[{"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-776":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},1444193,1896,"Chapter 776 - 16 I’m Just Joking","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-776",776,"\u003Cp>\"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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides, as long as Larry (Bird) is around, I’ll only become the second worst defensive player in the league!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...Having Larry defend me would be my biggest dream.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>————\"New York Times\", March 12, 1991, an excerpt from an interview with Barkley.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Unlike the Washington Bullets, the Phoenix Suns are a vibrant offensive team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before Barkley’s arrival, their offensive engine was Kevin Johnson.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the 1990 playoffs, Gan Guoyang teamed up with his teammates to hunt down Johnson, causing the Suns’ offense to lose its core.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This made defending them exponentially more difficult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Firstly, Gan Guoyang definitely couldn’t disperse his energy to blockade Kevin Johnson like in the last playoffs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had to allocate a considerable amount of defensive power to Fat Ba; compared to 1988, Barkley had improved a lot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the first quarter of the game, the Trail Blazers consistently maintained their lead, with Gan Guoyang finding his shooting touch early on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, under the leadership of Barkley and Johnson, the Suns kept the score very close.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The biggest improvement in Barkley since 1988 was his offensive technique.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>33:33, both teams scored quite a bit in the first quarter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides scoring, Barkley contributed with 3 assists.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These were direct pass scores; Barkley also had the function of organizing and directing the team’s offensive play.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kossie scored 9 points; he felt good with his shooting tonight, hitting several mid-range shots.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The second quarter started, with Sabonis and Petrović, who rested in the middle of the first quarter, bolstering the Trail Blazers’ offense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This season, the Trail Blazers’ bench was very strong, thanks to the team’s deep roster and the rise of Petrović.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the team’s sixth man, Petrović had the strength matching a starting shooting guard for most teams.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a challenging rookie season, Petrović showed obvious progress and played bolder on the court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Trail Blazers’ ability to continuously score over 150 points hinged on the connectivity and continuity between the first and second units on offense.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ordinary teams simply could not withstand the Trail Blazers’ offensive force – one wave after another, with both waves being very strong.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the fourth game of his professional career, and his scoring potential was already evident.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>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.\u003C\u002Fp>",971,"2026-06-06T01:41:38.168Z",1,"novelbin.me","90d04755c80528b4231c4727225e6ae655d21e1f330c01955178144cb7ddfd68","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-777","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-775",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]