The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 288 Killing the Lion

On the evening of the 7th, the Portland Trail Blazers will host the Washington Bullets.

The season is already halfway through, and there is still a month until the playoffs.

Both teams are motivated to win. The Trail Blazers are currently ranked first in the Western Conference, while the Lakers are close behind.

Although the Trail Blazers have an away advantage against the Lakers, they still want to take first place and seize all home-court advantages.

The Washington Bullets are currently seventh in the Eastern Conference, one game behind the sixth-ranked New Jersey Nets, with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Chicago Bulls close behind.

To secure a playoff berth, the Bullets will give it their all. They beat the Trail Blazers once at home this year, and the whole team is very confident.

Before the game started, in the Trail Blazers' locker room, Gan Guoyang found another bucket from somewhere and placed it in the center of the locker room.

"Anyone want to join this game? Whoever can dunk over Manute Bol tonight will take all the money in the bucket."

As he spoke, Gan Guoyang threw in $100. The last time they played this game was last season against the Jazz. To boost the team's morale, Gan Guoyang also brought a bucket to collect money. Whoever could dunk on Mark Eaton's head could take the money from the bucket.

Kenny Carr and Mitchell Thompson, who enjoy gambling, threw in twenty dollars and fifty dollars respectively.

Vandeweghe, Paxson, Kexi, and others also threw money in, and Kexi said, "I'm taking all the money in this bucket tonight!"

Drexler hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Forrest Gump, where did you get this bucket? Did you steal it?"

Drexler knocked a ball over Eaton's head last time, making him the ultimate winner.

As a result, because Gan Guoyang stole the bucket from the cleaning lady, the cleaning lady found it and took it back, so all the money was gone.

Drexler will remember this for the rest of his life and will write about it in his autobiography later.

He came again today, afraid that the bucket had been stolen again and would be taken away by someone else.

Gan Guoyang said, "Don't worry, this is our home turf, this bucket is ours, no one will take it away."

Drexler said, "You mean you stole this bucket, from the Memorial Stadium?"

Bill Walton then stepped in and said, "I'm not going to get involved in your game. I'll keep this money safe for you."

Gan Guoyang said, "Bill, you're very shrewd. What if we both fail to win? Wouldn't the money be yours?"

Walton said, "No, no, no, how about this: if no one manages a successful dunk tonight, we'll save the money for the next game, creating a prize pool. Whoever manages to dunk over a 7-foot giant takes the prize pool, how about that?"

"Seven feet won't do, seven feet is too short, it has to be seven feet two inches or taller, taller than Kareem Abdul-Jabbar."

"There aren't many giants over 7 feet 2 inches tall in the league."

"That's what makes it challenging."

After much discussion, everyone agreed to Wharton's suggestion.

A prize pool is created, and whoever successfully completes the cut can take all the money at once.

Seeing everyone's enthusiasm, Ramsey sponsored $10 and said, "I'll sponsor it, but I'll never get that money."

Walton said, "If you beat up the opposing coach, all the money is yours."

The Trail Blazers players unanimously agreed, while Ramsey rolled his eyes at Walton, reminding everyone to be prepared.

Ramsey appreciated the relaxed and pleasant atmosphere within the Trail Blazers team, but also felt some concern.

He was worried that the players had relaxed too much and wouldn't be able to hold their nerve in the playoffs.

Just like his previous concerns about player injuries, the veteran, having experienced many hardships, is always more cautious.

But he still tried his best not to dampen the enthusiasm of the young people and to blend in with them.

He still took the most serious approach to planning tonight's tactics. When mentioning Bol, Ramsey emphasized, "Be careful of Bol's pick-and-roll. We learned our lesson last time, so we must be careful this time."

Gene Schutz designed many pick-and-roll plays for Bol, which was rare at the time.

Pick and roll was not a mainstream move in the 80s. People would use it, but only a limited number of times.

The main reason is that in man-to-man defense, pick-and-roll screens may result in double teams being double-teamed for the ball handler.

Therefore, sometimes it's better to skip the pick-and-roll and just launch the attack directly.

The Trail Blazers use pick-and-rolls quite often, but only about seven or eight times a game.

As an excellent screener and finisher, Gan Guoyang can set three or four screens in a game when he is heavily involved in the offense.

According to statistics, Bol performs five to six pick-and-roll screens in about 20 minutes of playing time, which is quite a lot.

