The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 123 Father and Son

Even at halftime, the fans were still captivated by Gan Guoyang's 360-degree dunk.

Tonight's game was not broadcast nationally; only local television station KOIN-TV was broadcasting the signal to the Oregon area.

In fact, CBS and the NBA signed a contract for nine nationally televised games during the regular season this year (excluding the All-Star Game, there are only eight games left), one more than last season.

As a rising star in the West, the Trail Blazers were allocated one of the eight games, but it was on April 7, 1985, in Los Angeles against the Lakers, which was already at the end of the season.

The league is implementing its so-called "Less is more" strategy (which is actually because nobody watches), and Stern said he wants to present the best teams and the best games to the national audience in order to win back the hearts of fans for the NBA.

The most popular team was undoubtedly the Los Angeles Lakers, accounting for half of the eight games, with four of them broadcast live, demonstrating the Lakers' important position in the league and their popularity across the United States.

Following closely behind are the Celtics with three games. The defending champions are in high spirits, with their game against the Lakers on February 17th being the most anticipated.

The Knicks have two games in the big city of New York, one against Boston and one against the Lakers. New York is considered the Jerusalem of American basketball, and the Knicks will not be treated unfairly no matter how badly they play.

The 76ers, with Dr. J and Malone, have two spots available. The remaining spots are reserved for teams like the Rockets, Mavericks, and Trail Blazers, who have secured high draft picks. Everyone wants to see how these highly anticipated rookies perform.

In summary, the NBA office has made the most of these eight nationally televised games, covering major cities, big teams, veteran superstars, superstars in their prime, and rising stars, while also taking care of all regions in the country, doing the most with the least amount of money.

However, when discussing the NBA's broadcasting strategy later, the fact that the Chicago Bulls were not broadcast during the 1984-1985 season, and that Gan Guoyang's opening game dunk was missed, was still considered a huge regret.

Gan Guoyang himself will no longer be able to replicate this difficult spinning dunk over an opponent in future games.

The Trail Blazers had a huge 59-42 lead at halftime, which made the outcome of the game a foregone conclusion early on.

After the start of the third quarter, whenever Gan Guoyang got the ball, the fans would cheer, eager to see him score.

Gan Guoyang intensified his attacking desire tonight, and his consecutive goals in the first half gave him a great scoring touch.

He constantly coordinated with Valentine and Drexler, cutting to the basket to receive the ball and scoring with a quick step-back and a light move hook.

Hickma has no way to deal with this scoring method. It's difficult to even contest it. You have to team up with your teammates to disrupt Gan Guoyang's starting shot.

But the SuperSonics had lost their will to fight. In the third quarter, their starters' shooting percentage started to drop, and their defense became haphazard.

Tom Chambers may have been injured by that dunk in the first half, as he seemed a bit dazed in the third quarter.

He was the only reliable point of the SuperSonics' offense in the first half, but when he faltered again in the third quarter, the SuperSonics' offense completely collapsed.

Gan Guoyang became more and more relaxed as the game progressed. As a center honed to the model of a modern 21st-century inside player, playing at a fast pace was not a problem for him at all.

He lacked the clumsiness and sluggishness of most interior players at the time, and ran at the same pace as Drexler, Cortés, Vandeweghe, and others.

His finishing ability amazed the fans in the arena. As long as he entered the three-second zone and got the ball, he always managed to put it in the basket.

Hook shot, fake move followed by reverse layup, lob layup, left-handed layup, dunk, one-handed catch to dodge the defense and then a light layup, etc.

In particular, his agile hook hand movement allows him to suddenly adjust his steps during high-speed maneuvers, delivering a surprise attack that is impossible to defend against.

For example, in a fast break from three lines, the inside players usually go through the middle to receive the ball and drive straight to the basket for a layup or dunk.

Gan Guoyang, however, can move to the wing. When opponents are close to him and trying to contest his shot, or when he draws an offensive foul, he can receive the ball, adjust his footwork, and directly shoot a hook shot to score.

Ramsey on the sidelines was scratching his head, wondering what kind of crazy move that was! But the unexpectedness of the move made it very accurate.

With the paint constantly guarded, this hook shot is much more efficient and less strenuous than a strong drive to the basket to get blocked—provided you have the skill.

上半场已经拿下17分的甘国阳，在第三节体验了一把喂到吐，12投10中，罚球4罚4中拿下了24分。

By the end of the third quarter, Gan Guoyang had already scored a whopping 41 points, while the SuperSonics only managed 18 points in the third quarter, less than Gan Guoyang's individual score.

At first, my Trail Blazers teammates didn't intend to keep feeding me the ball, but whenever I passed it to them on a fast break, they could always find a way to put the ball in, so I just kept passing it to them.

This is an unspoken rule in the NBA regular season: whoever has a good shooting touch should be given more opportunities to attack, because viewers love to see star players consistently score and put up impressive stats.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Trail Blazers were already leading the SuperSonics by 33 points, the game was completely over, and Lenny Wilkens' expression was extremely sour.

After a crushing defeat, especially against his old rival and former team, the Portland Trail Blazers, Wilkens already had a bad feeling about the new season.

His hunch was pretty accurate; this would be his last season on SuperSonic.

The fourth quarter became garbage time. After playing for two minutes, Wilkens pulled all the starters and brought in the substitutes.

Seeing this, Ramsey also substituted the main players, allowing the younger players to get some experience. Ten minutes of training time is still very valuable.

He said to Gan Guoyang, "Gan, didn't you say you wanted to get more experience? Why don't you go too, and maybe you can get some more points?"

