The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 32 Prison
1981 October.

The economic recession that began with the oil crisis shows no signs of ending; unemployment is rising further, the stock market continues to decline, and prices are still rising.

Young people spend their money, energy, and time on drugs, sex, movies, and music, and the emergence of MTV has organically combined these elements.

British band Durand-Durand's song "Girls on Film" hit the US market via MTV. The film's daring outfits and sexually suggestive actions quickly became a sensation, receiving numerous views in nightclubs with high-definition screens and on televisions with Playboy pay-TV channels.

In order to survive, Gan's Restaurant kept up with the trend and installed a color TV in the lobby to attract young customers. Punk bands performed here almost every day, and the restaurant's income was rising steadily. However, the condition of the restaurant's toilets continued to deteriorate.

Fortunately, Gan Guohui no longer needs to clean toilets, because he is a member of the Water Bell team and has to train and participate in competitions.

Sports events often serve as a form of mental anesthetic, attracting people's attention and offering a temporary escape from the pain of life during times of economic hardship.

Just like horse racing and baseball during the Great Depression.

However, at this time, MLB had just ended its lockout in August, with both labor and management suffering heavy losses. At the same time, the chaotic format and playoff rules after the resumption of the season were confusing, leading to a significant drop in fan attention.

The situation in the NFL is also not optimistic. The collective bargaining agreement they signed after the 1974 strike will expire next year in 1982, and the players' union is getting restless. Negotiations with the owners this summer have not gone smoothly.

As for basketball, both the NBA and NCAA seasons are in the off-season, with no games for fans to enjoy.

After experiencing one of the lowest-rated and most-watched Finals in history, the NBA is mired in debt and scandals.

In the NCAA, the legendary San Francisco Towns, a local school in San Francisco, received a warning from the NCAA in 1980 for illegally recruiting players.

If it happens again, they will face a season-long suspension.

However, it seems that the University of San Francisco has not taken heed, and some violations are still being carried out in private, planting a time bomb for the future.

At this time, the emergence of the North Bridge Water Clock team became a noteworthy highlight in San Francisco's sports scene.

From the legendary rise of Gan Guoyang from the streets to defeating Lihua High School at Keiza Stadium, and then to a series of victories, the Water Clock is now like the "Ocean Biscuit" of the Great Depression era, with San Francisco residents' expectations and attention growing ever larger.

Especially in Chinatown, almost everyone talks about the Water Clock team in private.

Following news that the Waterbell and Fremont were about to have a qualifying match, Bay Area attention on the Waterbell reached a fever pitch.

This match involves: 1. racial discrimination against Chinese people, 2. the Waterbell team's CIF qualification, 3. and most importantly, San Francisco vs. Oakland.

The two cities are separated by a bridge, and their rivalry and competition have never stopped, especially in basketball, where Oakland has been ahead of San Francisco in recent years.

Previously, the Warriors' home arena was in San Francisco, and they were called the San Francisco Warriors. However, after Oakland Stadium opened in 1966, the Warriors began to play more games in Oakland.

In 1971, the Warriors officially moved to Oakland and changed their name to the "Golden State Warriors," no longer representing only San Francisco but the entire state of California. The Warriors won the championship in 1975.

San Francisco basketball fans were certainly unhappy about this, even though it was just across a bridge and wouldn't have significantly affected their ability to attend games. However, the name San Francsico disappeared from the NBA scene. (Many years later, when the Warriors moved their home arena back to San Francisco, they were similarly met with angry reactions from Oakland fans.)
Oakland has always been known for its toughness on the streets, and many of Oakland's strongmen come to San Francisco to play, but few San Francisco players can conquer Oakland.

Economically speaking, San Francisco is wealthier, while Oakland is relatively underdeveloped. San Francisco has a larger white population, while Oakland has many impoverished Black neighborhoods. One is an international metropolis on the Pacific Ocean, while the other is a suburban area of ​​the Bay Area.

