The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 2211: Chapter 28: Lower Bracket_2

Fortunately, Glory had already accumulated a solid foundation of victories. Facing the troubles of injuries, Porter decisively reduced Ah Gan’s playing time, rather than increasing Ah Gan’s burden due to Yao Ming’s absence. Porter knew that neither Ah Gan nor Mutombo could afford to get injured again.

At this time, players like Oseola Harrington and Primoz Brezec, the third and fourth in the lineup, received more playing time to ensure Ah Gan and Mutombo’s health. The team was willing to sacrifice some victories for this.

Gan Guoyang didn’t want to undergo massive rotations when uninjured, especially since he knew this was his last season, and he became increasingly greedy for every minute and second on the court, enduring yet enjoying it.

Thus, Porter compressed his playing time to below 30 minutes but more than 25 minutes, with 6-7 minutes per quarter, enough for Gan Guoyang to have an impact without being too exhausted.

Under such circumstances, Glory’s record was undoubtedly affected. From March onwards, their record gradually slipped, especially against strong teams, they lost decisively.

In some games where they fell significantly behind, Porter simply benched Mutombo and Ah Gan to rest, abandoning the game early.

By the end of April, Yao Ming’s ankle injury had recovered quite well, and he was able to participate normally in training. However, the coaching staff decided to have Yao Ming wait until the playoffs to return.

After all, they were already unable to contend for the top two spots, with the Mavericks and Suns racing toward 60 wins, distancing themselves from other teams.

Glory was mainly contending with the Trail Blazers and Jazz for the third to fifth spots in the standings. They belonged to the second group in the Western Conference, with wins around 50 victories.

In the last phase of the regular season, the competition reached a fever pitch, but Glory suffered three consecutive losses against the Suns, Trail Blazers, and Utah Jazz, two teams that were direct competitors to Glory.

In particular, in the second-to-last game, a battle for the third spot against the Trail Blazers, the Trail Blazers won big at home against Glory and successfully overtook Glory in wins, ranking third in the Western Conference.

The reason the Trail Blazers aimed for third place was mainly to avoid the Dallas Mavericks before the West Finals. This year’s Mavericks were too dominant, and the Trail Blazers didn’t want to meet the Mavericks early.

But Glory, or more accurately, Gan Guoyang didn’t think this way. Before the final playoff game, he said: "Why fear the Mavericks? We’re playing against the best in the League. Besides, I don’t think the Dallas people can necessarily get past the first round, the Golden State Warriors will be a huge threat to the Mavericks."

Gan Guoyang was "prescient," but NBA experts and fans also saw it at the time. This year’s Dallas Mavericks were at an absolute disadvantage against the Golden State Warriors.

The Mavericks achieved their best regular-season record in team history, and against League powerhouses such as the Suns, Trail Blazers, and Glory, they were very strong. During the season, they achieved a record 17-game winning streak, unstoppable by anyone or anything.

Oddly enough, three encounters with the Golden State Warriors ended in defeat, with two away games lost by more than 15 points in each case, a big defeat. Returning to Dallas, they still lost to the Warriors, with the team’s tactics and style restrained by the Warriors, especially Old Nelson, who was very familiar with Nowitzki’s characteristics and had a very targeted defensive layout that made Nowitzki’s play very uncomfortable.

In the last phase of the playoffs, the Warriors had a 5-game winning streak, losing only once in the last 10 games, including a second-to-last game where they demolished the League-leading Dallas Mavericks with a 111-82, 29-point advantage, achieving a peak psychological advantage over the Mavericks.

The Mavericks had no solutions at this stage. Regardless of how they lost games, they remained first in the Western Conference, unable to drop to second and avoid the Warriors, and had to brace themselves to meet the Warriors in the first round.

Elsewhere, Glory’s final game was held in Salt Lake City. If they won, they would be fourth in the Western Conference, returning to Las Vegas for the first game of the first round against the Jazz.

If they lost, they would be fifth in the Western Conference, still facing the Jazz in the first round, only staying in Salt Lake City for their first playoff game.

Before the game, after discussing in meetings, the team believed that for a veteran team like Glory, home-court advantage wasn’t important at all. Rather than forcibly taking this game and running back to Las Vegas, it would be better to just stay in Salt Lake City without leaving!

So, before departing from Las Vegas, Porter asked the players to bring enough extra clothes since they would be staying in Salt Lake City for a week.

"Bring everything except your wives and girlfriends, Salt Lake City’s living conditions aren’t very good," Porter reminded everyone.

On April 18th, Glory’s final regular-season game took place at Salt Lake City’s Triangle Center. The passionate Salt Lake City fans, of course, hoped the Jazz would win so they could gain home-court advantage.

The Jazz thought the same way, and the experienced Jerry Sloan guessed Glory would probably give up in the final game, allowing the first playoff game to be held in Salt Lake City, avoiding the hassle of flying back and forth.

Others might go to great lengths to secure home-court advantage, but only someone like Ah Gan, the ultimate crafty veteran, wouldn’t care about home or away games at all. It might even be easier for him to play away.

Sure enough, that night’s game saw Glory’s main lineup subbed out early, giving the bench’s tail-end players a chance to take the stage. The Jazz, who fielded their starting lineup, quickly took the lead, and the game lost all suspense regarding its outcome.

The Jazz fans in attendance expressed their frenzy with crazy noise, since the Jazz and Glory would soon clash in the first round.

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