[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-golden-age-of-basketball":3,"chapter-the-golden-age-of-basketball-the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1176":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Golden Age of Basketball",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1444715,1896,"Chapter 1176 - 23: Champion Genes_3","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1176",1176,"\u003Cp>\"At the start of the playoffs, no one believed we could make it to the end. Now, I guess the people of Los Angeles must be believers!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Old Tang’s speech was very effective, greatly boosting the confidence of Portland fans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On May 9th, the Rose Garden Arena hosted the first semifinal game between the Trail Blazers and the Supersonics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That night, the tickets were once again sold out, with over two hundred temporary seats added on-site.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The frenzy of Portland fans provided strong psychological support to the Trail Blazers players.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the regular season, many fans said, \"Championship or not, it doesn’t matter as long as we can watch Ah Gan play.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when it comes to the blood-and-steel playoffs, no one refuses victory and a championship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Supersonics feel the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After more than two years of rebuilding, the Supersonics have already completed their basic framework.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their wild and energetic playing style stands out in the league, causing headaches for many strong teams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kemp, Payton, Rice, and McMillan — the core members of the Supersonics — are all very young.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They can sprint across the court, relentlessly switching defense, double-teaming, and fast-breaking, causing opponents to crumble in chaos.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In last year’s semifinal opener, they stole a victory from Portland with their astonishing defense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their SOS defensive system was already very mature; what was immature last season were the players.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were eventually outplayed by the experienced and shrewd Trail Blazers through patient half-court offense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then they lost four straight games and were eliminated 1:4.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This season, the Supersonics’ players have become more mature.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They have the best stealing ability in the league on the defensive end — an average of 11.5 steals per game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Correspondingly, they have the league’s best turnover-inducing ability — opponents average 18.5 turnovers per game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These stats sufficiently illustrate their ferocity and aggression on defense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Supersonics are the team that uses switch defense the most on the defensive end, switching a lot in numerous possessions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their goal is to maintain the stability of their defensive formation, even if it means mismatches, big or small.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Payton, McMillan, Kemp, and others frequently engage in mismatch defense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Small defending big and big defending small are routine matters; George Karl likes this chaos and disorder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is where Karl and Larry-Brown are entirely different.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s said that Brown uses a ruler during defense training to measure the distance between players, ensuring precise positioning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In contrast, Karl often doesn’t practice defense but focuses on fitness, allowing players to switch whenever they meet an opponent during games, with no additional thought.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nowadays, the Trail Blazers are not afraid of Brown’s meticulousness; the Princeton is precisely for accurate positioning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more obsessed they are with the completeness and accuracy of the formation, the more the Trail Blazers can tear apart the defense with passing according to the strategy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially with a versatile all-rounder like Gan Guoyang, there’s no way for Larry-Brown’s tight formation to respond.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In contrast, facing a ’neurotic’ team like the Supersonics, who are ’mania’ patients, the Trail Blazers have to put in some effort, perhaps even encountering significant trouble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Princeton, and similar passing and cutting systems, are centered around finding space through screens, movement, and backdoor plays.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>High screens, wing screens, low hand-off passes, all utilize two-man screens to find space for movement, cutting, and shooting.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Supersonics’ defense targets this kind of space, using stamina consumption and defensive mismatches as a cost, using extensive switching to block all gaps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They don’t care about your height or build but will not hesitate to harass you, even destroy you.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the regular season’s four encounters, the teams fought to a 2:2 tie.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the Trail Blazers gave up early in the last game, conceding a win to the Supersonics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Supersonics did win one hard-fought match in the Rose Garden Arena.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Enough to demonstrate that the Supersonics have the power to challenge the Trail Blazers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>George Karl is very confident in the team’s system and setup — this guy has always been confident.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the pre-game interview, he said, \"We are underestimated by many; we are very good. In terms of strength, we’re not inferior to the Trail Blazers; we will strive for victory with all our might.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to the past, Karl is much more low-key, speaking steadily, without trying to provoke Ah Gan with words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the ’80s, he already suffered once; people should learn from their mistakes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He put more energy into pre-game preparations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Supersonics are equally well-prepared, swearing to dethrone the champions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The game between the Trail Blazers and the Supersonics started half an hour later than the Suns and Nuggets game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before going on the court, Gan Guoyang glanced at the TV and saw the Suns trailing the Nuggets by 5 points at the start of the fifth match.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He thought if Barkley lost the battle for the fifth game, it would be embarrassing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first team in history to be upset as an 8-seed, they would surely be laughed at for life.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No time to bother about Barkley, Gan Guoyang and his teammates focused on the first game of the semifinals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Trail Blazers’ starting lineup remained unchanged, with Gan Guoyang still in the power forward position.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sabonis stood at the center circle for the jump ball.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the Supersonics adopted a five-center lineup.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Standing at the center circle to jump against Sabonis was their power forward Kemp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their center position was also played by the power forward Sam Perkins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the midseason, the Supersonics finally couldn’t endure Bennett Benjamin anymore.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They traded him to the Lakers in exchange for Sam Perkins.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a great trade; Perkins brought experience and offense to the Supersonics’ inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After acquiring Perkins, the Supersonics immediately went on a 10-game winning streak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This ultimately locked their regular-season record in third place in the Western Conference.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, after the playoffs started, the Supersonics actually preferred to stay in fourth.\u003C\u002Fp>",993,"2026-06-06T01:41:51.304Z",1,"novelbin.me","4f90eb6396a0aecefdad8a935301783ff0bfe2281024c540f4a4c107a624279a","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1177","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1322",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]