[{"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-1616":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},1445133,1896,"Chapter 1616 - 47: The Curtain Falls (Part 2)","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1616",1616,"\u003Cp>After Jordan returned to the court, the Bulls began their most intense counter-attack. Their full-court press defense caused continuous problems for the Trail Blazers’ offense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although there were no turnovers, the execution was not smooth, and coupled with Gan Guoyang performing a solo act tonight, the offensive state of other players was average.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang was affected by multiple double-teams, missed two shots, and the Bulls seized the opportunity to continuously close the gap.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pippen hit a three-pointer, followed by Jordan with a pull-up jumper on the fast break, scoring and drawing a foul from Gan Guoyang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A beautiful basket, the free throw was successful, and the Bulls chased down 6 points, shrinking the deficit to 4 points.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Trail Blazers called a timeout, the game wasn’t over, and a 10-point lead was not safe at all.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since the Trail Blazers chose to speed up the pace and increase possessions, the advantage could disappear in an instant.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bird knew that it was too late to change strategies and play team offense now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ah Gan, that bastard, had already loaded the rhythm and pressure onto himself alone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They could only rely on him, but luckily Gan Guoyang was someone they could rely on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the timeout, the Trail Blazers slowed down the pace and focused on half-court offense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bird finally brought in a big lineup, but he didn’t let Little O’Neal play the power forward position and instead used the experienced AC Green.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There was no room for mistakes now, and veteran Green was ready for such matches.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang came onto the perimeter facing Pippen’s defense with a high-difficulty Kiki-step step-back jumper, nailed a long two-pointer!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pippen had already defended this ball to perfection, but Gan Guoyang still managed to score, his nerves unbelievably strong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After moving to the small forward position, Gan Guoyang’s offense became more agile, no longer constrained by teammates feeding him the ball.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, his style was just like Jordan’s, and the two engaged in the most fair fight to the death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jordan made a high-position drive, in the fourth quarter Kobe was the one defending Jordan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kobe was closely marking Jordan, but he couldn’t physically challenge Jordan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jordan pushed Kobe aside, created space for the shot, and hit a small fadeaway jumper for two points.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang dribbled past the half court himself, attempted a three-pointer, the Bulls’ players were holding their breath.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the shot missed, giving the Bulls a chance to counter-attack, with Pippen trying to attack the basket directly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The layup was interfered with by Sabonis without scoring, AC Green secured the defensive rebound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The score difference remained at 4 points, Kobe held the ball, executing a high pick-and-roll with Gan Guoyang, Gan Guoyang received the ball and passed it straight to the basket.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sabonis received the ball, turned and hooked, Luke Longley went all out to block, the ball didn’t go in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Veteran AC Green again tipped the ball out, preventing Rodman from getting the rebound.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this moment, the Bulls had a tall lineup with no shooting guard on the court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jordan and Pippen paired in the back court, the small forward was Kukoc, and the inside players were Longley and Rodman.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But AC Green grabbed both a defensive and an offensive rebound, stabilizing the situation for the Trail Blazers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ball was given to Gan Guoyang, who held it at the top of the arc, facing Pippen, adjusted his breathing, and made a frontal forceful drive!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the handcheck-allowed 90s, it was extremely difficult to make a forceful breakthrough from the perimeter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was almost impossible to purely rely on explosiveness and speed to shake off opponents, the defensive player would definitely stick close.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This is when the holder needed a strong physique to resist the opponent’s pulling and pushing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And Gan Guoyang was exactly like a human tank, even an expert perimeter defender like Pippen couldn’t stop him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang cut along the edge of the three-second zone to the basket, Longley was drawn away by Sabonis, leaving the basket open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang pushed off Pippen and jumped for a single-handed dunk! Restoring the lead to a six-point safety zone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pippen did his best on this ball, any more effort would have been a foul sending Gan to the free throw line, he cursed silently inside at Gan for being such a freak, playing at small forward despite being a center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And this was precisely the Trail Blazers’ killer move, using Gan Guoyang’s mismatch advantage at the small forward to attack the opponent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The current NBA hadn’t yet seen this kind of tall versatile wing, Toni Kukoc was tall enough but his defensive footwork was too slow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pippen was already the best defender at this position, but his strength and height were still a bit lacking, getting severely beaten in 1992 and continuing to struggle now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Bulls had no other choice but to hold on, Jordan used a quick breakthrough to force his way to the basket, with air confrontation, missing the layup and drawing Sabonis’s foul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both free throws were made, the score difference remained four points, time was ticking away, about to hit the final two minutes showdown.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At this point, tactics weren’t as important, players’ mental states, luck, and flashes of brilliance could more determine victory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Trail Blazers had a crucial offense, Sabonis went to the high post for a screen for Gan Guoyang, the mutual screening between giants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang took a step in, but didn’t force a breakthrough. Instead, he took a step back, stepped on the arc line and made a strong shot!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seizing the defensive gap, the ball flew accurately like a missile, after scoring, Gan Guoyang raised his right fist!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire Rose Garden erupted in cheers, with Gan Guoyang securing his 50th point of the match!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The score was revised to 100:94 with just 1 minute 25 seconds remaining in the game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Trail Blazers led by six, quite steadily, making it difficult for the Bulls to chase the score.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it was at this moment that Jordan faced Kobe’s defense on the perimeter, made a simple crossover and directly shot a three-pointer!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kobe jumped to block, hitting Jordan’s arm, the referee whistled, but Jordan still managed to shoot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The ball drew a relatively straight arc, hit the backboard, and bounced into the basket! It actually went in!\u003C\u002Fp>",1063,"2026-06-06T01:42:05.612Z",1,"novelbin.me","f1cc84566261aa636c6d721f70c0abd2149068d177f34f2be6bad56da52536ac","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1617","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1615",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]