Chapter 2198 - 22: Killing Two Birds with One Stone
With one offensive surge, Glory pushed the lead to over 10 points.
Carl called a timeout; Gan Guoyang’s sudden outburst was impossible to guard.
Now that Allen Iverson was shouldering the volume, Gan Guoyang’s efficiency became downright terrifying.
That sudden wave, bucket after bucket, really had the feel of his peak years.
Seeing that James was unwilling to take on the primary assignment of guarding Gan Guoyang, Carl sent in Chris Weber.
Weber is only 33 this year; logically he should still be on the tail end of his prime as a big man.
But every player’s physical tools and durability are different.
Take Gan Guoyang—33 is right in his golden years, leading the NBA in scoring, rebounding, assists, and blocks.
Weber, on the other hand, suffered a major injury at 30, and then declined hard, falling from the King of Sacramento to a minister, then to a foot soldier, and eventually being traded.
After he went to the 76ers, he and Allen Iverson actually had a pretty decent run together; in the 05–06 season he even showed signs of a second spring, getting back into the 20+10 club.
Back then the 76ers’ lineup on paper was pretty good: Weber, Dalembert, Iguodala, Iverson, Korver and others, plus Lou Williams coming off the bench. If everyone had stayed healthy and they’d patiently polished the group, they would’ve been pretty competitive.
But at that point Iverson in Philadelphia was no longer able to set a good example as the leader. Weber was certainly talented and still had juice left on offense, but defensively he really couldn’t hold up.
After one more season together, Weber left for the Cavaliers, Iverson was traded to Glory, and the 76ers started rebuilding around Iguodala.
Years later, that group proved what it means when people say, "Together they’re a pile of shit, scattered they’re a sky full of stars." Looking back at many players’ career paths, you realize there really are reasons why a team can’t develop: holding a stack of quality assets yet failing to integrate them, just slamming the reset button over and over, in the end only to make a wedding dress for someone else.
That’s partly on the front office, and partly on the team’s alpha.
Someone like Iverson, as the top dog, had obvious shortfalls on the court and couldn’t lead by example off it. He repeatedly broke promises to his teammates, which cost him their trust.
After coming to Las Vegas, under Gan Guoyang’s strong intervention, Iverson, as the second option, started playing with very good efficiency, almost like he’d shed his old skin.
Seeing Weber check in, Iverson walked over to greet him, bumped fists—those two had a pretty decent partnership back on the 76ers.
"Heard you’re doing time in Vegas." Decent partnership or not, Weber opened his mouth and hit Iverson with a hundred points of damage.
"Not doing time, it’s... I’m working in Vegas, hooping."
"Man, locked up is locked up! I heard the casinos won’t even let you in; how’s that any different from prison?"
"Casinos aren’t exactly good places. My work is on the basketball court."
"Shit, to actually hear ’casinos aren’t good places’ coming out of your mouth—what kind of magic does Ah Gan have?"
"You’re about to go guard him, then you’ll know. It’s not even your first time matching up with him."
Weber chuckled as the game resumed; he wasn’t all that scared of Gan Guoyang.
After all, back in 2002 he’d led his team past Glory. In the NBA, anyone who’s knocked off Ah Gan in the playoffs owns a major badge of honor.
It’s like a warrior challenging the most dangerous monster: even if you can’t slay it, as long as you make it out alive, the scar the monster leaves on you becomes a mark of glory.
But after two possessions, Weber realized that 42-year-old Ah Gan was still just as fierce, and his strength might have even surpassed what it used to be.
With his hand already hot, Gan Guoyang went to work on the low block, using power and footwork to drop 4 straight points on Weber’s head.
Weber answered on offense with midrange jumpers and free throws, but the Cavaliers still couldn’t trim the gap.
The Cavaliers still needed some serious defense to put a lid on Glory’s offense.
