The Golden Age of Basketball

If there’s any advantage brought by the injuries and decline of the Trail Blazers Team members, it’s that it has allowed Kobe to unleash further energy on the offensive end.

In the 2003 season, Kobe entered his peak, and for several years he has been obsessively refining his offensive skills, honing details, especially his footwork.

Kobe’s footwork is often overlooked because people tend to watch the upper body more when watching games, forgetting that the lower body is the foundation of movement.

The dribbling rules of basketball dictate that how to use footwork reasonably and compliantly greatly affects a player’s shot space and timing.

Pivot turns, spins, jab steps, feints, forward stabs, and step-backs — these subtle techniques allow Kobe, when close to the baseline or sideline, to shoot the ball towards the basket in a very small space and under multiple defenses, scoring points.

Kobe has carved out his own path, a technical path different from both Gan Guoyang and Jordan.

Gan Guoyang and Jordan also had excellent footwork, but they had advantages that Kobe did not possess; they are the pinnacle of athletic physique for basketball players, while Kobe is slightly inferior in this aspect.

Thus, Jordan can use his outstanding explosiveness to find shooting space after one or two footwork moves and score easily.

Gan Guoyang, on the other hand, relied on unparalleled strength, making any defensive confrontation futile; he needs only to use normal footwork to gain shooting space.

Gan Guoyang’s true prowess lies in his hand skills: hooks, floaters, different shooting postures from various distances, and a variety of shooting tricks — he’s always able to get the ball in one way or another.

It wasn’t until after turning 40 that Gan Guoyang simplified his techniques, not because simplicity is the ultimate path, but to save effort.

Kobe’s talent is already outstanding, but there is still a gap compared to these two greats, especially compared to Jordan, who has the same position and similar technical features.

Consequently, Kobe forged another route; his off-ball offense is not much, he shoots more threes, his mid and close-range shots are more complex and varied than Jordan’s, his breakthrough isn’t as powerful as Jordan’s, but he’s adept at using footwork to create chaos in the three-second zone.

Some say that with a physique not as good as Jordan’s, Kobe borrowed some of Gan Guoyang’s techniques and ideas and perfectly inherited Gan Guoyang’s fierce and determined playing style.

Of course, there’s also strong stamina, which allows Kobe to demonstrate strong control over the game even with lower shooting efficiency, because of the large output; he’s formidable at crucial moments, excelling at both offense and defense, with a very high presence on the field.

Since the 2004 season, Kobe has averaged over 30 points per game for three consecutive seasons, and with the league average score not reaching a hundred, this average score has a high gold content.

This Christmas match, with core players missing due to injuries, Kobe knows that to win, he must go all out, so when he sees Gan Guoyang teasing Outlaw from the start, he mercilessly unleashes his full firepower.

Kobe first received the ball on the left side, turned to face the basket and used a jab step with a fake move, using subtle shoulder details to shake off Raja Bell, then broke through from the left side, and upon observing Gan Guoyang moving this way, chose a baseline fadeaway mid-range jumper to score the first point for the Trail Blazers in this game.

Kobe is not just making efforts on the offensive end; one of his major characteristics is being able to simultaneously activate in a mad dog mode on both offense and defense.

One moment he’s dribbling and attacking continuously on offense, and the next, he’s immediately biting on defense, as if he has double the stamina.

On defense, Kobe isn’t just dealing with Bell, but directly facing Allen Iverson; cleverly, he steals from the side and rear, poking the ball away the moment Iverson receives it, thus stealing the ball, and counterattacks, easily slamming it in for a score, consecutively gaining 4 points.

Kobe’s extremely aggressive attack and defense at the start also ignited Iverson’s fighting spirit; Glory quickly advanced past half-court without playing slowly with the Trail Blazers in the half-court.

Iverson quickly advanced with the ball, forcing the Trail Blazers’ defensive line to shrink, then immediately passed the ball to the top of the arc to Gan Guoyang, who caught it and made a three-pointer from the top of the arc!

Since Iverson joined Glory, both Gan Guoyang’s three-point attempts and shooting percentage have risen because he can play a supporting role on offense, enjoying the spacing Iverson creates.

Soon after, Iverson on defense, with nimble movements, intercepted a pass from behind when Kobe tried to get the ball!

Returning the favor to Kobe, he gave the ball to Raja Bell, then to Gan Guoyang, who took the ball at a 45-degree angle on the left, seemingly about to shoot a three, but actually made a direct pass underneath, where Yao Ming caught it and scored with a left-handed dunk!

The action didn’t end there; when Kobe held the ball on the left, Glory triple-teamed him.

Bell, Iverson, and Robert Horry formed a surround, causing Kobe’s turnover, and the ball possession went to Glory.

Iverson caught the ball on the outside, used Gan Guoyang’s screen, made a simple drive holding the ball, shot a mid-range jumper from the top of the arc, and scored!

This is the duo’s most frequently used and effective two-man play, screening followed by a direct shot, catching the opponent off guard.

In every game, Iverson can steal two or three like this, almost as if he’s just practicing shooting, because Gan Guoyang sets high-quality screens, creating great threats when separated, allowing Iverson to shoot confidently without worrying about double-teaming.

Glory quickly pulled the point difference, but Kobe didn’t panic and signaled with gestures to coach Nate McMillan not to call a timeout during the inbounds, showing that he could stabilize the situation.

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