The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 33 Meeting Gift

Franklin's dunk boosted the Waterbells' morale, while the Tigers were left bewildered.

They clearly didn't have a good grasp of the Water Bell team's strength before the match—there's nothing they could do, Water Bell had only played a few matches in total, and there were no video recordings available for analysis.

With the help of Capo LaVine, the Waterbell team found a lot of information about the Tigers, including the height, playing style, and style of the starting five, as well as the team's past record and tactical characteristics. Berman conducted a detailed study of all of this.

He has two weeks to prepare meticulously, design and practice tactics, formulate strategies, and refine the lineup to bring the team to its best condition.

Judging from their opening performance, the Water Clock team was competent, not only competent, but even exceeded Bellman's expectations.

In particular, the team's tenacious zone defense showed no signs of loosening for nearly six minutes.

It's important to know that zone defense puts a great deal of pressure on players' teamwork, focus, and stamina, especially for guards.

During training, the two guards repeatedly moved and ran back and forth along the perimeter following the ball, until they were about to vomit.

Hsu Hsun is the most important anchor in the perimeter zone defense. His tireless running and loud reminders help the team maintain their defensive formation.

Berman thought to himself that Asian players might not be as physically strong as Black players, but their discipline, teamwork, and intelligence were the keys to victory.

Xu Xun made a successful defensive play on the perimeter, stealing the ball from the opposing point guard, and the Shui Zhong team launched another counterattack.

Chen Xing took the ball and entered the three-second zone. He circled around, not taking a shot easily, but looking for Franklin or Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang cut to the inside, Chen Xing lobbed the ball into the basket, Gan Guoyang caught the ball, faked out the defender, dribbled around to the other side and slammed it in with one hand!
After scoring, Gan Guoyang shouted at Fremont's center forward Herbert, "You said you were going to keep an eye on me, where are you? Tell me, where are you!"

“I’ll show you what I’m made of, so watch out.” Herbert’s response sounded somewhat weak and feeble.

So far, he has been unable to score against Gan Guoyang, and his only two one-on-one opportunities have been blocked.

This guy was incredibly strong. Herbert found that he couldn't compete with Gan Guoyang under the basket at all. With a push of his arm and a squeeze of his butt, he was out of position.

This was the first time Herbert had encountered such a powerful center. Even in the Oakland League, known for its toughness and ferocity, no center possessed such strength and power.

The Tigers' outside shooting was off again. In high school basketball, where three-pointers are not yet widely used, long-range shooting has never been a focus of practice for players.

Gan Guoyang carved out his own territory under the basket, then grabbed the defensive rebounds, and no one could beat him. In the 1980s, high school and college players rarely did strength training, and even some NBA professional players did not train with equipment because they said that strength training would affect their shooting touch.

So these black players are all tall and thin, and Gan Guoyang has already grabbed 8 rebounds in just a few minutes.

In the counterattack of the Water Bell team, Gan Guoyang continued to protect Chen Xing, appearing in a high position to receive the ball.

Franklin backed down near the three-second zone, and the Tigers' defense collapsed toward him.

Gan Guoyang was left wide open, with no one in front of him. Who would bother to guard a center standing at the top of the key?
Gan Guoyang didn't pass; he chose to take a long-range shot himself! He has the ability to do so.

But for my first long-range shot tonight, I hadn't gotten into the rhythm yet, and the ball hit the rim but missed, which was a real shame.

Gan Guoyang immediately returned to defense, and his long-range shot attempt triggered a new round of noisy attacks from the Fremont students on the field.

The noise in the stadium never stopped; not only were the fans shouting, but the referees and the technical staff were also yelling.

This place sounds busier than the New York Stock Exchange, as if everyone is trying to broker millions or tens of millions of stock transactions. After a few rounds, Gan Guoyang noticed that in the first row on the sidelines, a big-headed black teenager was constantly attacking him, relentlessly attacking.

The others at least experienced some ups and downs with the game, shouting a few times when they got excited, and then sitting there watching the game, waiting for the next outburst.

This guy is like a wound-up toy. No matter how the game is going, as soon as he returns to his own half, you can hear him babbling on and on, spouting all sorts of nonsensical and even incomprehensible words—but you can tell they're not saying anything nice.

At the end of the first half, with 20 minutes remaining, the Water Clock team led the Tigers 37-34, a three-point advantage.

The Water Clock team once extended their lead to as much as 7 points, but in the latter part of the first half, their zone defense finally lost focus, allowing the Tigers to catch up and narrow the gap to 3 points.

Franklin scored 17 points in the first half, the highest on the team. His athleticism and ability to dominate the paint greatly helped Gan Guoyang. This kid is indeed talented.

Without him, without this reliable ball-handling offensive option, Gan Guoyang would have a very tough time against the Tigers, who have an advantage in all other positions.

Gan Guoyang actually played relatively easily in the first half; the intensity of Fremont High School wasn't as terrifying as people said.

He showed no fear of physical contact on the court. In the paint, Herbert was completely dominated by Gan Guoyang, and Henry Turner did not repeatedly drive into the paint to challenge Gan Guoyang.

To put it bluntly, the Tigers were not well prepared. They didn't really understand how Gan Guoyang played. From the coach to the players, everyone underestimated this big man.

With 12 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 blocks, Gan Guoyang's stats for the first half were impressive. He and Franklin accounted for the majority of the team's points.

What truly annoyed Gan Guoyang was the mental attacks from the sidelines.

Yes, I'm talking about that big-headed black teenager who's always spouting trash talk.

His loud mouth never stopped from the start of the game to the end of halftime. Whenever Gan Guoyang passed by the stands, he could hear this guy's rough voice.

Despite his young age, his throat sounded like it was filled with sand. He didn't speak fast, but instead, he held his chin up, shook his head, and rhythmically and methodically spewed out trash talk at Gan Guoyang.

After the start of the second half, the two sides switched halves. When Gan Guoyang was on the offensive, he was verbally attacked by the big-headed guy. The others sitting next to him stopped talking and listened, then joined in the jeering.

His language contained some profanities, but he didn't only use profanity. He was like a chatterbox, constantly communicating with Gan Guoyang from a distance.

"Shoot, Chinaman! Attack! Dunk your ass in the basket! The girls in Chinatown are waiting for you to go back and beat their Posh Spice while you waste your time playing basketball! Why don't you go cook? I heard your family owns a restaurant. You shouldn't be holding a ball, you should be holding a pot! I like Chinese food. After this game, I'll go to your restaurant and take a dump in your kitchen because you've come to our territory to take a dump, because you're a pile of shit..."

The relentless verbal attacks finally angered Gan Guoyang. After the ball went out of bounds, Gan Guoyang ran to the sidelines, pointed at the big-headed guy, and asked, "Dirty kid, what's your name?"

"Fuck you, you're the fucking kid! I'm your dad! I'm Gary, Gary!"

"OK, Gary. Fuck you, Gary!"

The surrounding Black students all started to jeer, knowing that these two had taken the lead.

The boy named Gary got excited too. He stood up from his seat and went to the sideline to continue firing at Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang moved to the low post, and Franklin passed the ball to him. Gan Guoyang received the ball, dribbled backward, bumped into Herbert, faked a move, and then took a step to cut to the basket, dunking with one hand for two points!

After scoring, Gan Guoyang ran to the sidelines, pointed at Gary and said, "This is my 'greeting gift' to you, we're not done yet!"

(End of this chapter)