The Lakers played excellent offense tonight, but Gan Guoyang played even better.
Riley could be certain, based on the Lakers' offense in the first half, that even the Celtics would have been behind by at least 15 points.
Yet, the Trail Blazers managed to lead by 5 points, Guoyang's offensive prowess and the advanced nature of his playing style were headaches.
Riley was one of the few coaches who recognized that Guoyang's playing style was different and ahead of others in the league.
As a center in the paint, Guoyang had been merging his inside and outside techniques better and better over the past two seasons.
In 1985, his style of play was somewhat like Moses Malone, a rather pure monster of the three-second area.
By 1987, he had become an unprecedented offensive kaleidoscope with no attacking technique foreign to him.
This made defending Guoyang a very, very difficult job; you could only hope to overpower him with your team's collective talent.
