Especially in the Eastern Conference Finals, the schedule is tight. The finals have two days of rest, but the Eastern Conference Finals only have one day.
Moreover, even though it’s called the Eastern Conference Finals, Las Vegas is actually in the West, so the travel is far and exhausting.
Sitting on the bench, Gan Guoyang’s mind is a bit blank, or else he wouldn’t be complaining in his heart, as he can’t think of anything valuable.
Just then, Terry Porter took the strategy board, gathered everyone, and set up two tactics after the timeout.
One is Jerald Wallace’s drive to the basket after a screen, and the other is Yao Ming playing high and facilitating—these two tactics are rarely used by Glory.
They haven’t practiced much, occasionally used as backups, so Gan Guoyang couldn’t even recall them, but Porter remembered.
"Jerald, you need to seize one or two opportunities to score near the basket. Yao, you need to come out; your main goal is to pull Big Z out and form an offensive setup unfamiliar to the Celtics. You don’t have to assist directly, but don’t make mistakes, no mistakes!"
After setting these two tactics, Porter emphasized some defensive details.
Bill Walton once said that even the greatest players in history need a coach’s guidance.
And this guidance is needed everywhere, because people have limitations and only one brain.
Handling everything on your own will surely have blind spots, places you can’t see.
Even as strong as Gan Guoyang, there are times in a match when his mind goes blank, like now.
Porter’s arrangements brought Gan Guoyang’s mind back to clarity.
He already thought of the follow-up for these two tactics and some related variations.
"Nicely said, Coach Porter," Gan Guoyang said to Porter before going on the court.
"Shh, keep your voice down, don’t get fined again for a report."
"Don’t worry, this time it won’t happen. If it does, I’ll pay it all."
With Gan Guoyang’s promise, Porter’s mind eased.
But on second thought, how could he be so sure this time it wouldn’t happen?
No time to ask more, the game continued, and Porter’s arrangements indeed worked.
The Celtics made a three-point shot using Nash’s pick and roll, and both sides continued to fight tooth and nail.
Then, Wallace broke in with the ball, utilized Gan Guoyang’s screen, charged to the basket, and scored with a layup!
This surprise attack caught the Celtics off guard, and Wallace immediately contributed on defense.
Using a tough double team, he successfully cut off Pierce’s ball, and during the counterattack, was knocked away by Bowen, foul.
Gan Guoyang immediately went over to push Bowen a bit, warning him not to be too physical and excessive.
The court began to show a hint of tension, Jerald Wallace was pulled up, and it was still Glory’s possession.
Yao Ming moved to the high post to catch the ball, quickly passed directly inside, Gan Guoyang caught it, turned, and released a hook shot, scoring two points!
These two offensive plays, Glory used rare tactics to catch the Celtics off guard, helping Glory gain a 5-point lead in the first quarter.
Of course, both teams scored very low, 22:17, with an abysmal hit rate, the Celtics made only one three-pointer, Glory didn’t make any.
Gan Guoyang rested after the latter part of the first quarter, returned to the court immediately after the second quarter began, and there’s no way Porter would let Gan Guoyang sit on the bench for too long.
As the second quarter began, Gan Guoyang called for the ball in the low post, the Celtics came to double-team, Gan Guoyang made a behind-the-back pass to the cutting Andre Miller, who made a layup and drew a foul from Cliff-Robinson.
Made both free throws, Cliff-Robinson immediately retaliated with a three-pointer from the top of the arc.
The atmosphere at the North Shore Garden Arena began to heat up, the Celtics’ all-round forward play posed great trouble to Glory.
The Celtics’ defense grew tighter, it became difficult for Gan Guoyang to receive the ball inside, got stripped by the opponent, nearly a backcourt violation.
Van Exel scooped the ball back, with little time left, he had to force a three-pointer from outside, but missed.
The rebound bounced far, Rajah Bell and Fox wrestled for it, the referee called a jump ball.
