Ewing’s wrecked knee constantly tortured him, even though he initially planned to retire this summer, his desire for a championship has kept him going until now.
Sometimes on the bench, Gan Guoyang can’t resist putting his finger under Ewing’s nose to see if the guy is still alive or if he’s dead.
But then Jordan drove into the basket, passed the ball to Ewing, and Ewing returned the favor to Big Ben with a two-handed dunk.
Derek Anderson made a lateral move from the outside and drove into the basket, abruptly stopped and shot a jump shot but missed, Ewing grabbed the rebound and passed it to Raja Bell.
The defense of Glory on this ball was sly, clearly leaving one side open to Anderson, allowing him to break through solo, but once inside, he found it filled with Glory players.
Anderson had space to shoot, took the shot, but missed, and the Trail Blazers’ fluid offense didn’t come through.
Carl usually allows players some freedom in shots because he knows that if tactics are too rigid, they can affect the players’ enthusiasm and creativity, especially since there are many problems during the game that can’t be solved by tactics alone, requiring the players’ creativity.
The Celtics do this very well, their players are very creative, and young players have a lot of ideas, yielding very good results.
Comparatively, the Trail Blazers fall a bit short; as the team leader, Kobe is more obsessive and temperamental than Duncan, making the team’s atmosphere relatively serious, not as lively as when Ah Gan was around.
Now within the Trail Blazers, only Little O’Neal and Big Ben, who were once members of Portland’s Three Young Masters, dare to challenge Kobe during games and training, while others dare not say much.
Derek Anderson’s missed shot immediately attracted a glare from Kobe, who thought he shot too recklessly.
Though Kobe was even more reckless in the first quarter, after all, he is the boss.
The Trail Blazers’ rotation tonight was relatively conservative, one inside and one outside, Reuben Patterson and Dale Davis, other players barely got any playtime because Carl hoped the team could maintain enough intensity.
Facing Glory, the Trail Blazers could not afford any negligence.
Glory maintained a normal rotation, Ewing, Van Exel, Ross, and Raja Bell all had opportunities to play.
From the perspective of the finals, both teams have their advantages and disadvantages.
The Trail Blazers are generally young, their main players often maintaining intensity and easily getting into form.
At this point, there’s no need for training, let the best players play, no need to hold back.
Of course, the downside is the issue of energy consumption, as the season approaches its end, fatigue nears its limit.
Whereas Glory is an older team, with a wealth of players and experienced veterans, extended rotation can maximize the bench’s potential.
And their veterans are truly old, not just generally old, like 34, 35, but rather 38, 39, 40, indeed they can’t bear it.
Raja Bell got the ball, slowly dribbled past half-court, and called the ball to Van Exel.
Their substitutes came on, serving to give the main veterans rest while exhausting the Trail Blazers’ main players as much as possible.
Van Exel held the ball outside, fought a solo battle, dribbled consecutively, slipped past defenders with nimble footwork, then used a screen to drive into the basket.
The Trail Blazers’ defense contracted, Van Madman passed to the flank, Bell caught the ball, faked out Kobe, stepped in, mid-range jump shot, scored!
After scoring, Bell didn’t forget to taunt Kobe: "Sonny was right, your defense indeed loves jumping, untrained high schooler."
Kobe is generally immune to trash talk, including those saying he’s a clueless high schooler, he couldn’t care less.
But Bell’s words struck a nerve because Bell said it was Ah Gan who said it.
Whether Ah Gan actually said it, Kobe didn’t know, nor did he want to verify.
However, Bell saying this might just be Ah Gan’s instructions to Bell during pre-game preparations.
This made Kobe very uncomfortable, his feelings for Ah Gan were complicated; they met very early, became teammates, Ah Gan led Kobe to win three championships.
Now Kobe is eager to dethrone Ah Gan and claim the throne for himself, but if Ah Gan is belittling him like this, he can’t accept it.
"What did you say? Can you say it again?"
"Good words aren’t repeated twice, focus on your offense, Ah Gan’s ornament."
Bell is sharp-tongued, constantly using Ah Gan to provoke Kobe.
Kobe had just calmed down from the first quarter, and now he’s fired up again.
But this time was different from the first quarter, Kobe had already entered the game state.
He stepped off at the end of the first quarter, started the second quarter immediately, and his hand began to warm up.
He looped to the top arc, caught the ball, mid-range quick shot, scored.
