On the first training day after returning to Portland, the Trail Blazers received bad news. Arvydas Sabonis' knee was swollen. According to the examination, there was fluid in it. The team doctor recommended that Sabonis take a truce for two days. This means Sabonis will miss the entire Western Conference semifinals. Sabonis had a knee injury before coming to the Trail Blazers. When he came to Portland for a trial training in the summer of 1986, the Portland team doctor examined and treated Sabonis for the injury, but after returning to the Soviet Union , the medical level of the Soviet Basketball League is definitely not as high as that of the United States. Moreover, Sabonis joined the Soviet national team when he was very young and still growing in body. He conducted high-intensity and large-volume training in the national team and started strength training early. This was a big step for Sabonis, who was 2.21 meters tall. This is a huge injury. In the early years of the game, Sabonis was also a player who could fly and dunk well, but now his knees no longer allow him to do such actions. If Sabonis enters the NBA a few years later, he will be completely reduced to a floor player. His injuries are not particularly serious now, but he has played the entire season after all. It is expected that some minor problems will occur now. among. Now, the Blazers' coaching staff is busy again. The opponents in the Western Conference semifinals have not yet been announced. The game between the Seattle SuperSonics and the Phoenix Suns is inextricable. The two sides have now reached a 2:2 battle. It is a life and death battle. Played at the home court of the Suns. The Trail Blazers' coaching staff has to make new preparations for Sabonis' absence. No matter whether the opponent is the Sonics or the Suns, the Blazers' tactics will be different without Sabonis. This is Sabonis' status in the Trail Blazers. Although he The data is mediocre, but the tactical influence is very strong. When Sabonis is on the court, Gan Guoyang is very comfortable in both high and low positions in the offense. Sabonis's high-position support and low-position passing are very good, so the Blazers' offense will be very smooth. Without Sabonis, when Gan Guoyang is in the low post, there will be one less high-post transition point; with Gan Guoyang in the high post, there will be one less attack point in the low post. The Blazers will go back to 1988 when Gan Guoyang mainly played in the low post, being a big axis and hanging on to three or four. In a situation where he is forced to attack personally, Gan Guoyang has lost weight this season, so it will obviously be stressful to beat him like this. Moreover, Buck Williams has also adapted to the role of the sixth man. He has fully demonstrated his versatility in the sixth man position. If it were not for the insufficient number of games as the sixth man, Williams is likely to win. Sixth Man of the Year award this season. Now if Williams is allowed to return to the starting power forward position, the Blazers' rotation order will be disrupted, and the sixth man position will be occupied by guard Jim Paxson. After Paxson returned from injury in the second half of the season, he regained his form and became an important outside shooting point. But after all, he is no longer the All-Star, and his influence on both offense and defense is not as good as Buck Williams. If Let him play as the sixth man and lead the second lineup, and the Blazers may have a hard time. So this also stumped Adelman and the coaching staff. During the training process, Adelman began to try different starting lineup combinations. After Williams and Gan Guoyang re-paired to start, the two sides still had some differences. After all, Williams just transferred here this season and has not started many games with Gan Guoyang. After that, Adelman also selected different forwards from the Blazers' strong forward group to partner with Gan Guoyang, but the results were average. It was obvious that the help to Gan Guoyang was not particularly great in offense and defense. Basically, they could only do as much as Gan Guoyang. People can take care of everything, but their offensive and response capabilities are average. "Why not let Duckworth try? Maybe he and Gan can cooperate." At this time, Bellman was on the side giving suggestions to Adelman. Adelman looked at Duckworth, who was playing against Gan Guoyang. In fact, Duckworth has made great progress this season. In training, you can feel that he is trying to keep up with Gan Guoyang's rhythm. Gan Guoyang is also happy to play with Da As a second-round pick, Duckworth will inevitably be evaluated as lacking offensive talent and is suitable to be a hard-working center; but this season, Duckworth has shown his talent on the offensive end. In several games, he came on as a substitute. Duckworth can show his solid offensive skills in the low post, especially the hook shot he learned from Gan Guoyang, which is so impressive that most people can't guard him if they don't pay attention. However, due to the existence of Sabonis and the functional overlap with Gan Guoyang, Duckworth did not get enough playing