The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 381 Hopeless
In December 1986, stocks became Christmas stockings, allowing many loyal Celtics fans to experience the feeling of being in control.

Despite the cost of losing nearly a quarter of their stock assets in just one week, and the Celtics' consecutive losses at the end of December.

But Celtics fans are still very happy, believing that Bird, Parish, McHale, DJ, and Ainge are still in their prime.

There was a feeling that the Celtics would avenge their defeat in 1987, reclaim the championship, and continue to dominate the league for the next few years, just like in the 1960s.

And this time it's different from the 1960s; they're rich, very rich.

But injuries soon took their toll on the team. Marquese Johnson was sidelined after playing only ten games in the new season due to a neck injury.

Another veteran, Scott Weidman, suffered a heel injury and only played six games, leaving the Celtics' otherwise deep frontcourt somewhat stretched.

Kevin McHale later suffered an injury, fracturing his navicular bone, but he persisted in playing, which affected his good performance.

Here we must mention the No. 2 pick in 1986, which was originally the Celtics' reward for the trade of Henderson, a classic "Aarbach-style steal".

However, it was sent to the Clippers in the Marquez-Johnson trade, which greatly frustrated Auerbach, who could have used the pick to acquire Bias.

Bias's death was shocking, and it did little to make Auerbach, who missed out on the No. 2 pick, feel any better, because the death of such a talented player was no good for anyone and was a huge loss for the league.

Auerbach did not believe the Celts had escaped unscathed. On the contrary, he felt bewildered, confused, and at a loss, completely baffled by the current situation, wondering what was wrong with the world.

Auerbach was bewildered by the big-spending, tycoon-like owners, the agents who negotiated on behalf of the players, the maverick players who didn't follow orders, the increasingly outrageous long-term contracts, the ubiquitous players' union, as well as the salary cap, the addition of a referee to the court, the three-point shot, the over-reliance on video coaching, the dazzling marketing, and the fact that the Celtics' office, which originally had only 3 members, had exploded to 25 people, and so on.

The loss in the 1986 Finals seemed like a harbinger of disaster. The Celtics, who were perfect in every way, fell to the young Portland Trail Blazers, who seemed to have flaws everywhere.

At that moment, Auerbach may have sensed something, and he began to distance himself from the team, taking a neutral stance on various team matters, instead of acting arbitrarily as he had in the past, which was completely out of character for him.

Clearly, with the devastating defeat of 1986, a part of Auerbach's soul was taken away and would never return; it was a painful loss.

In 1987, Marquez Johnson's 15-month-old son drowned in the swimming pool at his Los Angeles home. This tragedy devastated Johnson, and he could no longer fully dedicate himself to competing for championships.

He ended his professional career, foreshadowing a series of misfortunes for the Celtics.

—Excerpt from Dan Shoney's 1994 biography of Red Auerbach, *Seeing Red*.

The Trail Blazers are facing a depleted Celtics team tonight, with Marquese Johnson sidelined since November after a neck injury.

Without this star sixth man, the Celtics immediately became short-handed in terms of player rotation, especially with veteran Weidman also injured, which put a lot of pressure on Bird and McHale.

On the bench, they only have role players like Jerry Cicin and Fred Roberts, who average only a few points per game and contribute a few meager assists and rebounds.

For various reasons, the Celtics still have the highest percentage of white players in the league.

Their current core rotation only has two Black players, while the remaining five are all white, which is unprecedented in the increasingly Black and fast-paced NBA.

This caused the Celtics to fall further and further behind in terms of physical strength and speed, leaving them with only skill, teamwork, and a strong fighting spirit.

And, squeezing the last bit of potential from their core players.

29-year-old Kevin McHale had the best season of his career, with his scoring average and field goal percentage reaching career highs.

His shooting percentage is particularly impressive; with an average of 27 points per game, his field goal percentage is as high as 60%, which is quite remarkable.

How exaggerated is it? It's the same as Gan Guoyang's hit rate.

Although Gan Guoyang's average score is more than ten points higher than his.

There are only three players this season who average over 20 points per game and have a field goal percentage of over 59%.

One is Gan Guoyang, another is Kevin McHale, and the third is Charles Barkley.

If we narrow the scoring range down to 25 points, Barkley is out of the running, and as for anything above 30 points, only Forrest Gump comes to mind.

Gan Guoyang's high shooting percentage is due to his unparalleled low-post isolation play. Like Barkley, once he gets the ball with his back to the basket, his opponents are basically helpless.