Gan Guoyang attempted a three-pointer at the top arc but missed, Kobe grabbed the rebound and counter-attacked.
Passed to Anderson, Anderson drove to the basket, Kobe yelled "Pass the ball!"
Passed to Kobe, Kobe faced Bell, dribbled, turned around with a fadeaway, mid-range shot from the baseline, scored again!
Gan Guoyang passed from high position, fed Ewing, Ewing passed out, Bell received the ball, faced Kobe’s pressing defense.
Nearly lost the ball, passed to Van Exel, relying on Ah Gan’s screen, Van Madman hit a three-pointer!
But Kobe immediately shook off defenders outside with continuous dribbling and forcefully shot a three-pointer from right 45 degrees, scored!
Kobe scored 7 consecutive points, pushing the Rose Garden Arena to the first climax of the game!
After hitting the three-pointer, Kobe stared at Bell with fierce eyes and purposefully bumped into Bell in defense as a response.
Carl obviously didn’t have much to say, for a player like Kobe, if he misses, scold him as uncoordinated and unreasonable.
When he’s scoring and on a roll, he’s always right, coaches should shut up.
Gan Guoyang sensed something, still orchestrated at the top arc, shot suddenly, scored two points.
Glory and the Trail Blazers engaged in a tug-of-war in the second quarter, during his retreat Ah Gan told Bell: "Don’t be afraid, stick to Kobe, I will help you."
Kobe got the ball again, already in form, holding left, faced Bell’s defense, faked, turned around with behind the back dribbling, cut into the basket from the free-throw line, Bell allowed a route.
Kobe faced the assisting Ah Gan, maneuvered in the air, right-handed layup, flew towards the basket.
A very elegant and graceful move, only the final layup was slightly askew, the ball spun around the rim and rolled out.
Gan Guoyang grabbed the rebound, Kobe wouldn’t relax, kept interrupting, Gan Guoyang ignored the interruptions, a super long pass to the front court.
Bell caught the ball, attacked the basket, made a layup!
Kobe didn’t defend in time, giving Bell the chance to strike back.
Actually, Bell had forfeited defense during Kobe’s entrance just now, ran for a fast break, trusting Ah Gan.
"Calm down, Kobe, don’t lose your head."
"You don’t need to say that, Sonny!"
Kobe’s emotions surged again, at just over 20 years old, he hasn’t yet learned to control his mindset.
Hearing Ah Gan speak similarly to Carl immediately sparked anger in his heart.
His heart brimmed with rage and a desire for victory, like a flame burning relentlessly.
In the subsequent offense, Kobe caught the ball, broke through, elbowed Bell aside, abruptly stopped, shot a jump shot, scored.
In the second quarter, Kobe had already scored 9 points.
Bell, too, was hurt where Kobe elbowed him under the ribs, igniting his own anger.
In the subsequent attack-defense exchanges, their physical engagements grew increasingly severe.
With time running out, Bell was due for rest, and he didn’t want to let it go easily.
So he seized the opportunity, allowing Kobe to break through in defense once, then fiercely restrained Kobe’s throat from behind!
The action directly pulled Kobe down heavily onto the floor.
On away ground, Bell dared to act so boldly, his courage indeed strong.
Maybe with Ah Gan around, he gained confidence, this move nearly sparked a major conflict between both sides.
Having been a former fighting king, Gan Guoyang now stood as a barrier between players on both sides.
The originally fierce Big Ben and Little O’neal all calmed down once they saw Ah Gan.
With his protection and persuasion, the conflict eased, the referee called Bell a technical foul.
As Bell stepped off, Gan Guoyang touched his head, telling him: "Chokehold is too dangerous, use fists next time, Kobe’s boxing isn’t great."
Bell smiled, while Kobe stood on the free-throw line, free throw hit.
In the second quarter, Kobe singlehandedly scored 16 points, giving the Trail Blazers a 47-45 lead over the Glory Team, 2 points ahead.
Both sides entered the third quarter, although the Trail Blazers were leading, Carl felt something was amiss when returning to the locker room.
Because both Jordan and Ah Gan hadn’t exerted full strength in the first half but rather scattered throughout, one scored 10, the other 8, and mostly assisted teammates.
So, were they conserving energy for the second half? Or... were they actually not capable anymore?
"They can’t possibly be incapable, could they... be waiting for the drugs to kick in?" Carl mused distractedly.