time, so the data was mediocre. If he was given enough playing time, his performance would definitely be a qualified starter. center. "Maybe we can try. After all, Gan is no longer the same as last season. We can try to slow down the pace of the game, but it depends on whether the opponent is the SuperSonics or the Suns." Adelman expressed his thoughts, supersonic speed isFor teams with greater defensive weight, the SuperSonics gave the Trail Blazers two of the 13 losses this season. They relied on strong defense from the outside. This is how the Bucks restrained the Trail Blazers back then. If the Trail Blazers meet the SuperSonics, using Buck Williams will be more effective. Williams is more flexible in position and can act as an outside line to help the backcourt transition to a certain extent. Moreover, Williams¡¯ style of play Fierce, just enough to contain the Sonics forwards who also play aggressively. The Suns are not the same. The Suns have always been an offensive team in history. This season, the Suns average points per game are second only to the Portland Trail Blazers, ranking second in the league, and they are the second strongest offensive team in the league. Of course, the Trail Blazers can choose to compete with the Suns in the playoffs, but this is obviously risky, because the offense will never be as stable as the defense. The offense needs the player's state and feeling. If the tactics are implemented, you can't make a shot; and defense It depends on tactics and attitude. If you execute it well and have a positive attitude, whether you can advance or not will depend on the opponent's level. Therefore, Adelman is also worried about it in his mind. If the Sonics eventually reach the semifinals, he will return to the starting lineup at the beginning of the season and fight with the Sonics on offense; if the Suns enter the semifinals, then try the combination of Duckworth and Gan Guoyang. Combination, use defense to kill the Suns. "Duck! (Duck!) Come here, stop, pause, let's rearrange the lineup, Duck, you enter the starting lineup, replace Buck, so that you and Gan are on the court together." After that, Adelman pulled Gan Guoyang When he got to the side, he said to him: "Lower the tempo, play more positions, and see the effect." Gan Guoyang nodded after hearing this. He understood what Adelman meant. Since Sabonis is not here, the Blazers' positional offense will definitely change. There have been changes, so Adelman wants the starting lineup to play more positional offense and see the effect. However, after a few rounds, Adelman discovered that when Duckworth was on the court, the smoothness of the Blazers' offense dropped significantly. Without Sabonis as a passer, the ball's transfer speed slowed down, and the range It also became smaller, and the substitute players on the opposite side quickly followed Behrman's guidance and began to double-team Gan Guoyang. After that, Gan Guoyang tried to reach the high post, and the opponent's double-team lost its effect. At the same time, Duckworth also began to show his skills on the offensive end, and even replaced Gan Guoyang in consecutive hits in the low post. However, Adelman still shook his head on the sidelines, because what Duckworth can do, Gan Guoyang can also do, and do better. It doesn't make much sense to let Duckworth go up and score in the low post. But soon, Duckworth's significance became apparent, that is, on the defensive end. Since he has been Gan Guoyang's substitute, Duckworth can be regarded as the defensive core of the second team. He is 7 feet tall and 260 pounds. The weight is more than enough to fill the inner line. And he has better defensive experience and confrontation ability than Sabonis. When Sabonis was there, Gan Guoyang often had to wipe Sabonis's butt. With Duckworth here, Gan Guoyang can be more relaxed on the defensive end. The day¡¯s training passed quickly. For the Blazers, all they had to do was wait quietly for their next opponent. ¡¡¡¡ At the same time, many series in the first round also decided the winner. In the West, the Los Angeles Lakers showed strong energy in the playoffs. They faced the Denver Nuggets in the first round. The Nuggets In his peak period, Jin was swept by the Lakers, and there is no need to talk about his decline. The whirlwind Purple and Gold Army sent the Nuggets to go fishing in the Grand Canyon 3:0. The Utah Jazz faced the Houston Rockets, with a strong lineup composed of Karl Malone, Stockton, Mark Eaton, and Bailey, and defeated Olajuwon 3:1. Olajuwon fell into a deep hole after being eliminated. In the midst of deep confusion and trouble, he was called a cancer, and soon he would find spiritual sustenance in religion. In the Eastern Conference, the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks both defeated their opponents 3:0 early and began to prepare for the semifinals. However, the season's dark horse Cavaliers were dragged into a life-or-death battle by the Bulls. The Bucks also dragged the Hawks, who had high ambitions before the start of the season, to fifth place. field. Coupled with the duel between the Suns and the SuperSonics, everything will be settled after one game.