Despite being at a height disadvantage, Bell still tipped the ball to Gan Guoyang, who made a three-pointer from the top of the arc!
Porter on the bench clutched his heart, thinking why did he shoot? There’s still plenty of time!
But the ball swished through the hoop, scored! Porter finally sighed in relief.
At this time, Porter finally experienced what Bobby Berman felt when he was on the sidelines.
He understood, and became.
Berman saw Gan Guoyang shoot and knew it was bad, and sure enough, the three-point shot went in.
"Damn it." Berman didn’t even use English, went straight to Chinese profanity.
He fears most that in the fifth game Ah Gan will feel unstoppable, making it devastating.
Berman called a timeout for adjustments, demanding Fox and Cliff-Robinson or Bowen to keep an eye on Ah Gan throughout tonight.
"At all times, constantly consume him, block his shots, don’t give him comfortable shooting opportunities, don’t let him hit consecutively! Until this game ends, I don’t want you losing sight of Ah Gan. As long as he’s on the court, watch him, ignore everything else for now."
Berman issued a strict order, and the Celtics’ forwards nodded, starting their siege on Gan Guoyang.
After hitting this three-pointer, Gan Guoyang missed the next two offensive plays, the Celtics’ defense indeed very tight.
Berman’s trained defensive system is well-structured, rotations are in place, one-on-one marking is highly proactive and aggressive, details are executed well in all aspects.
After two failed offensive plays, Gan Guoyang temporarily restrained his desire to attack, passed to teammates, and focused more on defense.
Glory’s defense tonight is clear, it’s to shrink, focus on the basket, give some chances for Celtics to attempt threes.
If the Celtics really explode in threes, adjustments will be made, but based on previous games, it’s unlikely.
Indeed, Celtics’ three-pointers are decent, but Glory can bear it, not reaching the threshold needing adjustments.
Unlike the third and fourth games, Gan Guoyang no longer roams near the free throw line but shrinks back to the basket.
The Celtics responded to Gan Guoyang’s sweeping tactics with lots of high screen picks, forcing him to keep making decisions, which is exhausting and consuming.
A few possessions are manageable, but continuous efforts become overwhelming, Gan Guoyang can’t endure such exhaustion.
If Gan Guoyang knew this move was John Stockton’s tip to Berman, he would be furious enough to call and curse him for an hour.
Therefore, at the start of the second quarter, and after the second half, Gan Guoyang resumed retreating, back to guarding the Three Second Zone.
Like offense, in high-pressure matches, defense becomes conservative too.
Surprise tactics require bearing great pressure.
Porter’s two tactics in the first quarter were effective.
But in the second quarter, one rotation mistake led to an unfavorable situation for Glory.
In the mid-second quarter when Gan Guoyang was off the court, Jordan came on, Porter suddenly employed a dual guard setup.
He paired Van Exel and Andre Miller in the backcourt, put Jordan in the three spot, with Ewing and Ross inside.
Porter favored the lineup’s outside attacking potential, aiming to expand the lead.
But he overlooked the fact that the game’s tone was set as a defensive battle.
The matchup didn’t change despite the dual point guard presence; rather, the Celtics seized the chance, went on a 7:2 run, tying the score!
Recognizing the mistake, Porter called a timeout, subbed out Van Exel, brought back Gan Guoyang, who rested for two and a half minutes, and let Rajah Bell step in.
Gan Guoyang saw Porter’s frequent substitutions; meanwhile, the Celtics were likely rotating only seven players tonight, running key players to exhaustion.
"Terry, are you damn well using the Conference Finals match point as practice!"
"No, we’re preserving stamina."
"Then let me rest more!"
"If you rest more, how can others conserve their stamina!"
"..."
Though Porter became a coach not long ago, he quickly mastered Ah Gan’s essence—use more of Ah Gan.
Gan Guoyang had no choice; he knew the game couldn’t go on without him, or else it would collapse, returned to the court, and continued the battle.