Chapter 776 - 16 I’m Just Joking

"I don’t really play defense for the Phoenix Suns; I rely on scoring and rebounds to help the team win and make money for the boss. If you want me to play defense, give me another million."

Besides, as long as Larry (Bird) is around, I’ll only become the second worst defensive player in the league!

...Having Larry defend me would be my biggest dream.

————"New York Times", March 12, 1991, an excerpt from an interview with Barkley.

Unlike the Washington Bullets, the Phoenix Suns are a vibrant offensive team.

Before Barkley’s arrival, their offensive engine was Kevin Johnson.

In the 1990 playoffs, Gan Guoyang teamed up with his teammates to hunt down Johnson, causing the Suns’ offense to lose its core.

Though Tom Chambers could consistently contribute more than 20 points per game, it was of no help to the team’s victory; he couldn’t inspire the other players.

The entire Suns’ offensive vitality was snuffed out, and ultimately, they were easily eliminated by the Trail Blazers 0:4, after only a symbolic resistance.

With the arrival of Charles Barkley, the Suns suddenly had a true core on offense. He and Kevin Johnson inside-out combo took the Suns’ offense to a dual-core drive.

This made defending them exponentially more difficult.

Firstly, Gan Guoyang definitely couldn’t disperse his energy to blockade Kevin Johnson like in the last playoffs.

He had to allocate a considerable amount of defensive power to Fat Ba; compared to 1988, Barkley had improved a lot.

In the first quarter of the game, the Trail Blazers consistently maintained their lead, with Gan Guoyang finding his shooting touch early on.

However, under the leadership of Barkley and Johnson, the Suns kept the score very close.

They had many points of attack; apart from the two cores inside and out, both Danny Ainge and Eddie Johnson possessed strong ball-offensive capabilities.

Mark West was the only weak point on offense, but in the first quarter, he matched up against Ah Gan, a suitable matchup, not a loss at all.

Because if you substitute him with a player who has post-up skills to go one-on-one against Ah Gan, it’s basically futile and just a waste of Ah Gan’s defensive energy at most.

Barkley also knew that he wouldn’t have an easy time tonight in the post against Ah Gan or Sabonis, so he took a large number of outside shots, searching for his rhythm.

Barkley’s strategy was very correct; he continually ran pick-and-rolls with Kevin Johnson to avoid Ah Gan’s strong defense and attack Sabonis and Terry Porter.

Sabonis was a good defender, but his massive size became a hindrance when facing a cannonball like Barkley; he was a bit slow to keep up.

The biggest improvement in Barkley since 1988 was his offensive technique.

He had developed numerous ball-offensive skills on the outside: crossovers, step-backs, spin jumpers, drives after triple-threat moves, and sudden pull-up jumpers, and so on.

He had shed the stereotype of only back-bumping his way inside, becoming a very unique, roaming power forward and center attacking-type "fat man."

To avoid Ah Gan and shake off Sabonis, Barkley made extensive use of step-back jumpers from the wing, the middle, and even beyond the three-point line, using shots to attack the Trail Blazers’ hoop.

In the first quarter, Barkley felt pretty good on offense; he went 1 for 2 from the three-point line, scoring 13 points to help the Suns catch up at the end of the first quarter.

33:33, both teams scored quite a bit in the first quarter.

Besides scoring, Barkley contributed with 3 assists.

These were direct pass scores; Barkley also had the function of organizing and directing the team’s offensive play.

Gan Guoyang scored 11 points in the first quarter, and after finding his offensive rhythm, he began to pass the ball to create opportunities for his teammates.

Kossie scored 9 points; he felt good with his shooting tonight, hitting several mid-range shots.

The second quarter started, with Sabonis and Petrović, who rested in the middle of the first quarter, bolstering the Trail Blazers’ offense.

This season, the Trail Blazers’ bench was very strong, thanks to the team’s deep roster and the rise of Petrović.

As the team’s sixth man, Petrović had the strength matching a starting shooting guard for most teams.

After a challenging rookie season, Petrović showed obvious progress and played bolder on the court.

The Trail Blazers’ ability to continuously score over 150 points hinged on the connectivity and continuity between the first and second units on offense.

Ordinary teams simply could not withstand the Trail Blazers’ offensive force – one wave after another, with both waves being very strong.

However, the Suns’ bench was equally good, with Dan Majerle, Cedric Ceballos, and Kurt Rambis, led by the veteran Danny Ainge, going toe-to-toe with the Trail Blazers’ second unit.

Among them, Ceballos was a rookie of the Suns this year; in the game against the Denver Nuggets on November 10, he scored 32 points.

This was the fourth game of his professional career, and his scoring potential was already evident.

At the same time, Ceballos also had a second cousin named Kobe Bryant, who was living in Italy with his father at that time – but it wasn’t long before he returned to America.

And in his third year, Dan Majerle was becoming a forward who was good on both offense and defense; his role off the bench was starting to exceed some starters.

With two young, scoring forwards with offensive impact and the leadership of the crafty veteran Danny Ainge, they played quite well in the second quarter.

The Suns knew they had no chance of competing with the Trail Blazers inside; on the Trail Blazers’ side, either Ah Gan or Sabonis would always be on the court, anchoring the height of the interior.