Chapter 2044: Chapter 14: Cultivation Depends on the Individual_2

These issues had all been brought up back in training camp and worked on, but once it got to real games, they still got exposed.

Take the simplest one: after grabbing an Offensive Rebound, he’d instinctively drop the ball down, and end up getting stripped.

Back when they were with the national team, Gan Guoyang had already reminded Yao Ming to fix this bad habit.

Yao Ming probably heard it but didn’t really take it to heart; after going back home, he kept playing the way he always had.

Because in the CBA there aren’t that many quick-handed guys, once he put the ball down Yao Ming could go back up right away, and nobody could stop him.

In the NBA it’s different. The players here are fast and ruthless with their hands; in his first two games Yao Ming’s top priority after touching the ball was simply not to turn it over.

Only on that basis could he move on to his next action, which also made his decision-making a bit slow—of course that’s another detail issue altogether.

"I know, habits like this are formed when you’re a kid, they’re really hard to change. If you haven’t personally experienced NBA games, you won’t realize how deadly these habits are. Your future is long, there are a lot of games to play. Sometimes one tiny bad habit can ruin a game, ruin a series, even ruin a whole season, and leave lifelong regrets in your career. So you have to take details and all kinds of habits seriously. If you can change them, it’s best to get rid of them. If you really can’t... it’s your career, you decide."

At this point, Gan Guoyang had already done his part; anything more was no longer his responsibility.

Yao Ming nodded heavily. He knew good advice doesn’t get said more than three times; the good stuff’s put right in front of you—whether you learn it is up to you.

After two games in the NBA, Yao Ming really did spot a lot of problems in himself, a lot of small flaws.

In the days that followed, Yao Ming specifically spent money to hire a trainer to correct his movements and some of his on-court habits, so he could play more comfortably and be less prone to low-level mistakes. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

The difference between the NBA and CBA is that here, someone can lead you to the door, but the cultivation is on you.

Having someone give you a few pointers and show you a clear path is already very good.

The rest is up to you. If you’re waiting for someone to spoon-feed you, then just wait to starve.

Gan Guoyang didn’t have the spare time to coach Yao Ming every day; the team soon迎 came迎 to their season opener in Las Vegas.

The opponent was last season’s Western Conference champion, the Sacramento Kings, who had beaten Glory 4–2 in the conference semifinals.

You couldn’t really call it "enemies meeting, eyes blazing red." The semifinals had been intense, sure, but nowhere near hatred.

After pulling off the 8-over-1 upset on the Lakers, Glory had already used up all their momentum; all the fire they’d built up together back in Palm Springs was burned out.

Because the team was both too young and too old—after that game-winner against the Lakers, everyone felt like the mission was already accomplished, and they all relaxed.

At that point even if Gan Guoyang wanted to tighten everyone back up, he couldn’t. He wasn’t a god; even he himself felt his edge blunting.

This is what happens when you peak too early. Strong teams build up step by step, ramp up slowly, and the deeper it gets, the better their form and energy.

Glory just didn’t have enough overall strength; to beat the Lakers they had to dig out all their potential and energy way too early.

As the saying goes, "The first surge of energy is strongest, the second weaker, the third exhausted." If you burn too hot too early, you’re bound to fade later.

On top of that, the Kings’ belief was really strong, especially Chris Weber, who was hell-bent on beating Glory and Ah Gan.

Although he was on the losing end in his direct matchup with Ah Gan, the Kings relied on their whole system, and Adelman as head coach knew Ah Gan very well.

He knew there was only one way to beat Ah Gan: grind. Just grind him down, wear him out, drain him dry, and only then can you win.

The Kings did just that to last season’s Glory, winning the series 4–2, then knocking out the Trail Blazers in the West Finals and reaching the Finals.

In just a few months, Ah Gan had somehow teamed up with Jordan to form a "double god" duo, which gave everyone on the Kings a real scare.

Luckily, just a few days later, the League announced that Glory was moving to the Eastern Conference, and Adelman and Weber both let out a small sigh of relief.

The entire Western Conference exhaled. They’d shipped off the two big bosses, so there’d be no need for another league-wide scheme like last season to dodge Glory.

After losing the Finals last season, the Kings Team made some upgrades in the summer. They signed Damon Jones and traded a conditional right to the Lakers for Jim Jackson.

