In the third quarter, after the intensity of the game increased, the Trail Blazers could no longer play as freely as they did in the first and second quarters.
The Grizzlies were also stepping up their defense, and the Trail Blazers made a series of basic mistakes, all due to blindly trying to increase their offensive pace.
The turnovers allowed the Grizzlies to score, reducing the lead to single digits.
Gan Guoyang called a short timeout, and instead of criticizing the players who made the consecutive errors, he said, "If we're not confident, I think we should slow down a bit. Give me the ball, and I'll control the pace."
Bird said nothing; he gave Gan Guoyang this authority and substituted Terry Porter with Van Exel.
Porter looked in a bad state. In the 1994-1995 season, he had a major injury, missing almost 50 games.
He was 31 that year, marking a turning point in his career. After that season, all of Porter's stats took a nosedive.
