The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 230 Only by Moving Forward Bravely
Qian Chenghai, upon hearing Gan Guoyang's words, repeatedly agreed, saying, "That's exactly what we need to do to dampen their interest and give them a boost! The Olympic experience was very painful. Everyone is used to being the king of Asia, but when they go to a bigger international arena, they'll be exposed."

At that time, China's sports environment was relatively closed. Although there were friendly matches with many strong Eastern European teams, friendship was often the priority between socialist countries, and competition was secondary.

The powerful Eastern European national teams will give each other face and not fight to the death, leaving some room for maneuver. In Asia, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia are all a step behind the Chinese team, so some domestic players have a mentality of being neither the best nor the worst.

They felt that since they were going to dominate Asia anyway, even though they couldn't beat the strong teams from Europe and America, Asians were already lagging behind in this area, so if they worked hard to catch up, they would eventually catch up.

The Los Angeles Olympics were a wake-up call for everyone, but the blow was especially heavy for the Americans.

The Trail Blazers' China tour was mainly for commercial promotion. The national team players watched the excitement from the sidelines, but they had no idea what was actually happening on the court.

Young guards like Min Lulei are very confident. When he saw Gan Guoyang playing so well in the game, he believed that it showed that Asians are no worse than whites and blacks at sports.

Min Lulei is also Asian, of pure Chinese descent, so his skill level is naturally no worse than those NBA players. This logical reasoning is quite rigorous, which supports his confidence.

When assigning players, the other players, whether intentionally or unintentionally, all wanted to be on the same team as Gan Guoyang, wanting to experience what it was like to be teammates with an NBA star center.

Min Lulei took the initiative to stand on the other side, and pulled Song Tao to stand with him, whispering, "Taozi, this is our chance! Think of a way to dunk on Gan Guoyang, and Coach Qian will look at you with new respect! During the scrimmage later, I'll pass you the ball more often, and you just keep hitting him!"

Song Tao was apprehensive. He had watched Gan Guoyang's two games live and also watched the recording of the Western Conference Finals.

Based solely on his observations, Song Tao had only one assessment of Gan Guoyang's strength: terrifying.

In terms of height, Song Tao and Gan Guoyang are about the same, both around 2.08 meters tall, very similar.

Song Tao has a good arm span and shoulder width. He is fair-skinned and has a refined and gentle appearance, somewhat resembling Kevin McHale.

But now, standing on the court, Gan Guoyang is visibly two sizes bigger than Song Tao.

Gan Guoyang's width, thickness, and the muscles in his arms all exude a sense of power.

This is after he has lost a little weight. Recently, he has increased his aerobic exercise to maintain his weight at around 250 pounds.

Song Tao had no doubt that if Gan Guoyang were to crash into him with all his might, he would definitely break him to pieces.

Although he was a little scared, what young basketball player isn't ambitious? No matter how strong the opponent is, he has to give it a try.

He knew that Gan Guoyang was only one year older than him, and that they were the same age. Song Tao really wanted to compete with Gan Guoyang.

So Song Tao volunteered to form a young team with Min Lulei, Yang Jun, Zhang Xuelei, and Wang Fei to challenge the main team led by Gan Guoyang.

Men's basketball assistant coach Lü Changxin asked Qian Chenghai, "Coach Qian, isn't it a bit unfair to let Agan lead the main team against the young team? Can they handle it?"

Qian Chenghai said, "The main team already knows how good NBA players are, so it's pointless to let them get beaten up again. Instead, we should let Agan mentor them and let them know how high-level basketball is played. As for those young guys like Xiaolu and Song Tao, they're all young and ambitious, and they definitely want to show off in front of the older players and make a name for themselves. It's a good opportunity to test them and let them experience how NBA-level centers play and what kind of pressure they face. Especially Song Tao, he's resentful that he wasn't selected for the Olympics."

Lü Changxin nodded in agreement; Coach Qian was indeed thinking further ahead.

After both sides finished warming up, the match began, with Gan Guoyang standing in the center circle and jumping for the ball with Yang Jun.

Yang Jun is 218 cm tall and was a teammate of Min Lulei in the capital. Although he was very tall, he was not very heavy. At that time, Chinese athletes were generally quite thin.

Min Lulei is not tall, only 183 cm, which is the average height for a point guard. However, his weight ranked fifth in the Capital Team at the time, second only to three inside players and forward Guan Zhengang.

Therefore, the two players in the capital team are like fat and thin monks, one tall and thin, and the other short and stocky. Teams with normal lineups are really not used to such a combination.

Min Lulei had already planned it out. Once Yang Jun won the jump ball, he would push the ball to the basket and then try to loft a pass into the paint or attack himself. If that didn't work, he would let Yang Jun and Song Tao grab the rebound and launch a second-chance opportunity, catching the opponent off guard at the start of the game.

Yang Jun actually succeeded in the jump ball, because Gan Guoyang didn't jump during the contest, and Min Lulei successfully got the ball. The plan was half successful! The situation was in his favor!
He was passing the ball, preparing to advance and organize an attack, when suddenly a figure rushed over and pressed Min Lulei with tight defense—it was Gan Guoyang.

The pressure from Gan Guoyang's size and speed almost caused Min Lulei to make a mistake. He protected the ball and prepared to accelerate, but then found that he couldn't get rid of him at all.