This series of comparisons reveals that while the two cities are closely connected, they also harbor deep divisions and grievances. In this context, if a basketball game could represent both regions, its influence would be considerable.

The match was scheduled for the second Monday of October, which is Columbus Day, commemorating the 390th anniversary of Columbus's discovery of the New World.

The game will be held at Tiger Gymnasium at Fremont High School.

This is a large stadium that combines a rugby field and a basketball arena, with the smaller basketball arena connected to one side of the rugby field.

Before its modernization, the complex stadium was known as a "prison" by local players and students because of its dilapidated state, size, and darkness.

The game will start at 7 p.m. tonight. The prison is overcrowded tonight.

Not only Fremont students came to watch the game, but also neighbors from the surrounding streets, parents with their children, older siblings with their younger siblings, all crowded into the not-so-large basketball arena.

Many people who couldn't get in lined up outside to watch, and vehicles blocked the surrounding streets and intersections, causing traffic jams.

In a previous Fremont High School game, violence occurred outside the arena due to crowds gathering. Given the high level of influence of this game, Oakland police deployed 9 police cars and 30 officers to maintain order near the arena to prevent any incidents from occurring.

The bus carrying the Waterbell players arrived at Fremont High School at 6 p.m. and slowly drove into the stadium parking lot.

Due to traffic congestion, a police car had to clear the way.

The flashing red and blue police lights, the black teenager hanging on the barbed wire shouting at the vehicles, and the faint chanting coming from inside the stadium.

All of this, combined with the dark red sunset over Auckland, created a rather eerie picture—the Water Clock team looked like new prisoners sent to jail, awaiting their fate of being ravaged by the old inmates.

The team members all showed signs of nervousness, and even the usually arrogant Franklin bit his lower lip, staring blankly at the Auckland teenagers outside the car window.

Some people were spewing trash at Franklin; it was hard to hear clearly, but it certainly wasn't anything nice.

When we got off the bus, there was no window to block the noise, and the sound was amplified at least three times after we entered the stadium.

While changing clothes in the locker room, everyone remained silent. Behrman tried to encourage them, but he didn't know what to say.

These guys already showed tremendous courage by daring to come here to compete; he never expected the competition to turn into a showdown between two cities.

There is undoubtedly media hype behind this; with no other sporting events to divert attention, the match between the two high school teams has become so captivating.

The players changed into their jerseys and went onto the court to warm up. The Fremont High School players were already on the court, ready to fight – their entire team was Black, and they were all tall and agile.

The fans at the stadium kept trash-talking the Water Bell team's players. Due to the repeated publicity and hype before the game, the two teams, who had no prior grudges or hatred, suddenly became sworn enemies.

This was a huge test of the players' mentality. As the match was about to begin, Berman gathered the players together, encouraging them to forget their surroundings and focus entirely on the game. He specifically asked Gan Guoyang, the team's backbone, "Gan, are you scared?"

Gan Guoyang shook his head and said, "I will not be afraid of the enemy in front of me, because I have no enemies in my eyes. They will not disturb me. I have made full preparations. There is no room for negotiation, baby. Unless you kill me before the competition."

Xu Xun added, "That's what Bruce Lee said."

Bellman: "Fuck you, stop using famous quotes to show off."

Everyone laughed, and the atmosphere lightened up a bit.

As they stepped onto the court, the match was about to officially begin, and Gan Guoyang and his opponent jumped for the ball.

The Fremont High School center is the same height as Gan Guoyang, 6 feet 9 inches. This is the first opponent Gan Guoyang has encountered in the game who is eye-to-eye with him.

During the jump ball, the center forward named Herbert collided hard with Gan Guoyang in the air, and got to the ball first, allowing Fremont Tigers to attack.

"I'll be keeping an eye on you, Chinaman."

Gan Guoyang was too lazy to pay attention to such provocations. He didn't think it was worth wasting his breath on a black man who didn't have much education.

Fremont High School's offense is quick to launch, and their key player is small forward Henry Turner.

