Jerry West, with his deep thoughts, is very familiar with the Trail Blazers and Gan Guoyang. This lineup, centered around O'Neal-Kidd with tall wing players on the perimeter, is indeed very competitive.
Although their regular season record and performance are not as good as the 1998 season, they clearly conserved energy for the playoffs and have been shining brightly in the postseason.
After settling into the hotel, Larry Bird led the players to the training hall that afternoon for tactical drills and targeted exercises.
Bird and Carl made one thing clear in their communication: the Trail Blazers must be able to win even when their perimeter three-pointers are not reliable.
If they rely too much on the three-point shooting, facing the Lakers' tall and strong perimeter defense, the Trail Blazers could suffer like they did in the first game.
