In the opening five minutes of the game, Mutombo immediately felt the intensity of Ah Gan, and understood why Ewing once said, "If you can compete against Ah Gan, you're already a qualified NBA center."
Mutombo suddenly realized that all of his previous tricks and experience against opponents were useless. The shots he used to block with ease were now always just a fraction of a second too late.
It was that fraction of a second, Mutombo knew, that marked a huge gap.
By the second quarter, whenever Gan Guoyang got the ball in the low post, Mutombo began to panic internally.
He had no idea what Ah Gan would do next—would he go for a direct shot, back down and push inside, or pass the ball to a teammate for an attack at the basket?
