Duncan receives the ball in the low post to go one-on-one against Gan Guoyang for the third time; this time, he opts for a hook shot facing the basket.
Gan Guoyang’s defense is very tight, but the ball still goes in, Duncan scores two points.
Gan Guoyang is naturally unwilling to be played, employing the same low post offense, quickly turning upon receiving the ball and leaning forward to shoot a jump shot.
Duncan dodged, no foul, Gan Guoyang scores two points, Glory clings to the score.
But clearly, the Celtics are more at ease, quickly able to adjust to adverse situations in offense and defense with very fast responses.
For instance, Duncan’s fourth solo attempt against Gan Guoyang really got stuck, blocked by Gan Guoyang, and in the counterattack, Miller passes to Gerald Wallace for a layup.
Soon after, Duncan receives the ball for the fifth time, immediately executes a strong side to weak side ball transfer, stretching Glory’s defensive formation through Pierce and Nash’s breakthroughs.
The ball is passed to Bruce Bowen, who takes a three-point shot and scores, maintaining a very stable leading advantage.
Following Jordan’s missed jump shot, the Celtics counter, Duncan quickly receives the ball and passes to Ilgauskas, who shakes off Yao Ming for a slam dunk!
The score between both sides comes to 49:56, widening the gap to 7 points; the Celtics’ advantage is becoming more and more apparent, they are just the better-playing team.
Glory Team calls a timeout, needing adjustments, needing changes, needing to recapture the carefree feeling from the regular season.
Glory’s regular season was very resilient; the key was defense. During the timeout, Tomjanovich substitutes Yao Ming out, bringing in Ross.
Gan Guoyang moves to the center position, Glory needs a tougher yet more flexible playing style.
Yao Ming’s performance in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals was clearly unsatisfactory; he needs to adapt, find his positioning.
And how he should deal with Ilgauskas, this Lithuanian giant who matches his height and agility.
These tasks are his; Gan Guoyang doesn’t have time to worry about him now, as the Celtics’ aggression tonight disrupted Gan Guoyang’s game rhythm.
After the timeout ended, both sides fell into a defensive melee, Nash stole Glory’s carefully designed out-of-bounds ball attack, ruining half of the setup from the timeout.
Under the basket, Jordan blocked Pierce’s layup but got elbowed by Bruce Bowen during the rebound grab, leaving a blood streak in his right eye.
After a simple treatment, Jordan returned to the court; tonight, Jordan faced even harsher defense than Gan Guoyang.
Pierce, Bowen, Fox, Robinson, and others all aimed at Jordan.
Both teams’ offenses entered a lull; Glory increased defense and the Celtics followed suit in enhancing their defense.
This situation undoubtedly favors the leading team, and the fierce physical confrontation results in frequent whistles.
During defense, players’ hand movements and blocks are quick and daring.
Gan Guoyang blocked Duncan’s jump shot, treating Duncan to quite a few blocks tonight.
Duncan turned back and blocked Ross’s floater and kept Miller’s butt-up layup at bay.
Having experienced Ah Gan’s trials, Duncan matured, facing Gan Guoyang without psychological barriers anymore.
Getting blocked is just getting blocked; it’s fine, hit back in the next round. Whatever happened in the previous round, just forget it.
It’s precisely this excellent mentality that enables the Celtics to press Glory at both ends, whereas Glory’s score-chasing heavily strains both Gan Guoyang and Jordan.
But there’s no other choice, as other players are heavily restricted, with no third breakthrough point found, leaving only these two veterans to break through.
This is the difference between playoffs and regular season; smooth sailing in regular season, yet playoffs bring targeting, revealing the true nature.
Van Exel, a bench player, turned into the pivotal figure for Glory clinging to the score later in the third quarter, being Glory’s most personally strong substitute player.
Compared to Miller’s lack of three-point shooting, Van Exel comes on to hit two three-pointers, driving Beelman to cold sweat, calling a timeout to rearrange the defense.
Miller and Van Exel’s playing styles differ greatly, no wonder Celtics didn’t react in time when defending.
Even so, throughout the third quarter, the Celtics achieved suppression over Glory, with the third quarter ending Celtics at 70:64, leading Glory by 6 points.
Gan Guoyang scored 10 points in the third quarter, whereas Jordan, under tight defense, only managed 4 points, missing multiple shots, completely inconsistent with the pre-game plan of Glory.
It can be said that Glory, from top to bottom, including Gan Guoyang, oversimplified this game.
As the fourth quarter begins, Gan Guoyang and Jordan rest on the bench, they must take a break.
No matter how far behind, they need rest to recover stamina; nearing 40 years old, it’s no joke.
The two drank water, drenched in sweat, looking at the score, remarkably appearing disheveled.
Gan Guoyang scored plenty, and defended well, but he hasn’t crushed the opponent, just battling each other.
The Celtics are very firm, enduring Gan Guoyang’s offense and blocking, continuing playing their own game.
At this moment, on the Celtics’ bench, the young players are full of morale, Paul Pierce shouting with his hoarse voice: "This is the time to defeat Ah Gan and Jordan, it’s no longer their era!"
Duncan and Nash remain silent, both usually low-key, but their eyes reveal firm resolve.
Conversely, on the Glory bench, players appear somewhat lost, when Ah Gan and Jordan rest, the team is at a loss on how to proceed.