The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 323 Forrest Gump's Weakness

"Fuck, Forrest Gump can hook like that? Even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar couldn't do that from this distance with his left hand."

Chappell Hill, North Carolina, University of North Carolina. The school's basketball gym is very quiet; it's late at night, and no one is training.

However, in the arena's locker room, someone was sitting in front of the TV watching the 1986 NBA Finals; it was Michael Jordan.

He trained at the stadium until very late, and then watched the finals live in the locker room afterward.

In the final moments of the game, Bird hit a three-pointer to narrow the gap to 3 points, but Gan Guoyang received the ball and made a long left-handed hook shot near the free-throw line.

The Celtics called a timeout, their last timeout. Time was running out, and they had little chance left.

Jordan couldn't help but curse out loud. Gan Guoyang's goal tonight was unbelievable, an unparalleled hook shot feast that brought back the fear of being dominated by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar last year to the fans of Boston Garden.

After being eliminated in the first round, Jordan went home to recuperate for a while, and then returned to his alma mater to begin offseason training.

Here, he can receive guidance from Dean Smith and focus on honing his skills.

At the same time, he closely followed the NBA games, watching one team after another be eliminated, with fewer and fewer teams remaining on the stage.

When Jordan saw Gan Guoyang and Olajuwon battling it out in the Western Conference Finals, he felt envious, jealous, and incredibly motivated, which drove him to work up a sweat in the gym.

Then, when he witnessed Gan Guoyang's series of outstanding performances leading the Trail Blazers to the Finals, Jordan had to admit that Gan Guoyang had already surpassed him.

Of course, on the day the Trail Blazers made it to the Western Conference Finals, Jordan, as usual, unplugged the phone, refused to communicate with anyone, and didn't want to hear any related news.

On the same day, Gan Guoyang won the regular season MVP, which made Michael very upset. He was extremely regretful for wasting the 1985-1986 season.

Before the Finals, Jordan was very excited. He wanted to see how Forrest Gump would deal with the Celtics. Under Gan Guoyang's guidance, Jordan defeated the Celtics once.

As a Celtics team with a rubber wall defense, it is very difficult to break through their defense. But even if you can't get through such a defense, you can go around it.

In that 63-point game, Jordan made full use of his agile movement and superb one-on-one skills to bypass the Celtics' defense—their precise positioning and blocking were completely ineffective against Jordan.

In the game against the Celtics, he took advantage of the Celtics' poor defensive attitude, connected the whole team, and broke through the Celtics' defense from the inside.

As a center, Gan Guoyang has a natural weakness in independent offense. It is quite difficult for him to get the ball in the low post, and he will face tight double-teams and multiple players from the Celtics.

So Gan Guoyang took a different approach. Because of his defense, he used his superior ability to block shots under the basket to drag the game into a defensive battle.

Tonight marked the first time in the Celtics' playoff run that neither team scored over 100 points, a rare occurrence even in games played in the 1980s.

"With 25 seconds left in the Celtics' game, Forrest Gump hit an amazing left-handed hook shot. My God, Dr. Jack's heart must have been pounding. If he had missed that shot, the Trail Blazers would have been in danger of being tied. Forrest showed us what it means to be skilled and daring."

Commentator Masberg was sweating for Gan Guoyang. The Celtics had almost completely shut down the Trail Blazers' 24-second shot clock, but in the final moments, Gan Guoyang made an incredible hook shot from an unimaginable position with his left hand.

"Do you think that goal was just luck?" someone asked.

Jordan was startled, thinking it was George Keller, but when he turned around, he saw it was Coach Dean Smith.

"Oh! Mr. Smith, I'm sorry, I didn't even notice you. When did you arrive?"

“I saw Forrest Gump make that hook shot. Answer my question,” Smith said.

"I think... no, it wasn't luck. If Sonny had shot off the backboard and made it, I would have considered it luck. But he used his unusual left-handed hook shot, which means he was very confident. Sonny rarely does things he's not sure of; he must have calculated that using his left hand would allow him to avoid the defense. Although his right hand is more accurate, his right-handed direction is blocked. With his left hand, he could shoot more easily, and then it went in."

Smith nodded. He had observed Gan Guoyang during the Olympic training camp. This guy plays with a lot of brains; every choice he makes is carefully considered, and he always manages to find the optimal solution.

"Are you confident you can beat him, Michael?"

"Of course!"

When Smith asked him the question, Jordan answered very decisively, but his tone was not so firm.

He had fought Gan Guoyang one-on-one and in competitions, and he knew how formidable the guy was; defeating him would be no easy feat.

The Celtics crushed the Bulls like an ant, but now, facing the Trail Blazers, they are already on the verge of defeat in the first game.

With 25 seconds left on the shot clock, Bird once again opted for a three-pointer, but this time the shot was interfered with by Gan Guoyang and missed.

Drexler grabbed the rebound in the backcourt, the Celtics fouled him, and Drexler went to the free-throw line. The Trail Blazers were about to win the game.

"So what do you think Forrest Gump's weaknesses are? Can you exploit his weaknesses?" Smith asked Jordan again.

Jordan watched Drexler take the free throw, but he missed the first one. However, with a 5-point lead, it didn't matter much.

"Forrest Gump's weakness... Forrest Gump's weakness is Clyde. Drexler isn't a completely reliable teammate. I can beat him," Jordan said.

Perhaps sensing something, Drexler's second free throw went awry, rolling around the rim before missing, but Gan Guoyang managed to swat the ball away.

Walton got the ball this time, and the Celtics had no choice but to foul again, sending Walton to the free-throw line. There was no time left, and the fans at Boston Garden began to leave.

Walton made both free throws, making it 96-89. With a 7-point lead, the Trail Blazers players began celebrating prematurely.

They won Game 1 of the Finals at Boston Garden, taking a solid step toward the championship.

CBS cameras kept focusing on Gan Guoyang, whose face didn't show much expression, but a hint of relaxation could be seen.

The TV station displayed his stats for tonight: 37 points, 17 rebounds, 10 blocks, 4 assists, and 2 steals – an amazing performance.

"Michael, remember, while you're training hard, there's someone in the world working just as hard as you, or even harder," Dean Smith told Jordan.

Smith used to say this to Jordan all the time, but Jordan never had "that person" in his heart. Now he does, and that is the goal he will always chase.
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At Boston Garden, the score was 96-91, with the Trail Blazers defeating the Celtics by 5 points on the road, taking a 1-0 lead in the NBA Finals.

Gan Guoyang was interviewed by reporters on the sidelines. He played the full 48 minutes tonight, and his hair was soaked with sweat. He had already wrung out his jersey during halftime.

When asked why he chose his less-than-skilled left-handed hook shot for the most crucial attack, Gan Guoyang said, "Because I bumped my right middle finger, it swelled up, and it hurt a lot. So to ensure accuracy, I could only use my left hand. Thank goodness, I was lucky, and I practice with my left hand regularly. Luckily, it went in, otherwise it would have been a big problem."

As he spoke, Gan Guoyang showed his middle finger, which was indeed swollen. He explained that he had been hit by the ball while grabbing a rebound, and that the team doctor would treat it briefly when he got back.

With a "snap," Dean Smith turned off the television, and he and Jordan stared at each other in disbelief.

"The game is over. Go out for a walk tonight. Don't just focus on basketball. Life is important too."

"I think so too. Don't watch interviews after the competition ends, they're boring."

"Yes, it's boring."

(End of this chapter)