[{"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-1343":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},1444760,1896,"Chapter 1343 - 21: You Are Already a Dead Man_4","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1343",1343,"\u003Cp>Never in a million years did we expect that Van Gundy, who looks like an honest bookworm, would jump out to be the spokesperson.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This made Gan Guoyang very annoyed; he couldn’t hit Van Gundy, as that would be bullying the weak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And it was hard to retaliate with trash talk since Van Gundy was generally considered a minor character.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He could only respond with basketball, yet the Knicks’ overall strength was indeed very strong right now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The loss to the Trail Blazers was hard to swallow, and Ah Gan was very angry; it was a serious matter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kobe noticed Gan Guoyang was upset and comforted him, \"Boss, just think of it as meeting an ugly girl.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This kid could really learn and adapt well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang rolled his eyes at Kobe and said, \"I want to change one, can I?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Sorry, we’ve all already paid.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, this wasn’t the last battle between the Trail Blazers and the Knicks; they still had a chance to meet again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the time was short; a week later, on November 29th, the Trail Blazers would face the New York Knicks at home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the period back in Portland, the Trail Blazers made careful adjustments.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bird first gave the players a holiday to rest, and he held a meeting with Hart and Carl to discuss and summarize the issues during this period.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although Bird often acted hands-off, his intuition and adjustment ability were really strong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He saw numerous issues the Trail Blazers faced in offense and defense and made changes one by one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the starting lineup, Bird fixed the starting five as Van Exel, Riddle, AC Green, PJ Brown, and Ah Gan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among them, the relatively older AC Green was a pseudo-starter, and the backup playtime was assigned to Alon Magee and Kobe.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their core task was defense and doing an excellent job on offense, hitting those open shots, and finishing plays.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the backcourt, the playtime among Van Exel, Riddle, and Porter would be equally shared, decided by Bird based on the situation on the court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the frontcourt, Ah Gan and PJ Brown were the indisputable main forces. Little O’Neal, Winfield, and Dudley would get different playing opportunities depending on the opponents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A relatively stable rotation was meaningful for improving the team’s strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just imagine if every player had to play with different combinations in every game, how would they develop chemistry?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a period of integration, Bird had his own understanding of the players’ characteristics and had his own ideas on how to use them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He didn’t like overly fixed minute rotations because different players in different games, facing different opponents, would have different effects on the court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a head coach, one must make the best judgment based on the characteristics of players and opponents, combined with the situation of the night, which requires intuition on the court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In previous games, Bird made several judgments that were quite contrary to the ideas of Carl and Hart.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, Bird decided to respect the ideas of the two assistant coaches, calling a timeout or making substitutions, but the effect was unsatisfactory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After several times like this, Bird began making decisions according to his own will, achieving quite good results.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Carl and Hart gradually conceded, and in personnel deployment and tactical adjustments, they gradually followed Bird’s lead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a result, in the next four games, the Trail Blazers achieved a 4-game winning streak.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Including two wins over the Golden State Warriors, a one-point win against the Houston Rockets in overtime, and a home rout of the Denver Nuggets 110-65.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A series of victories raised the Trail Blazers to fourth place in the Western Conference as November drew to a close.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang recorded four consecutive triple-doubles, including a hook shot to win in overtime against the Rockets and a block.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chris Weber’s final shot was swatted away by him, and the Trail Blazers managed to pull off a hard-fought victory in Houston.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On November 29th, Gan Guoyang was waiting anxiously at the Rose Garden, where they had just shamed the Nuggets by 45 points in the last game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Nuggets had become a weak team after losing Mutombo and trading away Mark Jackson in the free market.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their hope for rebuilding was placed on the shoulders of rookie forward Anthony McDyess.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the 1995 draft, the Clippers selected him with the second pick and immediately traded him to the Nuggets.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This robust forward had tremendous talent and potential, but he wasn’t the kind of superstar like Ah Gan who could change the fate of a team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the matchup against Ah Gan, he seemed quite powerless, and the Nuggets were soundly defeated in Portland.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This painful defeat directly led to Nuggets coach Bickerstaff being dismissed, replaced by veteran coach Dick Motta.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, even the best housewife cannot cook without rice. Nuggets GM Dan Issel lacked patience for rebuilding—a common issue for many teams in the ’90s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the time, many trades and contracts seemed too rushed and childish from a future perspective, related to the imperfect trading rules at the time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>GMs were like playing games, switching players around, giving young players big contracts, eager to see results within one or two seasons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back then, Gan Guoyang indeed set a bad example; after all, he won the championship so quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jeff Van Gundy entered the Rose Garden Arena with a sense of unprecedented tension along with his players.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the game, he thought he would be mocked by Portland fans because his provocation of Ah Gan had spread throughout the league.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There were various reactions, some praising his courage, some mocking his recklessness, yet all contained one reminder, \"Good luck.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Van Gundy was mentally prepared, but what he didn’t expect was that fans at the Rose Garden Arena didn’t boo him, nor did they draw cartoons mocking his bald head.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But many fans, especially the honest young fans, gave him strange looks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These eyes made Van Gundy very uncomfortable, like a thorn in the back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A young fan held up a sign that read, \"Good luck, Jeff.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some older fans even greeted Van Gundy warmly and asked how he was doing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The more this happened, the more Van Gundy broke out in a cold sweat before the game; the atmosphere seemed very eerie.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Until after the players’ warm-up and entrance ceremony was over, Gan Guoyang adjusted his jersey and walked toward the Knicks bench.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He said to Van Gundy, \"Jeff, fifty points.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He left without looking back, heading for the center circle to jump.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Van Gundy felt sweat dribbling into his shirt, and he began to understand what the fans’ gaze meant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They seemed to be saying, \"You are already a dead man.\"\u003C\u002Fp>",1123,"2026-06-06T01:41:52.877Z",1,"novelbin.me","051c44058300c4200f3a13ba5f2ddaebf9e566961a6b7dafd6bdbebc4278386b","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1344","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1342",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]