The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 249 The Teaching Whip
Gan Guoyang knew that Karl Malone was a mama's boy during the Indiana Olympic selection training camp.

Although they don't share a room, it's said that the first thing Ma Long does after finishing training every day is call his mother and chat with her endlessly on the phone.

After arriving in Salt Lake City, this situation not only did not disappear but worsened, because he knew that he would not be able to go home in the short term and would have to stay on the Utah Plateau and on endless air travel.

Moreover, in Utah, you might not even encounter a single Black person on the street. Malone remembers that the first Black person he met was a contractor, and he immediately went up to him and chatted with him for a long time.

To ease his homesickness, Malone's mother sent him food from his hometown every week—Louisiana kale, watermelon, and fried catfish slices.

These things are hard to find in Salt Lake City, especially watermelons, which always remind Malone of his mischievous teenage years: smashing windows with an air gun, destroying his neighbor's watermelon patch, and then speeding through their yard on his motorcycle.

Besides being mischievous, some boys are particularly naughty in order to show their masculinity, and Karl Malone belongs to the latter category.

He was a crybaby and was always bullied by his older siblings, so as he grew older, he became particularly keen on doing adventurous and masculine things to make himself seem less effeminate.

After graduating from high school, he could only attend Louisiana Tech University, a local university, because his grades were not good enough. The most famous school was not the men's basketball team, but the women's basketball team. They were a top team in the women's NCAA in the 80s and won the national championship twice.

So back then, people would laugh at Louisiana Tech's men's basketball team, saying they couldn't beat the women's team, and that Karl Malone couldn't compare to Deborah Rodman, the best female rebounder in Louisiana Tech's history.

Deborah Rodman has a younger brother named Dennis Rodman.

Perhaps to prove he was better than Deborah Rodman, Malone wanted to go to Deborah's hometown of Dallas during the draft, but the Mavericks didn't draft him.

In the 1985 NCAA National Championship, Malone led his team to the Sweet Sixteen, the best result in the history of the school's men's basketball team, and Malone proved himself to some extent.

However, when facing Forrest Gump, all his past achievements became worthless. Forrest was the man who led Gonzaga to a national championship, and he stood at a higher position, looking down on all the big men in the league—especially the power forwards.

With Bill Walton's return to the Trail Blazers, Gan Guoyang has been playing more and more at the power forward position, which is a challenge for power forwards across the league.

Just like when Michael Jordan appeared at the shooting guard position, those long-armed and long-legged backcourt defenders suddenly became popular.

Malone was not in the starting lineup tonight, and he sat on the bench with Stockton, watching with trepidation.

The biggest change in the Jazz's starting lineup compared to last season is that Griffiths is out for the season due to a stress fracture in his foot, and Bob Henson is starting in his place.

A sharpshooter from the outside, like Griffiths, is a player who will attempt three-pointers.

Starting with Pete Maravich, the Jazz have always favored white shooting guards with excellent outside shooting ability, a trend that has continued from the 70s onwards.

The Trail Blazers also dislike white guards who excel at outside shooting, as their presence in half-court sets is a major problem for their zone pressure defense.

Mark Eaton easily tipped the ball during the jump ball. He didn't even need to jump; he could just reach the ball with his hand. Gan Guoyang was too lazy to compete with him and immediately went into defensive mode.

The Jazz executed a series of passes from the outside, with Henson receiving the pass and hitting a mid-range shot to score the first point for the Jazz.

The fans in the stadium erupted in cheers; anyone who didn't know better would have thought Henson had hit the game-winner.

There are a lot of fans at the Salt Palace tonight. Salt Lake City, Utah, Portland, and Oregon all only have one MLB team.

There used to be a Utah Stars team in Utah, which disbanded after the ABA-NBA merger. Then in 1979, the New Orleans Jazz moved to Salt Lake City, keeping the name Jazz, which had nothing to do with the Utah plateau.

