However, the team's performance at the start of the new season was far from ideal.
They suffered three consecutive losses at the beginning of the season, losing to the Suns, Spurs, and Rockets in succession, followed by inconsistent games alternating between wins and losses.
By November 29th, before facing the Chicago Bulls, the Trail Blazers only had an 8-7 record, barely over fifty percent.
People once thought that the Trail Blazers were done. The defending champions showed signs of fatigue, and achieving a second three-peat seemed impossible for Ah Gan.
The media and fans are always so fickle. During the finals last season, they still chanted "The God of Basketball," and within just a few months, they began anticipating the collapse of his statue.
This is precisely the charm of the NBA: creating gods, worshipping them, then tearing them down, only to create new ones again, indulging in this cycle endlessly.
