Chapter 975 - 20 Rainman_2

There will always come a day when the Trail Blazers decline, and by that time, the matured SuperSonics will climb over the corpse of the old kings to reach higher peaks.

This is the drama that has always played out in the NBA: young teams face the rulers, and even if they can’t secure the final victory, they must build enough confidence to prepare for the next challenge.

Compared to the ambitious SuperSonics, the entire Trail Blazers team is undoubtedly somewhat complacent, not taking the SuperSonics seriously, only focusing on the situation with the Bulls in the East.

Bobby Berman stood on the sidelines, reminding himself to concentrate, but his emotions were inevitably affected.

Love indeed makes one degenerate, facing the SuperSonics, Berman didn’t even have time to seriously study their game footage and didn’t carefully consider how the SuperSonics had upset the Golden State Warriors.

The fans at the scene were equally relaxed. For two whole years, the Trail Blazers hadn’t disappointed Portland fans in the playoffs—winning, winning, and more winning.

Even top teams like the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons couldn’t take a win here, and fans on the sidelines were holding signs proclaiming a 22-game winning streak.

Yet all of this did not make the young SuperSonics retreat. On the contrary, it sparked their arrogant nature.

The SuperSonics’ starting five were Gary Payton, Derek McKey, Shawn Kemp, Ricky Pierce, and Bennett Benjamin.

On the bench sat Glen Rice, Nate McMillan, and Michael Cage, making for quite a competitive lineup.

Apart from the coach, they had no white people; they were all sleek, shiny, black fellows.

Except for Bennett Benjamin, they were mostly lean, like hungry wolves.

Both offensively and defensively, they were full of aggression.

From the start of the jump ball, the entire SuperSonics team seemed like they had springs on their feet, continuously running, jumping, and moving.

In 1988, the Trail Blazers cracked the SOS defense system with the secret that their passing was quicker than the SuperSonics’ rotation.

Four years have passed, the SOS system still exists within the SuperSonics; they are faster and fiercer than before.

George Karl placed the defensive focus on two people: Gan Guoyang and Porter.

Whenever either of them had the ball, they inevitably faced a strong, rapid double team.

The SuperSonics’ double-teaming was even fiercer than the Bulls and was very adept at forcing players towards the baseline.

They formed a "triangle defense" and "I-type" defense inside, attacking any player close to the Three Second Zone like a wolf pack.

Meanwhile, Payton intermittently gnawed at Porter, which is the first principle of the SOS defense: disrupt the primary pass.

Porter’s importance to the Trail Blazers is often underestimated; they’ve always had an issue – who is the team’s second-in-command?

In ’90 and ’91 it was Sabonis, in ’92 Reggie Lewis was more like the team’s number two, and meanwhile, Petrović always had a strong influence, being a strong contender for Sixth Man of the Year this season.

But when asked who the team’s third-in-command is, Terry Porter is the undisputed answer, and he had the longest cooperation with Gan Guoyang, the two being extremely in sync.

Every crucial moment counts on Porter’s outside shooting and connections with Gan Guoyang as the basic guarantee for Trail Blazers scoring; he is the most comfortable backcourt player to feed Gan Guoyang the ball.

George Karl seized upon this, and Payton’s defense on Terry Porter this game was quite successful, pressing aggressively from the first quarter, raising intensity, and constantly using trash talk to disturb Porter.

Porter, though technically sound, physically outstanding, and very experienced, was still made flustered by Payton’s exceptional one-on-one defense.

When a team’s point guard is entangled and can’t focus on directing the offense, even the primary pass is affected, the team’s offense is bound to be impacted.

Bobby Berman quickly made adjustments; following conventional wisdom, he brought Sabonis up to the high post for coordination and screens, helping Porter lighten the organizational load.

But the SuperSonics didn’t ease their gnawing on Porter; George Karl opted for a strategic sag off Sabonis, fully double-teaming Porter at the top, impeding him from passing the ball to Gan Guoyang.

The vacated Sabonis got quite a few outside shooting opportunities, but tonight Sabonis’ shooting touch wasn’t good, partly because he had been affected by injuries all season.

Moreover, the SuperSonics increased the game pace to a frenzy, with constant fast breaks and high-intensity offensive and defensive intensity, which inevitably negatively affected players’ outside shooting touch.

The direct consequence was that the Trail Blazers’ offensive efficiency greatly declined, scoring rate per possession dropped, brought down to a level the SuperSonics could suppress.

By halftime, the score was 54:52, with the SuperSonics leading the Trail Blazers by 2 points on the road.

The fans were indifferent, believing Ah Gan and the Trail Blazers would surge in the third quarter, sweeping away the SuperSonics with one blow.

But things were not that simple. After the third quarter began, the SuperSonics continued their first-half defensive strategy, unleashing a full-court press like a wolf pack.

This strategy resembled the Trail Blazers’ defensive strategy of the ’80s, suddenly increasing defensive intensity at certain stages of the game, pulling away with a burst of points, and then lowering the intensity to slowly play it out.

Back then, the Trail Blazers were a frontcourt-oriented team—tall, strong, fierce, very imposing on the full court, with Gan Guoyang often pouncing to the three-point line to hunt down ball handlers.