The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 184 You don't admire Larry either, do you?
When they left the stadium and got back into the car, everyone on the Trail Blazers said that Gan Guoyang had done a great job.

Every player who has played in the NBA for two years has been mistreated when they come to play in Boston.

The Celtics have been at their peak in recent years. Last year, they defeated the Lakers to win the championship, and their momentum reached its zenith.

Even a dog passing by will be bothered by them, experiencing the enthusiasm of the people of Boston.

Even the usually mild-mannered and polite Vandeweghe cursed, "Son of a bitch Boston, son of a bitch Celtics."

In the car, Vandeweghe reminisced about his rookie season when he came to Boston to play basketball; it was his first time visiting the famous Garden Arena.

Boston is relatively friendly to white people, but Vandeweghe still faced attacks from the fans in the arena and only scored 5 points throughout the game.

Back then, he knew how to grab rebounds, and he fought hard to grab 6 rebounds throughout the game. His peak performance in his second year as a rookie was 5.6 rebounds per game.

"But the following year I scored 40 points at Boston Garden. Although we lost, I felt great," Vandeweghe added.

Vandeweghe is indeed very talented in shooting and scoring; in terms of accuracy alone, he may be even better than Bird.

Bird once said, "Some people don't touch basketball all summer, and then they can score fifty points in the arena." The person he was referring to was Vandeweghe.

However, Bird outtrained Vandeweghe, as he wasn't the type to go an entire summer without playing basketball.

On the way back to the hotel, everyone cursed the Celtics as sons of bitches and Boston as the worst city in the world.

On the other hand, it is acknowledged that the Celtics are indeed very strong and a difficult team to beat, especially at their home court.

Everyone chimed in with their opinions, hoping to come up with a way to deal with the Celtics.

This was the first time Ramsay had ever seen everyone so excited and so united in their hatred of the enemy. In the end, they came up with a brilliant plan for victory:

"Give the ball to Forrest Gump! Let him shoot a three!"

Gan Guoyang looked bewildered and said, "Give me the ball? Do you think I'm God, making six out of six three-pointers every game? I only touched the ball today, the one I hit Angie with! If you let me hit him to death tonight, I'd be sure to be accurate. You want me to shoot threes? I'll hit 10 and miss first to test my feel."

"Or you could go guard Bird; nobody knows how to guard a small forward better than you."

"And what about McHale?"

“McHale, I’ll handle him. That kid’s incredibly arrogant right now, he needs to be taught a lesson.” It was Mitchell Thompson who spoke.

Thompson was McHale's senior at the University of Minnesota and knew McHale very well.

"What about Parish? What should we do with Parish? Are we going to send Kiki to defend against Parish?"

“Didn’t you say no one knows how to do a two-on-one better than you? I’ll leave Parish to you too, I’ll just handle the offense,” Vandeweghe said.

Gan Guoyang was speechless, and everyone laughed, filling the car with a joyful atmosphere.

Everyone chimed in with their own opinions, discussing the issue back and forth, but ultimately it all boiled down to the exploitation of their core member, Forrest Gump.

Everyone knows it's a joke, of course. Gan Guoyang is very strong. He once crushed the Lakers in one quarter, but such a game is rare.

The Celtics are a formidable opponent, just like the Lakers, especially in their frontcourt, with players like Parish, Bird, McHale, and Maxwell all being All-Star caliber players.

With Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge in the backcourt, every position is filled with strong players. Add to that the home advantage of the Garden Arena, and to think that you can find a playing style that guarantees an advantage is pure wishful thinking.

Finally, Ramsey stepped in to summarize, saying, "We are also a very good team, and the Celtics should think carefully about how to deal with us. We are currently second in the West, and the gap in wins between us and the Celtics isn't that big. We beat the Lakers and the 76ers, both strong teams that are on par with the Celtics. So don't think of us as challengers; the Trail Blazers and the Celtics are evenly matched. We need to play to our strengths and not always think about how to counter our opponents. Games are unpredictable and change depending on the situation and circumstances. I believe in you, and I believe you can get a win here."

Just then, the car arrived at the hotel, and it only took 20 minutes to drive back, just in time for Ramsey to finish speaking.

Back at the hotel, everyone was discussing how Dr. Jack was becoming increasingly different from before; he rarely encouraged the players like this in the past.

In the past, he always racked his brains, nitpicking tactics and details, and making thorough and meticulous preparations before the game.

But often, either you can't cook without rice, plans can't keep up with changes, or the players don't perform as well as expected.

Whenever he loses a game, Jack Ramsey gets extremely frustrated, and he often doesn't speak for a whole day.

If he loses a game away from home, he will run away from the hotel in the middle of the night to wander around the city, or even go to dangerous places alone.

One year, when the Trail Blazers lost a game against the Chicago Bulls on the road, Ramsey wandered around some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago that night.

In a terrible mood, he even wished that two robbers would appear and shoot him dead on the streets of Chicago.

Ramsey's personality was characterized by such stubbornness and a touch of radicalism.

He is an excellent coach and very talented, but his impulsive side actually limits him.