Turner received the ball near the three-second zone and used his back-to-the-basket footwork to drive past Franklin into the paint—Franklin's primary task tonight was to defend Turner.

Turner has better physical attributes and hand skills. He used his body to close the gap to the basket, and when Gan Guoyang came over to help defend, he passed the ball to the left baseline, where his teammate received the ball and made a mid-range shot.

Fremont High School scored the first point with a classic middle drive and pass to the baseline.

In the rounds with the Water Bell team, Chen Xing has gradually grown into a relatively reliable ball handler.

However, tonight when he dribbled the ball across half-court, Gan Guoyang was still there to receive the pass.

Fremont indeed double-teamed Chen Xing and passed the ball to Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang received the ball at the high post, dribbled and adjusted, and passed it to Franklin, who was cutting across from the baseline.

Franklin also attempted a mid-range shot from the baseline at a zero angle, but missed, drawing boos from the crowd.

Gan Guoyang couldn't grab the offensive rebound, and the Tigers launched a counterattack.

Using almost the same strategy, Turner broke through the middle and passed the ball to the player on the far side.

Receiving the ball at the baseline and shooting, or dribbling and breaking through, with the ball going to the wings in the middle for a layup is the most basic offensive move.

The player who received the ball chose to drive, but Gan Guoyang had already returned to defense in time and successfully interfered with the opponent's layup.

Tigers' center grabbed an offensive rebound and attempted to score over Gan Guoyang, but committed a traveling violation, and possession returned to the Shuizhong team.

A murmur rippled through the crowd. This defensive play proved that the Chinese player wearing number 11 is definitely capable.

As the game progressed, the audience noticed that the Water Bell team had actually gained a foothold and was putting up a good fight against the Tigers team.

Although the Water Bell players are obviously short and slow, they have a number 11 in the paint who is an excellent defender and rebounder.

They employ a tight zone defense, quickly retreating to their defensive positions if their attack fails, immediately forming a defensive formation to prevent the Tigers from launching a fast break.

Gan Guoyang even gave up offensive rebounds at the start of the game. He appeared frequently in the high post to screen for his teammates, create offensive space for Franklin, and facilitate his quick retreat on defense.

This was the game strategy that Berman devised before the match. He knew that given the disparity in strength between the two sides, he had to maintain a solid defense.

The Fremont High School players are indeed very talented individually, and each of them can initiate their own offense, but they become a bit impatient under zone defense.

They were so focused on quickly defeating their opponents and ending the qualifying round as soon as possible that they became impatient and restless.

Multiple unreasonable shots and rough fouls on defense meant that although they dominated the game, they couldn't pull away from the score.

When Fremont High School called its first timeout, the score was 10-11, with the Tigers leading by only one point.

Franklin missed the opening shot, but then scored 3 consecutive baskets, bringing his total to 6 points. Gan Guoyang added a putback and two free throws, and the two combined for 10 points.

Everyone else worked hard to do their job and defended with all their might. The team's zone defense had become very proficient after two months of training by Bellman.

Although Chinese teenagers are not as physically strong as Black people, they are very intelligent, and they are united and do not show off. The difficult joint defense becomes exceptionally resilient under their organization.

Having weathered the initial onslaught from their opponents, the darkness of the "prison" and the noise of the students were no longer a problem.

Back on the court, Gan Guoyang blocked Henry Turner's strong drive and then made a long pass to the frontcourt after regaining possession of the ball.

Franklin received the ball, knew his chance had come, accelerated, charged, jumped, and dunked with both hands!
Water Bell team 12:11, taking the lead!

No one expected the Tigers' return from their timeout to end like this.

Not only did they fail to score, but they also conceded a counter-attack, falling behind for the first time.

The substitutes for the Water Bell team stood on the sidelines cheering for the team, which sounded jarring in the much quieter "prison".

When they returned to the court, Franklin and Gan Guoyang gave each other a high five. Franklin thought to himself, "It would be great to have this guy as a teammate."

(End of this chapter)