The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 203 Running Too Fast
For NBA players, the end of a game around 9:30 or 10 p.m. does not mean the end of the day.

On the contrary, for some people, the best day is just beginning after the work is done.

Charles Barkley's physical attributes are indeed undeniable.

I ate 37 hamburgers yesterday, and the next morning I had diarrhea so badly my legs were weak. I almost had diarrhea during the game.

As a result, he persevered and completed a double-double with 20 rebounds. He ran back to the locker room, took a shower, and completely forgot about the loss and the incident of defecating on the court. He then went to the away game's locker room and invited Gan Guoyang out for a drink late at night.

Gan Guoyang shook his head, saying that he had to get up early the next day to catch the earliest flight back to Portland, and their away trip was over.

Barkley exclaimed in surprise, "Getting up early? You mean you're going to go back to sleep? My God, how can you sleep?"

"Sleep is the best way to recover. You're in this state, how do you still have the energy to go out and have fun?"

"I couldn't sleep at all the night after the game, Forrest Gump. I needed to drink some alcohol and have some late-night snacks to calm down. If I had to catch a flight early the next morning, I would just stay up all night and catch up on sleep on the plane. Or I could sleep at an away game."

Most NBA players are like Barkley, especially interior players. These energetic guys can't sleep at home after two and a half hours of intense physical play.

Aside from places like Salt Lake City, other major basketball cities have vibrant nightlife, such as New York, Washington, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

After the game, the simplest way for the players to relax is to go out for a late-night snack and have a few beers. Some with a rich nightlife will go to nightclubs to go wild and burn off their remaining energy. As for bringing a few women to spend the night with, that's just standard practice.

Players like Drexler and Kenny Karl from the Trail Blazers often go out and have fun after games, even on the road. If they have friends on the home team, they'll go out and have some fun together.

Gan Guoyang is different; he needs to keep his body in optimal condition, and he requires complete and high-quality sleep.

"Forget it, Charles, I'm going back to sleep. But if you invite me to play basketball, I might consider it."

"Shit, didn't you play enough tonight? 37 rebounds, that's more than you can get in two games. You're a real basketball fanatic."

Barkley gave up on inviting Gan Guoyang out for a late-night snack, and Gan Guoyang didn't try to persuade Barkley to go home and rest early.

True friends don't necessarily have to eat, drink, and have fun together. At the same time, they respect each other's habits. Barkley didn't have many friends in the league, and Gan Guoyang was one of them.

Of course, true friends shouldn't let each other get diarrhea...

The Trail Blazers finished their road trip with a 2-2 record, and the players were visibly exhausted. Upon returning to Portland, Ramsey gave the players a day off to rest.

March marks the start of the final stretch of the NBA regular season, with the last regular season game scheduled for mid-April.

In the Eastern and Western Conference standings, the Portland Trail Blazers remain in first place in the West, with the Los Angeles Lakers close behind, separated by only one game.

Despite a poor start to the season, the Lakers made continuous adjustments. Riley spurred the players forward by changing the starting lineup and encouraging them.

The player trade market was inactive in the 80s, and there was no player buyout market. Many problems that teams encountered during the season had to be solved by tapping into their internal resources.

Lakers general manager Jerry West is doing his best to help the team, such as signing the 7-foot-5 superstar Chuck Nevet to fill the bench void left by Jamal Wilkes' injury.

As the season progressed, injury problems became increasingly prominent, and completing a full 12-man roster was not an easy task for NBA teams in the 80s.

The NBA's influence in the United States is still relatively small. Although the average income of players has improved significantly compared to the 60s (when many players had to work part-time as drivers, plumbers, and cooks to make a living), low- and middle-level players still lack security and it is not yet at the point where people flock to it. Many players go to Europe to play and earn money.

Some teams, in order to save money, simply don't need 12 players and can still operate with an 11-man roster, but West doesn't think that way.

Chuck Nevet was selected by the Rockets in the third round in 1982, and his most notable feature was his height.

He was 7 feet 5 inches tall, like a tree, but when he entered the league he weighed only 224 pounds. After experiencing Bill Fitch's grueling training camp in 1983, he even dropped to 207 pounds.

He was then demoted by the Rockets to the Houston Flyers to play in the AAU (similar to the current Development League).

His physique makes it difficult for him to gain a foothold in the highly competitive NBA, and he can only rely on his outstanding height to become the team's "human victory cigar" - when he steps onto the court, it usually means that the team will win big.

Of course, there is also the possibility of a crushing defeat.

On March 6th, the Trail Blazers will face the Los Angeles Lakers for the third time at home.

After suffering a crushing defeat against the Lakers last time, the Trail Blazers learned their lesson this time.

With Vandeweghe and Valentine returning to the lineup, the fully-staffed Trail Blazers took a 10-point lead in the first quarter, 29-39.

Gan Guoyang learned how the Lakers targeted him on the defensive end by editing Spoelstra's clips. In the first quarter, he made full use of his defensive presence to get his teammates to fire and disrupt the Lakers' defensive setup.

Vandeweghe and Paxson had excellent offensive touches tonight, and Drexler, who came off the bench, was also on fire.