Jim Jackson had been sent to the Lakers in the O’Neal trade, but he wasn’t in their future plans, and his position overlapped with Tracy McGrady and Pippen, so they shipped him to the Kings.

The Lakers front office knew they no longer had championship-level competitiveness in the new season; developing Tracy McGrady and waiting for an opportunity was Jerry West’s strategy.

As for the Western Conference crown, let the Kings and Trail Blazers fight it out.

This one was the first real test from Glory, and also the first serious exam of just how strong the Jordan + Ah Gan combo really was.

The game was indeed much tougher than the previous two. The Bucks and Bulls were one on the decline and one a bottom-feeding doormat; their fighting power couldn’t compare with the Kings at all.

Right out of the gate the Kings Team hit Glory with an 11–2 offensive run. Glory started cold, and the Kings repeatedly used fast breaks to attack behind Glory’s defense.

Jordan exposed the problem that on defense he could no longer chase the ball handler like he used to; he was turning into a player who leaned on his offense.

Tomjanovich adjusted in time, making Andre Miller the primary transition defender, Gerald Wallace second, with Jordan focusing more on help defense inside.

As the offense gradually warmed up, the problems on defense started to improve too.

Jordan and Gan Guoyang didn’t rush into forced isolations; they just kept running set plays.

Their not-so-familiar Princeton sets actually started looking better and better against the Kings Team, who were already very familiar with the system.

Because they could steal plays.

Like when Bibby and Weber ran a pick-and-roll for a jumper, Jordan and Gan Guoyang would come back down and run the same thing for a shot.

Divac would facilitate from the high post, and Gan Guoyang would immediately mirror it, facilitating a lob for Jordan to finish.

Gan Guoyang knew all these sets; Jordan was the one still learning. He was stealing the most, basically just staring at Bibby and copying him.

Last season, Bibby rode his precise mid-range shooting out of the pick-and-roll to spark the Kings’ transformation and climb onto the MVP ladder.

But no matter how good your mid-range is, can it be better than Jordan’s? And Weber’s screens aren’t as good as Gan Guoyang’s either.

In the second quarter, when the two of them checked in together, one simple pick-and-roll into a mid-range jumper had the Kings wishing they were dead.

Adelman was left speechless by the barrage: a 10-point lead got shot into a 3-point deficit.

When the Kings called timeout, Jordan shrugged and spread his hands toward the sideline, as if to say, "They’re just going in, nothing I can do about it."

Adelman demanded of his players, "Why aren’t we double-teaming Jordan?!"

Bibby said, "The guy popping or rolling is Ah Gan, coach."

That left Adelman with nothing to say. If the guy popping out or rolling is Ah Gan, how are you going to trap the ball handler?

Either Jordan kills you with jumpers, or Ah Gan kills you.

And their pick-and-roll variations were all over the place—real screens, fake screens, half-real half-fake—leaving the defenders totally confused.

Glory took the Gan–Jordan pick-and-roll as the core and blended it into the Princeton system, flexible and ever-changing, with huge power.

Nobody knew better than Adelman what the benefits and the possible wrinkles of playing this way were.

But the Kings could only run it with Bibby and Weber; Glory had Jordan and Ah Gan.

They had no choice but to grit their teeth and trade blows, and then during the stretch in the second quarter when both stars sat, the Kings launched a counterattack.

But Glory’s bench mob was no joke. Van Exel kept up the high level he’d shown in last year’s playoffs.

He hadn’t done much in the first two games, but back in Las Vegas his three-ball caught fire, and he hit several in a row.

Yao Ming checked in with Ross, Barry, Bell and the others, running up and down both ends and executing all kinds of plays by the book.

Just talking about this lineup alone, if you built around Yao Ming, you could actually cobble together a pretty decent starting five for a middle-tier team.

At halftime, Glory Team led the Kings by 3 points, and both sides went back to the locker rooms.

The Kings felt the heavy pressure and deep bench depth coming from Glory Team, and they were all secretly thankful that Glory had gone to the Eastern Conference.

In the locker room, Gan Guoyang said to Yao Ming, "Next half, when we go to the second unit again, try to work more in the low post. Remember—be quick."

Yao Ming nodded. He still hadn’t scored in the first half.