The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 133 I am already dead

At first, Lambis didn't react to Gan Guoyang's words; he just took them as ordinary trash talk.

Watching NBA games on TV is quiet and civilized, with only the squeaking of sneakers on the floor and the pleasant swishing of the net when the ball goes in.

But the real NBA arena is just like a vegetable market—noisy, dirty, and filthy. Playing on the court is a mental test for every player.

Lambis experienced the worst conditions at Boston Garden, and although they lost, they persevered to Game 7 and almost won there.

Rambis often defended Bird and McHale on the court; they were the toughest frontcourt players in the league, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call them dirty.

In Game 4 of the Finals, McHale used a "clothesline" defense on Rambis, choking him and knocking him to the ground.

Since then, Lambis has believed that there is nothing he cannot bear; at worst, he will fight, and he is not afraid of anyone.

To Lambis, Gan Guoyang's harmless wordplay was nothing more than a child's pointless threat, and he didn't take it seriously at all.

However, on the Lakers' first offensive possession of the second half, Rambis stole the ball under the basket, received a pass from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and attempted a layup off the backboard, which was blocked by Gan Guoyang.

A huge hat behind his back caught Rambis completely off guard. He thought he had created some distance and that Gan Guoyang's attention was on Jabbar.

This was Gan Guoyang's third block tonight. The Lakers players underestimated how formidable this 6-foot-10 center is at protecting the rim; his shot-blocking ability is very strong.

After receiving the ball, Gan Guoyang did not make a long pass to the frontcourt to launch a fast break. Instead, he passed the ball to Valentine, and the Trail Blazers began to organize a half-court offense.

The two teams ran almost non-stop for the entire half court, displaying dazzling fast breaks, dunks, half-court steals, aerial interceptions, and chase-down blocks.

The fans thoroughly enjoyed the game, but the players appeared slightly fatigued and needed to slow down a bit at the start of the third quarter.

Valentine noticed Gan Guoyang's intention, and after crossing half-court, he delivered a low bounce pass from Johnson's side into the basket.

Gan Guoyang blocked Rambis with his back to the goal, received the ball and suddenly turned around. Rambis was closely guarded and then was knocked away by a huge force.

"The first half wasn't like this..." This thought flashed through Lambis's mind, and then he plopped down on the ground.

Looking up, I saw Gan Guoyang dodge Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's help defense and block, then slammed the ball into the basket with one hand.

The referee made no call; there was no foul. Rambis immediately got up and threw himself into the attack.

The player guarding Rambis became Vandeweghe, and Mitchell Thompson went to guard Worthy.

Vandeweghe's defense was practically nonexistent, and Rambis easily slipped past him and drove into the paint.

Johnson's pass cut through the three-second zone like a knife, reaching Rambis's hands.

Rambis catches the ball and lays it in!
A large hand came over and pushed the ball down, which was about to touch the rim.

Gan Guoyang came from the side and blocked Rambis's layup.

Gan Guoyang regained control of the ball and made his fourth block.

There was still no quick attack; the ball was passed to Valentine, who slowly crossed the halfway line.

Rambis gritted his teeth and continued to harass Gan Guoyang, starting from when he entered the three-point line.

Gan Guoyang raised his hands and walked forward, and Lambis couldn't stop him at all.

He suddenly turned around and grabbed Lambis's clothes, a subtle, stealthy maneuver.

Valentin passed the ball to Van der Wijk, who then lofted a high pass to Gan Guoyang.

In the same spot, Lambis thrust forward with his chest out, colliding with Gan Guoyang's shoulder as he turned.

The referee blew the whistle, and at the same time, Gan Guoyang threw the ball towards the basket, and the ball went in cleanly.

Rambis fouled, and Gan Guoyang's two points counted, plus a penalty.

The Great Western Forum fell silent at the start of the third quarter.

Zick Hearn complained, "Why are we sending Rambis to guard Gan! Where is our Kareem?"

"You are already dead."

This sentence suddenly became clearer in Lambis's mind.