A physical collision? It's no different from hitting a wall; the ball will be dead very quickly.

Min Lulei was forced into a corner of the half, where he could only jump to pass the ball, but it was intercepted by Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang stole the ball and launched a fast break, easily dunking the ball.

On the very first basket, Gan Guoyang delivered a small NBA playoff-level defensive shock to Min Lulei.

This was the defensive intensity and technique Gan Guoyang used when switching onto Magic Johnson; how could Min Lulei possibly break through so easily? It was only then that Min Lulei realized that watching from the sidelines was different from actually being on the court himself.

He mainly felt that he was the guard and Gan Guoyang was the center, and he was responsible for setting up the ball for his teammates.

He wouldn't risk making a move in front of Gan Guoyang, but how come I got the ball stolen before I could even run three meters?
Subsequently, Yang Jun received the ball during an offensive play but was immediately stripped of it by Gan Guoyang. In the ensuing counterattack, Gan Guoyang received the ball, drove to the basket, and scored a layup.

Song Tao tried to stop Gan Guoyang, but the moment he collided with Gan Guoyang, he felt his sternum crack.

Back then, even NBA players didn't have enough strength training, let alone the Chinese team, who were all lean and wiry.

Song Tao was stunned by the impact and didn't recover for a while. When he went on the offensive, he found that if Gan Guoyang was guarding him, he would have difficulty even getting the ball down.

Qian Chenghai shook his head as he watched from the sidelines. After Song Tao was blocked twice, Gan Guoyang said, "Don't try to play one-on-one, it's useless. Pass the ball more and cooperate more."

Although Song Tao was unconvinced, Gan Guoyang was right. Static singles attacks could not break through Gan Guoyang's defense. The Chinese team's style of play was to move the game around.

Even though they suffered a crushing defeat against the United States at the Olympics, the Chinese team still managed to execute some impressive attacks, none of which relied on individual singles play; they were all based on rapid teamwork.

The game quickly became one-sided, with Gan Guoyang's presence under the basket being exceptionally strong, posing a significant threat to young players like Song Tao, Yang Jun, and Min Lulei.

He can't block every shot, but he can make his opponents feel that every shot they take will be blocked, thus affecting their shooting feel.

Gan Guoyang didn't coordinate much with the veteran Chinese players on offense, since they hadn't played together before, but he had his own weapon: offensive rebounds.

He seemed to have returned to high school, dominating opponents on defense and dominating offensive rebounds. He didn't need any special skills; he could defeat many teams with just these two things.

This Moses Malone-esque, ruthless style of play is most effective at crushing the opponent's fighting spirit. You can't score, and when you manage to defend, you can't hold onto the ball, easily losing points again.

After playing for more than ten minutes, Qian Chenghai called a stop to the game. He knew he couldn't continue. The young players were clearly dejected, lacking both physical strength and mental fortitude.

Qian Chenghai came over to Gan Guoyang and said, "No, no, these young players are no good. Their skill level is still lacking, and they're playing without any spirit."

Gan Guoyang said, "We need to strengthen our physical training. Combat is fundamental; you can't do without strength."

"Our training volume is quite large." Although the men's basketball players are a bit thin, they are still quite strong, which is the result of a lot of training.

In the 1984 match against the US men's basketball team, they weren't completely overwhelmed; they could withstand some of the plays.

However, the duration of high-intensity combat is limited, and under high-intensity conditions, movements are prone to distortion.

"Quantity alone is not enough; scientific training and diet are also essential. In the future, we need to train some nutritionists and trainers in China so that they can come to Portland to learn and ensure that players eat well and train well."

Qian Chenghai nodded. These were the reasons they came to the United States—to learn advanced things.

Gan Guoyang also hopes that these things will enter China as soon as possible, because if they are delayed, some ideas will not be able to take root in people's hearts.

Gan Guoyang also specifically praised Song Tao, saying that Song Tao has a great jumping ability, plays very intelligently, and most importantly, has a never-give-up spirit.

He was the most energetic among the young players, scoring 6 points in the paint and attempting to dunk on Gan Guoyang twice, but both attempts were blocked.

That courage alone is commendable, but Min Lulei has completely come to terms with reality, and he ran to the sidelines to rest, panting heavily.

A frustrated Song Tao asked Gan Guoyang how to compete with top players in the paint. Gan Guoyang replied, "Don't be afraid of being blocked, don't be afraid of being knocked down, just keep going."

The next day, the Chinese men's basketball team faced their first opponent in the United States, the New York Knicks. Gan Guoyang saw Patrick Ewing, who had just been selected as the number one draft pick, in the Knicks.

When Ewing saw Gan Guoyang, he was startled and asked, "Gan, are you playing for the Chinese team?"

Gan Guoyang shook his head and said, "I'm a professional player, you fool. I'm just watching."

Ewing breathed a slight sigh of relief. Today was supposed to be a friendly match to relax, but if he had to compete against Gan Guoyang, he would inevitably face a tough challenge.

Ewing was not mentally prepared for this.

The Knicks easily defeated the Chinese men's basketball team without any suspense, but Song Tao's dunk over Ewing became the biggest highlight of the game.

(End of this chapter)