The long, hot off-season completely ended in November, and the fires of competition were ablaze once more.
On November 6, 1987, the Trail Blazers opened their new season at ho against the Phoenix Suns.
The Suns, having experienced the shock of the All-Arica drug scandal in April and the cost of two lives, ultimately remained in Phoenix.
The team changed ownership, but the core roster remained the sa.
Rebel Walter Davis stayed with the team, along with Edwards, Larry Nance, Sanders, and others.
The new owner did not make any flashy trades or cuts during the off-season, wanting to see if the current lineup could still perform in the new season.
If things really didn’t work out, it wouldn’t be too late to make changes mid-season.
After such turbulence, the internal cohesion of the Suns had completely dissipated.
Especially since Walter Davis’s role as a tainted witness compromised his status as the team leader, and no one respected him anymore.
Facing the Trail Blazers in the first ga was like throwing themselves on soone else’s sword.
The Trail Blazers only needed half the ga to crush the Suns.
During half-ti, the team held a ring presentation ceremony.
Gan Guoyang personally hoisted the third championship banner to the ceiling of the arena.
Amidst the frenzied cheers of over 12,000 fans, the Trail Blazers completely tore apart the Suns.
The regular season is different from the preseason, with players more focused.
However, in terms of playing style, it was much the sa as last season.
Gan Guoyang’s isolation plays had decreased, as, according to the new rules, the offense could not have more than three players positioned far from the ball and above the three-point line.
This ant that there had to be at least two players on the strong side with the ball.
The ball-handler would inevitably have a teammate close by, and a nearby defender, who could then co over to help and trap.
In such situations, Guoyang could still play, but not as effortlessly or efficiently as last season.
And the referees tonight had co with a mission, to closely call the Trail Blazers for offensive fouls.
They were called once in the first half and once in the second, disrupting the team’s rhythm.
Fortunately, the Suns were weaker, and the team was in disarray and not united.
With just a little effort from the Trail Blazers, the opponent collapsed.
They easily beat the Suns at ho, 127 to 101, with a 26-point lead, securing a strong start to the season.
Then they easily defeated the consistently poor-performing Clippers away, winning by 31 points.
In these two gas, Drexler, Kossie, and others had impressively inflated stats.
Especially Drexler, who posted 27 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in the first ga.
In the second ga against the Clippers, he had 31 points, 8 rebounds, 12 assists, and 5 steals.
Clearly, Clyde was in excellent form for the new season.
Vandeweghe, who perford poorly during the pre-season, actually did well in the regular season.
In the first two gas, he scored 21 points in one and 30 in the other, with a high shooting percentage.
On the other hand, Gan Guoyang willingly gave up so ball-handling responsibilities as his teammates excelled, scoring 23 points in one ga and 21 in another, with more than 5 assists in both gas.
If their opponents were always such weak teams, Guoyang wouldn’t mind if his stats suffered a bit, allowing Drexler, Kossie, and others to pad their stats for bigger contracts.
But facing slightly stronger teams was a different story.
On November 10, they faced the Houston Rockets.
Even with the Rockets on the decline, the Trail Blazers suffered a narrow 108 to 109 loss at ho.
In that ga, the Trail Blazers failed to display the necessary intensity and rhythm.
Porter, Parkson, and the other guards clearly hadn’t fully grasped the essence of Ramsay’s "two reductions, one increase" strategy, resulting in hesitation in the offense.
This led to lower offensive efficiency and an increase in turnovers for the team.
At a critical mont, Porter hesitated with a pass that got intercepted, causing the Trail Blazers to squander their efforts and miss the chance for a ga-winning shot, losing the ga.
Gan Guoyang wasn’t too bothered by the loss, knowing that the regular season is ant for training and trial and error, and that the record isn’t that important.
However, Drexler complained about Porter after the ga, questioning why he didn’t initiate a fast break when he should have, instead slowing down to set up the offense.
Porter responded that the coaches wanted to reduce fast breaks and slow the pace.
Drexler retorted, "The coach said to reduce fast breaks, not eliminate them! You need to make the right decision!"
A heated argunt ensued between the two in the locker room, while Guoyang and Ramsay were attending the post-ga press conference at the ti.
By the ti Guoyang returned to the locker room, he sensed a subtle change in the post-ga atmosphere.
The Trail Blazers’ locker room was always full of joy.
Guoyang would play music in the locker room, and everyone would have a good ti dancing along.
Kenny-Carl and Thompson would make bets, nearly every ga.
Vandeweghe and Parkson would make so tea to enjoy, overall, it was a harmonious environnt.
Now, Guoyang was surrounded by reporters after every ga and had no ti to play music. If anyone wanted to listen, they would wear their own big headphones and listen on their own portable devices.
Kenny-Carl had retired to work on his big project, and Thompson had gotten married and was always eager to get ho early to be with his wife.
After each ga, Vandeweghe had to lie down for back therapy and Parkson needed to soak in an ice bath to relieve muscle pain in his legs.
Journalists began an unrelenting invasion of the champion team’s space, leaving less and less privacy for them.
