The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 411 Ice and Fire

The 1986-1987 regular season has finally come to an end, and Gan Guoyang's 81 points have brought great shock to the league.

David Stern was quite satisfied with the final scoring duel between Gan Guoyang and Jordan. With the playoffs approaching, such explosive news is a great boost.

According to the league's revenue sharing rules, most of the regular season revenue goes to the teams, while most of the playoff revenue goes to the league. This 81-point game is a great opportunity to build momentum for the playoffs and generate revenue for the league.

For nearly a week, Gan Guoyang's 81 points occupied important pages of American sports news media and were repeatedly mentioned in various programs.

His scoring moments in the game were edited by ESPN and other television networks and featured in special reports on their morning news programs.

ESPN earned a wave of paid subscribers in this way, even without broadcasting rights.

The last time they did this was after the first "Gan vs. Joe" showdown, when ESPN had already tasted success.

Besides sports media, Gan Guoyang's 81 points also made it into other news programs, including being mentioned in some talk shows and TV dramas—which shows that Gan Guoyang and the NBA have become more mainstream.

The NBA needs this kind of crossover effect, a social impact that Wilt Chamberlain didn't have when he scored 100 points.

Back then, news media was not as developed as it is now. The NBA did not receive as much attention as college basketball. At that time, there were fewer than 10 teams, which were located in the Northeast region and played between a few industrial cities. They did not have a real national influence.

At the time, people were less interested in players breaking high-score records than in track and field athletes running a mile in 4 minutes.

After the 100-point record was set, the game wasn't even reported in the sports section of any of Philadelphia's well-known local newspapers; there wasn't even a single news item about it.

Instead, the New York media gave extensive coverage to Chamberlain's perfect score, but it didn't receive much attention. People weren't interested and didn't really understand what a perfect score meant.

Just like someone who doesn't understand football won't understand what scoring 5 goals in 9 minutes means; they'll only think that the goal is so big, it's not hard to kick it in.

The New York Daily News stated, "Basketball isn't thriving because most Americans of normal build can't relate to being a tall, freakish basketball star. You'd be hard-pressed to sell a seven-foot-tall basketball scoring monster to the most gullible teenagers."

The situation is different now. Basketball elites are no longer monsters. They are no longer turned away from high-end restaurants like Bill Russell, nor are they constantly asked what it feels like to be so tall like Wilt Chamberlain.

They are stars, idols, spokespeople with bright smiles on huge advertisements, protagonists in heartwarming commercials, and frequent guests and darlings of talk shows.

After Gan Guoyang returned to Portland, Wang Fuxi told him that he had received countless invitations for advertisements, business events, and television interviews. Unless Gan Guoyang transformed into Sun Wukong, it would be impossible for him to participate in so many activities.

In preparation for the playoffs, Gan Guoyang declined most invitations, only attending the opening ceremony of a funeral home—the one that Gan and Knight planned to invest in.

Wang Fuxi asked, "Will participating in such a ceremony have a negative impact on the playoffs, psychologically?"

Gan Guoyang laughed and said, "It's okay. Once the game is over, it should be buried. 81 points is useless in the playoffs. It will only become a tool to whip me when I don't perform well. 'Look, you can still get 81 points in the regular season, but you slump in the playoffs!' So it's best for me to forget about it as soon as possible."

Gan Guoyang received a congratulatory call from Chamberlain, who was currently on vacation in Florida and was very happy to see that Gan Guoyang had scored 81 points.

In the phone call, he told Gan Guoyang, "What you said in the post-game interview was right. Many people thought I was selfish to get 100 points, but actually I thanked my teammates after the game for giving me the opportunity and passing me the ball. This is not an achievement of one person, but an honor for the whole team. Well done, Gan."

Chamberlain's encouragement warmed Gan Guoyang's heart, but at the end of the call, Chamberlain said sourly, "81 is still 19 points behind 100. You get a lot of attention."

Gan Guoyang said, "Without the pioneering and hard work of you predecessors, how could we have the attention we have today? I am just a basketball player who loves basketball and just puts the ball in the basket."

"You've got a knack for talking now~ But you're right, I acknowledge your status as the second-highest scorer in history!"

Gan Guoyang gained Chamberlain's approval, and then he devoted all his time to preparing for the playoffs.

