The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 208 Sissy
Gan Guoyang scored 14 points in the first quarter, using his abundant energy to break down the Pistons' defense.

He did tell Jordan he would score 50 points, but that doesn't mean Gan Guoyang was just fulfilling a promise to Jordan—although that reason is also quite important.

While the spotlight on the center position in 1985 was mainly on players like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Sampson, Olajuwon, and the future Patrick Ewing, Gan Guoyang knew that the unpopular, seemingly thuggish white player Bill Laimbeer was one of the most formidable opponents among the post-85 generation.

This comes not only from the remaining basketball history knowledge in his mind, but also from Gan Guoyang's direct experience and feelings of competing against Laimbeer on the court.

Bill Laimbeer was not a scoundrel who only knew how to cheat and win games with dirty tricks; those who underestimated him would definitely pay the price.

As an inside player, although he is not fast or high-jumping, he has many advantages in terms of his skills: extremely long shooting range, accurate free throws, excellent defensive positioning, calm defensive choices under the basket, and a playing style that disrupts the opponent's mentality.

If the names of these people were covered, many would assume they were referring to Gan Guoyang.

Laimbeer does indeed have many defensive strengths, just like Gan Guoyang, because they are both disciples of Bobby Bellman.

They are all players who use their brains when playing basketball, and such players are often very difficult to deal with in games, especially in crucial matches.

To be honest, there aren't many truly intelligent people in the NBA. Anyone who uses their brain even slightly is considered to have high basketball IQ.

Larry Bird is often called a basketball IQ powerhouse, but he struggled academically at Indiana University and later transferred to Indiana State University, a school with much lower academic requirements, partly due to his poor grades.

During the gap between transferring schools, he returned to his hometown and worked in the sanitation department, collecting garbage for a year.

While academic performance and basketball IQ are not directly correlated, they do reveal some things.

Laimbeer's grades in college were not good at first. He was kicked off the basketball team in his freshman year due to poor academic performance and even dropped out of school for a year.

His GPA was actually 1.6, which met the requirements of most NCAA basketball teams, but the University of Notre Dame required 2.0.

Then Laimbeer transferred to Owens Technical College, which was close to his home, where he planned to study while seeking an opportunity to return to the Notre Dame basketball team.

Like Gonzaga University, Notre Dame is a Catholic school with high requirements for students' academic performance and personal qualities. At the time, Father Ted, who was in charge of student affairs, required Lambiel to achieve a GPA of 3.0 in order to return to Notre Dame and continue playing on the basketball team.

If this requirement were applied to some uneducated Black students, they could forget about ever going back to school; they'd better find somewhere with lower requirements.

Laimbeer's family was also well-off; his father was a paper tycoon. When Laimbeer later entered the NBA, he was the only player in the entire league who didn't earn as much as his father.

As a result, Laimbeer studied hard to get back on the basketball team and actually achieved a GPA of 3.0. (The Gonzaga basketball team's average GPA is 3.38.)
The priest was still not satisfied and demanded that Lambiel attend Notre Dame's summer program and get two A's in class before he could return to the basketball team.

Laimbeer did as instructed, successfully completed the summer program, earned two As, and returned to the Notre Dame basketball team.

After returning to the basketball team, Laimbeer and Notre Dame University made it to the NCAA Final Four.

While Laimbeer was studying and accumulating GPA at Owens Technical College, Bellman kept encouraging him to persevere and that returning to Notre Dame to play basketball was the right path for him.

As a result, Lambiel returned, and Bellman was forced to resign due to being embroiled in a gambling scandal because of a work mistake. Fate really can play tricks on people.

But to Lambiel's surprise, Berman developed a full-fledged plus version of him in California, and almost killed him on the court.

Lambiel never stopped thinking about how to deal with this kid; he was perfect in every way, no wonder Coach Berman valued him so much.

Laimbeer was never afraid of centers who were stronger and more perfect than him. If he was afraid of competing against players like Moses, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Lanier, he would have been finished in the NBA long ago.

But facing Gan Guoyang, he really couldn't think of any good solutions.

After Gan Guoyang returned to the court in the second quarter, Lambiel also returned to the field.

Laimbeer attempted to use a fronting defense to prevent Gan Guoyang from receiving the ball and giving him no opportunity to launch an attack.

But Gan Guoyang anticipated Laimbeer's intentions—he wanted to pull him into a physical battle under the basket and then draw a foul.

This is a tactic often used by Laimbeer: to draw fouls during physical battles under the basket. He is a master of acting on the NBA court.

Gan Guoyang is a center with a flexible and versatile playing style. He began to repeatedly set screens for Drexler and Paxson on the wing.

Then, using quick footwork to cut to the basket, once he receives the ball, Gan Guoyang can directly attack the basket from near the three-second zone.

Because the Pistons' help defense was too weak, their starting five tonight didn't even have a power forward.

While Terry Taylor boasts an impressive wingspan and broad shoulders, and once averaged an impressive 2.7 blocks per game in a single season in his younger days, he has regressed in the last two years to a pure scorer, becoming the team's sixth man off the bench. The Pistons' true power forward is Dan Lundfield, a defensively excellent interior player, but he is only 6'8" tall and is out injured tonight; otherwise, Daly wouldn't have started Taylor.