The players’ fanbase was growing, and people like Drexler and Vandeweghe had signed endorsents, participated in interviews, gone to do radio shows – in short, everyone was very busy.
Apart from gas and training, there was less ti spent together in private.
Gan Guoyang could no longer rember how long it had been since he had last had dinner at Drexler’s house; there simply was no ti.
Gan Guoyang did not ask what exactly had happened; he remained patient.
After the ga against the Rockets, the Trail Blazers embarked on a road trip to the Western Conference.
On the 12th, they narrowly defeated the Nuggets team in Denver, having been behind at one point in the fourth quarter.
In the end, they relied on strong defense and three-pointers from Gan Guoyang and Vandeweghe to turn the ga around.
On the 14th, they encountered a defeat in Dallas.
Last season’s underperforming Mavericks spent the off-season earnestly laying the groundwork for improvent.
They fired their old coach Dick Motta and hired forr Suns coach John MacLeod to reorganize the team’s offense and defense.
In this battle against the defending champions, they played beautifully, suppressing the Trail Blazers with their strong firepower.
anwhile, the Trail Blazers still hadn’t found their rhythm or feeling on the offensive end.
They lost 120 to 127, a 7-point difference.
Next, on the 17th of November, the Trail Blazers lost to the Supersonics by a 4-point margin.
In that ga, Vandeweghe scored 27 points and was in a good offensive state.
But plagued by injuries, his defense once again worsened, allowing McDaniel to score 32 points.
In 1985, it didn’t matter much if Vandeweghe’s defense was poor, as the Trail Blazers had a lot of fast breaks, and the mutual offensive play could make up for it.
By the 1987-1988 season, with bad defense during set plays and fewer fast breaks, the situation was troubleso.
After losing this ga, Jack Ramsay made an adjustnt, moving Vandeweghe to the bench and promoting Jero Kossie to the starting lineup.
Vandeweghe complied with the coach’s arrangent, but clearly, he was not pleased inside.
His relationship with Kossie beca even more delicate, worsening the atmosphere in the locker room.
It just so happened that Vandeweghe was very close with Drexler, while Porter had the best relationship with Kossie (years later, when Kossie died unexpectedly, Porter attended and hosted the press conference and funeral).
Thus, there was a subtle trend of division into two factions in the Trail Blazers’ locker room.
When Vandeweghe moved to the bench, the Trail Blazers did indeed start a winning streak.
They successively defeated the Kings, Clippers, Nets, and Spurs, marking four consecutive victories.
But in Vandeweghe’s eyes, these were already weaker teams, and they could have won whether Kossie started or not.
The explosion of the conflict occurred on November 29, after a ho ga against the Washington Bullets.
It was the first ti in his career that Gan Guoyang and Bernard King had t on an NBA court.
Facing King, Moses Malone, and Barkley, Gan Guoyang had an explosive performance, scoring 61 points with 25 rebounds and 9 blocks, singlehandedly penetrating the season’s strong-starting Bullets.
The facts proved that his ordinary performance in previous gas was just him biding his ti.
Just as Gan Guoyang was happily going to the press conference after the ga, in the locker room, Drexler and Porter got into another argunt.
Drexler believed that Porter was deliberately not passing the ball to him.
Porter retorted, "Tonight was Ah Gan’s night. It’s only right that I passed the ball to him. You didn’t have better opportunities or efficiency, and you couldn’t make your threes either."
Porter’s last comnt struck a nerve with Drexler.
Drexler had a good temper compared to other black players.
But that’s relative to other black players; he himself was a very proud man.
Gan Guoyang can joke about my shooting, but what about you, Porter? Just because you shoot slightly better than ?
The two nearly ca to blows, and Kossie and others hastily intervened, resulting in Vandeweghe pushing and shoving with Kossie, both harboring resentnt towards each other.
Vandeweghe felt that Kossie had taken his starting spot, while Kossie believed Vandeweghe’s poor defense didn’t warrant a starting role.
What was initially an argunt between two people turned into a quarrel among four, creating a deafening cacophony.
In the locker room, Beelman could hardly hold them back. As a master of profanity himself, he even felt the fight wasn’t heated enough, lacking in swear words.
Gilmore attempted to diate but was stopped by Mychal Thompson, who whispered, "Let them argue until Ah Gan cos back."
When Gan Guoyang pushed the door open and entered the locker room, the argunt ceased instantly.
The locker room beca frighteningly quiet in a mont, with the buzz of the fluorescent lights audible.
Gan Guoyang gestured with his finger for Drexler to co over, and then pointed towards the showers.
Drexler followed Gan Guoyang into the shower room like a student who had done sothing wrong.
"Strip."
"What?"
"Take off your clothes and shower."
"I... I’ve already showered."
"Shower again, and turn the water up."
Drexler had no choice but to undress and shower again.
Gan Guoyang was showering in the next stall. There was a divider, but you could hear each other’s voices.
After ten minutes, Drexler erged from the shower, dried off, and said to Porter, "Terry, go shower inside."
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