[{"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-1468":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},1444885,1896,"Chapter 1468 - 56: Three Memories","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1468",1468,"\u003Cp>[When I try to recall the Western Conference finals of 1997, everything is incredibly, incredibly clear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From the moment the opening whistle blew, adrenaline levels rose, and the game was more intense than ever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every moment of touching the ball felt like the last few seconds before the end of a regular season game, with extremely, extremely focused attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So everything was so clear, so distinct, etched into my sea of memory like a knife carve.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My mind was always buzzing, whether at the Rose Garden or the Triangle Center, both were deafeningly loud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All the players existed and breathed at a level they could not imagine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the reason for all this was that our opponent was the Portland Trail Blazers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was Ah Gan.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>——Excerpt from John Stockton’s autobiography \"Assisted\", published in 2012.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[Many memories of the 1997 season have actually become blurry, even though it was my first season as a coach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Perhaps because it’s distant, or perhaps because it wasn’t too perfect, but mainly because my memory has deteriorated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the Western Conference semifinals, we eliminated the young Houston Rockets in six games; they played excellently and had a chance to knock us out at one point.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But we made timely adjustments, I changed the starting lineup, Van Exel expressed dissatisfaction, and of course, I would not compromise.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since then, he has never worn the Portland Trail Blazers jersey again, I respect the players, but they must understand that the coach’s decision is paramount.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Ah Gan has never openly opposed my decisions; if he had any opinions, he would discuss them privately, and he handled this well.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After defeating the Rockets, the Trail Blazers once again appeared on the stage of the Western Conference finals, with the opponent being the Utah Jazz.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the eleventh time Ah Gan led the Trail Blazers onto the stage of the West Finals; for him, reaching the conference finals every season was a baseline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I hoped for a breakthrough, hoped to return to the Finals; otherwise, how would I be different from PJ Carlesimo?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although without Van Exel, the semifinals proved that young players like Kobe and Jermaine O’Neal were worthy of trust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially Kobe, who delivered crucial performances in the latter games, and after defeating the Rockets, he was emotional, shouting, \"Let the people of Utah City come!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had to remind him, \"Kid, Utah is a state, not a city.\" (It is said that Karl Malone made the same mistake, a common symptom of low education.)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first game was held in Salt Lake City, where the fans were crazy, and the noise was so great it made people frantic; standing among them, you would feel tense and irritable even doing nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because Van Exel was indefinitely suspended, I continued to use Terry Porter as the starter, who had previously performed exceptionally well against the Jazz.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as time passed, many things changed, and Stockton and Hornersek, as in the regular season, played dominantly outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially Stockton, in the first game, he scored 25 points, which was rare for him—correspondingly, he only delivered 8 assists.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was fully on the attack, and his three-pointers were extremely precise; our perimeter defensive loopholes were many and were caught by him one by one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We couldn’t expect Ah Gan to cover the three-point line’s gaps, as he had more important work to do inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The regular season’s problems remained unsolved, and we needed a perimeter sharp shooter to deal with Stockton and Hornersek.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These two white players played exceptionally slick and smart, and this was precisely where our problem lay, as young players lacked defensive experience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And the game between Porter and Stockton had reversed; he could no longer score 40 points on Stockton’s head, and his defense was hard-pressed to cope with the Jazz’s fast and cohesive passing on the outside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We regrettably lost the first game; indeed, right to the end, we still had a chance. Ah Gan hit consecutive threes to catch up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as the saying goes, no one is truly always accurate; he would eventually miss, and then the Jazz regained control, and we lost hope.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I placed my hopes on Kobe, hoping for improvement in the second game, having him primarily defend Stockton.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the fact proved that placing pressure on a young rookie was unreliable, even with a rookie like Ah Gan, the game was lost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the second game, the Jazz team bloomed all over, while our touch was cold, lost in the noise of Salt Lake City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kobe was toyed with by Stockton’s passing; he was too young, lacking experience, filled with passion, but led by the nose by the seasoned Stockton.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this game, Stockton scored 17 points and 18 assists; John burst forth with great strength against Ah Gan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone knows they are close friends, intimate college teammates who won the NCAA championship together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to Ah Gan’s shining brilliance, John was always the one overlooked; in fact, he had great energy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the 1992 Olympics, in the match against Ah Gan and the China Team, John’s appearance was the key to changing the situation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He knew Ah Gan too well, knew Ah Gan’s strengths, his playing characteristics, how to avoid him, how to provoke him, and how to pass the right ball to teammates.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I could see through him, but I couldn’t stop him, I couldn’t get on the court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leaving Salt Lake City, everyone thought we were already out, that we had been defeated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ah Gan’s 1996 return would end in obscurity; his performance was shocking enough.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He won the regular season MVP, crowned the four main statistics, his personal achievements were unprecedented, unimaginable.\u003C\u002Fp>",948,"2026-06-06T01:41:56.527Z",1,"novelbin.me","08b817ebd01f3f238540715bb96257de0a653c62a9b3af15db36b559bbbe5272","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1469","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1467",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]