The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 190 Chinese Restaurant

"An incredible, desperate hook shot, reminiscent of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's game-winning shot in 1974... Oh, the only good thing that comes to mind right now is that we won the championship that year after being hit by Abdul-Jabbar. Alright, my friends, this exciting game is over, and Johnny Most's time here has come to an end. Looking forward to seeing you in the next game..."

In the commentary booth above Boston Garden, Johnny Most's voice sounded tired. As a die-hard Celtics fan, he must have felt terrible watching his team suffer a last-minute defeat.

But what made Most even more upset was that he didn't get to see the brilliant game-winning shot up close. He could only spot a red shadow from the high stands before watching the ball fly towards the basket and go in.

In his early years, Most could sit on the sidelines closest to the basket, see the players' tense expressions, hear the sounds of muscles colliding, hear the players trash-talking each other, and experience every exciting moment up close. He then transformed his personal experience into words and transmitted them to the audience through the radio waves.

With the development of live television broadcasts and changes in ticketing policies, the commentators' positions have been moved up and down, from the long tables on the sidelines of the stadium to the aisles in the middle stands, and finally to the high upper stands, where they need binoculars to see the details on the field clearly.

Even the clearest commentary on Play by Play can't compare to the clarity of a television broadcast, and front-row seats are sold at high prices to fans; having commentators and reporters sit too close is a waste of resources.

However, as a die-hard Celtics fan, one loss is nothing. The Celtics are still the best team in the league this season. In another week, they will face the Los Angeles Lakers, and that game will be the real battle.

As Most took off his headphones, he suddenly smelled a cigar. He turned around and saw Reed Auerbach, who was hiding in a cloud of cigar smoke. The guy said to Most, "Come on, John, let's go get some late-night snacks."

Auerbach, the Celtic's chief steward, former head coach, later general manager, the true leader of the Celtic team, the creator and soul of the team's 30-year championship lineup.

Starting in the 50s, Auerbach and then-Celtic owner Brown hired Most as a stadium commentator. For 30 years, Most has witnessed all of Celtic's glory days, and they have a very good relationship.

But Most looked troubled and said, "Given the state of mind tonight, are we still going out for a late-night snack?"

Auerbach said, "As long as the world doesn't end, we'll eat. Let's go, we have guests tonight."

When Auerbach said there were guests, Most wondered if it was a sponsor or a former player visiting.
Moster followed Auerbach out of Boston Garden, which quickly became deserted after the team's loss.

They drove together to a Chinese restaurant in Boston, where Auerbach was a minor shareholder—he was a true Chinese food enthusiast.

Back in the 50s, when he was coaching the Celtics, Auerbach enjoyed eating Chinese food because coaches often had to take players all over the United States, and the time and place for meals were not fixed.

Arriving in a new city with a group of Black players, finding a place to settle down and get a hot meal is no easy task. At that time, the only place that is open 24 hours a day and provides takeout food to all racial groups is a Chinese restaurant.

There are Chinese restaurants in almost every city in the United States. Auerbach’s favorite is the Chinese Dolls in Washington. After leaving his coaching position to become a manager, he invested in a Chinese restaurant in Boston so that he could eat and entertain guests.

Upon arriving at the restaurant and entering a private room, Most saw the familiar John Havlicek. The two shook hands and embraced; they had a very good relationship.

In the 70s, before live television broadcasts were widespread, radio commentary was at its peak, and all of Havlicek's classic matches were presented to listeners by Johnny Most.

"You're back. Did you watch the game at Boston Garden tonight?"

"I watched it, it's a pity, we lost."

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Most looked somewhat surprised when he saw the other person in the private room.

Good evening, Mr. Fleischer.

The other person is Larry Fleischer, Auerbach's former arch-rival. Could he be Auerbach's guest tonight?

In 1964, Oscar Robertson raised the issue of pensions on behalf of the players to the league. In 1967, with the assistance of Fleischer, he further demanded that the NBA provide a reasonable pension security system and grant players the freedom to sign and transfer contracts.

Auerbach was about to leave his coaching position at the time, and his volatile temper led to his ejection from the 1967 All-Star Game, making him the only coach in NBA history to be ejected from an All-Star game.

After Auerbach moved to a management position, he encountered the Oscar Robertson lawsuit. As a member of the team's management, he clashed with Fleischer on several occasions, becoming a sharp enemy.

When the ABA emerged to compete with the NBA in the 1970s, Auerbach angrily called Fleischer "the reincarnation of Mustache" because Fleischer encouraged Don Chaney to go to the ABA instead of staying with the Celtics.