James was getting a bit antsy inside. He glanced at the clock—half of the third quarter was gone, almost two-thirds—Ah Gan, are you seriously not going to sit down and rest for a bit?
You’re 42, aren’t you tired? Go take a breather, it’s supposed to be my time to shine.
But this quarter, Gan Guoyang was determined not to leave the floor, to stand or fall alongside James.
After hitting two buckets on offense, he stopped looking for his own shot, handed the ball over to Iverson, and poured everything into defense.
Before the trade for Iverson, Gan Guoyang couldn’t play like that; his offensive workload was too heavy.
Now, he knew James was about to ramp up, so he tightened the screws on James with lockdown defense.
"Damn... should I wait a little longer?" James thought as he swung the ball to Arenas, then cut hard toward the rim, looking for the alley-oop.
Arenas dumped the ball inside, James soared high! It looked like yet another fake five-point highlight, but Gan Guoyang exploded over and picked the pass out of midair.
Glory got a chance to run. Iverson pushed the ball straight to the rim, bounced a pass to Luther Head, and Head took it in for the layup.
James knew he couldn’t wait any longer—Ah Gan clearly wasn’t leaving mid-quarter, so he had to step up and score.
He called Miller over for a pick-and-roll, thinking that if Glory switched, attacking Yao Ming would still be easier than going at Ah Gan.
But Gan Guoyang chose to go around the screen, keeping a set distance and still forcing James into a jumper.
Gan Guoyang knew that if he got too close, the young James, with that explosive first step, would blow by him.
So he relied on his rich experience, maintaining space, walling off the driving lanes and forcing James to pull up.
James rose up from the right corner and fired—splash! Finally he nailed a midrange, and that gave his confidence a real jolt.
James’s natural shooting talent is mediocre—his hand mechanics, overall power chain, even his legs have all kinds of issues—but he’s an athletic freak and puts in serious work in training.
The upside of that physical talent is strong resistance to contact and contests, and hard practice helps make up for the flaws. In games, once he heats up, he really can knock down a bunch in a row.
James’ three-point percentage and free throw percentage aren’t pretty, but he can still keep them above 30% and around 75%.
Seeing this, Gan Guoyang immediately adjusted the defensive strategy. First on offense, he set up high, caught the ball and quickly threaded a pass straight to the rim, assisting Yao Ming, who caught it, turned, and hit a little hook for two.
Then on defense he got up tight on James but deliberately left one side open, funneling him toward the right side of the Three Second Zone, with Yao Ming waiting in the paint.
Gan Guoyang is tall, has great wingspan, and ridiculous strength. James wanted to escape the trap, but as he kept dribbling he was forced toward the sideline dead corner—any further in and it would’ve been a dead ball.
James spun and jumped to pass out, but Gan Guoyang got a fingertip on it, changing the ball’s direction. Allen Iverson streaked in, snatched it, and went into transition, charging to the rim.
James chased from behind—his speed is really something—sprinting to the basket and swatting Iverson’s layup from behind with a huge block! James really went all out on that play.
But while the mantis stalks the cicada, the oriole waits behind. Gan Guoyang jogged in slowly, muscled past everyone, scooped up the Offensive Rebound, bumped off Wei Bo, and finished the layup for two.
One stop, one score—Gan Guoyang used his veteran savvy to exploit James’ weakness and force a turnover.
Seeing James getting nothing out of it, Carl took advantage of a dead ball to sub James out, and Porter immediately subbed Gan Guoyang out as well.
Sitting on the bench, James looked at the stat sheet. The Cavaliers were still trailing Glory by 10, while he’d racked up 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists so far.
Rebounds and assists are fine, but the scoring is a bit low. I’ve got to put up more points in the fourth.
The two teams shuffled rotations on the court and went into the fourth at 72–61, the Cavaliers down 11 to Glory.
Tonight the Cavaliers’ defense is decent. They still can’t contain Ah Gan, but Gan Guoyang’s production really has tailed off.
