The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 376 Only Wins, Never Loses
During halftime, in the away locker room at Memorial Stadium, Jordan took off his left sock.

He had a swollen abscess on his left big toe. The team doctor shook his head when he saw it, saying, "Oh Michael, it must hurt a lot. It looks even bigger than before the game."

Jordan said, "That's obvious. Let's figure out how to make it better. I still have the second half to play."

The team doctor said, "I think... I think it's best to cut it open, let the pus drain out, then disinfect it and bandage it."

"Will I be able to play in the second half?"

"Of course not, you need to rest."

"No, let's talk about it after I finish this match."

As he spoke, Jordan put his socks back on, and the team doctor could only shrug.

Jordan had this abscess on his foot for several games. It was caused by friction between his toes and shoes after a lot of drives to the basket, which led to a bacterial infection.

Jordan's foot was in pain, but he persevered until the infection worsened before the game, and the team doctor advised him to have the abscess drained.

But that would mean Jordan would miss today's game, which he didn't want. He wanted to finish the game before dealing with the abscess.

After the first half, he felt severe pain in his foot, and the abscess became larger, causing some problems with his ability to break through defenses.

He recalled the last offensive play of the first half, when his layup attempt against Gan Guoyang was ruthlessly blocked.

"Damn!"

Jordan couldn't help but curse, saying that being blocked by Gan Guoyang head-on like that would make him a laughingstock for a whole year.

And you can't say your feet hurt; saying that would be making excuses and be even more embarrassing.

Jordan scored 25 points in the first half, and Gan Guoyang scored 20 points. The Bulls trailed the Trail Blazers by 7 points.

There is a significant gap in strength between the two teams, which can be seen from their personnel configurations: the Trail Blazers are championship-caliber, while the Bulls are CBA-level.

Jordan didn't mind the gap between his teammates; he believed that one day he would have stronger teammates because he would motivate the players around him to improve together.

Charles Oakley has great potential. They have a good relationship on and off the court. Oakley is a very motivated player.

What truly frustrated Jordan was that he vaguely sensed the gap between himself and Gan Guoyang was widening, and the comparison of their abilities was not as intense as the competition on the scoring leaderboard.

This kid didn't go all out from the start of the game until the end of the first half, which is different from his rookie season in 1984, when Jordan felt that the two were evenly matched, except that Gan Guoyang's team was stronger.

Two seasons later, Gan Guoyang's strength had grown to the point that Jordan found it somewhat unfathomable.

This guy is playing cat and mouse over there, steadily controlling the situation on the court, scoring whenever he wants and defending however he wants.

"Shit, what kind of drugs did this guy take?"

Meanwhile, in the Trail Blazers' locker room, Gan Guoyang wiped away some sweat and drank some beverage to replenish his fluids.

In the final possession of the first half, Gan Guoyang successfully blocked Jordan's layup.

He followed Jordan's lead very well and anticipated Jordan's choices.

However, he could sense that Jordan hadn't put in enough effort at the end, and he didn't know if it was because of incorrect footwork or a foot injury.
Jordan's breakthroughs were always excellent in detail. Not only was he fast and explosive, but his choice of footwork when starting, his use of fakes, and his body control were all first-class.

In the basketball environment at the time, no one could handle the ball like him. Even though the referees were more lenient in calling traveling violations than before, other guards couldn't make as many changes of direction, fakes, and subtle body movements.

Gan Guoyang judged that Jordan might have had a foot injury, which affected his final shot.

"Or perhaps, is my defense so strong that I can easily stop Jordan?"

Gan Guoyang is self-aware enough to know that he can lock down Bird when defending big men, but it's really difficult to defend someone like Jordan.

The two teams returned to the court for the second half, and the game continued. Gan Guoyang said to Jordan, "Michael, is your foot injured?"

Jordan glanced at Gan Guoyang and said, "No, my foot is fine."

"Really? Then how come I blocked your last shot? Did you have diarrhea or your legs went weak?"

"It was just a block, I just slipped."

Jordan wiggled his left big toe as he spoke; it still hurt a little.

He didn't want Gan Guoyang to know about the abscess on his left foot.

At the same time, he was also surprised that Forrest Gump could deduce that he had an injury on his foot from the breakthrough.

The two players do know each other very well, and their judgment on the details of basketball techniques is also very accurate.

The second half began with the Bulls launching an offensive attack, with Paxson bringing the ball across half-court. Jordan continued to use his off-ball movement to find offensive opportunities and disrupt the Trail Blazers' defense, creating space for his teammates.

However, the Trail Blazers continued to use man-to-man defense in the second half, and Jordan's attempts to stretch the defense were meaningless, as the ball was still given to him for one-on-one plays.

