The Celtics and Glory are both teams that excel in both offense and defense, but the importance of offense surpasses that of defense.
However, tonight’s game, with its intense pressure and high stakes, is destined to be a low-scoring defensive battle.
Because the game is so crucial and both teams are under immense pressure, their offense will inevitably be conservative, their shots more cautious, and their defense will be all-out.
At the pre-game referee meeting, the three referees for tonight’s game set the tone: let the players decide the game, with a relatively lenient whistle.
If it’s not an obvious foul, it won’t be called, so the match-up will definitely be more intense than the previous four games.
Players from both teams are battle-hardened; after a few minutes they know, tonight the referees are lenient, so they should engage in physical matches without fear.
Gan Guoyang and Jordan will naturally not hold back, both have come from a brutal era and have seen all kinds of confrontations.
But young players like Yao Ming and Gerald Wallace might struggle a bit.
For example, Gerald Wallace has only made one three-pointer in this Eastern Conference Finals.
If he could make more threes, the Celtics wouldn’t double-team the inside so recklessly.
But there’s no helping it; three-pointers aren’t Wallace’s strong suit, and he’s young, contributing a lot of energy on defense and fast breaks, so missing shots can’t be blamed on him.
On the Celtics side, Bruce Bowen played two excellent games, shooting threes with incredible accuracy, but tonight he isn’t doing so well; his shooting feeling is gradually wearing out.
Both teams start engaging in physical battles, playing inside, attacking the basket, trying to draw fouls.
Even Nash doesn’t care about his back pain anymore, intensifies his defense, and clashes fully with Andre Miller.
Both teams’ shooting touch is plummeting, Duncan turns around to shoot against Yao Ming, but misses.
Jordan and Gan Guoyang use a pick-and-roll, attempting a long two-pointer, the ball hits the basket neck and bounces far away.
The Spurs struggle with their outside passing, giving the ball to Big Z for a long-distance shot, but it’s disturbed by Gan Guoyang and misses.
Andre Miller tries to take on Nash one-on-one again, but after cutting into the basket, he’s blocked by the helping Duncan; neither team scores for a while.
High-intensity defense affects not only the shooters’ touch but also the defenders’, causing their offensive touch to decline during breaks.
In a counterattack, Glory’s defensive formation flattens out, Bruce Bowen gets a shooting opportunity from the right corner for a three-pointer, but misses!
Duncan grabs the rebound, passes to the left side for Pierce, who shoots a three-pointer, but misses again!
Gan Guoyang grabs the rebound; both teams haven’t scored for a while now, with all sorts of fancy misses and fancy blocks.
This is no time to rely on Yao Ming; it’s up to Gan Guoyang; after dribbling past half-court, he faced Duncan’s defense and chose to face the basket solo.
In the playoffs, to conserve his energy, Gan Guoyang often adopts a straightforward approach on offense without fancy moves, opting for one effective play rather than two.
This approach differs from the regular season, where Gan Guoyang often showcases a kaleidoscope of offensive moves; he can do it all, but during the playoffs’ pace, efficiency is crucial.
Tonight, the straightforward method isn’t working; straightforward plays are easily blocked, prompting him to try fancy moves, dribbling from the outside to lure Duncan out.
After finding rhythm while dribbling, a classic Kiki-step back two-pointer is taken; Duncan fails to close out in time and can only watch as the ball flies towards the hoop, scores!
Finally, a score from Gan Guoyang’s mid-range step-back shot, in such a tense and tight defensive atmosphere, he still makes a light step-back shot, worthy of being the greatest ever.
This successful shot temporarily opens the scoring floodgate for both teams.
Paul Pierce answers back with a mid-range step-back jumper from the outside.
Jordan immediately retaliates with a spinning, fadeaway jumper after a breakthrough.
Even though Jordan’s speed has slowed, his fadeaway jumper is more visible, and despite slower speed, fans can see it more clearly, making it exceptionally graceful.
Duncan also regains his composure, facing Yao Ming from 45 degrees on the left, taking a classic bank shot, scoring; both teams’ scores rise incrementally.
However, this scoring wave doesn’t last long; both teams increase their defensive intensity again, resulting in three consecutive failed possessions.
Once again, Gan Guoyang steps up, receiving the ball at 45 degrees on the right for a mid-range jumper, breaking the scoring drought.
Afterward, both sides enter the first official timeout.
Gan Guoyang sits on the bench wiping his sweat, drinking water while cursing under his breath.
"Damn it, 10 years ago, I would’ve gone all out in the first quarter and crushed you all."
Now, it’s different; he needs to conserve energy appropriately, play with more rhythm, and adjust to the game’s trends.
Previously, he was the trend; he didn’t care about pace; if none of you can keep up with me, then you can all perish.
But good men don’t brag about past deeds; Gan Guoyang merely keeps these complaints to himself, focusing his attention on the current game.
Jordan’s performance tonight is visibly average; he can tell in terms of physicality, Jordan and Gan Guoyang have a gap; otherwise, there wouldn’t be three straight losses in the finals.
In the last game, Jordan’s 43 points squeezed him heavily; it’s unreasonable to expect Jordan to explode again this game; maintaining around 20 points would be quite impressive.
Meanwhile, Gan Guoyang must control and allocate his energy and offensive feel accordingly, although he doesn’t have much mental space to overthink.
With 45 points last game, his consumption was not small; as playoffs progress, they become increasingly unfriendly to veterans.