The Golden Age of Basketball

"Are you planning to wait until Ah Gan is dead before thinking of a way to defeat him? With public opinion? With data?"

"What?"

"Nothing, just rest up."

Arenas left a sentence behind and returned to the court to continue the match.

In the last two minutes of the first half, both teams sped up their rhythm, trying to score as much as possible before halftime.

But neither team relaxed their defense, tightening the noose further, as Arenas forcefully broke through, getting intercepted by Ah Gan and Yao Ming under the basket.

Glory counterattacked, Rajon Rondo’s pass was intercepted, the Cavaliers countered, but Glory’s Three Second Zone was solid, opening an opportunity in the left corner, though Damon Jones missed the three-pointer.

Gan Guoyang grabbed the rebound and dribbled past half court, Carl shouted from the sidelines, "Stay on him!"

Carl knew that in this situation, Ah Gan had a very high chance of shooting directly from three-point range.

The Cavaliers shifted their defensive focus towards him, but Gan Guoyang passed a straight ball into the paint, Rondo caught it, cut inside for the layup, and scored two points.

As he retreated, Gan Guoyang said to Carl, "Rick, all is fair in war! Don’t be too rigid!"

Carl’s face turned dark as he was once again teased by this kid Ah Gan.

Sitting on the bench, James covered his mouth and chuckled quietly, thinking to himself, Coach, don’t bother teaching me how to guard Gan in the future, it’s useless.

The first half score settled at 49:42, with Glory leading by 7 points, ending the first half of the contest.

In the last two minutes, Gan Guoyang’s one assist and one mid-range shot extended Glory’s lead into the second half.

The third quarter is when both sides truly started to clash; during halftime, Carl named James in the locker room saying, "You need to take on more attacking responsibility, not just leave it to Arenas."

"I will take it on, I’m just looking for and waiting for opportunities."

"Real good opportunities are created, not waited for."

"I will do it," James just said, biting his finger.

Carl repositioned the team’s defense, calling for man-to-man at the start of the third quarter to test the waters.

He was worried that Glory’s wing three-pointers might erupt.

In the 2002-2003 season, although Glory won the championship, their weak wing three-pointers caused them many troubles on the road to the title.

In the end, it was purely through the individual abilities of the ancient gods Ah Gan and Jordan, and a miracle three-pointer from Gerald Wallace, that they succeeded and won the championship.

Once the championship was in hand, the breath of Glory dissipated, with Jordan and Ewing retiring, the team returned to a normal strength level.

At this time, the problem of the team’s wing three-pointers was magnified several times over.

In light of this situation, this season Glory brought in Robert Horry, and with both Raja Bell and Gerald Wallace’s increasing three-point prowess, their wing threes have become very threatening.

In the first half, Glory’s threes didn’t ignite, still focusing on mid-range and interior scoring.

In the second half, Carl had to be cautious of Glory’s threes, especially Ah Gan, his three-pointers are not a joke.

Starting from the 2003-2004 season, Gan Guoyang’s initially reduced three-point attempts showed an upward trend.

After the team traded for Allen Iverson, Gan Guoyang’s three-point attempts steadily increased despite a reduction in total shot attempts.

Moreover, Iverson’s three-point ability was not bad; after coming to Glory, he averaged 1 out of 3 per game, maintaining a third of his attempts.

If you dare to leave him open, he indeed dares to make it.

Thus, this season, compared to the 2002-2003 season, Glory’s three-point space environment has improved tremendously.

With the trade of Iverson resolving the issue of a second ball handler, it kept the offense from constipation due to three-point fluctuations, naturally becoming an unbeatable title-contending strong team.

Carl knew well about Glory’s changes, watched a lot of game footage, and prepared a lot before the game.

Switching to man-to-man defense helps control Glory’s threes, but the question is, whom should James guard?

Carl wanted James to match up with Ah Gan, especially to control his high post playmaking and three-point shots.

Pulling Gooden and Wei Bo to this position would create a vacancy in the Cavaliers’ interior, something Carl did not want to see.

But James was quite resistant to guarding Ah Gan, and before the third quarter began, Carl tried to persuade James again, "Try to handle Ah Gan, that’s what you should do."