Because this is a poor, remote area in the United States, the Jazz's situation has always been precarious. There is not much commercial value here, and it is not profitable. The team has been planning to move away.

Salt Lake City has a lot of loyal basketball fans, since there's really not much entertainment available. If even the only basketball team moves away, everyone will have even less to do at night.

In the summer, the Jazz management planned to move the team from Salt Lake City to Miami, Florida, believing that it would bring more popularity to the team.

Local car dealer tycoon Larry Miller (who gave Stockton his used Toyota Corolla) used a series of tactics and negotiations to keep the Jazz in Salt Lake City and became the team's new owner.

Miller is a Christian who upholds conservative values. After becoming the owner, he made demands on the players' conduct and attire. For example, shoelaces must be tied neatly, socks must meet the length requirements, shirts must be tucked into pants, and jerseys must be tucked into shorts (some players who like to pull their jerseys out would be criticized if they were with the Jazz).

And these are exactly the things Stockton likes. He does these things all the time, so Larry Miller doesn't need to set any rules for him. That's why Miller likes Stockton a lot.

If it weren't for the seniority system within the team, Stockton would already be the Jazz's starting point guard.

It seems that Stockton will soon replace Ricky Green as a starter.

Stockton sat on the sidelines watching the game intently, and he always showed extra focus during the Trail Blazers' game against Forrest Gump.

He knew that he had to constantly observe and use his brain and intelligence to play against Forrest Gump's team, otherwise he wouldn't even know how he was outplayed.

The Jazz started strong, with Henson hitting three consecutive outside shots. His agile movement and accurate shooting made the Trail Blazers' perimeter defense somewhat disorganized.

On the defensive end, the towering defensive line of Mark Eaton and Thiel Bell stifled the Trail Blazers' offense.

The Jazz's defense against Gan Guoyang remained consistent: Eaton would guard him in the low post, and if he came out, Thabo Bailey would guard him.

Eaton spent most of his time in the paint, rarely venturing out to protect the defensive rebounds and hindering outside drives.

The score remained 4-10 for more than a minute, with neither side scoring, resulting in a stalemate.

At this moment, Gan Guoyang suddenly received the ball, found an opening in the middle, and broke through to the basket!

Gan Guoyang's layup drew a foul from Eaton, and he was sent to the free-throw line. For Gan Guoyang, free throws were just giving away points.

Made both free throws.

"Damn it." Stockton noticed the change in Gan Guoyang's offense. He used a deceptive tactic, first going to the low post to draw Mark Eaton away, then immediately coming out to pretend to set a screen for his teammate.

Just as Thabo Bailey was about to come over to defend, Gan Guoyang received the ball and suddenly started moving. Bailey and Eaton were caught off guard and he took advantage of the opening.

Actually, Pele's play was intended to defend Gan Guoyang's shot from the top of the arc, but Gan Guoyang chose to drive through the middle with the ball instead.

It's rare for an inside player to drive straight to the basket like that, but he's Forrest Gump, and you can't judge him by the standards of an average inside player.

"This guy lost weight in the summer and became even faster."

During the summer, Stockton and Gan Guoyang trained together in Gonzaga, and Coach Delon developed a different training plan for them.

Gan Guoyang focuses on agility and explosiveness, and slightly reduced his weight to make himself faster and more flexible, while Stockton chose to gain weight to make himself stronger in combat.

Ma Long watched as Gan Guoyang took the free throw with great ease, requiring almost no preparation time, and simply took the ball from the referee and threw it.

Malone's free throws are different. Although he's inaccurate, he has a lot of preparatory movements, dragging his feet like a Louisiana wizard chanting a spell.

It was really embarrassing when I couldn't get the ball in after reading it for ages.

Malone couldn't help but ask Stockton, "John, how did Forrest Gump train his free throws? They're so accurate!"

Stockton didn't even glance at Malone, his eyes glued to the game, and replied, "Practice more, at least 1000 times a day."

Malone cursed under his breath, thinking, "At least 1000 times? You're kidding me!" He then asked, "Isn't 1000 times too many? Doesn't he get tired?"

