The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 471 Born for the Big Scene
In fact, Jordan's ping-pong skills were not even those of an amateur.

Over the years, his game with Banks became increasingly awful, with both players being terrible at the game.

But you can't blame Jordan for this. Table tennis is a sport that's easy to pick up. If you have some athletic talent, you can learn to play quite well by yourself.

But when you play against someone who has actually practiced, you'll realize that you can't even return a serve.

Not to mention that Gan Guoyang, that old schemer, is a strange player who uses long pips rubber. Jordan probably doesn't even know the characteristics of different rubbers, let alone compete against a strange player using long pips rubber.

Jordan learned his lesson from being tricked into participating in the Three-Point Contest by Gan Guoyang last time, but instead of learning from his mistake, he tried to get revenge with ping-pong balls. It's like carrying a lantern to the toilet – he's asking for trouble.

Seeing that Jordan couldn't even return a single serve, Gan Guoyang played three balls and then let Jordan serve.

Jordan served with a stiff upper lip. Gan Guoyang could tell from his posture that he was just a hobbyist who had never received any professional training. If he played seriously, each ball would not exceed three rallies.

Gan Guoyang went easy on Jordan, pretending to play a few rounds with him, but without adding any spin to the ball. He even let Jordan win some of the shots, deliberately giving away points.

Jordan knew perfectly well that Forrest Gump was a professional, and if he exerted even a little force, he wouldn't be able to catch a single ball.

Now that he's keeping me company, he's doing me a favor.

The two sides played more than a dozen shots, with Gan Guoyang consistently leading Jordan by one point.

Those who don't understand table tennis might think the two are evenly matched, but those who know a little about it know that it's a complete rout.

I'm confident I can crush Gan Guoyang. I'll say I'll beat you by one point, and I'll beat you by one point, no more, no less. I'm just playing around.

After playing more than ten balls, Jordan knew he couldn't win, so he simply threw down his racket and stopped playing, then went up to shake hands with Gan Guoyang.

"You played well, Michael," Gan Guoyang even praised Jordan.

Jordan gave him a helpless look and said, "Thanks, Sonny. Why don't you go play ping pong?"

"My table tennis skills are mediocre at all in China; basketball is more suitable for me."

Jordan sighed deeply and from that moment on, he gave up his love of table tennis.

There's no such thing as secretly practicing at home; the gap is simply too large.

Find a professional coach to train with, and maybe you can reach Forrest Gump's level.

But Jordan knew that the most important battleground between the two was basketball.

Ping-pong and playing cards are just small gambles in life.

With Jordan's improved skills and the Bulls' further growth this season, his confidence grew stronger and stronger.

In the east, the Celts are inevitably declining.

The Pistons are on the rise, and the Bulls, Bullets, and Cavaliers are becoming new disruptors in the East.

During lunch together, Jordan secretly asked Gan Guoyang, "Sonny, where did you buy that racket?"

"I heard I was going to have a table tennis match with you, so I specially went to Evanston to buy this long-pimple racket."

Evanston is a satellite city of Chicago, an affluent area, where sporting goods stores offer a wide variety of products.

Yesterday, Hani drove with Gan Guoyang to buy a racket, just to counter Jordan, but it turned out to be a waste of talent, like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

"Long pips? What are long pips?"

Gan Guoyang sighed, thinking to himself, "You don't even know what long pips are. I went all the way here to buy a racket and rubbers to deal with you."

If I had known, I would have brought a wooden paddle, or even just a bus pass and played against you; maybe I could have won.

Gan Guoyang patiently explained to Jordan the different playing styles of different rubbers, as well as the techniques to use when dealing with different spins.

Jordan shook his head repeatedly upon hearing this, realizing that playing ping-pong was so complicated, which further solidified his determination to give up ping-pong.

Basketball is still easier for him.

Due to the introduction of the illegal offensive rule, Jordan's average points per game dropped to 35 this year.

Jordan further improved his shooting, making his release smoother and less hesitant than before. This "ping-pong battle" brought 1987 to a close.