"I should do the right thing."

"This is the right thing."

"I’m not good at playing four."

"Ah Gan might go outside. In so doing, if he goes outside, you’re responsible for help defending him; don’t let him easily shoot threes."

"Coach, why are you so afraid of Ah Gan?"

"What are you talking about, are you not afraid?"

James didn’t say anything; he shook his head, put in his mouthguard, and took to the court.

The older generation of players and coaches more or less has Ah Gan phobia.

Even though he is already 42, and many times he seems like he’s asleep.

But you can’t guarantee when this guy will wake up and spit fire at you fiercely.

The third quarter began, and the intensity of the confrontation on both sides increased to playoff level.

Scoring became exceptionally difficult, for three consecutive possessions, both teams’ outside shots missed.

Until James found a three-point shot opportunity from the outside, he made the decisive shot count!

It was James’ first three-pointer of the game, made possible because Gan Guoyang insisted on the strategy of leaving the three-point open, and James seized the opportunity.

However, Gan Guoyang immediately hit a three-pointer at the right corner, receiving a pass from Iverson’s drive, securing the shot as well!

Their three-point makes finally broke open the offensive situation on the court.

Miller’s high post playmaking, passing to Arenas, broke into the paint and scored with a floating shot.

Yao Ming received the ball under the basket, gave it to Gan Guoyang at the high post, Gan Guoyang then passed, and Robert Horry on the wing caught the ball and made a three-point shot.

Carl, seeing Glory hitting consecutive threes, was a bit anxious, they talked about single defense, and on this play, James lost his man again.

He ran to the middle, in a neither-here-nor-there position, what’s he doing here? For a rebound?

James tried to launch a fast break, but in the middle, he got blocked by Gan Guoyang, and he couldn’t power through Gan Guoyang’s Tree-like solid defense.

"Damn it..." James cursed inwardly and could only pass the ball to Arenas.

Arenas forced his way past Raja Bell, cut into the basket, and scored a layup despite Yao Ming’s help defense.

Yao Ming immediately got the ball under the basket and turned and shot a fadeaway, scoring two more points.

Subsequently, both teams missed continuously, and James tried to organize the attack but facing Gan Guoyang’s defense, he couldn’t break through and made good passes.

James was still too young; although he played smart, he lacked a lot in terms of experience and technique, and his moves, intentions, were all preemptively blocked by Gan Guoyang.

The only option left for him was to shoot.

If you can shoot, throw threes and stop for mid-range; if you make it, you’re great, I truly have no solution.

But besides that earlier three-pointer, James missed his next two mid-to-long-range shots.

Once missing consecutively, James would stop shooting, and in this regard, he was very different from Kobe.

When James doesn’t shoot, and he can’t drive in, Ah Gan stands like a wall in front of him, even if he barely gets a chance to break through Ah Gan, there’s still Yao Ming behind, without sufficient acceleration or using footwork advantage, it’s hard for James to break through these two barriers.

Sometimes Horry or Bell would also come to interfere, thinking how Gerald Wallace was still on Glory’s injury list, James found it troublesome.

Thanks to their high-intensity man defense, the Cavaliers maintained their standoff with Glory for a short period, but such a situation couldn’t last long.

Iverson and Gan Guoyang executed a high post pick-and-roll play, with Gan Guoyang rapidly cutting to the baseline, Iverson drove down the middle, and passed to Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang faked the defense away, dribbled one step through the lane, and dunked single-handedly! Ending the scoring drought.

Then Arenas broke in, stopping for a fadeaway but missed, Gan Guoyang grabbed the rebound, dribbled past half-court himself, and charged towards the basket.

The speed wasn’t fast, James quickly caught up, trying to single-guard Ah Gan to stop him from getting into the paint, but Gan Guoyang dribbled head-down, steamrolled James all the way to the basket, laying it in successfully!

On that play, Gan Guoyang didn’t jump much, purely relying on bulldozer-like powerful force, making James immobile, scoring effortlessly while drawing a foul.

After committing the foul, James shook his head and thought damn, why show off, what carelessness!

Using this, Gan Guoyang stirred up a wave of offensive surge for Glory, further extending the score.