Jordan's one-on-one plays were clean and efficient. After receiving the ball, he made an off-ball run and immediately started his attack without any hesitation.

He drove from the baseline to the basket, then switched hands in mid-air and scored a reverse layup from the other side of the rim!

The fans at the scene were stunned. This incredibly difficult goal was simply amazing; the guy was practically dancing in the air.

Just when the Bulls thought Gan Guoyang was going to post up again, Gan Guoyang faked a shot from the right side of the low post.

Then he turned and ran to the other side at a 45-degree angle, received Porter's pass, dribbled and turned quickly, took a big step with one hand and drove into the basket, jumped high and slammed the ball in with a powerful one-handed dunk!

The memorial stadium erupted instantly. Gan Guoyang's shot was like a giant version of Dr. J Kyrie Irving, catching the ball with one hand, with super long arms, and dunking high in the air without regard for the defense.

How long has it been since this guy delivered a dunk like that?

Since the start of this season, Gan Guoyang has adopted an increasingly economical and practical playing style in order to output damage efficiently in the low post.

As long as the opponent's defense is not too strong, he can easily score by squeezing under the basket in the simplest and least strenuous way.

If I can do a layup, I'll never dunk; if I can easily solve a problem with a hook shot, I'll never use footwork to do it effortlessly.

His fast break numbers are also much fewer than last season, and the kind of rock-baby play that Dr. J had is nowhere to be seen again.

Fans have almost forgotten that this guy is known as Dr. G, the enlarged plus version of Dr. J.

Tonight's match against Jordan undoubtedly ignited Gan Guoyang's desire to perform; how could he possibly allow Jordan to do his fancy tricks all by himself?

Seeing Gan Guoyang's powerful dunk, Jordan laughed and said, "You son of a bitch, I'm doing a difficult dunk, and you have to do one too?"

I'm afraid you'll be lonely.

Jordan shook his head, but with Gan Guoyang around, he certainly didn't feel lonely.

Although he felt anxious, he enjoyed the feeling of having a goal to pursue, which gave him a lot of motivation every day.

He even thought that if he could beat Forrest Gump in the Finals one day, he might not mind retiring on the spot.

The battle between the two intensified in the third quarter. Jordan completely forgot and ignored the swelling and abscess on his left foot, and began to bombard the Trail Blazers' defense with various difficult offensive moves.

Jordan had excellent ball handling skills. When faced with double teams, he would calmly break free, either to launch a new attack or to pass the ball to a teammate. He never panicked or acted rashly.

As a backcourt player with a very high usage rate and facing very tough defense, Jordan only had 3.3 turnovers per game, which is a very low number.

During the same period, Magic Johnson, who also had to handle a lot of the ball, averaged 3.8 turnovers per game, and Larry Bird averaged 3.2. In terms of usage rate and the defense they faced, they were not as good as Jordan.

Very few people can control their turnovers as well as Jordan under such high usage and defensive pressure.

Except for Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang's average turnovers are a shocking 1.9 per game, less than 2 turnovers per game.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was no longer the Lakers' core player at this time, was averaging 2.4 turnovers per game.

Gan Guoyang has been strictly controlling his mistakes since high school because his teammates were too weak back then, and every mistake could be fatal.

Another reason is Gan Guoyang's own personality. He abhors basic mistakes on the court and will never allow himself to make any ridiculous errors.

So, when Jordan, on defense, used his keen sense of smell to steal a pass from Gan Guoyang, causing Gan Guoyang to make a mistake.

Gan Guoyang kicked the floor until it was smoking while running back on defense. Jordan passed the ball to teammate Gene Banks for an alley-oop, but Gan Guoyang chased after him from behind and desperately blocked the ball with a huge block!
Upon landing, due to excessive inertia, Gan Guoyang crashed directly into the stands. He rarely loses his balance like this, despite his exceptional body control; he was truly fighting desperately to get back on defense.

The fans in the arena erupted in enthusiastic applause. Gan Guoyang, back on the court, asked Jordan, "Why didn't you dunk it yourself? Were you afraid I'd block it?"

Jordan smiled but didn't say anything, continuing to focus on the game. Actually, his left foot was in a lot of pain at this point, with the abscess rubbing against the shoe. He was afraid that using too much force would cause the abscess to rupture.

Jordan and Gan Guoyang played the entire third quarter, bringing the score to 69-77, with the Trail Blazers leading by 8 points.

Jordan scored 33 points, while Gan Guoyang scored 30 points. The two will decide the winner in the final quarter.

All attention was focused on the two of them; everyone could see that these two were far superior to the others in terms of strength.

Furthermore, they usually hold back during matches, only using moves they wouldn't normally use when facing off.

Of course, in the end, there will always be a winner and a loser in the game, but only the NBA can never lose and only win.

(End of this chapter)