This allowed Gan Guoyang, who was in excellent form, to start scoring without any restraint.

Bill Seanley's passionate voice was broadcast throughout Oregon.

"Gan cut inside, took a floater, and it went in! Beautiful, the arc was as graceful as a crescent moon."

"A hook shot from the baseline! Beautiful! Wow! Moon hook! Forrest Gump is really confident in his hook shot tonight!"

"Pick and roll, Forrest receives the ball, cuts into the paint, turns and hits a jump shot! Beautiful, Forrest has a scope on his aim tonight!"

Gan Guoyang was in excellent form, using hook shots, turnaround shots, and floaters to avoid physical contact with Laimbeer.

To defend against Gan Guoyang's moving hook shot, the most important thing is to have power forwards and small forwards to block the shot. The Lakers do this very well, as they have a lot of defensive resources at the power forward, small forward, and small forward positions.

The Pistons were different; they had no choice but to rely on Laimbeer alone to keep up, chase, and pounce on them.

Lambiel's somewhat sluggish movement speed couldn't keep up with Gan Guoyang's pace, and his attempt to drag the match into a melee completely backfired.

In the first half, Gan Guoyang scored 35 points, leading the Trail Blazers to widen the score gap and establish a lead of more than 20 points early on.

During halftime, Laimbeer angrily kicked a locker in the locker room, yelling, "Fuck! When we watched the replay, this guy looked like Moses, but then he could turn into Hikmar and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar! What is he? Is he a Transformer?!"

"And you guys, your defense is a pile of crap, a pile of crap!" Laimbeer yelled at his teammates.

The Pistons' defense tonight was absolutely terrible; their wing players did a horrible job in help defense and rotations.

But no one dared to speak, except Thomas who asked, "Bill, this shows he's afraid to confront you, why don't you call him a sissy?"

Lambiel's angry expression immediately subsided, and he looked at Thomas and said, "I'm the sissy, okay?"

"If you don't dare to say it, I'll say it for you."

"Thomas, it's just a regular season game. Even if we lose this one, we're still two games ahead of the Nets. Our home-court advantage won't be a problem."

Chuck Daly was too exhausted to rally the locker room; all he hoped for was that the rain would stop so he could get back to Detroit on time tomorrow.

At the start of the third quarter, Gan Guoyang's hands were still burning hot. One reason he was able to score high points was that his hot hand lasted for a very long time, thanks to his strong physical fitness and high frequency of training.

Some players can stay hot for half a quarter, but after a timeout, their hands get cold and their stamina can't keep up.

All of the NBA's greatest scorers in history have had the stamina to support their efficient shooting.

Laimbeer did not give up. Although he dared not use any underhanded tactics against Gan Guoyang, he was still an excellent player when played normally.

The Pistons tried to double-team Gan Guoyang, but by then it was too late. Bernard King's quick turn made the double-team ineffective.

Gan Guoyang scored another 15 points in the third quarter, bringing his total to 50 points in just three quarters!
The score was now 75-105, with the Trail Blazers leading the Pistons by a whopping 30 points.

When Gan Guoyang was substituted off the court at the end of the third quarter, the cheers in the Memorial Stadium were as frenzied as the thunderstorm outside.

Gan Guoyang did not play in the fourth quarter. At the end of the game, he told Lambiel: "Bill, I said I would get fifty points, not a point more and not a point less."

The Western road trip in March 1985 was a complete disaster; everything was falling apart, it was a nightmare. We went on a seven-game road trip, losing six of them. We were dizzy and disoriented, our flights were delayed or canceled 11 times. The seventh game was especially devastating; we lost by 30 points to the Trail Blazers in Portland, with Forrest Gump scoring 50 points over us in just three quarters. The whole team was utterly frustrated.

After Game 7, we faced heavy rain and thunderstorms in Oregon, our flights were canceled, and we couldn't get back to Detroit. The airport offered a solution: take a propeller plane to San Francisco and then fly back to Detroit—but nobody wanted to take that risk; the contracts didn't specify that players needed to take propeller planes.

I called Scott Sterling in the NBA office in New York to ask if we could postpone our game against the Bucks on the 6th, as we were stuck in Portland due to the crushing defeat and heavy rain. The Trail Blazers came to our aid, as they had rented two 11-seat small jets from their previous game in Seattle and were parked at Portland Airport. Once the weather improved slightly, we boarded the two planes in two groups, settled our more than 50 pieces of luggage (necessary for the long journey), and took to the skies during a window of opportunity.

We had to stop in Minneapolis for refueling en route, spending over two hours at the airport before taking off again to return to Detroit. When I met the players and I at the baggage claim area at Metro Airport, exhausted, Isaiah Thomas looked like he was about to cry; he was just so incredibly tired.

But Bill Laimbeer seemed perfectly fine, as if all the failures along the way, including Forrest Gump scoring 50 points and kicking a locker in the locker room, had never happened.

—Excerpt from Chuck Daly's memoir, *Daly Life*, published in 1990.

(End of this chapter)