Once again victorious in the great battle of Gan vs. Jordan, Gan Guoyang was no longer satisfied with just the regular season matchups.
Jordan felt the sa.
They both longed to et on the grandest stage.
The fans shared these thoughts.
After the ga between the Trail Blazers and the Bulls ended, a new issue of Sports Illustrated featured a cover photo of Jordan and Gan Guoyang facing off.
Asking the question, "When will 23 vs. 11 happen?"
The Bulls still seed a bit young, with the Detroit Pistons standing like a mountain in front of Jordan and the Bulls.
After all, Phil Jackson was just in his first season, and the triangle offense still had many areas that needed refinent.
But the fans were impatient.
Every matchup between Gan Guoyang and Jordan never disappointed the fans.
Both always scored high points and consistently delivered morable monts.
As ti went by, those intense, blood-boiling scenes beca less frequent.
Instead, there was an undercurrent of struggle, a high-intensity confrontation in detail.
Along with a defensive and offensive duel where heroes towered over others.
The stage of the regular season was no longer enough for them to perform fully, it was obvious they weren’t giving their all in the gas.
Otherwise, how could they possibly only score in the 40s?
Facing the rising popularity of the Trail Blazers and the Bulls, other teams and players were naturally not pleased.
After all, the season had just started, the year 1990 hadn’t even arrived yet – how could they already be dreaming about the finals in June?
Did anyone ask the other strong teams? Are the Bulls and the Trail Blazers so strong that they are the only heroes in the world?
In the Western Conference, the Lakers closely followed the Trail Blazers in wins, with Don Nelson shaping the Lakers into a team that completely revolved around Magic Johnson, with guard-oriented attacks at its core, playing the league’s most sharp and fluid counterattacks.
In the Eastern Conference, the defending champion Detroit Pistons still maintained strong competitiveness, but they had so roster losses.
In the 1989 expansion draft, as they could only keep eight players, the Pistons agonized over the last spot between Rick Mahorn and Vinnie Johnson.
In the end, considering they might face the Trail Blazers in the finals, they decided to keep Rick Mahorn and let Vinnie Johnson go to the Hornets.
With the loss of the Pistons’ triple-threat in the backcourt down to a duo, they then stacked a group of forwards, preparing for Ah Gan.
But without Vinnie Johnson, whether Thomas and Dumars could withstand Jordan’s firepower was now a tough question.
The Trail Blazers, after securing a key victory, quickly crashed in the next back-to-back ga, losing at ho to the visiting Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors unexpectedly used offense and three-pointers to defeat the Trail Blazers, racking up 127 points for the ga, with an incredible three-point shooting percentage, hitting 6 out of 11 attempts.
It could be said the Trail Blazers were beaten by the style of play they helped pioneer.
After Adelman left the Warriors, the Warriors hired Mike Dunleavy, forr Bucks assistant coach.
Dunleavy had played and coached under Don Nelson, so he picked up Nelson’s guard system and built a fast-paced offense around the backcourt trio of TMC – Chris Mullin, Tim Hardaway, and Richmond.
In front of the sharp offense of the Warriors, the Trail Blazers’ weakness in backcourt defense was exposed – Hornacek continued to miss gas.
At the sa ti, both Gan Guoyang and Sabonis had diocre performances, while Divac ca off the bench to score a career-high of 17 points.
Losing the ga wasn’t a disaster for the Trail Blazers; Beelman even praised Divac after the match, encouraging him that he had taken an important step in his career.
Afterward, the Trail Blazers underwent so ups and downs in their record, as they typically entered a state of fatigue in the latter half of December.
The players were in their first period of fatigue, especially with injuries and away gas stacking up.
When Hornacek returned, Terry Porter faced so minor injury troubles, his elbow was bruised in practice, making him miss two gas.
Before Christmas, the Trail Blazers lost two of their four away gas, bringing their record to 20 wins and 5 losses, still atop the league.
This Christmas battle, due to protests from the teams – none wanted to play on Christmas day, preferring to go ho for the holidays – the League only scheduled one ga: Cavaliers vs. Hawks.
Who’s going to watch that, damn it. Not to speak of the ratings, it created a new low for Christmas battle viewership in recent years.
Stern had no choice; firstly, everyone did not want to play the Christmas battle, wanting to go ho for the holidays.
Secondly, he had to take care of the smaller teams, giving those less popular teams so spotlight to maintain the League’s ecological balance.
Furthermore, both the Cavaliers and Hawks were strong teams last season, with the Cavaliers even ranking second in the Eastern Conference.
At the ti of scheduling, no one expected the Cavaliers to be so brain-dead, giving away their core guard at the start and causing their team’s strength and popularity to plumt.
The Hawks were in a similar situation to the Cavaliers, last season still a 52-win team in the Eastern Conference, but this season things went from bad to worse.