Yao Ming and Allen Iverson’s efficiency is dropping, and the role players haven’t really exploded. In the third quarter the wings rained some threes, but once the targeted defense kicked in, they were shut down again.
The key is the offense: James’ impact point has been suppressed, he’s playing like a role player, with none of the Play-maker flair.
Ah Gan practically shut him down by himself. He couldn’t draw extra defenders, and the role players were just chipping away against Glory’s hard defensive shell, unable to form a strong offensive wave.
Carl was anxious, repeatedly exhorting James on the bench: It’s the last quarter—forget everything else and just attack, kid!
So James quickly checked back in, and Gan Guoyang returned as well.
The Cavaliers were down 9. Lesson learned, James first assisted Pavlovic for a made three from outside, then on defense the Cavaliers forced Glory into a 24-second violation.
The deficit was cut to 6. This was a prime chance for a Cavaliers comeback—if they scored on this trip and got the margin under 5, they’d still have a shot.
Gan Guoyang stepped up again, turning his body to give James the right-side driving lane. James didn’t dare explode immediately—he surveyed, hesitated, then suddenly accelerated and attacked hard!
He powered into Gan Guoyang’s body and fought his way inside—from the three-point line all the way into the Three Second Zone, to the rim—one-two-three-four-five-six-seven...
He tried to bump Gan Guoyang off and go up, but it was like hitting a steel plate. He adjusted, spun, threw in fakes—hung under the basket for what felt like several seconds—and finally faded away for the shot!
The ball danced on the rim for a moment...and bounced out! That was a brutal attempt.
It’s tough on offense, because in a static situation it’s really hard to get out from under Ah Gan’s shadow.
It’s just as tough on defense—once the ball got in, James practically started dancing.
After Gan Guoyang grabbed the rebound, he yelled at the ref, "That had to be a travel, right?"
Gan Guoyang’s choice of words is much gentler now—before, he’d have gone full Fack on him.
The ref shrugged and said, "Didn’t go in anyway!"
Exactly—didn’t go in, and they can trigger a fast break.
Gan Guoyang brought the ball up himself, powered through the defender, and kicked it to Raja Bell, who was set on the wing.
Bell caught it, fired the three, and nailed it! The lead was back up to 9!
That pivotal sequence largely determined the game’s trajectory.
If the Cavaliers had scored, the gap would’ve been down to 4, and it would still be a fight.
Instead they missed, Glory countered, and hit a three, pushing the margin back to 9.
A swing of 5 points right there—more than enough to decide a game’s outcome.
More importantly, that missed shot seemed to deflate the young James’ aggressiveness and confidence.
On the next few possessions he handed the offense to Arenas, but Arenas’ touch wasn’t good against Glory’s tight defense.
Meanwhile Allen Iverson and Yao Ming scored on consecutive plays, and the lead suddenly ballooned to 15.
You could say that one offensive trip had huge ripple effects—James is still young and short on experience.
If on that play he’d chosen to draw a foul or step back for a jumper, the outcome might’ve been better.
As the margin widened, the killer blow was Glory’s wings catching fire from deep—Bell, Hayden, and Holi all knocked down threes in succession, and the game gradually lost all suspense.
Just then, James seized two moments when Gan Guoyang relaxed on defense, attacked the rim, and finished back-to-back layups!
He bumped his own scoring up to 20, and along the way added two more assists and grabbed several more rebounds.
Carl wanted to sub James out, but James insisted he could still go a bit longer—he’d already rested plenty earlier.
Finally, with James assisting Eric Snow for a made jumper, his stat line reached 20 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists—a completed triple-double!
The Cavaliers also trimmed the deficit to 7, 99–93. The loss didn’t look so ugly—truly killing two birds with one stone.
After the game, the honest Cleveland Honest Man News dutifully ran a piece, claiming: [James honored Ah Gan with a triple-double. As he himself said, he’s an all-around player with fierce defense and playmaking.]