Furthermore, Gene Shum really liked to have Charles Barkley and Ball run pick-and-rolls together to increase Barkley's power when he had the ball, which had a very good effect.

The most important thing in defending a pick-and-roll is communication. The two defenders need to have a tacit understanding and agree on whether to switch, how to screen, whether to squeeze through or go around, etc. Otherwise, if you give the opponent an opening, the defense will have a hole. Ramsey asked everyone to be vigilant because Gene Schweinsteiger often doesn't play by the rules.

As the game approached, the Trail Blazers players gathered together and shouted in unison, "May Buddha protect us!"

Then the whole team came onto the field to prepare for the match.

Bill Walton was curious about the slogan and asked Gan Guoyang, "Gan, I recently studied Buddhist culture and learned that Buddhism is a polytheistic religion, and Bodhisattvas are just one of the lesser deities, right?"

Gan Guoyang said, "Yes, but even a small one is enough to bless our team."

"Then I would like to ask, which Bodhisattva do we pray to for protection? And what can he protect us from?"

Gan Guoyang thought for a moment and said, "The Guanyin with outstretched hands is the ancient Indian god in charge of breaking rules."

Walton frowned. Why did he feel like he had never heard of this Bodhisattva before?

"Alright, alright, stop asking questions. Get ready to go into the game!"

The Trail Blazers fielded a high starting lineup tonight: Gan Guoyang, Thompson, Drexler, Paxson, and Vandeweghe.

For the Washington Bullets, Jeff Luland is out again due to injury. He played 36 games last season, but only 28 this season.

Gan Guoyang thought to himself, "I told you to switch to Avia, but you wouldn't listen and insisted on wearing Nike. Did you hurt yourself wearing them?"

With Luland absent, Manute Bol stood in the center circle and jumped for the ball with Gan Guoyang.

Portland fans are filled with curiosity about this giant bamboo pole; it's just too tall and its limbs are too long.

Standing opposite him, Gan Guoyang looked like an ordinary player, having transformed from a center into a guard.

Gan Guoyang looked up at Boer and said, "Last night's dinner was pretty good, wasn't it?"

Bohr nodded and said, "Not bad."

"Really? Then why don't you say thank you? Is that so hard?"

"..."

Bohr remained silent, sensing Gan Guoyang's ill intent, which made him nervous.

Before this game, many people told him how terrible Forrest Gump was, especially about the "Silver Top Massacre" that shocked the entire United States.

Bol, however, disagreed. Last year, during their game, he had blocked Forrest Gump's shot twice.

He did possess an inexplicable confidence, for he was a prince of the Sultan, and he came to this land with a great deal of prestige.

他的父亲身高6尺8，他的母亲身高6尺10，他的曾祖父据说身高7尺10。

They were all giants, looking down upon the earth and their people. They never looked up at anything other than the trees, the mountains, and the stars.

He believes he can become the best athlete in the league, and he is proud of it.

He once killed a lion with a spear.

He's told the story of the lion many times since coming to America, including last night.

However, Forrest Gump didn't seem interested in the lion story. He showed no curiosity, no surprise, and he probably didn't even understand it.

When Boer stood in front of Gan Guoyang, he suddenly had a strange feeling. It was as if he had returned to the grassland. One evening, he had to walk 7 kilometers on the dangerous grassland in order to see his girlfriend.

His girlfriend was not yet married, and after their meeting, he could not stay overnight. He had to walk another 7 kilometers home, by which time it would be late at night, and the grassland would be glowing with a green light.

Those are lion eyes; they lurk in the grass and could kill you at any moment!

The jump ball is thrown, and the game begins.

Despite his significant disadvantage in wingspan and height, Gan Guoyang managed to touch the ball first through his physical strength and explosive power.

The ball was passed to Drexler, and Gan Guoyang immediately ran towards the basket to establish position.

Luland was still playing when the two sides met in the last match, so Boll did not face Gan Guoyang.

Today was the first time he truly faced Forrest Gump, and he found himself completely overwhelmed.

Gan Guoyang received the ball and bumped into the inside, knocking Boll to the ground. Then Gan Guoyang jumped high and slammed the ball in with both hands!

Boll fell to the ground, Gan Guoyang's hands were hanging on the rim, and Boll looked up at someone for the first time.

Gan Guoyang was also looking down at him. Boer looked into his eyes and was convinced that this man was a lion.

Can I kill him?
(End of this chapter)