The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 163 The Carefree Ice Man

Despite his nickname "The Train," his massive size, and his youthful afro, Gilmore was not a hot-tempered center; off the court, he was a rather gentle giant.

He was mostly quiet and didn't receive much attention after the ABA merged into the NBA. People only remembered him when he was competing against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. There was still someone in the league who could contain Abdul-Jabbar in terms of height and wingspan.

But Gilmore was not content to remain low-key. Nearly 10 years after the ABA-NBA merger, he still believed that the ABA stars had been suppressed after entering the NBA.

Most of the stars who chose to join the ABA came from poor backgrounds because the ABA could offer bigger contracts than the NBA. Gilmore was so poor when he was a child that he had to earn money by picking watermelons in the fields. So in 1971, this highly anticipated talent chose to sign with the Kentucky Colonel.

He played exceptionally well in the ABA, winning Rookie of the Year, regular season MVP, and an ABA championship. He was one of the ABA's top stars, second only to Julius Erving in influence (in the ABA, coaches stipulated that when defending Erving, one could only foul him but not injure him or block his dunks, otherwise a $50 fine would be imposed).
After the two leagues merged, Gilmore went to the Chicago Bulls, and he could feel that he was receiving less and less attention. The commentators couldn't even pronounce his name correctly and called him Earlmore.

In the limited media coverage, fans only saw Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Havlicek, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson. ABA players like Gilmore seemed to be forgotten, only mentioned briefly when they were in the background.

For example, in the 1977 playoffs, they lost 1-2 to the eventual champions, the Portland Trail Blazers, in the first round, becoming a stepping stone on their path to the championship.

Gilmore hated the Trail Blazers, and the team's two former big men, Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas, were his "enemies".

Walton led the UCLA Golden Bears to victory over the Jacksonville Dolphins of Gilmore in the 1970 NCAA Championship game, earning him the nickname "Gilmore's nemesis." He lost again in 1977.

Born into poverty, Gilmore disliked Walton's flashy style. This injury-prone white center always became the focus of the media, and even after he faded into obscurity due to injuries, the media still talked about his political beliefs, musical tastes, and hippie-style attire.

As for Maurice Lucas, the two had a conflict during the ABA era. During a game between the Kentucky Colonel and the St. Louis Souls, Gilmore and Lucas got into a fight, and the usually mild-mannered Gilmore beat Lucas up.

At that time, Lucas, who was still a rookie, was not afraid. He retreated continuously to avoid Gilmore's punches and went all the way to the baseline. Suddenly, a combination of heavy punches hit Gilmore's chin and knocked him to the ground.

Later, eyewitnesses and teammates described how Gilmore first knelt on the ground, then his waist collapsed, his arms spread out, and finally his body and head hit the ground with a thud, like a giant statue collapsing, which shocked everyone at the scene.

This punch not only knocked down Gilmore's body, but also his spirit; he had never suffered such humiliation.

His agent, Herb Rudolf, immediately flew in from Chicago to provide him with psychological support, and it took him some time to recover.

But ever since then, he has found it hard to feel any goodwill towards the Portland Trail Blazers. Every time he comes here, he comes with a sense of anger. Last season, despite being affected by injuries and not performing well, Gilmore still managed to score 26 points on 11-of-17 shooting at Memorial Arena, his second-highest score of the season. He hates the Portlanders' fervor and prefers to cool it down.

During halftime, Kenny Carr told Gan Guoyang about some of the grudges between Gilmore and the Trail Blazers, explaining why the old train was so fierce and angry in the first half.

"He definitely doesn't like you either. Look at your outfit, wearing a jacket under your shorts, flashy shoes that get you fined every game, and chewing gum... What's that on your arm?"

"Avia's armbands can prevent sweat from dripping down."

Why aren't you wearing knitted wristbands?

"Wristbands? Those things look like my grandma's arm sleeves, I'm not wearing them."

At Gan Guoyang's suggestion, Avia is developing some basketball wearable equipment.

For example, armbands, headbands, leg wraps, wristbands, etc., Gan Guoyang selected some and felt that armbands were more suitable for him.

Other items, such as wristbands, were comfortable to wear as they absorbed sweat, and many players wore them at the time, but he thought they lacked character and were ugly.

Headbands were not even on Gan Guoyang's radar, as they would detract from his handsome appearance and refined demeanor.

Gan Guoyang picked up a new piece of chewing gum and said, "Since Lucas punched him during his rookie season, he must have forgotten how it felt after ten years. I'll just punch him again."

Kenny Carr said, "Using your fists is too dangerous. You can use a takedown. I'm sure you're just as strong as Gilmore, right?"

Carl was eager to see who was stronger, Gan Guoyang or Gilmore.

Gan Guoyang thought for a moment. Gilmore was 7 feet 2 inches tall. Taking him down wouldn't be so easy.

