Chapter 688 - 59: Receiving the Coffin_2

From this perspective, The Palace of Auburn Hills and Pistons owner Bill Davidson were significant forces in pushing the NBA toward modernity and luxury consumption, making active contributions to the league’s expansion and development.

Of course, this did not affect the Pistons’ notorious reputation within the league.

After their championship victory in 1989, the Pistons’ momentum reached its peak.

The team was officially given the moniker "BAD BOYS." On every night at The Palace of Auburn Hills, black skull flags would flutter, warning visiting teams of their fierce pirate-like nature.

The Detroit Pistons, with their rough defense, single-handedly altered the league’s style of play.

It was the Pistons who initiated the transformation of the NBA from an offense-oriented league to a defense-oriented one.

Compared to the Lakers and Celtics, the Pistons weren’t the most talented team.

They have so far not displayed the kind of dominance on the court like the Lakers and Celtics.

However, precisely because the Pistons were not the most gifted, and their basketball market wasn’t large—the team lacked depth— they showed many mediocre teams a shortcut to success— if you can’t outplay the opposition, you can hit them.

In the past, during the 60s and 70s, violence in NBA basketball was normal, continuing to this day, even though under David Stern’s leadership, such incidents have diminished and the games have become more peaceful; still, there are minor conflicts on nearly every game day.

Back then, conflicts on the court were not about winning but were due to the poor environment, low-quality players, and the bad atmosphere in the league.

The Detroit Pistons, on the other hand, were the first to use on-court violence as a means to win and systematically crafted a culture of violence for victory.

Therefore, like Bill Davidson, Chuck Daly was also a pioneer, perfectly integrating defense and non-basketball tactics into the game to overcome talent deficiencies.

This year, the Detroit Pistons continued their fierce momentum in the regular season, though their backcourt firepower was somewhat lacking due to the loss of Vinnie Johnson in the expansion draft, resulting in a slight decline in performance compared to last season.

The reason the Pistons chose to keep Rick Mahorn over Vinnie Johnson in the expansion draft was to retain enough power in the frontcourt to deal with Ah Gan.

This Eastern versus Western Conference top game naturally attracted massive attention, and NBA Commissioner David Stern once again arrived at the scene to supervise.

His reason for coming to Detroit was simple: to prevent violence, as there had been too many "battles" between the Trail Blazers and the Pistons.

On the other hand, the fans were very excited about the teams meeting and hoped for a brawl and witness Ah Gan rampaging.

Most fans just want to see the excitement; the outcome of the regular season match isn’t important to many—it’s the intense scenes that the crowds seek.

With the Pistons’ departure from the Silver Dome, Ah Gan’s nickname "Silverdome Killer" will also become history.

The Palace of Auburn Hills will be his new battlefield, uncharted land yet to be cultivated.

However, the match was played fairly, with the Pistons being restrained by Ah Gan’s terrifying fighting spirit, keeping their movements relatively controlled.

The Pistons employed a rotation strategy, sending out Lan Bi’er, Melvin Turpin, Ma Hong, Salley, and Rodman in turns to harass Gan Guoyang and constantly double-team him.

The current Pistons squad boasts the league’s most enviable frontcourt arsenal— from tall, dirty-standing centers to agile, versatile forwards; from robust, all-rounded power forwards to long-legged "spidermen," the Pistons have it all.

All of this is aimed at dealing with Ah Gan and, by the way, also to cover Joe.

The Pistons’ double-teams are more aggressive than the Bulls, with large hand movements and intense physical confrontations that overwhelm many players and disrupt their offensive rhythm.

Tonight, Gan Guoyang’s offensive feeling is average; his shooting touch seems to have been used up against the Bulls.

With the Pistons guarding him tightly, Gan Guoyang changed tactics, continually passing the ball to teammates and running plays.

Sabonis scores consecutive hook shots in the paint, Hornacek changes his previous game’s slump and continues to hit mid-range jumpers using Ah Gan’s screens.

The score of both teams was closely matched, battling into the fourth quarter to decide the outcome. Terry Porter and Petrović each hit a key three-pointer, establishing the advantage.

With Ah Gan blocking Isiah Thomas’ jump shot and Melvin Tipping’s layup in the final moments, the Trail Blazers secured the victory.

95:91, the Trail Blazers won by 4 points against the Pistons, bringing the regular-season matchup to a 1:1 standstill.

At the end of the game, instead of handshakes and hugs, both teams immediately returned to their locker rooms.

Everyone in the Pistons organization was clear that Portland people would once again become the hot favorites for the Western Conference championship this year.

On the Pistons’ path to defending their title, Jordan and Ah Gan have become the biggest obstacles.

After defeating both the Pistons and the Bulls, the two strong teams of the Eastern Conference, the Trail Blazers continued their triumphant march away from home.

On February 19th, they easily defeated the New Jersey Nets on the road.

On February 20th, back-to-back away games, they won an overtime match against the Cleveland Cavaliers, achieving a four-game road winning streak.

Although there were signs of fatigue in the Trail Blazers during the Cleveland game, and their shooting percentage was bad throughout, they managed to scrape through with tenacious defense and crucial offensive rebounds from Sabonis and Gan Guoyang.