The players can clearly feel the change in Ramsey now. Mitchell Thompson said, "He must have been cured by Dr. Ogilvy."

Drexler said, "No, I don't think he's right. I feel like he still doesn't like me." Vandeweghe said, "Of course he does. It's normal that he doesn't like you. Jack only likes Forrest Gump. What good would it do him to like you?"

Drexler said, "Everyone loves Forrest Gump!"

"No, Boston fans definitely won't like him tonight," Vandeweghe said with certainty.
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At night, the old Boston Garden arena is brightly lit.

This is probably the most dilapidated arena in the league. It's built above a subway station, and trains pass underneath it from time to time.

The stadium's facilities were built in 1928 and haven't been updated much in over 50 years.

Although the Celtics are one of the most successful teams in the NBA, they are actually quite poor.

The team's ownership changed hands eight times in 10 years, making it seem like a hot potato.

The team once couldn't pay its players' salaries, and the players who won the championship had to go to the team's headquarters to demand their unpaid wages.

Because the hotel bills for away games were all on credit and the hotel couldn't be paid throughout the season, the hotel stopped keeping accounts for the following season and only accepted cash.

Even the team's office phone was cut off because they couldn't pay the bills. The phone company demanded a $2000 deposit before they would reconnect the service.

So, this team has won the most NBA championships, but it doesn't have, and can't possibly have, the money to renovate its home arena.

Even with its poor conditions, the Garden Arena couldn't stop Boston basketball fans from coming to watch Celtics games in the 80s; even seats behind the pillars could be sold.

"Hello everyone, I'm Johnny Most, and once again I'm here high up on the sidelines to provide live commentary on the Boston Celtics vs. Portland Trail Blazers basketball game."

By 7 p.m., many Celtics fans who couldn't even buy seats behind the pillars had no choice but to tune into a sports channel on their TVs, turn off the sound, and listen to the live commentary from Boston radio.

The same applies to Los Angeles fans, the Celtics' arch-rivals, because the Celtics have a radio commentator on par with Zeke Hearn, known as "The Voice of the Celtics," Johnny Most.

Every time the Celtics play at home, Most would move his table to the high stands well in advance, adjust his microphone and headphones, and prepare to provide lively live commentary for fans throughout New England who couldn't attend the game in person.

His hoarse yet resonant voice is always full of passion, and his opening remarks before the start of the game have remained unchanged for decades. Fans have long been accustomed to watching and listening to the game starting with Most's opening remarks.

The players on the field couldn't hear Most's voice; their ears were filled with the cacophony of shouts from the more than 14,000 fans in the stadium.

The dome of Boston Garden is specially designed to create a theater-like acoustic effect, which makes the arena particularly noisy.

Gan Guoyang came to the stadium from the poorly maintained away locker room at Boston Garden, where the noise made his ears ring.

Boston fans made all sorts of signs to "welcome" Gan Guoyang and the Trail Blazers.

As the current rising star of the league, Gan Guoyang naturally faces some special attention from the league's big boss.

However, no one from Boston dared to interfere when Gan Guoyang and his teammates were warming up with shooting drills.

Even Bird, who usually likes to trash talk to the visiting team before the game, was as quiet as a chicken in the other half.

The violent dunk that morning intimidated the arrogant Celtics, and coupled with Gan Guoyang's previous fearsome reputation, they knew this guy was not to be trifled with.

A striking characteristic of American society is that the fiercer and more courageous you are, the more respect you receive; conversely, the more people take advantage of you.

The Trail Blazers' starting lineup remained unchanged, while the Celtics' starting lineup consisted of Larry Bird, Parish, Maxwell, Dennis Johnson, and Danny Ainge.

With Kevin McHale on the bench as a substitute, Gan Guoyang had the opportunity to directly match up against Bird at the start of the game.

He can guard Bird, Thompson can handle Parish, and Vandeweghe can guard Maxwell.

Maxwell, the 1981 Finals MVP, declined significantly after signing a big contract.

But Ramsey rejected the plan, saying that the focus should be on stability in the regular season and there was no need to use any surprise tactics.

Such unexpected moves are better used in the playoffs.

"Playoffs? The Celtics are in the East, that means the Finals," Gan Guoyang said.

"Didn't you say we could come in June?" Jack Ramsey remembered what Gan Guoyang had said that morning and retorted.

Gan Guoyang had nothing to say and obediently followed Ramsey's instructions, preparing to jump for the ball with Parish in the center circle.

While the referee was still preparing, Gan Guoyang suddenly asked Parish, "Hey Chief, why didn't you help Kyrie when he was fighting Bird?"

Parish, nicknamed "Chief," was taken aback, thinking to himself, "You're quite the gossip, kid." But Parish wouldn't answer such divisive questions.

Parish, who disliked verbal disputes, chose to remain silent, but Gan Guoyang persisted and said, "Actually, you don't admire Larry either, do you?"

Parish moved his eyes but remained silent. At that moment, the referee tossed the ball into the air, and the game began.

(End of this chapter)