Fitch pointed out Gan Guoyang's trickery, as he always positioned himself at a shallow 45-degree angle facing Sampson and used his speed and power to drive towards the basket after a step-back turn, always taking the baseline side.
It was to leave the Rockets' middle defense wide open, creating opportunities for Thompson and Vandeweghe to cut in. Once Olajuwon and McGrady came to help, it was highly likely that gaps would appear.
"Should we just watch him attack the basket and score without helping on defense? Ralph can't guard him; he can't even stay in front of him for the first step!" Olajuwon said bluntly.
But his words angered Sampson, who retorted, "You think you can do any better? You don't pass the ball on offense, you just bullheadedly force your way in!"
"I wouldn't get cleanly beaten by him in one step!"
"You not passing the ball has cost us a lot of opportunities!"
