The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 28 That Day Will Always Come

When the team's confidence begins to crumble, the game can no longer continue, and the remaining time is a slow suicide for the Lihua Middle School players.

In high school or college competitions, young players' emotions and psychology are easily volatile, and they are far less mature and stable than adults.

Therefore, upsets often occur in matches, with unknown and weak teams often having high morale and defeating strong teams whose mentality has become unbalanced.

After the suspension, Lihua High School couldn't find a solution to the problem. No one on their team could match up against Gan Guoyang, and no one could unleash their full potential.

Their collective tacit understanding, upon which they depended for survival, was also shattered. In the second half, they were merely killing time, trying to exhaust the remaining 20 minutes in order to end this cat-and-mouse game.

Gan Guoyang stopped playing around and exploded in scoring in the second half, repeatedly beating his opponents in the low post and squeezing through double teams to dunk the ball.

The spectators on the sidelines watched the dunks to their hearts' content, with waves of cheers rising one after another until Gan Guoyang was substituted off the court early by Bellman.

At this point, his stats were 25 points, 31 rebounds, 9 blocks, and 5 assists, just one block shy of a triple-double.

Gan Guoyang didn't care about the data; he only cared about the victory and the process of achieving it.

However, some audience members on the sidelines objected, as they wanted to continue watching Gan Guoyang's performance.

An old man shouted, "Hey, put number 11 on! We want to watch him play! What's wrong with you, you foreign coach? I bought a ticket!"

The old man in Chinatown was speaking Chinese, which Bellman couldn't understand. He asked Gan Guoyang, "What was that old man yelling at me about?"

Gan Guoyang said, "He said that the coach's command tonight was excellent, the tactics were appropriate, the strategy was brilliant, and he paid tribute to you."

“Buschette, I did almost nothing tonight, you did everything. You damn guy, you crushed that number 5, didn’t you? You let him score in the first half, and then you shut him down in the second half, you crushed his fragile little heart! God, you're a fucking devil.”

“I was just breaking down their team offense. They were more cohesive and better trained than us, but that guy got carried away. He forgot about things more important than scoring, so he had to pay a price.”

Behrman squinted at Gan Guoyang and leaned closer, saying, "What kind of monster are you, you bastard?"

Gan Guoyang rolled his eyes at Berman and said, "I just play ball."

Despite his grumbling, Berman was inwardly excited, finding coaching players like Gan Guoyang increasingly interesting.
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The game ended before 5 p.m., while it was still light in San Francisco.

Beiqiao Middle School defeated Lihua Middle School relatively easily at the Kaizar Gymnasium with a score of 51:39.

In the 80s, high school games were divided into two halves, each lasting 40 minutes, and there was no three-point line.

Therefore, the game was slow-paced and the score was not high. It was a miracle that the Beiqiao Middle School team, which had only been formed for a week, could score 51 points.

Lihua Middle School usually scores over 50 points in matches without much trouble, but tonight their confidence was shattered by Gan Guoyang, and their performance in the second half was a complete mess.

After the game, Wang Tianduo, the captain of Lihua Middle School, sat on the bench and wept bitterly. This game will undoubtedly become a lifelong shadow for him.

Huang Shaohua, vice chairman of the Chinese Endeavor Association, was dancing with joy on the high platform, while the people from the Straits Self-Reliance Association sitting not far away kept shaking their heads.

They must be regretting not contacting Gan Guoyang sooner and getting him to study at Lihua High School. If Gan Guoyang were at Lihua, they might have been able to apply for CIF this year, or achieve good results in the state championships organized by the First International Bank Sports Foundation.

As Gan Guoyang left the stadium, many people crowded around to shake his hand, making the exit passage so congested that the players almost couldn't get back.

Gan Guoyang experienced the immense enthusiasm of the fans up close for the first time. The joy of victory made him feel refreshed. For a long time afterward, this game was the talk of the town in Chinatown.

In the evening, Huang Shaohua hosted a banquet for the entire Shuizhong team at Ganjia Restaurant to celebrate the team's first victory since its establishment.

Old Huang couldn't stop smiling at the dinner table, saying that he had finally gotten his revenge in front of Lihua Middle School.

Although Gan Guoyang was very happy, he knew that Lihua Middle School was a third-rate team in San Francisco and throughout California.

The games between Chinese-American teams are, after all, just "internal battles." The real challenge for Beiqiao High School is to compete against other Black and White high schools.

So after dinner, Gan Guoyang didn't go to play video games with his teammates, but instead went to the rooftop court at Cameron Center to play basketball.

Only Xu Xun stayed with Gan Guoyang on the rooftop, helping him retrieve balls and also serving as a defensive target.

The two have similarities in personality. Like Gan Guoyang, Xu Xun also comes from a single-parent family and lives with his father.

However, Xu Xun's father was much more brutal than Gan Youwei's. He received almost no love from his father, only indifference and beatings after making mistakes.

Growing up in an environment rife with military discipline, corporal punishment, violence, and bullying, Xu Xun inevitably remained taciturn and filled with anger even after arriving in the United States.

"America isn't paradise either. Here, if you have an Asian face, you'll face discrimination everywhere. In South Korea, the bullying is overt—unreserved insults, beatings, and corporal punishment. Those scars are left on your body, bruises and welts, easily visible. But it's different in America. There's no corporal punishment here. They say everyone is equal, it's a free country, and as long as you don't go to dangerous areas, it's relatively safe. But Asian faces are considered inferior, even worse than black people."

The two often chat after playing basketball or finishing extra practice.

Xu Xun clearly possesses a deeper understanding of his own thoughts than his peers. Although he is usually quiet and reserved, he actually has profound thoughts about the environment he is in.

“You can’t call people ‘black devil’ outside, or you’ll get into trouble,” Gan Guoyang reminded him.

“They call us Gook, Chinamen, and nobody cares.”

"I don't need anyone to tell me what to do. I have to rely on myself. If anyone calls me that, I'll punch them."

“I’ll show him the power of nunchucks too! I’ll fight! That’s why I especially like Bruce Lee. I not only admire his kung fu, but I also admire his ability to make a name for himself in America. He’s truly amazing.”

When talking about Bruce Lee, Xu Xun's eyes always shine with a special light; he was a spiritual icon for himself and many Asian teenagers of that generation.

"Ah Xun, one day I will be more successful than Bruce Lee, do you believe me?"

"I do not believe."

"Hmph, just wait and see, that day will come eventually."

(End of this chapter)