pressure.
While Jordan attracted defense on the weak side and waited for his chance, Miller pressed Nash, turned, and cut to the basket for a successful layup, overtaking the score.
At this moment, Duncan was still on the court. He faced up and aggressively attacked Ross, drawing a foul and going to the free-throw line, making both free throws, and the Celtics took the lead again.
Miller continued to post up Nash. As the double team came, Jordan cut to the basket, received a pass from Miller, and made a layup!
Duncan came over to help with defense on this play, but he backed off at the last moment because he sensed that Jordan was trying to draw a foul.
Two points for you, but don’t even think about drawing a foul.
In the following possessions, both sides failed to score, and the atmosphere of the game became extremely suffocating.
Defense was very tight, and the offense was extremely jammed as the Celtics slowed down the defensive pace significantly.
Beelman was a bit puzzled, wondering why he didn’t intend to drag the game pace this slow.
At this time, Nash made a three-pointer after an outside pick-and-roll, breaking the deadlock.
The Celtics regained a two-point lead, and Glory called a short timeout, sending Gan Guoyang to replace Ewing.
Taking advantage of the connection segment, Gan Guoyang and Jordan planned to cooperate to widen the score gap a bit.
A high pick-and-roll, Gan Guoyang rolled to draw the defense, and Jordan suddenly burst into the basket for an easy dunk!
Tied game!
Beelman was extremely tense, a thought flashed in his mind, knowing that Ah Gan was going to exploit the rotation gap fiercely.
He immediately called a short timeout and replaced with Ilgauskas and Cliff-Robinson to suppress the potential offensive storm.
At this moment, Beelman’s mind became clearer as he realized that Ah Gan and Jordan were both blocking options; he could only choose one, leaving the rest to fate.
Thus, he chose to increase the height in the paint, block Jordan or Ah Gan’s assaults at the basket, and force them to take more outside shots, as Glory’s shooting wasn’t great tonight.
After Ilgauskas came on, he played a high-low tactic with Duncan at the top of the arc. Duncan strongly positioned himself in the paint, with Ross being insufficient, and Ilgauskas threaded a pass down low. Duncan received it, turned, and easily hooked it in.
Cliff-Robinson committed a defensive foul, and Tomjanovich substituted Yao Ming for Ross, as both teams adjusted based on the situation on the court.
No one followed the substitution timetable strictly, but when Yao Ming came on, he exposed his inexperience in the playoffs.
Twice he committed defensive fouls in the paint, once sending Big Z to the free-throw line and once giving the Celtics a sideline opportunity, leading to a beautiful attacking play and a corner mid-range shot by Cliff-Robinson.
Gan Guoyang’s attempt to take the lead in one go failed, resulting in a tie at 27:27, with a very low score and a fierce battle on both offense and defense.
Gan Guoyang blocked Paul Pierce’s breakthrough layup, and Yao Ming’s hook shot following a catch didn’t go in.
On the outside, Nash attempted another three-pointer but missed. Duncan’s putback was interrupted by Yao Ming, Jordan grabbed the rebound, and his fast-break layup was fouled by Cliff-Robinson, sending him to the free-throw line.
It was preferable to let Jordan score by free throws rather than letting him dunk easily in a fast break. Both teams had fully escalated the confrontation and intensity by the second quarter.
In a full four minutes with 10 possessions, neither team scored a field goal, relying solely on Jordan’s free throws to gain 2 points, with Glory taking a 29:27 lead.
Both teams entered an adjustment phase with a long timeout. Gan Guoyang returned to the bench, drinking water heavily, as sweat continuously dripped down.
Gan Guoyang found it increasingly difficult to receive the ball inside, as the Celtics tirelessly sent different players to front-defend him.
Duncan, Big Z, Fox, Robinson — basically, anyone with any inside ability came to engage in physical confrontations, disturbing Gan Guoyang’s offense.
Jordan carried Glory’s offense in the second quarter as others, including the usually efficient Yao Ming, were completely silenced.
Yao was still too inexperienced, not adequately mentally prepared for the toughness and difficulty of this game, still playing as if it were the regular season or the first two series, naturally leading to struggles.
