The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 167 Prey
Because fans, players, and their families should spend Christmas together in the evening, most Christmas Day matches are scheduled for the afternoon.

Gan Guoyang has been in the United States for many years, but he still can't get used to American food. To him, some of the food in American restaurants is not fit for human consumption; even pigs back home would find it more delicious.

In San Francisco, he was used to the food cooked by Gan Youwei, and in Stockton, Spokane, his mother's cooking skills were also quite good. When he arrived in Portland, Gan Guoyang chose to cook for himself.

He would give the housekeeper a menu and have her go shopping at the best supermarket in Portland twice a week. Gan Guoyang would calculate the variety and quantity of the dishes each day and have the housekeeper clean and organize them and put them in the refrigerator.

Gan Guoyang specially bought a super large refrigerator, the kind that can fit a person inside, and filled it with all kinds of food ingredients.

He also brought enough cooking seasonings from the Gan Family Restaurant in San Francisco, so he would definitely cook himself a nice lunch whenever he played at home.

When playing away games, he tries to find well-known local Chinese restaurants to eat at. If he can't find any, he'll just grab a McDonald's or KFC.

Basketball players expend enormous amounts of energy. The massive amount of training, high-intensity games, and frequent long-distance travel take a toll on their health.

Those who can compete in professional sports for more than five years have top-notch physical qualities, and good food and sleep are essential to maintain their good condition.

Back then, the NBA didn't emphasize healthy and scientific diets. Players mostly ate whatever they liked, as long as they were full. For example, Barkley ate hamburgers and Aguirre ate pancakes.

Some people have bad habits. For example, Drexler liked to sleep in late and never ate breakfast. He would usually just eat a banana and drink some orange juice to get by.

Some players not only don't eat properly, but also use banned drugs, drink excessively, and have sex every night, yet they can persist in the league for more than ten years and become All-Stars. Their bodies are simply beastly.

Gan Guoyang's body is already the most beastly of beasts, but he takes good care of himself and eats relatively healthily. Although Chinese food has a lot of oil fumes, it is low in sugar and calories, and there is no problem at all if you pay a little attention when cooking.

After the morning training and preparation meeting, Gan Guoyang went home at noon to cook lunch for himself. After eating and resting for a while, he drove to the Memorial Stadium to prepare for the competition early.

Gan Guoyang thought to himself that it was fortunate that Fu Xi was on vacation and had returned to Los Angeles, otherwise if he couldn't resist wanting to take a nap together at noon, it would have affected his performance in the afternoon game.

At one o'clock, Gan Guoyang arrived at the Memorial Stadium. The staff at the stadium all recognized Gan Guoyang and had prepared a basketball hoop for him in advance. Gan Guoyang was going to do his pre-game warm-up exercises.

He practiced shooting alone on the court at the Memorial Stadium, starting from under the basket and gradually moving the shooting position outwards all the way to the three-point line, shooting in sets of 20 minutes each, without stopping.

After completing two sets, he began practicing hook shots with his left and right hands, starting from under the basket, alternating between left and right, until he hooked the ball to a distance of about 20 feet.

Sometimes he'd hook the ball to the three-point line for fun, but he usually doesn't do that because he's worried Coach Ramsey's heart might not be able to handle it.

After an hour and a half of warm-up practice, teammates began to arrive at the stadium. Gan Guoyang put away the ball and ran laps in the aisle of the stands.

He likes to run laps in the aisle of the stands, which allows him to calm down and think about how to play the game today and imagine all the possible scenarios.

Before the match, he boasted that he would let Sampson experience what it's like to be defeated by him, and he wasn't just talking; he was going to put it into practice.

Sampson was clearly not an opponent that could be easily defeated; he was a star center who had won almost every honor in college basketball before Gan Guoyang.

One lie requires a thousand lies to cover it up, and a boast requires a great deal of sweat and wisdom to make it a reality.

Before the game, Gan Guoyang repeatedly watched the Rockets' game videos, observing the playing styles of Sampson and Olajuwon, as well as the Rockets' tactical style.

Although Sampson is taller, he often plays power forward when the twin towers are on the court at the same time, which gives the Rockets a significant height advantage at the power forward position.

According to Gan Guoyang's observation of the video, Sampson's shooting was more consistent than Olajuwon's, and once he got into a shooting rhythm, his jump shots from mid-range and close range were quite lethal.

His weakness is obvious: he's too skinny. This allowed him to have a dominant performance in college, but he lacked that dominance in the more physical NBA, and sometimes he would be very uncomfortable with the opponent's aggressive interior players.

His free throws reveal this: an average of 5 free throws per game with a free throw percentage of just over 60%, indicating a lack of offensive threat.

In comparison, Hakeem Olajuwon averaged 6.7 free throws per game in his first season, and he attempted 3 fewer than Sampson.

"The overall style is that of a tall, inside player who is more on the perimeter, agile, fast, and has a good touch, but lacks physicality... It seems like the old trick is to start with physicality. However, simply relying on physicality won't work; we need to watch the referee's whistle and find other ways to improve our skills and other aspects."