Both of them possess strength that is one or two levels higher than other players in their positions. As long as they dribble and push their way in, the defenders have no way to stop them.

Kevin McHale was different; he relied more on skill, his long arms, and his exceptional finishing ability.

The 30-year-old Larry Bird has increased his scoring average to 29 points per game from 25 last season. Losing the championship and MVP award led to a tough summer of training for Bird.

However, he spends most of his time battling his back injury.

Because he didn't receive proper treatment, and because he kept doing heavy work at home, his back problems got worse and worse.

When Bird stepped onto the court, watching Gan Guoyang warming up energetically, he said with a hint of envy, "I heard you got married. Looks like you have a great physique, otherwise you wouldn't dare to get married."

Knowing that Bird had a bad back, Gan Guoyang said, "I'll teach you a good way to exercise your back: do 1000 sit-ups every day."

Bird greeted Gan Guoyang with "Fuck you" and "Happy Wedding," then prepared to dive into the game.

Despite poor team health and an exceptionally weak rotation, the Celtics have maintained their top spot in the Eastern Conference thanks to their star players and deep-rooted legacy.

The Philadelphia 76ers have completely declined. The Milwaukee Bucks look like a challenge, but Jack Hickma can't bring about a qualitative change for this Bucks team. The Atlanta Hawks are aggressive, but they are somewhat weak inside.

The teams that truly began to challenge the Celtics' dominance in the East were the young, savage Detroit Pistons and the Washington Bullets, who boasted Moses Malone and Charles Barkley.

During their match against them, the Celtics could clearly feel the force of the impact.

The two teams' solid and tough frontcourts are challenging the aging Celtics' Big Three.

Among the frontcourt trio, the oldest is Robert Parish, who is 33 years old this year and has been in the league for ten years.

His stats have also improved this season, with his average points per game increasing and his playing time soaring, because the team no longer has a sixth man.

Parish has no problem dealing with most of the league's big men; his height, wingspan, and strength are enough to dominate the East.

But in last year's finals, he was completely outmatched by Gan Guoyang, and it left him with a psychological scar, because defending against Gan Guoyang was truly a nightmare.

A long nightmare, with superior attack power and extremely long playing time, leaving opponents feeling exhausted after each match.

Parish, whose face was already filled with bitterness and hatred like that of a chieftain, became even more distressed when he stood in the center circle facing Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang immediately drew a foul on Parish with a front-row drive, causing the usually quiet center to protest to the referee.

Gan Guoyang didn't care about anything else, stepped to the free-throw line, and made both free throws, scoring the first point of the game tonight.

Auerbach sat in his usual front-row seat, wearing his brown glasses, watching the game with a serious expression.

He has watched NBA games for 40 years, from 1947 to today. He has witnessed all the changes in basketball. Compared with 40 years ago, today's NBA is a completely different game.

Throughout the changes, Auerbach has always kept up with the trends, and was even a trendsetter at one point, but now he has been swept away by the tide and can no longer understand the game.

He is 70 years old and has gained a lot from basketball. The Celtics gave him a lifetime contract with an annual salary of more than $25 after the company went public.

在1992年7月31日之前，他每年可以领取25万美元，到1992年7月31日之后，年薪降至12.5万美元，直到他去世为止。

This was a reward for Auerbach's contributions, but after the Celtics went public, they were worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Given Auerbach's contributions, if he had just taken 10% of the shares, he would have gained $1000 million in wealth.

Auerbach did not do that; he only took what he believed he deserved, a paltry $25 per year compared to his negligible contribution.

"From the moment I was willing to take only a $25 lifetime contract and not take any shares in the team, I knew I had become an incurable, inflexible, stubborn fool. But I accept it all. This is the inevitable path for every old person. To die with one's own glory, rather than jumping around for profit and forgetting principles in order to prolong one's life, that is truly incurable."

Auerbach later recalled it this way.

At this moment on the court, Gan Guoyang had already scored 10 points over Robert Parish.

Gan Guoyang was even more ruthless than in last year's finals, and Parish, who already had a foul, dared not make any big moves.

Faced with a disparity in strength and a four-way tactical advantage, Parish was as alone and helpless as the last Indian.

Gan Guoyang certainly wouldn't hold back; he likes to establish a sufficient lead in the first quarter so that the rest of the game will be easier.

The Celtics seemed unprepared, falling behind the Trail Blazers 14-6, prompting KC Jones to call a timeout.

Auerbach wiped his glasses, wondering how Jack Ramsey could have coached such a team and such players.
(End of this chapter)