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On January 1, 1997, the Trail Blazers faced the Suns in Phoenix.
In previous games against the Clippers and the Warriors, the Trail Blazers won even without Gan Guoyang.
This significantly boosted the confidence of the Trail Blazers; it turns out that even without you, Ah Gan, we're still pretty formidable.
However, the game against the Suns quickly brought the Trail Blazers back to reality. Facing a not-so-strong Suns, the Trail Blazers encountered a setback at the beginning of 1997.
In poor form, they were severely defeated by the home team, suffering a major defeat, losing by 21 points—the worst loss of the season.
It was at this point that the Trail Blazers started missing Ah Gan, thinking if he were here, even in a loss, it wouldn't be so brutal. Ah Gan would have held the fort.
In this game, Kobe scored 20 points for the first time in his career, earning 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists coming off the bench.
