Chapter 729 - 82 Hungry Tiger_5

Pistons still had Rodman guarding Gan Guoyang, which was already Chuck Daly’s best solution.

Using Rodman to defend, at least they could entangle Gan Guoyang, preventing him from receiving the ball.

Letting Melvin Turpin or Lan Bi’er defend would only lead to an even more disastrous outcome.

This defensive strategy to prevent ball reception started to show some effect at the beginning of the third quarter.

Rodman kept cutting in front, continuously using small movements to harass Gan Guoyang while receiving the ball.

In the first half, the referees’ whistles were slightly in favor of the Trail Blazers; in the second half, they balanced out a bit, relaxing the standard of physical contact.

Both teams’ confrontation became extremely intense, and scoring became very difficult with clashes and shoving occurring frequently.

But no matter how intense it was, the players’ moves were clean, pure basketball confrontations.

Both the Pistons and Trail Blazers’ perimeter shooting were unsuccessful, and the battle for rebounds turned into chaos, throwing the game into disarray.

The Pistons seized the opportunity, using free throws and counterattacks to launch an assault, narrowing the gap to only 9 points.

Tonight, Hornacek and Porter’s outside shooting was not accurate; they focused all their energy on defense.

Gan Guoyang’s mid-range jumper near the free-throw line missed, but he rushed into the basket to grab the offensive rebound and passed the ball to the perimeter.

Hornacek’s drive was blocked, then the ball was passed out again to Kossie on the perimeter, who, after a fake move, drove left to the basket but missed the layup due to interference.

Sabonis grabbed the offensive rebound and went for the layup, but the ball was swatted out of bounds by Melvin Turpin, though the possession remained with the Trail Blazers.

Scoring was extremely difficult; the Pistons’ defense was very stubborn, and the Trail Blazers’ offense was equally resilient.

Beelman could feel it, with the outside shooting not being accurate, the Pistons’ defense was tightening even more, which was not good for the Trail Blazers’ offense.

Therefore, in the middle of the third quarter, Beelman made a bold substitution, bringing Dell Curry in to replace Hornacek.

This was Curry’s first appearance in the finals, and in the talent-packed Trail Blazers, he didn’t have many chances to shine during the playoffs.

His last outstanding performance was in the 1988 playoffs against the Mavericks, where he made 4 out of 5 threes and delivered a key assist to help the Trail Blazers defeat the Mavericks.

"The Trail Blazers have put Dell Curry on the court, it looks like Beelman is not very satisfied with the team’s perimeter shooting."

After Curry came on, he immediately cooperated tactically with Ah Gan and Sabonis, getting a chance by using the cover of the two big men at the right corner.

Sabonis passed the ball precisely to Curry, who released a three-pointer and scored!

Dell Curry’s biggest characteristic in shooting was his balance, from the top of the arc to 45 degrees to the corner, Dell Curry’s long shots had no blind spots; all spots were his sweet spots.

This was where Dell Curry, as a reserve shooter, was most versatile, especially since his shooting percentages were outstanding from both the left and right corners, which is quite rare.

Many shooters have significantly different percentages in various areas, which leads to special attention in strategy design and more targeted defense from the opponents.

Dell Curry didn’t have this issue; he was a born excellent shooter.

Curry’s three-pointer widened the gap again, causing the Pistons great discomfort.

Melvin Tipping made a mid-range shot right after to keep the score close.

The Trail Blazers passed to Jerome Kossie, who made a strong low post move against Tipping but got blocked on the turnaround.

But Sabonis grabbed the offensive rebound, with a flick of his big hand, passed it out to the perimeter, where Ah Gan received the ball at the top.

Gan Guoyang feinted a shot, dribbled in for a breakthrough, then passed to Curry at the 45-degree flank, Curry took the shot from the three-point line.

He hit again!

Two consecutive three-pointers, with a microwave-like touch, Curry stabilized the Trail Blazers’ situation.

Now, the Pistons’ collapsing defense was bankrupt, and they had to strictly guard Curry.

When Curry had the ball beyond the three-point line, the Pistons had to have someone close to him.

This opened up space for Gan Guoyang to receive the ball, and Rodman, entangled with Gan Guoyang for half the game, was beginning to tire.

It was not physical fatigue, but a lapse in concentration.

Every defender has a limit to how long they can concentrate.

No one can stay 100% focused on one person for the entire game; moments of inattention and distraction are inevitable.

Gan Guoyang began to drive with the ball, and once he got it in the low post, a few dribbles inside and a turn resulted in a hook shot.

Rodman was helpless, as Gan Guoyang scored 7 points in a row on him — including a 2+1, where even after the foul, he still watched Gan Guoyang’s toss go in.

Rodman’s psychological defense completely collapsed, having been breached in one sweep, the hard-earned 9-point gap was stretched back to 18 points!

After being called for a foul by Hugh Evans, Rodman kicked the ball into the audience and then received a technical foul.

Gan Guoyang yelled at Rodman: "Your kicking isn’t so great, not quite like our Chinese soccer!"

After hitting the free throw, Gan Guoyang in the third quarter once again became unstoppable, scoring continuously with counters and free throws in the last two minutes.

At the end of the third quarter, the Trail Blazers led 77:60, with a huge advantage of 17 points going into the fourth quarter.

Gan Guoyang had 40 points, 21 rebounds, 6 blocks, and 4 assists in three quarters.

Whether he could further improve his stats depended purely on whether the Pistons still wanted to resist.

The Pistons didn’t lose their fighting spirit, they didn’t want to give away this home court.

Although a 17-point deficit seemed bleak, everything was possible on the NBA court.

During the interval break, Chuck Daly continued to encourage his players to persevere.

"This is our last home game of the season, we can’t lose it like this! Absolutely not!"