After the final game, the situation in the East and West became completely clear.

With a record of 64 wins and 18 losses, the Los Angeles Lakers secured the top seed in the league and the Western Conference, making them the undisputed number one seed.

The Trail Blazers finished second in the league and second in the Western Conference with a record of 62 wins and 20 losses, but were placed third in the Western Conference due to the divisional rules.

The second seed in the West is the Dallas Mavericks with a 56-26 record, their best regular season performance in franchise history. Dick Motta and Aguirre are finally reaping the rewards. The fourth and fifth seeds in the West are once again the Rockets and Jazz, who will meet again in the first round since the 1985 season, aiming to continue their rivalry.

The rivalry between Hakeem Olajuwon and Malone Stockton in the Western Conference has officially begun.

The Golden State Warriors are ranked sixth in the Western Conference, and they have had a good year.

After changing owners, the Warriors successfully made it to the playoffs. For Gan Guoyang, playing the Warriors in the first round is good news, because Oakland is basically his home court.

The seventh-ranked team is the SuperSonics, who started the season strong but experienced turmoil in the middle of the season, trading away Gerald Henderson and replacing him with Nate McMillan.

They suffered a series of defeats around the time of the All-Star Game, and their performance was very inconsistent. In March, they signed former star player Eddie Johnson to a 10-day contract, followed by a guaranteed contract.

This team was pieced together, and after trading away Jack Hickma, the rebuild was largely complete, but it doesn't seem to have much strength.

However, it is worth noting that many of the games the Supersonics won were against strong teams, while many of the games they lost were against weak teams.

They were able to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers by a huge margin of 24 points, followed by an eight-game losing streak, losing to the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Pacers.

They also lost to the Los Angeles Clippers, who have a record of 12 wins and 70 losses this season, with the SuperSonics handing over their meager 12 wins.

This shows that the SuperSonics are a very emotional and unstable team, but when they get into a good mood, they can beat the strongest opponents.

However, the long and tedious regular season will leave these rookies, who lack cohesion, completely out of form, and cause them to lose to the weakest team.

In short, the SuperSonics, like their star small forward Xavier McDaniel, are an "X" factor.

The Denver Nuggets are ranked eighth. Injuries have made them less competitive this season, and they are likely to face a tough challenge against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Looking at the Western Conference, it's all about the Lakers and Trail Blazers, while the Rockets and Nuggets have fallen by the wayside due to drugs and injuries.

The Mavericks seem to be lacking something, while the Warriors, SuperSonics, and Jazz are just there to make up the numbers, with a significant gap in strength and talent compared to the two powerhouses.

In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics once again took first place, but their record was only 58 wins and 24 losses, less than 60 wins.

The Hawks and Pistons followed closely behind, with the Pistons' strength increasing after acquiring James Donaldson, achieving a historic best record of 55 wins and 27 losses.

The Washington Bullets are fourth with a record of 51 wins and 31 losses, the Milwaukee Bucks are fifth, the Pacers are sixth, the Chicago Bulls are seventh, and the Philadelphia 76ers are eighth.

With the matchups released and teams busily preparing, Stern was pleased with the widespread attention this year's playoffs were receiving when a piece of bad news arrived.

Just two days after Gan Guoyang scored 81 points on April 21, and with three days to go before the playoffs began, the Marley Cooper County Attorney's Office in Arizona suddenly indicted several men on 21 felony counts, including possession and trafficking of drugs such as cocaine.

Three of them are current Suns players James Edwards, Jay Humphries, and Grant Gundrezak, while two are retired Suns players, Field Head and Mike Brats, who may face felony charges.

Six others were identified as having “participated in or been aware of illegal drug trafficking.” They are current or former Suns players, including Suns star Walter Davis, who was named by police and underwent drug withdrawal and rehabilitation in 1985.

The news immediately caused a huge uproar across the United States.

Such a large-scale and widespread drug-related case has brought shame to the entire NBA.

David Stern, who was just basking in the euphoria of the 81-point performance, was immediately thrown into a panic.

Drug cases continued to occur despite repeated crackdowns, one after another, finally erupting in a major outbreak after the regular season ended and before the playoffs began.

Stern felt the stark contrast between ice and fire, and he immediately convened an emergency meeting to discuss countermeasures.

(End of this chapter)