In the first two series, Yao had been highly efficient, supporting the team’s inside scoring, but in this game, he became completely auxiliary, failing to make several shots.
However, he still played a role on defense, where his towering frame provided an advantage in rim protection and rebounds, resulting in such low scores for both teams.
Neither the Celtics nor Glory were strictly defensive teams but rather balanced in offense and defense. However, their strong protection and ultimate competition made this game increasingly brutal.
In response to Glory’s adjustments, Tomjanovich decided to continue using Andre Miller as the point to attack Nash, which presented a more obvious matchup advantage for Glory against the Celtics.
Gan Guoyang and Jordan needed to continue bearing with it, cooperating more and executing more tactics to conserve energy for the third and fourth quarters’ showdown.
"Fack, I actually have to start playing according to how I allocate my energy. It feels terrible," Gan Guoyang complained to Jordan before taking the court.
"Hasn’t it always been like this?"
"Tonight I’m more worried... My intuition tells me I should be exerting force now."
Gan Guoyang’s court intuition had always been very sharp. He could perceive the court’s situation, both sides’ morale, and the overall state, and understand what to do next.
Jordan had the same thought, saying, "They’ll definitely exert force, and we have to hold out."
Gan Guoyang and Jordan’s intuition wasn’t wrong. After a period of dormancy, the Celtics launched a fierce attack after the timeout.
Nash started running pick-and-rolls with Duncan.
Duncan’s screens were very solid, blocking Miller, allowing Nash to speed down the lane.
Gan Guoyang followed; Nash passed the ball over his head to Duncan. If it had been the younger Gan Guoyang, he could have turned around and defended both players, stopping Duncan.
But now he couldn’t, as his speed, burst, and reaction didn’t allow it. Duncan hit a left-handed floater off the board.
On defense, the Celtics slyly chose a zone defense, a 2-3 zone, with three inside players doubling Gan Guoyang and two leaving the 45 degrees open for you.
Jordan stepped up and hit a three-pointer from the right 45 degrees! An important three-pointer.
But immediately, Nash and Duncan’s pick-and-roll led to a drive, finding Bowen in the corner, who hit the catch-and-shoot three!
Fleet Center was jubilant; the Celtics began to shift gears, accelerating into the next speed zone.
Glory seemed unprepared, still entangled with the Celtics’ defense in third gear, oblivious to the discomfort brought on by the Celtics’ adjustments.
Jordan attempted another three-pointer, missing this time as it wasn’t his forte. Duncan secured the rebound, Nash sped up on the drive, rushed into the paint to draw the defense, and made a sneaky bounce pass to the trailing Duncan, but his floater was blocked by Gan Guoyang!
However, Big Z picked up the loose ball and scored the two points. Gan Guoyang couldn’t do anything; his consecutive jumping ability was no longer what it used to be.
The Celtics’ use of the "gear shift" tactic was exceptionally ruthless, as when you thought they were going to play tough defense and slow pace with scores in the 70s or 80s, they would suddenly shift gears and bombard you during the game.
Because they had Nash, they could suddenly drive the pace, catching opponents off guard, widening the gap quickly, and then slowing it down, making it difficult for you to catch up.
Initially, their gear-shift play was immature, but as Nash, Duncan, and others gained more experience, the play became naturally more proficient. When facing Ah Gan and Jordan, they performed at 120% of their ability.
Seeing the risk of a large halftime deficit if the Celtics continued this way, Gan Guoyang and Jordan couldn’t wait anymore, couldn’t play Princeton at a slow pace, or leave it to Andre Miller to handle the ball.
Miller’s attributes made it difficult for him to handle a zone defense since his three-point shooting was poor.
Gan Guoyang immediately stepped up, using mid-range jump shots to stabilize the situation and close the score gap.
Duncan was fed in the low post but Gan Guoyang stole the ball, launched a fast break, and Jordan soared to the basket for a slam dunk!
The battle remained tight with both sides, but the Celtics had an overall better performance, while Glory overly relied on their two veteran players.
This was only the first game, and in the first half. Gan Guoyang foresaw that the difficulty of this series would be beyond imagination.