He felt he was beginning to understand the meaning of that sentence. Were those two shots that were just blocked intentionally left as openings?
Yes, in the first half, when he was anchoring the paint, there were no such offensive opportunities at all; he blocked them very well.

This is a trap he set, isn't it? And I've already fallen into it.

As Rambis was taking the free throw, some inexplicable thoughts flashed through his mind, so much so that he didn't hear Riley yelling at him from the sidelines.

Gan Guoyang made the free throw, scoring 5 consecutive points and the Trail Blazers successfully took the lead.

During the Lakers' offensive possession, Johnson yelled at Rambis to come and set a screen.

After a simple pick-and-roll, Johnson dribbled to the basket, and Rambis cut to the basket.

Gan Guoyang was nearby, and he chose to leave Kareem Abdul-Jabbar behind to help defend Johnson.

Without any hesitation, he blocked Johnson's path to the basket, and Johnson passed the ball to Rambis through the gaps in the defense.

As a result, Rambis lost his grip on the ball, and it went out of bounds.

"Kirk! What are you thinking! Catch the ball!" Johnson yelled at Rambis.

Rambis apologized, his mind was a bit muddled at the moment, and he immediately returned to defense.

Gan Guoyang was still backing down Rambis in the low post when Cooper double-teamed him.

But it was no use. Gan Guoyang received the ball, immediately turned inside, and shot after blocking Rambis.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar couldn't get over to help defend and scored two points with a jump shot. Gan Guoyang then casually scored 7 points in a row, forcing the Lakers to call a timeout.

Lambis returned to the bench, panting heavily and looking utterly dejected. Riley yelled at him, "What were you doing? Didn't you hear me?!"

"Sorry, it's too noisy on the field."

"The others need to help Rambis, and Karim, you need to provide support. You must help him in time!"

"Thompson is also a problem."

"Gan is the biggest problem!"

Riley yelled at everyone, saying they were being completely outmatched on both ends of the court by a rookie. After the timeout, the Lakers started fronting Gan Guoyang, and it worked on one possession.

But in the next possession, Gan Guoyang no longer went to the low post, but received the ball in the high post and made a mid-range shot from the free-throw line against Rambis.

Next, from the same position slightly to the left, he took another mid-range shot, missed, then drove to the basket to grab the offensive rebound and unleashed a powerful one-handed dunk.

Before Jabbar could even react, he transformed into a withered tree in front of Gan Guoyang, enormous but immobile, easily bypassed.

Magic Johnson started his own offense, using his body to drive to the basket, and scored with a layup, stopping the bleeding for his team.

But Gan Guoyang had the ball in the low post, with his back to Rambis. He turned around so fast that Rambis didn't even have time to react and felt like he had slipped away in an instant.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar came over to help defend, and the two collided in mid-air. Abdul-Jabbar blocked Gan Guoyang's charge, but at the cost of a foul and having his glasses knocked off his face.

Jabbar covered his eyes in pain for a while, and Gan Guoyang came over and patted him to express his apology, saying that he didn't mean it.

The referee called a foul on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Gan Guoyang went to the free-throw line. Riley finally couldn't hold back and substituted Rambis with Kupchak.

With two more free throws, Gan Guoyang single-handedly led the Lakers on a 13-4 run in the third quarter, turning a 5-point deficit into a 4-point lead.

But this was not the end. Gan Guoyang knew he was in a good mood and he had to cherish this good touch to continue his attack.

He started to coordinate with Valentine and Paxson, taking shots from the mid-range.

During the game, Gan Guoyang will not take a lot of mid-range shots easily, which is not a good offensive habit for a center.

You might be very accurate, achieving a high hit rate on some nights and scoring a lot of points.

However, this will make you less effective at attacking the paint and unable to break down the opponent's defensive formation.

Your points are just points; they don't help the team or your teammates at all.

So even though he's a very accurate shooter, Gan Guoyang only uses mid-range and long-range shots as a supplement to his offense.