Adelman said, "Kenny, don't give Forrest bad advice. The Christmas Day game is coming up, and nobody wants Forrest to be suspended." Ramsey replied, "If Addis goes too far, it's okay to take him down. Our inside game needs to be tougher, especially against Western teams. We'll be playing against them many more times."

Adelman looked at Ramsey and said, "Jack, is this appropriate?"

"There's nothing inappropriate about it; he'll know what he's doing."

After Ramsey finished speaking, he continued to plan the tactics for the second half, completely disregarding whether Gan Guoyang would fight Gilmore.

Gan Guoyang calmed down. The primary task on the basketball court is to play the game, not to fight. He should only take action when he can no longer tolerate it. Before that, he should focus on playing the game well.

He no longer cared about the feud between Gilmore and the Trail Blazers, and focused on listening to Ramsey's tactical instructions.

The Trail Blazers took an advantage in the first half, leading by 4 points at halftime, but they didn't play smoothly.

Gan Guoyang may have been too focused on battling Gilmore in the paint, thus neglecting the performance of other Spurs players—such as Spurs star George Gervin.

He was thin, with a big head, a slight hunchback, not very fast, and his jumping ability was not outstanding. He was lazy on the court, not grabbing rebounds or playing defense, and then easily scored 16 points in the first half.

Despite the intense battle between Gan Guoyang and Gilmore in the paint, George Gervin remained unconcerned. He only cared about getting the ball into the basket. His shots were more like tosses than throws, which added to his calm and collected demeanor on the court, earning him the nickname "Iceman".

This seemingly ordinary guard was once one of the most lethal scorers in both the ABA and NBA leagues. He is best known for scoring 33 points in a single quarter, defeating David Thompson to win the scoring title.

But that's not all there is to him.

While playing under Doug Mo, Gervin led the Spurs to the extreme of "disorganization." The team didn't care about rebounding or defense, and devoted almost all their energy to offense. They averaged 119 points in the regular season and made it to the conference finals, just one step away from the NBA Finals: they were up 3-1 when they were overtaken by the defending champion Bullets.

The other side of this seemingly carefree attitude is actually freedom. Unlike the Spurs in people's minds, the Spurs in the 70s were synonymous with freedom and unrestrained spirit, like galloping horses on the Texas prairie.

At the time, the Spurs' head coach, Doug Mo, graduated from North Carolina and was mentored by Dean Smith. He and Larry Brown were mentors and good friends, but their coaching paths were completely different, going in opposite directions.

Doug Mo practiced liberalism in the Spurs, holding training sessions every two days and allowing players to bring their pet dogs to the training ground. It is said that if a dog urinates and dirties the floor, Doug Mo would order the training to stop and then go play golf.

The team has no fixed tactics, only one principle: the ball should not be in a player's hands for more than two seconds. The rest is to keep setting screens, running, and passing until a player finds an opportunity to shoot.

The team's roster was also quite unusual. Gervin was the tallest shooting guard at 6'8", and they also had a center who had switched to playing power forward (Mike Green), a power forward who had switched to playing backup center (Corby Dietrich), and a power forward who had switched to playing guard (Larry Kenon).

This free spirit died in 1979 from excessive indulgence and a lack of luck, ultimately becoming a classic example in history books of "attacks failing to win championships."

At 32 years old, Gerrard should still be in his prime this season, but his already thin body has been further depleted by drugs and alcohol. Under these circumstances, he can still contribute 21 points per game with a 50% shooting percentage, but he is no longer the Iceman who scores like water.

"We didn't put enough pressure on our perimeter defense in the first half, which allowed Gervin to take some overly easy shots. Our inside and outside game needs to connect and coordinate more. We're fragmented; our inside and outside game are disconnected, and our offense and defense are disconnected. Everyone needs to pay attention in the second half. Also, Valentine, be more careful with the ball and reduce turnovers. You can pass the ball to Kiki or Jim to control it, and Clyde, you too. Let's play with urgency!"

Ramsey made his second-half strategy, noting that Valentine had been stripped twice by Spurs rookie Alvin Robertson in the first half, and that Spurs point guard Johnny Moore was also a skilled stealer.

After acquiring Alvin Robertson, the Spurs' average steals per game improved from the middle of the league to the top five.

Of course, with Gan Guoyang on the roster, the Portland Trail Blazers lead the league in perimeter steals, averaging 11 per game.

This is thanks to Gan Guoyang's strong ability to steal the ball and the pressure he puts on the outside opponents by cooperating with his teammates.

After halftime, Gan Guoyang readjusted his mindset and prepared to take the field.

At this moment, Adelman came over to relay a message: "Dr. Jack said that in the second half, focus more on the overall defense and don't get too entangled with Gilmore. Of course, if he really annoys you, then knock him out. But before that, please try to maximize your advantage."

(End of this chapter)