Gan Guoyang said, "Dr. Jack, should I not go up again? It's not appropriate to go up again." He had already scored 41 points, and it was really not good to go up and rack up more points during garbage time. Gan Guoyang knew that the doctor was blocking him.

"Really? Who was it that just said I'm a young guy who needs more practice and shouldn't be substituted, wanting to stay on the field forever! And now they want to sit on the bench and rest? Are you the coach and I'm the coach?!"

This is bad. Coach Ramsey, who used to be single-minded and angry, is now caught in a dilemma.

Gan Guoyang had no choice but to say, "You are the coach."

Then he stood up from the bench to prepare to go on stage, but Ramsey pushed him back down.

"You should rest. I want you to keep playing until you're 50."

Everyone else on the bench was laughing like clowns. Gan Guoyang covered his face with a towel, thinking that he should try to avoid joking with this stingy old man in the future; he was too damn vengeful.

At the moment the game ended, Gan Guoyang stood up from the bench, and his family and friends came over to take a precious group photo with him. The fans gave him the warmest applause.

When Kerry Eggers, a reporter from The Oregonian, came to interview Gan Guoyang, the focus was, of course, on that amazing 360-degree spinning dunk over someone.

When asked why he made that dunk, Gan Guoyang said, "Because Tom Chambers was blocking my way, I felt that if I went straight into him, I might get an offensive foul. But I didn't have time to change direction, so I just did a spin in the air, brushed past Chambers, and dunked the ball in."

Have you ever practiced this movement before?

"No, I'm pretty good at dunking, but I'm a center, so I don't really know how to do anything too flashy."

Will you still attempt this dunk in future games?

"Probably not. This was just a flash of inspiration, not something I do every day."

Gan Guoyang's answer was very honest. When he finished the interview and was about to return to the locker room, he found that the players' tunnel was blocked by enthusiastic fans.

The Memorial Stadium is a small venue with low seating, making it easy for fans to jump down. The enthusiastic and excited young fans completely blocked the players' tunnel.

The stadium deployed additional security personnel to form a human wall in an attempt to stop the fans. Gan Guoyang, however, was experienced in dealing with this situation. He knew that the more they tried to stop them, the more agitated they would become, and the more they would try to push forward, creating a greater blockage.

So he addressed the fans, "We just got one win, that's all. It's the first game, not the last! Calm down, go back! We'll win big from now on, you'll get used to it! Go back!"

With Gan Guoyang's reassurance, the Portland fans' excessive enthusiasm cooled down. Some of them got Gan Guoyang's autograph and gradually dispersed, allowing the players to return to the locker room to change.

The coaches and friends from Gonzaga University drove back to Spokane overnight, while Gan Guohui's family arranged a hotel in downtown Portland.

Gan Youwei went home with Gan Guoyang and Wang Fuxi. Wang Fuxi was very nervous the whole way, as she was completely unprepared for her future father-in-law's visit.

Fortunately, Gan Youwei is a very kind person and is very satisfied that Gan Guoyang found a Chinese girl as his girlfriend. If it were a black, white, or colorful girl, he would really need to mentally prepare himself.

Gan Youwei remained calm in the face of Gan Guoyang's outstanding performance that evening. As an older generation of Chinese who has weathered many storms, he has always been more cautious than optimistic.

He bought two speckled chickens from Chinatown in San Francisco, slaughtered them, and brought them over. That night, he made chicken soup for his son as a late-night snack, worried that he was too tired from playing basketball and wanted to nourish him.

Watching Gan Guoyang drink chicken soup, Gan Youwei said, "Son, victory and defeat are common occurrences in war. There is a Chinese saying that goes, 'Don't be arrogant in victory or discouraged in defeat.' You must keep that in mind."

"Dad's chicken soup is so delicious," Gan Guoyang said, drinking more than half of it in one go. He smacked his lips and said, "Dad, the way you're saying that makes it sound like I lost the game today."

"I'm talking to you because you won. You haven't lost many games since you started playing, right? Playing professionally is definitely different from playing in school. Everyone here is a top player in the country, it won't be as easy as it was in school. If you really lose a game in the future, you have to get up quickly and look ahead, don't droop down, understand?"

Gan Guoyang rarely lost a game in high school and college, winning all the way with very few defeats.

Seeing Gan Guoyang being adored by thousands tonight, he was happy for his son, but also worried that the higher he was praised, the harder he would fall.

Gan Guoyang understood Gan Youwei's feelings. That's how their generation is; they worry more about their children than they're optimistic, which can sometimes be quite discouraging.

There's no way around it; they experienced too much hardship and turmoil in their youth, unlike most Americans who just happily accepted their easy lives.

“Dad, I understand what you mean. This game is just like shooting. No matter how accurate you are, you will miss. I am not as fragile as you think. Dad, do you feel that I have changed a lot since I started playing basketball?”

"Yes, things have changed, a lot has changed, but some things haven't changed." Gan Youwei recalled that ever since that time he had a fever and Gan Guoyang recovered and started playing ball, his life had undergone an unimaginable and huge transformation.

But no matter how things change, he's still his son.

“I play basketball because I love playing. Whether I win a championship or not, that won’t change. My life isn’t built on victories and championships. If I keep losing and never win a championship, other people will definitely not see me as myself, but to me, to you, I am still me, don’t you think?”

Gan Youwei gazed at his son, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "When are you planning to let me hold my grandson? I think this girl, Fuxi, is quite good."

Alright, enough said. Gan Guoyang silently finished the rest of the chicken soup. "Dad, you should get some rest."

(End of this chapter)