In Portland, Gan Guoyang felt at ease, and with a successful dunk, the Trail Blazers maintained their lead.
Both teams kept adjusting during the game, targeting their opponents’ weaknesses with offensive and defensive tactics based on pre-game plans and on-the-spot situations.
Compared to the Celtics, the Trail Blazers’ lineup was more flexible and fast, relying on aggression for defense.
The Celtics had better size and a static advantage, being among the few teams in the league unafraid of Yao Ming + Ah Gan.
The Trail Blazers’ interior combination was strong, but in terms of size, they were indeed at a disadvantage. Little O’Neal claimed to be 6 feet 11 inches, actually a size smaller than Ah Gan.
Big Ben was even less of a match—6 feet 9 existed only on paper, compared to Yao Ming, at a glance, you might mistake him for Allen Iverson.
Once they can’t gain or at least maintain balance in the interior, facing the Glory Team would become really difficult.
Of course, the Trail Blazers had their advantages: they were more enduring than the Glory Team, had better three-pointers, and they had Kobe.
Back in the game, Kobe adjusted his emotions, temporarily returned to normal, and didn’t go solo anymore, instead cooperating with his teammates for a more fluid offense.
This season, Carl made improvements to the fluid offense, especially in the latter half of the season, increasing Michael Redd’s offensive role while reducing Little O’Neal’s low post plays.
In the 2001 and 2002 seasons, the Trail Blazers’ offense was built on the Kobe-Little O’Neal duo.
The Trail Blazers hoped Little O’Neal could inherit Ah Gan’s mantle and become a pillar on both offense and defense, supporting the team’s interior.
Little O’Neal did not disappoint, becoming an All-Star in both the 2001 and 2002 seasons, forming the 96 Twin Stars with Kobe.
The Trail Blazers did well in the regular season but always fell short in high-stakes encounters during the playoffs, repeatedly stumbling in the West Finals.
Carl, on one hand, elevated the team’s defense to the utmost, forging the Trail Blazers into a wall of steel, while on the other, he couldn’t neglect the offense, making significant adjustments.
The biggest adjustment was reducing Little O’Neal’s isolation plays in the latter half of the season, increasing Michael Redd’s wing shots and drives, and enhancing Kobe and Redd’s coordination.
This adjustment led to Little O’Neal’s average scoring dropping from 20.5 points in the first half of the season to 18.4 points, a noticeable slide.
But while Little O’Neal’s personal scoring decreased, the Trail Blazers’ offensive efficiency improved, with Redd’s average scoring significantly increasing from 9 points to 15, a qualitative leap.
Because Carl found that Little O’Neal’s offense in the low post and beyond the arc was quite unstable—though versatile, he lacked a go-to move.
He could shoot, use hook shots, and had footwork; he learned a bit of everything from Ah Gan back in the day, but nowhere near Ah Gan’s level of offensive efficiency.
Moreover, in some games, Little O’Neal’s shooting touch would dramatically decline, with a two-point shooting percentage of only 48%, and an average of 5 free throws, not impactful enough.
If Little O’Neal took too many shots, it would actually harm the Trail Blazers’ offense.
Therefore, Carl adjusted Little O’Neal’s offensive role within the team, reducing low post plays, increasing high post pick-and-rolls, providing more screens and defense, and significantly boosting the Trail Blazers’ overall offense.
In the Western Conference playoffs, they successfully defeated the Kings and the Mavericks. In matchups with Wei Bo and Nowitzki, although lacking in stats, Little O’Neal’s actual impact was no less, helping the Trail Blazers advance to the finals.
In the finals against Ah Gan, Little O’Neal did not forget his duties. After scoring a low post shot, unlike Kobe, he didn’t greedily shoot but kept setting screens and passing for the perimeter players.
After a pick-and-roll with Kobe, he received the ball and found Redd, who had moved to the right baseline. Passing to Redd, who caught it and shot to score!
Then, Redd, on a fast break, received a pass from Kobe and scored a three-pointer! The Trail Blazers regained control of the game.
For an attacker like Redd, the Glory Team hadn’t yet found an effective counter.
Jordan couldn’t keep up, Jerald Wallace was better at defending aggressive backcourt players rather than someone like Redd who excels at catch-and-shoot.
If they couldn’t handle Redd, the entire finals would be extremely troublesome for the Glory Team.
Both sides made targeted offensives in the first quarter, unveiling their arsenals.
Yao Ming had an average performance and did not support the Glory Team’s interior offense, though his defense was commendable.
When other Trail Blazers players were intimidated by Ah Gan’s pressure, the consistently quiet and low-key Redd stepped up to become the first breakthrough point for the Trail Blazers.
Although Redd was the rookie designated by Gan Guoyang to be selected, at that time, Gan Guoyang had already retired and left the Trail Blazers—the legendary Ah Gan was just that, a legend to Redd.
Realizing that the rookie he handpicked had now grown into the thorn impeding Glory’s championship dreams, Gan Guoyang felt a complex array of emotions inside.
After the first quarter, the score was 21:20, with the Glory leading the Trail Blazers by 1 point—both teams’ scores were not high.
The game’s pace was slow, and every score was crucial, undoubtedly another grueling battle.
At the start of the second quarter, Big Ben received a pass from Kobe, stormed into the basket, and scored with a two-handed dunk!
Glory’s substitute interior player Ewing couldn’t keep up and could only watch Big Ben dunk in front of him.
As the playoffs reached the final stages, veterans like Ewing and Willis were also reaching their limits.
The contributions they could make might only be a few key plays in each game, but not much more.