[{"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-707":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},1444274,1896,"Chapter 707 - 73: Afterburning","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-707",707,"\u003Cp>The 1990 Portland Trail Blazers were like a riddle; theoretically, this shouldn’t have been the best Trail Blazers team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In 1989, the team experienced failure, losing an important player ranked second on the team, and although new players were added in the summer, they were all unproven European players.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The overall structure of the team did not undergo any substantial change compared to before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The team changed owners and management, including me, a \"traitor\" who came from Los Angeles all by myself—a term people from Los Angeles would occasionally use to refer to me even long afterwards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Throughout the season I kept trying to make trades, hoping to bring a better frontcourt to the team, or to resolve our defensive issues in the backcourt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was never quite satisfied with our bench players at the post position; Thompson was too old, and Divac too young. I always had the opportunity to make a beautiful trade using Divac or Petrović as a bargaining chip, to further perfect and strengthen the team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sabonis’ injury problems were worrisome; he was plagued with various minor injuries throughout the season, missing 15 games.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The injuries limited his speed and explosiveness; he was somewhat clumsy and not the master playmaker people imagined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Divac struggled when facing some powerful interior players; his defense was always a problem.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And he was too young and inexperienced, spending the whole season adapting to the NBA’s playing environment and lifestyle; Sabonis did somewhat better in this regard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Our frontcourt was lacking in talent, which was dangerous; I could feel that the league’s talented frontcourt players were becoming more numerous, and the small forward position was becoming increasingly important.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kossie was excellent, but he was too tall and heavy, which made it difficult for him to defend speedier players.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cliff Robinson, like Divac, was talented but too young, and I thought his style of play was unlikely to hold up in tough games.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mike-Sanders was just average; you couldn’t expect more from him, and his performance was commensurate with his salary, nothing more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Porter and Hornacek were outstanding; they were very low-key, and the media dubbed them the \"mute duo\"—they were too plain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sometimes this was a good thing, but sometimes it was a drawback; the lack of talent made them less aggressive at crucial moments, and this deficiency in the backcourt could be more headache-inducing than not having a top-tier post player, as the ball is often in the hands of guards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Petrović might be one of the league’s worst defenders at the guard position; his one-on-one defense and defensive efficiency were problematic, and I felt that even the 1974 version of myself could have overwhelmed him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I admit he had potential, but in 1990, he was just a Matthews-type player; in crucial games, it was hard for him to play a decisive role.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Dale Curry, aside from his shooting, was unremarkable in other areas; he was more suitable for weaker teams in the middle and lower tiers of the league.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In short, at the beginning of the season, I was anxious as always. I prepared myself mentally for what might not be a very successful season.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as the season progressed, they dispelled many people’s doubts with their record, victory after victory, all kinds of victories.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the All-Star break, they reminded me of the 1972 Lakers; theoretically, that Lakers team shouldn’t have been the best either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wilt was 35, I was 33, my scoring average dropped to the lowest since my rookie season, and for the first time in his career, Wilt’s scoring average fell below 20 points.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Worst of all, Elgin Baylor announced his retirement after just nine games in the season; at 37, he was no longer able to keep up, he didn’t want to continue, he decided to leave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the entire 1972 season, our team only had 11 players; without Baylor, no one filled the void, and his starting position was taken by 23-year-old Jim McMillan, just one year into the league.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone thought we were finished; without Baylor and with the visible decline of Wilt and myself, Alcindor and his Bucks were dominating the league.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But that year we secured 69 wins, set a record with a 33-game winning streak in the regular season, and defeated the Bucks and Knicks to win the championship.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The reason was that we played faster, more united, more focused, and no team could stop our progress.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When the Trail Blazers ended the regular season with 69 wins as well, I knew the same thing was happening again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They didn’t seem like they should be the best, but they were the best.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sabonis provided excellent defense in the three-second zone; his height and defensive instincts gave every league scorer attempting to attack the basket a headache.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, his defensive range was greatly underestimated; often he could defend beyond the three-point line, applying pressure to every opposing ball-handler, then smoothly returning to his position in the paint.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He wasn’t a master playmaker, but his coordination was superb; he quickly became an indispensable screen-setter and lookout tower in the team’s half-court offense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His fundamentals were very solid, and many years later, Tim Duncan was considered the American black version of Sabonis.