Chapter 819 - 30 Patriotism

Time blinked into mid-February, and the All-Star Game was just around the corner, giving players a chance to rest and relax.

After ups and downs in December and January, the Portland Trail Blazers began a winning streak in early February.

They consecutively defeated strong teams such as the Supersonics, Jazz, Lakers, and Heat, showcasing the team’s robust strength.

In these games, the Trail Blazers won resoundingly, not by a landslide, but without giving opponents any chance, suppressing them from start to finish.

In the games against the Suns and the Lakers, Guoyang performed very ordinarily. Instead, Sabonis, Petrović, and Reggie Lewis performed brilliantly.

They all displayed near All-Star caliber abilities in both offense and defense, with Sabonis scoring a season-high 28 points against the Jazz.

And Petrović scored his season-high 31 points against the Heat, showing his powerful scoring ability.

Reggie Lewis’s crowning achievement was significantly limiting Magic Johnson against the Lakers. Johnson had an off day, only scoring 16 points and 9 assists for the entire game.

As the season progressed, injuries were gradually addressed, tactics were increasingly well-meshed, the locker room was calm, and the team was beginning to accelerate following its usual rhythm.

Before the All-Star Game, the Trail Blazers achieved a record of 38 wins and 10 losses, firmly occupying the first place in the league and the Western Conference.

The Lakers ranked second in the Western Conference with a record of 35 wins and 11 losses, followed by the Suns, Spurs, and Jazz, with very intense ranking competition.

In the Eastern Conference, the Chicago Bulls followed closely with a record of 35 wins and 12 losses, placing second in the league and first in the Eastern Conference.

The Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons were right behind the Bulls, with three teams’ records being very close, differing by only one win.

It’s evident that while the overall talent in the league has been diluted, leading to weaker tail-end teams, the competition among the leading strong teams remains ferocious.

Entering the 1990s, super-lavish teams with rosters like the 1980s Lakers, Celtics, and 76ers disappeared.

Salary cap rules, draft rights regulations, and new lottery systems have all made it increasingly difficult for star players to cluster together.

Although the Trail Blazers have a strong roster, they win because their core is exceptionally strong, other players have an average strength and good adaptability.

If we’re talking about stars, the Trail Blazers don’t really have a strong star appeal. This year, besides Gan Guoyang, only Sabonis was selected for the All-Star.

This season, Sabonis’s average scoring improved to 15.8 points, he grabbed 8.2 rebounds per game, and dished out 2.8 assists, being the team’s second tactical core.

However, despite being called the second core, in terms of data, he is not far off from Petrović, Porter, and Reggie Lewis, and even less so in terms of seniority compared to Porter.

The reason Sabonis was able to make the All-Star was mainly due to Olajuwon’s injury.

In January, Olajuwon suffered an eye injury caused by Bill Cartwright’s elbow during a game against the Chicago Bulls.

The injury was quite serious, as after examination by doctors, they diagnosed Olajuwon would need to rest for two months and would definitely miss the All-Star Game.

Although from the footage, Cartwright seemed to be "unintentional", the Houston Rockets were still very angry, because it was not the first time Cartwright had caused such elbowing incidents.

Before this, he was fined by the league for elbowing Gregg Kite and Fred Roberts in the face and then suspended for elbowing Robert Parish and Isiah Thomas.

Thomas was very angry after being elbowed by Cartwright because his face had been elbowed by Ah Gan before, and it was fragile due to the previous injury. If he were hit again, it would add to his pain, and he wouldn’t be able to smile without hurting.

So Thomas charged forward to chase after Bill Cartwright and was stopped by the team’s assistant coach Brendan Malone.

At that time, an infuriated Thomas grabbed Brendan Malone by the throat, which later became one of the pieces of evidence blackening Thomas’s reputation.

But in reality, Bill Cartwright was the real culprit, his elbows troubled many players.

His seemingly honest demeanor, somewhat quirky shooting form, and slow footsteps made it difficult for fans to associate him with the "villain" role.

According to statistics, out of the 10 centers who faced off against Bill Cartwright, 8 had their worst performances of the season.

One reason for this is their wariness of Cartwright’s occasionally appearing iron elbows, never knowing when they might get hit.

In this regard, Cartwright wasn’t much better than Lan Bi’er.

Before Olajuwon was knocked down, in December, during a game against the Orlando Magic, Cartwright once again elbowed Greg Kite, and in a game against the Bucks, he made Jack Sikma’s nose bleed.

When Olajuwon’s eye injury caused an uproar (since Olajuwon’s influence was large enough that lesser players getting hit wouldn’t make many ripples), Bucks head coach Del Harris collected a series of Cartwright’s elbowing actions in games into a video tape and sent it to his former colleague, Rockets general manager Steve Patterson.

After receiving the tape, Patterson sent it to the league’s Chief Operating Officer, Rod Thorne, demanding punishment for Cartwright and seeking his suspension.

Subsequently, Sikma, Kite, and others called Thorne to complain, saying Cartwright was not playing basketball at all, and his elbows were too terrible.