In 1976, after years of struggle, Fleischer finally freed NBA players from slave contracts, allowing them to sign with teams freely, and spearheaded the NBA-ABA merger. At the press conference, he lit a victory cigar, just like Auerbach.

The media at the time sensationalized the story, saying, "Never has a victory cigar in Auerbach been able to match the victory Fleischer achieved here."

By 1984, Fleischer and Stern had jointly implemented the salary cap system, making it increasingly difficult for veterans like Auerbach to understand the rules of the modern NBA. Most knew that the two had always had a bad relationship, but their bad relationship was due to their positions and official duties, and there was no personal resentment between them.

Larry Fleischer stood up and shook hands with Most. After the four sat down, Auerbach explained, "My relationship with Larry wasn't good in the past, but that was because of our positions and official business. We were just doing our jobs. Today, Larry came to Boston to see me and wanted to talk about developing overseas markets. I thought I'd have a meal with Larry and let bygones be bygones."

Auerbach could sense that the NBA had entered a new era, especially after Stern took over.

Although Auerbach had his stubborn side, the fact that he was able to keep the Celtic team standing strong for 30 years shows that he was by no means a stubborn and inflexible person.

On the contrary, his past actions show that he is a person with a flexible moral bottom line. For the sake of the team's interests, he has no real enemies and no principles that he must adhere to.

Currently, Larry Fleischer is one of the two most powerful men in the league—the other being David Stern.

One of them represents the investors, owners, and management; the other represents the workers, players, and fans.

These two forces, which cooperate and oppose each other, maintain a delicate balance, ensuring the operation of the entire system.

Auerbach now needs to maintain good relations with these two men to ensure Celtic remain competitive under the new rules.

It seems that Stern is not fond of Auerbach, and a series of new rules after taking office seem to be aimed at the Celtics.

Given this, if Auerbach doesn't forge a friendship with Larry Fleischer, Celtic's future will be even more difficult.

Fleischer has access to the agent resources of many big-name players in the league, including Gan Guoyang, who hit the game-winning hook shot against Boston tonight.

Larry Fleischer met with Auerbach for two reasons. First, he didn't want to continue his feud with Red Head. The two still admired each other, and reconciliation would help him negotiate with the Celtics as an agent. He had two players on his team playing for the Celtics.

On the other hand, he was discussing with Auerbach about a trip to China in the summer of 1985. He hoped that the Celtics, Lakers, Trail Blazers, and Knicks would visit China in the summer as pioneers in cultivating and developing the Chinese market.

However, if we're talking about pioneers, Auerbach was the true pioneer.

After Auerbach stepped down as Celtics coach to become general manager in 1967, he led the team to Japan, Taiwan and Southeast Asia, visiting Taipei, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo in hopes of opening up the Asian basketball market.

At that time, basketball was not popular in various places, and the media was underdeveloped. When they went to these places, no one knew them, so it had little effect on marketing.

Because Auerbach thought the Chinese food in Taiwan was good, he stayed in Taiwan for a long time, looking for Chinese restaurants everywhere to eat, and even went to a geisha house for a back massage and to meet with local officials. However, Auerbach hated drinking baijiu (Chinese liquor) because it was too spicy and he couldn't drink it.

Later, with the intention of tasting Chinese food, they went to Hong Kong for a while. Unexpectedly, they encountered the Hong Kong riots in 67. They were stuck in the hotel and couldn't go anywhere. Unwilling to be bored, Auerbach led the players to try to pretend to be Russians and went to the duty-free shop to buy a lot of things, which they eventually brought back to the United States.

At the dinner table, Auerbach recounted these events from over a decade ago, treating them as stories while simultaneously suggesting that his trip to China might be unreliable.

"People there aren't passionate about basketball, so I don't have a good outlook on the market there."

“My thoughts are the opposite of yours. You’re going to Taiwan and Hong Kong, a small island and a British territory. We’re going to the real China, a vast mainland, bigger than the United States, with a population many times that of the United States. It’s a completely different Arnold. And times have changed. Now we have television, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, more teams, better players, and we still have Forrest Gump.”

Auerbach was silent for a moment. He took a couple of bites of food and, instead of directly answering Fleischer, changed the subject, asking, "Larry, I heard Forrest Gump is a great cook?"

Fleischer paused for a moment, then asked, "Where did you hear that from?"

"There are no secrets in the league; news travels very fast."

"I think so. His family owns a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco. It's very famous. His father is an authentic chef from China."

"When I have Forrest Gump cook me a meal, I'll seriously consider having the Celtics participate in the China tour."

Fleischer gave Auerbach a long look, thinking to himself that this was truly a gourmand who loved Chinese food.

(End of this chapter)