Chapter 26 The Front Tooth

The Trail Blazers easily defeated the Chicago Bulls, securing their opening victory for the year 1988.

Afterward, they headed to Atlanta and Milwaukee, lost to the Hawks, defeated the Bucks, and finished their five-game Eastern road trip with a 4-1 record, returning to Portland.

They played well on their Eastern trip, executing Jack Ramsay's new strategy.

Overall, this strategy was easy to implement; it wasn't some complex tactical system that required one or two, or even several seasons to foster understanding.

The players just had to follow some principles, slow down the game a bit, be more meticulous, and at the same time be more decisive in their outside shooting, in order to be effective.

According to Bobby Berman's statistics, since December, the Trail Blazers' offensive efficiency had shown a significant rebound.

However, there's one thing statistics can't reflect:

And that's human sentiment.