Let's roll back the time a bit to May 31, 1997, Salt Lake City, the final game of the Western Conference Finals, a suffocating showdown for the Western crown.
The Triangle Center that night could only be described as insane, even more so than the Finals that followed.
The fans not only made noise; they were in a collective state of frenzy.
And there was only one goal, to disrupt the Portland Trail Blazers as much as possible, they wanted to defeat Ah Gan.
To a certain extent, this was an honor more brag-worthy than winning the championship.
The Trail Blazers rallied in Game 6 to push the series to a Game 7, but when it came to the actual Game 7, the immense pressure almost crushed everyone.
The players were not mentally prepared, whereas the Utah Jazz, playing at home, had been waiting for this day too long.
In terms of mentality, only three people on the Trail Blazers were unaffected: Gan Guoyang, Bird, and Kobe.