As Gan Guoyang ran, he conceived a plan to deal with Sampson in his mind.

Curbing star players is always a systemic project, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was the most massive undertaking.

Sampson is manageable, but there's also Olajuwon. Although dealing with the Twin Towers involves controlling one while letting the other go.

The problem is, if he lets Olajuwon off the hook, Olajuwon won't let him off the hook. On defense, the Rockets will definitely send Olajuwon to deal with them.

Bearing the utmost pressure on both offense and defense is a huge challenge for any player. Thinking of this, Gan Guoyang's pace quickened; he ran faster and faster, almost colliding with fans about to enter the stadium before quickly stopping.

Portland fans were very excited to see Gan Guoyang and rushed forward to ask for his autograph, which Gan Guoyang obliged.

Back then, there wasn't such a great distance between players and fans, and star players didn't have security personnel accompanying them when they traveled.

Even though I was in first class, I was still sitting with other passengers.

In their daily lives, Trail Blazers players are often seen in places frequented by ordinary people, such as shopping malls, restaurants, and barbershops.

They just live in nicer houses, drive more luxurious cars, and are taller.

However, Michael Jackson has already shown people what kind of life a star leads when they reach the level of a national icon.

At 2:30 p.m., the Houston Rockets players arrived at the court to warm up. Gan Guoyang spotted Hakeem Olajuwon and Sampson; those two guys were really eye-catching.

Sampson was 7'4". He was not only tall, but also well-proportioned and agile. He could dribble like a guard and break through on the fast break. He was the most promising center in the 80s. However, he stayed in college for too long and participated in too many low-quality college games for the sake of the school's record and interests. He was already 23 years old when he entered the league.

Hakeem Olajuwon, Gan Guoyang's old rival, was listed as 7 feet tall, but he was actually only about 6 feet 11 inches, which is about 2.10 meters in metric units. He was about the same height as Gan Guoyang, and there was not much difference between them when they stood on the court.

When Sports Illustrated took promotional photos of the two, they used towering skyscrapers as a backdrop. Little did they know that Gan Guoyang would later release "skyscraper" sneakers, which seemed to have already implied some meaning.

At three o'clock, the already small Memorial Stadium was full, with everyone eagerly anticipating this Christmas battle, a clash between giants.

After a particularly grand opening ceremony tonight, the starting players from both sides took to the field one by one, with Gan Guoyang being the last to step onto the pitch amidst the attention of the crowd.

He was chewing gum, taking off his white sports jacket. His red and black sneakers were quite cool, and he had a white armband on his arm—which made his arms look even more muscular and powerful.

All of this deepened the fans' impression of him and also intensified the opponents' resentment towards him—from the start of warm-up, Olajuwon stared at Gan Guoyang with the eyes of a wolf eyeing its prey.

He had waited too long for this day. The loss in the NCAA Final Four in April was too painful for him. He gritted his teeth and fought back, but in the end, he was dealt a fatal blow and suffered a last-minute defeat.

In the crowd that night, Gan Guoyang was as glorious as he was, and as desolate as the deafening cheers were, his heart was as silent as death.

Even many years later, that game still haunted Hakeem Olajuwon, leaving him with a lingering sense of unease.

Not to mention that only half a year has passed, and the two have met again on another field. How could Hakeem Olajuwon not think about revenge?

In order to win tonight's game, Hakeem Olajuwon didn't even answer Drexler's calls to avoid being distracted during the game against the Trail Blazers.

As soon as the players stepped onto the field, and the referee was making his final preparations before the game, Hakeem Olajuwon walked up to Gan Guoyang and greeted him.

He extended his hand and said, "Long time no see, Forrest Gump."

To everyone's surprise, Gan Guoyang completely ignored Olajuwon, walking straight past him without even glancing at him.

This embarrassed Hakeem Olajuwon, who withdrew his hand, his anger building up inside him.

Gan Guoyang skipped over Hakeem Olajuwon and walked over to Ralph Sampson, saying, "Hello Ralph, I've heard so much about you. Good game."

Seeing that Gan Guoyang was very friendly, Sampson also politely replied, "Same here, I've heard a lot about you. Good game."

Gan Guoyang continued, "By the way, Ralph, it's Christmas today, how are you feeling?"

Sampson didn't know what Gan Guoyang meant by asking that question, but simply said, "Feelings? Not bad, we'll win this game."

Gan Guoyang laughed and said, "Is that so? Then I wish you good luck."

Turning around, Gan Guoyang's smile vanished instantly, and he moved to the center circle.

Hakeem Olajuwon stood there glaring at Gan Guoyang, and he could sense that Gan Guoyang looked down on him.

The referee for tonight is Mike Mathis. Before the jump ball, he said to Gan Guoyang and Olajuwon, "Play a good game today, play a civilized game, and everyone can have a good Christmas."

Hakeem Olajuwon and Gan Guoyang ignored him, focusing intently on the ball in the referee's hand. It was clear that someone was going to have a bad Christmas.

(End of this chapter)