But at certain times, he will take a lot of shots, especially when he feels he can keep scoring.

Kupchak replaced Lambis to be tortured.

Before he even touched Gan Guoyang on the court, Gan Guoyang received a pass from Paxson on the wing and made a mid-range shot.

Gan Guoyang's consecutive baskets demoralized the Lakers players, and their shooting became sluggish.

Worthy's turnaround jump shot missed, Thompson grabbed the rebound, and Valentine quickly pushed the ball up the court.

Gan Guoyang was positioned at the corner. Valentine passed the ball to Gan Guoyang, who used a fake move to dodge the Magic Johnson who was rushing over to block him.

Then, he stood still and took another mid-range shot, which swished through the net, bringing the score to two points again.

"Shit! What kind of center is that? Shit!"

Johnson was furious and yelled, "This guy's shooting is too accurate!"

Why didn't he shoot in the first half? Did he just learn it?

Johnson's competitive spirit was ignited, and he tried his best to motivate his teammates.

He knew that if Gan Guoyang continued to shoot like that, the team would slide into the abyss.

In the NBA, there is no early double-teaming or zone defense, which amplifies the impact of a star player's consecutive scoring.

If a superstar scores consecutively and puts you on the defensive for a period of time, the game can be completely reversed.

Magic Johnson wanted to break through the Trail Blazers' defense, so after switching on defense, he directly matched up against Gan Guoyang.

Johnson decided to attack the Trail Blazers' defensive anchor, this despicable rookie. Johnson cunningly used his body to penetrate the paint, trying to draw a foul from Gan Guoyang.

As a result, he was too focused on defending Gan Guoyang and neglected Drexler who came to help defend, resulting in a turnover and Drexler's counterattack.

The ball was passed to Paxson on the wing, who, like a traditional guard from the 60s and 70s, received the ball on the baseline, stopped abruptly, and took a jump shot.

The ball missed, but Gan Guoyang followed up with a putback dunk.

He has scored all of the Trail Blazers' points so far in the second half.

Kupchak tried his best to push and pull Gan Guoyang, but he still couldn't stop the truck from getting the rebound and putting the ball into the basket.

"He was as savage as Moses, but faster, more explosive, and stronger—it was simply incredible," Kupchak later said of Gan Guoyang during his rookie years.

The third quarter suddenly entered an incredible rhythm and atmosphere, with everyone, including the Lakers players, revolving around Gan Guoyang.

Pat Riley tried various methods to stop Gan Guoyang from scoring, such as having Cooper harass him, having Johnson double-team him, and having Kareem Abdul-Jabbar defend him properly.

He even brought Rambis back into the game, using a clothes-hanging defense against Gan Guoyang during one of his drives to the basket.

As a result, Rambis was knocked away by Gan Guoyang and fell into the crowd of reporters at the baseline.

In an instant, Lambis's vision went completely black, and all he could hear was a cacophony of shrill busy signals.

It sounded like someone was shouting his name.

"Lambis, Lambis, how are you? Lambis."

He gradually realized that it was the team doctor calling him and opening his pupils with a flashlight to check.

He felt himself floating, as if he were on a cloud, and the darkness in front of him was gradually dissipating. He saw white and yellow orbs of light.

When he was fully awake, he found himself in the locker room, with the medical team beside him. Seeing he was awake, they asked, "How are you, Lambis? Is there anything particularly uncomfortable?"

Lambis was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Am I dead?"

"No, you didn't die. When you collided with Forrest Gump, his elbow hit your chin, and the referee called a foul on him. His crazy scoring streak was stopped... He scored 20 points in the third quarter, my God."

Rambis seemed not to have heard what the team doctor said at all, and said blankly, "No, I'm already dead."

"What nonsense are you talking about? If you're dead, who am I? Am I God? I think you're stupid. Let me check you out, this is..."

"..."

Lambis didn't answer. He lay back on the massage bed, took a deep breath, and then exhaled, muttering, "I'm already dead."

(End of this chapter)