Stockton said expressionlessly, "No, he's never tired. His training sessions last longer than you can imagine."

At this point, Gan Guoyang started to find his rhythm. He delayed Henson's possession of the ball in defense, forcing Henson to pass the ball, and Gan Guoyang immediately retreated back.

Henson's outside shooting touch was disrupted, and Dantley's layup attempt missed under pressure. Gan Guoyang grabbed the rebound and launched a counterattack.

Drexler sprinted forward, Gan Guoyang made a long pass, he received the ball, dribbled, took off, and dunked!

Over the course of summer, Drexler grew stronger, his shoulders broadened, and his legs and arms became more muscular with defined muscle lines.

Of course, his head was also starting to recede, and his hairline was receding noticeably.

Starting with that dunk, the Trail Blazers' performance improved. Like a wound-up spring, they became more and more elastic and dynamic.

Gan Guoyang exploited the Jazz's lack of offensive firepower in the paint, frequently interfering with and delaying the Jazz's outside shooting, disrupting the shooting rhythm of Henson and Dantley.

Dantley was in poor form tonight, failing to score on three drives to the basket, and the Trail Blazers refused to foul. They were basically saying, "If you can score, go ahead; if you can't, we'll launch a fast break."

When Vandeweghe hit a mid-range jumper, the Trail Blazers took a 16-12 lead over the Jazz, prompting Frank Lyden to call a timeout.

He pointed to Stockton and Malone sitting on the bench and said, "You two go on the court and do something, stop the Portlanders from playing fast breaks."

Malone hurriedly took off his sports jacket. This wasn't his NBA debut, but he felt his heart pounding, even more nervous than if it were his first game.

"John, do you have any tips for beating Forrest Gump?" Malone couldn't help but ask Stockton quietly.

"Just shut up."

"..."

Leiden said to Malone, "Karl, you'll be guarding Forrest one-on-one later. He'll play until the end of the first quarter, so you'll have to hold on during that time."

The timing of this substitution was quite early, as the season had just begun and Leiden was adjusting the lineup, while Malone started as a starter in his third career game.

He and Thabo M. Bailey basically share playing time, and who starts depends mainly on the opponent's lineup and tonight's tactical setup.

Malone didn't start tonight, not because Leiden wanted Malone to avoid Forrest Gump. On the contrary, he knew that when Walton came on, Forrest Gump would come to the power forward position.

He hoped that Malone could experience the intensity of a top NBA center from Forrest Gump, which would inspire him and give him a goal to strive for.

Malone had no idea that this old man, Lydon, was full of tricks. Although he was the NBA's worst dressed award winner, liked to tell all sorts of jokes, was often ridiculed by the media, and was considered a clown figure among NBA coaches, on par with Doug Mo.

But the real Lydon wasn't a clown. Many of his actions were simply to attract some attention to the Jazz. If an unknown team from a small city didn't have any gimmicks, it would be completely unattractive.

The downside of this is that many players, referees, NBA officials, and even fans don't respect him much, seeing him as a comedic figure who can be ridiculed at will, unlike Ramsey who enjoys widespread respect.

Many times, Raiden was willing to cooperate, but deep down he never saw himself as the Joker. He saw himself as a teacher, educating and nurturing talented but still needing-to-be-developed children like Malone.

He knew the Jazz were no match for the Trail Blazers in terms of strength, and the outcome of a regular season game wasn't that important to them; what mattered was what they could learn from the game.

Karl Malone, in particular, had high hopes for this young man from Louisiana, who possessed a tenacious and reckless spirit that suited Salt Lake City well.

Frank Leiden thought that he might become an iconic figure here in the future.

At this moment, he needs a coaching rod to teach this impetuous young man, whose free throw percentage is only 30%, a good lesson.

Gan Guoyang was the best whip—steel, angular, and heavy enough that one lash would leave a bloody welt, one that would be remembered for a lifetime.

(End of this chapter)