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Divac was very different from Sabonis; he was slippery, agile, smart, and liked to draw fouls from opponents on the defensive end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This made up for the weaker aspects of his physical condition; of course, it also provoked anger from some opponents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He endured it because he was roughed up every day in practice; he grew rapidly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kossie could become the team’s top scorer in some games; he and Cliff Robinson were multi-talented and were the team’s X-factors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They were the wild Black players who infused the Trail Blazers with passion, and in those tough, tense games, their performances often uplifted the spirits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, compared to Petrović, they all seemed rather plain, his surging basketball passion was shocking.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bobby Beelman insisted on giving Petrović enough time to grow and gain experience, I think he saw his own past in Petrović—a mad basketball gambler, a player who could defy fate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was still growing, with many problems, but in some games, he already cast the shadow of a superstar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He brought internal competitiveness to the team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for Dell Curry, he had an amazing son.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, all this was not enough to make the Trail Blazers as strong and excellent as they were in 1990.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We swept through all three rounds of the Western Conference playoffs, setting a new NBA historical record.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the start of the 1990 finals, I found Buckwalter and said to him, \"Buck, I finally understand what you meant; the Portland Trail Blazers are like a Foxbat, turning the throttle to the max, it could fly a stainless steel block at Mach 3.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Buckwalter said to me, \"Our engines haven’t even turned on the afterburner yet.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>— Published in 2011, an excerpt from Jerry West’s autobiography \"West by West.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because the Pistons and the Bulls went to Game 7, the finals came quickly for them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only two days after the end of the Eastern Conference finals, on June 6th, the Detroit Pistons and Portland Trail Blazers finals began at the Memorial Coliseum.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another sleepless night for Portland.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the Western Conference finals were over, Portland fans had waited a week.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Both the Memorial Coliseum and the neighboring Paramount Theatre were sold out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The scenes from the 80s where people camped out in tents to buy tickets were replayed in Portland.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next to the Memorial Coliseum, the new arena was being built overnight, busy and bustling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This new arena would be able to accommodate over 20,000 fans, meeting the passionate viewing demands of Portlanders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although the world was looking forward to a \"Red and Black\" finals between the Chicago Bulls and the Portland Trail Blazers, the \"Hamlet\" between the Detroit Pistons and the Trail Blazers was equally captivating - even if it featured a dark prince.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was a reunion after three years since the 1987 finals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In 1987, the Detroit Pistons were not fully prepared.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They lacked offensive players in the low post, and their front line was too inexperienced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>By 1990, they had been baptized as champions, with complete championship experience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To deal with Ah Gan, the Pistons created a luxurious frontline lineup.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lan Bi’er, Mark Aguirre, Melvin Turpin, Ma Hong, Salley, Rodman...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chuck Daly nurtured a front line of Knight squad that was good at both offense and defense to besiege Ah Gan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lan Bi’er was still that Lan Bi’er, and Salley and Rodman had grown into the league’s best wing defenders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ma Hong and Aguirre, old slicksters who had dealt with Ah Gan for many years, were covered in battle scars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Melvin Turpin was the Pistons’ best low post scorer, breaking through the Bulls’ three-second zone in a few games of the Eastern finals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Joe Dumars was no longer that sophomore rookie, but an All-Star guard, known as the Jordan terminator.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Isiah Thomas appeared to be an old slickster after so many years in the league, but in fact, he was only 28 and at the peak of a guard’s abilities and experience.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The biggest problem with the Pistons was losing Vinnie Johnson in the expansion draft, resulting in a lack of firepower in the backcourt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although they supplemented with experienced veterans like Rickey Green and Gerald Henderson, they were at the end of their careers and were never known for their firepower; they could only serve as support.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Terry Porter + Hornacek vs Thomas + Dumars, equally eye-catching.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, the most eye-catching thing was what kind of performance Ah Gan would put on in the finals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Will there be another massacre? If so, who on the Pistons will take the beating this time?\u003C\u002Fp>",1632,"2026-06-06T01:41:37.192Z",1,"novelbin.me","b837292c729d1d6f0bea2937c6e69cd82676a623001b2f0e302fa2865951a641","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-708","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-706",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]