Gan Guoyang focused solely on defense in the first half, managing only 5 points and 9 rebounds, while the Trail Blazers led the Lakers 51-65 by a whopping 14 points. The Lakers' offense went cold in the first half and they remained out of sorts in the third quarter. At this point, Gan Guoyang began to step up, hitting consecutive shots from beyond the arc.

Riley was clearly flustered, and in this situation, he broke the Forrest Gump rule, letting Rambis and Larry Spriggs fight against Gan Guoyang.

During the intense confrontation, the two sides got into a dispute, which angered Gan Guoyang. He began to attack the Lakers' interior with a vengeance, and while fighting for an offensive rebound, he shattered Rambis's black-rimmed glasses with an elbow.

Rambis fell to the ground, momentarily disoriented, and was sent to the locker room. Meanwhile, Gan Guoyang led the Trail Blazers to extend their lead to 20 points in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Lakers had no reason to continue fighting and brought in their human cigar, Chuck Nevet.

The moment this giant stepped onto the court, the fans at Memorial Arena erupted in excitement, with Bill Shawnley shouting, "The kite flyer has appeared! The Lakers have given up!"

The 12th man for each team is usually a big man, especially a giant who is like a spectacle. The reason for this choice is partly to satisfy the audience's curiosity.

Just like how circuses used to put up giants, deformed people, and two-headed people to sell tickets and attract audiences in the early days, the incompetent giants on the basketball court are often similar in nature to the deformed people in the circus.

The Trail Blazers, playing at home, swept the Lakers 110-139, a 29-point advantage, maintaining their lead as the top team in the Western Conference.

However, the situation changed a week later. This was the sixth and final regular season matchup between the Lakers and the Trail Blazers.

At the Great Western Forum arena, the Lakers, in order to compete with the Trail Blazers for the top spot in the Western Conference, began to guard against Gan Guoyang from the very beginning of the game. In the morning, Gan Guoyang was prohibited from entering and was not allowed to warm up.

That night, Riley gave a firm order, demanding that the Lakers win the game tonight. With a strong competitive mentality and playoff form, the Lakers went all out from the first quarter.

They launched whirlwind fast breaks, disrupting the Trail Blazers' defense with faster speed and better teamwork.

Rambis stopped guarding Gan Guoyang one-on-one; it was too cruel for him.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was no longer tired of battling Gan Guoyang under the basket, and for the first time this season, he managed to hold Gan Guoyang back on both ends of the court.

He is, after all, one of the greatest centers in NBA history. Although he is 38 years old and has been repeatedly challenged by Moses Malone in the last two years, he actually performed better than Malone in 1981 when he was a little younger. Moreover, Malone could not defend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar one-on-one.

Now he's like an old steam locomotive, requiring a long time to boil water and heat the boiler before he can slowly start up.

With his extensive experience, he has fought in the NBA for more than a dozen seasons, and he knows when it's time for him to truly shine.

He scored 31 points against Gan Guoyang's defense, exhausting most of Gan Guoyang's defensive energy and leaving him no time to worry about anything else.

Of course, Gan Guoyang was not at a disadvantage. The better the opponent, the more he could bring out the best in Gan Guoyang. Tonight, he also scored 33 points and 18 rebounds.

However, apart from Gan Guoyang, the rest of the Trail Blazers players were completely silent, with only Vandeweghe scoring 14 points. The two were the only players on the team to score in double figures.

The Lakers secured the top spot in the Western Conference with a 101-133 victory at home, also a 32-point win.

In the garbage time of the fourth quarter, Chuck Nevet entered the game, and the Los Angeles fans cheered as if they were watching a spectacle. The human victory cigar made a dazzling appearance.

At this point, Jack Ramsey substituted Gan Guoyang off the court, and Gan Guoyang looked somewhat frustrated.

It's really frustrating for an inside player when his teammates can't make shots. He can't grab every offensive rebound. Tonight, the Lakers did everything perfectly, leaving no gaps.

Ramsey pulled Gan Guoyang to the sidelines and asked, "Sonny, are you disappointed? Your excellent performance didn't motivate the whole team."

Gan Guoyang shook his head and said, "I never feel disappointed in my teammates. I only think that I haven't done enough or well enough, especially in the details."

Although he has done a lot, Gan Guoyang still feels it is not enough, and there is still room for improvement in many details during the competition.

Gan Guoyang clearly felt that the Lakers at the beginning of the season and the Lakers now are two different teams. The current Lakers are very strong, and they have done a perfect job in the details.

Whether it's positioning under the basket, defensive interference, careful passing, or control of the rhythm, this is the result of a season of adjustments and accumulation, preparing for the playoffs.

The Trail Blazers' performance fluctuated, and their form actually declined towards the end of the season, mainly because they didn't do these details perfectly.

Ramsey patted Gan Guoyang on the shoulder and said, "It's not that you didn't do well enough, it's that you ran too fast and your teammates couldn't keep up. Give them some time, and give me some time too, I'm also having trouble keeping up."

Gan Guoyang looked at Ramsey and thought to himself that Dr. Jack's changes this season were much greater than those of the Trail Blazers.

I highly recommend Cang Hai's new book, *Back to 1978*! He promised to write three million words this time, so please feel free to add it to your collection and enjoy it. New books are always welcome, so please add it to your collection and read it regularly.

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(End of this chapter)