Signing Moses Malone did not catapult the Hawks into championship contention. Instead, Malone’s increasing age ant his dominance in the paint significantly diminished.
Moses Malone was a superstar center who, except for his offense and one-on-one defense, was rather diocre in other aspects.
His career assists per ga were consistently below two, with a career-high of only 1.8, indicating his lack of contribution in playmaking.
In his pri, Malone dominated the league with his explosive power and energetic style of play, constantly assaulting the opponent’s three-second zone and wreaking havoc on their interior defense.
Now, he no longer possessed that sa kind of impact, but his playing style remained unchanged; he still relied on scoring in the paint and second-chance points.
Consequently, he repeatedly struggled against the new breed of superstar centers and young big n.
During gas, it was common to see him struggling to score in the paint or looking frustrated after his shots were blocked.
The Hawks’ record plumted just like the Cavaliers’, with the Eastern Conference turning into the domain of the Pistons, Bulls, and Knicks.
The rapidly rising Pacers, after beating the Trail Blazers by 4 points at ho on December 26, post-Christmas, handed the Blazers their sixth loss of the season.
This was the first ti the Indiana Pacers had beaten the Trail Blazers since the 1985 season.
For the past five seasons, the Pacers had not won against the Trail Blazers due to Ah Gan’s arrival.
Now, the Pacers had found their new leader in Reggie Miller, who, after two and a half years of training, beca a tenacious outside shooter.
Off the bench, they signed the German Schlammfeste to provide outside shooting, and at the center position they acquired the Dutch giant Rick Smits.
A new star team in the Eastern Conference was on the rise, steadily clarifying their frawork.
For the Trail Blazers, losing gas was still not a concern, following their long-standing tradition.
They aid to perform well at the start of the season, setting a foundation for the team.
Starting in December and heading into the midpoint of the season, they would experint and identify issues by losing so gas.
If a trade was needed, they’d execute it; otherwise, they would adjust and change their playstyle and rotations.
After the All-Star ga in February, it was ti to gear up for the playoffs with fixed rotations and intense preparation.
This process, Beelman had learned most of it from Jack Ramsey, and now they had indeed identified so issues.
Their backcourt defense lacked intensity and height, and recent losses against teams like the Pacers and the Warriors exposed their vulnerability to opponents’ periter shooting.
As the new year approached, Jerry West spoke with Buckwalter about the team’s backcourt defense issues.
West had previously considered trading Petrović, given his over one million-dollar contract and solid offense but terrible defense.
The Trail Blazers’ backcourt, including Curry, Hornacek, and Porter, tended to be shorter and leaner, while Jero Kossie was on the bigger side.
If they could trade Petrović for a strong 6’7" defensive swingman, it would be a significant boost for the Trail Blazers.
After all, the Trail Blazers had enough firepower in the backcourt; what they lacked was defense. Sanders was good, but one man wasn’t enough.
But Buckwalter shook his head and said, "The team atmosphere is great right now, trading might not be the best choice."
"We should strive for perfection," West replied, feeling the pressure on his shoulders no less than anyone else’s.
As a "traitor" to Los Angeles, he needed the Trail Blazers to be successful this season.
was just around the corner, and their first opponent of the new year would be the Los Angeles Lakers.
Buckwalter added, "Have you forgotten, Jerry? I once said the Trail Blazers are like a Foxbat; sotis it’s not about precision but raw engine power. Maybe you should ask Ah Gan for his opinion; it’s important, and he might have a solution for the periter defense."
West thought that indeed, he should seek Ah Gan’s opinion.
The NBA now was different than before when team managers and owners had the ultimate say and could trade as they wished.
After all, players were assets, and trading assets around, as long as it followed the rules, was at their discretion. As an asset, you just took the money and didn’t concern yourself with where you were sent.
Tis had changed, with stars holding significant importance, and it was best to consult the team leader before any trade. An unhappy leader could complicate matters.
Take the Bulls’ Klaus, who traded Jordan’s good friend Oakley, and even though Jordan ultimately complied, it sowed the seeds for their relationship to sour.
West didn’t want to strain his relationship with Ah Gan, especially since the team was doing well, and he saw the need to communicate with Ah Gan.
Before West could ask, Beelman, hearing from Buckwalter, sought West to discuss keeping Petrović, saying, "He’s my only imaginative offensive point on the periter, and I can’t let him go."
Regarding the periter defense, Beelman said, "It’s okay, I’ll have Ah Gan play the power forward position and help with the periter defense. Starting the new year, I’m going to increase his playing ti!"
West thought it over and realized this might be the simplest and most straightforward way to address the issue. Trades were just too troubleso.
With that, he let go of the idea of trading and allowed his anxiety from the losses to ease a bit.
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