Jordan invited Gan Guoyang to a New Year's Eve party at the Grand Chicago Hotel, but Gan declined. He returned to his hotel, called his wife and father, and then had a small New Year's Eve party with his teammates at the hotel.

Everyone made an exception and drank some alcohol. Hani hired a jazz band to play songs for the players, and everyone was happy until the early hours of the morning before going back to their rooms to rest.

The rest and relaxation allowed the Trail Blazers players to recover from the previous back-to-back away games and enter the first game of 1988 in better condition.

On January 1, 1988, it snowed in Chicago.

Before the match officially began, the media started making a fuss.

In particular, local media in Chicago, including numerous newspapers and radio stations, published previews of the game.

Many of them believe that this year will be the year Chicago begins to surpass Portland.

Gan Guoyang's average score dropped from 38 points to 31 points, which was due to his previous advantage of the rules.

If the league doesn't allow players to completely open up the floor, Gan Guoyang's effectiveness as a center will be greatly reduced.

Jordan's scoring dropped by just over two points, while his other stats all increased. The Bulls were very dominant in the regular season, while the Trail Blazers gradually began to decline.

"The situation will begin to reverse this year." — Chicago Tribune

"Just like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird before them, this year it's Michael's turn." — Chicago Star

"A three-peat will be incredibly difficult for the Trail Blazers and Forrest Gump; Portland is sinking deeper into the mire, while Michael and the Bulls are taking off." — Chicago Today

The essence of media is to cater to the emotions of the audience, especially newspapers and news. Once the day is over and the reader's emotional trigger has passed, you are just a piece of waste paper.

Therefore, media outlets of all sizes don't need to worry about being proven wrong after the game; they just need to focus on stirring up the emotions of Chicago fans right now.

Moreover, Jordan was indeed very strong and rarely disappointed Chicago fans.

Gan Guoyang, who enjoys reading newspapers, naturally saw these comments. He smiled dismissively, threw them in the trash, and thought to himself that no matter the era, those who write tabloids are always loose-lipped.

Before the game, the American national anthem is played in the Chicago stadium. Whenever this happens, Gan Guoyang stares wide-eyed at the ceiling, observing the details of each stadium's ceiling.

Like the Boston Garden, this arena is used for both ice hockey and basketball.

Besides the Bulls playing here, the NHL's Blackhawks also use this venue as their home stadium.

Before 1987, the Blackhawks had won the NHL championship trophy three times, and the championship banners for their three victories hung above the Chicago Arena.

It's fair to say that the Chicago Bulls are the least accomplished and least established professional team in Chicago.

But because of Michael Jordan, the Chicago arena was packed every night.

With Gan Guoyang's visit tonight, the scene was even more chaotic.

After the national anthem ended, the cheers of the fans, mixed with the "noise" of the on-site organ, were a real challenge to one's eardrums.

To create a good atmosphere for competition, this old stadium, built in the 20s, is equipped with a 3663-pipe Patton organ, which provides music when needed.

In its early years, this enormous organ was operated by the renowned organist Al Melgard, who provided live sound recordings for numerous Blackhawks and Bulls games.

This DJ from his early days would use music to express the emotions of the home crowd; for example, when he felt the referee was unfair, he would play the song "Three Blind Mice".

He attempted to calm the crowd with religious music during a large-scale riot and fight among fans.

When that didn't work, he unleashed 800 notes, stepped on the volume pedal, pressed all the keys, and used the sound waves to shatter the stadium's headlights and wake up the fans who were engrossed in the fight. Everyone ended the battle and left the stadium.

Because of the enormous sound of the organ, mixed with the noise of more than 20,000 fans in the stadium, the Chicago Arena was also known as "Madison's Madhouse".

Gan Guoyang likes it here, he likes playing in this extremely noisy and bustling away game.

Instead of feeling annoyed, he felt excited and had an urge to make a name for himself here.

He was born for big occasions.

(End of this chapter)