[{"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-765":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},1444182,1896,"Chapter 765 - 12 Borrowing Your Auspicious Words_4","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-765",765,"\u003Cp>Injuries struck the Trail Blazers early, but luckily, their frontcourt is now amply staffed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Reggie Lewis can play the small forward, with Cliff Robinson and Mike Sanders coming off the bench.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But it seems that no one enters the NBA without carrying some injury.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example, after the start of the season, Sabonis had some fluid accumulation in his knee, causing him to miss the high-profile battle against the Detroit Pistons on November 9th.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the life-and-death struggle of the 1990 finals, the enmity between the two teams has deepened ever further.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Due to Sabonis’ absence, Gan Guoyang started as the center, and for the first three quarters he continued with a pass-centric style of play.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before the game, Bobby Beelman was somewhat worried, concerned whether their unpolished Princeton System would work against the Pistons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To their surprise, during the game, the Trail Blazers discovered the Pistons’ weakness: their defense was no longer as ferocious as in previous seasons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One reason is the introduction of new rules against flagrant fouls, and on another front, the overall condition of the Pistons players was declining.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bill Lambier, now 33, had not had a double-digit rebounding performance since 1988.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His stats for blocks and scoring were in decline year by year; the crafty and cunning white center was aging.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although players like Salley, Rodman, and Melvin Turpin were growing, Lambier was the soul of the Pistons’ defense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once the soul grows old, the decay of the body is just a moment away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lambier was completely handled by Gan Guoyang in the game; Gan achieved his season’s first triple-double with 33 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists, and an addition of 3 big blocks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>101:119, the Trail Blazers triumphed with an 18-point lead at home over the Detroit Pistons.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A meet-up of finalists turned out to be the most leisurely victory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The NBA regular season is like that, fraught with uncertainties.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Defeating the Pistons put the Trail Blazers into a good state of form, as they gradually overcame their initial discomfort.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the beginning of the season, the doubts about the Princeton System lessened a bit, but players still expressed, \"It’s a bit too slow.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Especially for Petrović and Reggie Lewis, Lewis candidly said, \"I feel like I’m back in the NCAA, in some situations we could clearly fast break.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Lewis’s public questioning of Beelman resulted in being targeted with dirty plays by Beelman in training. It was rumored that at the end of training, there were tears in Lewis’s eyes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, starting from the fifth game, Bobby Beelman made a tangible adjustment; with Jerome Kossie absent, he moved Reggie Lewis to the small forward, let Petrović start as the shooting guard, forming a dual backcourt attack with Terry Porter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, he further altered some of the requirements of the Princeton System.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For instance, the Princeton Offense emphasizes a slow pace, avoiding fast breaks, and using slow tempos to wear down opponents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coach Capen even went so far as to forbid fast breaks at one point, requiring at least five passes before a shot could be taken.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beelman believed that the NBA was different; with the Trail Blazers possessing good offensive resources, too slow a tempo was a waste of talent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the past, it was reasonable to play at a slower pace with Gan as the core, after all, Gan was a center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And at that time, the league was generally fast; slowing it down, suppressing the rhythm, actually left the opponents confused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, adopting a more team-oriented offense, with talented players, playing too slow will likely stifle the players’ offensive talent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, as the whole league was slowing down, Beelman wanted to go against the tide; as they slowed, he would appropriately speed up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Therefore, on November 11th against the Los Angeles Clippers, combining the Princeton System’s half-court game with fast breaking, the Trail Blazers rained down 138 points on the Clippers’ heads.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eventually winning with a 27-point margin of victory.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On November 13th, facing the defensively lax Denver Nuggets, the Trail Blazers were unapologetic, 159:125, a 34-point advantage to rout the opponent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without overtime, 159 points set a new scoring record for the history of the Portland Trail Blazers Team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Petrović scored a new career-high of 22 points in the game, while Gan Guoyang easily grabbed 40 points.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The first 40-point game of the season came a bit late.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On November 15th and 17th, the Trail Blazers scored 144 and 145 points respectively.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three consecutive games with over 140 points, for a time, the Trail Blazers’ offensive firepower swept through the League.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the game scoring 145 points, the opponent was the New York Knicks, with the Trail Blazers having 5 players scoring double digits, Reggie Lewis scoring 31 points.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Rarely surpassing Gan Guoyang’s 30 points, becoming the Trail Blazers’ leading scorer for that game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the game, Reggie Lewis stated that Bobby Beelman was the greatest coach he had ever encountered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As expected, Beelman scolded him, stating he disliked any player who buttered him up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, when Gan praised Beelman in a news conference by saying, \"Bobby did not rely on the system but continuously tested the system’s fit with us, his adjustments were perfect,\" Beelman smiled and seemed very pleased.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The continuous high-scoring games allowed people to see the Trail Blazers’ exceptional offensive talent and the true importance the Princeton System brought:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Not the tactical routines, not the easy scores from backdoor plays, but the spirit of sharing the ball, and the unlocking of the offensive talents of perimeter players.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Trail Blazers welcomed an 8-game winning streak, quickly securing the top spot in the League.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On November 18th, a battle of focus arrived, with the Trail Blazers hosting the Chicago Bulls at home, the first encounter of Gan vs Joe of the 1990-1991 season.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the 17th, the entire Bulls team flew to Portland. In contrast with the Trail Blazers’ robust winning streak, the Bulls had faced repeated setbacks since the start of the season.\u003C\u002Fp>",999,"2026-06-06T01:41:38.168Z",1,"novelbin.me","a0c705944819b579fc964362ac867aecdf5165decb98f64100b4ee22fb0294ff","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-766","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-764",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]