The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 528 The New Season Begins
As the summer heat subsided, 1989 entered its fourth quarter, marking the end of the 1980s.

The shadow of the Cold War continued to loom over the world for the next decade, with the confrontation between the two camps being the main theme of world politics. However, in the late 1980s, the Iron Curtain began to loosen and the ice began to break.

While major powers maintained peace, stability, and development, wars broke out continuously in small and medium-sized countries, with the shadows of the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, looming behind them.

Economically, conservatism and free market economics dominated, the fruits of the Third Technological Revolution were concentrated, and society began to enter the electronic information age.

In popular culture, television has become the most important medium in social life. Popular music, game consoles, personal computers, live sports, movies and TV shows, variety shows, people's lives have become as colorful and diverse as their clothing.

With the development of media technology, many movies, television shows, movie stars, singers, and sports stars have begun to have global influence.

American popular culture, in particular, has gained a large following around the world thanks to its powerful reach and diverse expressiveness.

Amidst the political antagonism, economic incompatibility, and military tensions between the two major camps, the innate human yearning for music, sports, and stories becomes a bridge connecting ordinary people.

Riding the wave of the economic recovery, media technology boom, and strong American cultural influence of the 80s, coupled with the emergence of a large number of outstanding players, the NBA gradually rose from the bottom of the four major North American professional leagues and began to challenge MLB and NFL.

Compared to American football, baseball, and ice hockey, the NBA has a unique advantage: basketball is much more popular than these three sports.

American football is only popular in the United States, baseball is only played in a few countries such as the United States and Japan, and ice hockey is even more limited to countries where winter sports are popular.

Basketball has a large following in Europe, Africa, and Asia, and its global popularity is second only to football. However, Americans don't particularly like playing football, so basketball has the strongest global reach among the four major leagues.

Even before David Stern took office, the NBA had already begun to focus on developing and cultivating overseas markets.

The Celtics in the 60s, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Julius Erving in the 70s, all conducted promotional activities in Europe, China and other places.

After David Stern took office in the 80s, he made globalization one of the core strategies for the development of the NBA, focusing on developing the European, Asian and African markets and discovering talented players in these regions.

Larry Fleischer made significant contributions to the globalization of the NBA before his death, and his two sons now have extensive player connections in Europe.

The most direct way for the NBA to increase its influence is to send teams overseas to play against local teams, allowing local fans to experience the strength of American teams.

If you play worse than the local teams, then naturally no one will want to watch your matches. It's like when the US sends a table tennis team to China; they're not there for publicity, they're there to learn from their experience.

In 1978, the NBA champion Washington Bullets took on this task, and their first overseas stop was Tel Aviv, Israel, where they defeated Maccabi by one point.

In 1979, the Bullet team went to China's capital and Shanghai, as well as Quezon City in the Philippines, to play exhibition matches with the national team.

In 1982, Dr. J. Irving and the Philadelphia 76ers visited China and played against the national team.

In 1984, David Stern took office, and the scale of overseas competitions became larger. The Nets, Suns, and SuperSonics played a series of exhibition games with local clubs in Germany, Switzerland, Israel, Italy, and other places.

In 1985, the Trail Blazers, Celtics, Bulls, and Lakers traveled to several cities in China for exhibition games, creating an unprecedented spectacle.

For two consecutive years, the NBA has relied on these exhibition tours to open up and consolidate its two largest overseas markets outside of North America, something that the NFL and MLB have found difficult to achieve.

In 1987, McDonald's partnered with the NBA to launch the McDonald's Championship.

Although the first event was held in Milwaukee, the 1988 event was moved to Europe.

This is no longer a simple summer exhibition match, but a more formal tournament, played as a preseason game.

The Boston Celtics defeated the Yugoslavian national team and Real Madrid in Madrid to win the championship.

In 1989, the competition continued, this time in Rome, Italy, and the American team was the Portland Trail Blazers.

(Commemorative badges from the two competitions)

The Trail Blazers arrived in Rome, Italy on October 18, ahead of schedule, after a three-day team practice in Portland.

This McDonald's tournament trip is part of their preseason training camp.

The tournament will last for three days, with four teams competing in two rounds. In addition to the Trail Blazers, there are also Olimpia Milano, the champion of the 89 Italian Basketball League, Barcelona, ​​the champion of the 89 Spanish League, and KK Split, the champion of the 89 European Basketball Championship and the king of European clubs, from Yugoslavia.

The games will begin on October 20th at the Palalotto Mattica Stadium in Rome, with the first match being the Portland Trail Blazers against Barcelona.

The stadium was packed on the day of the match; the tournament was incredibly attractive to Italian fans.

Barcelona, ​​AC Milan, and Split are all top European teams. Split has been the dominant force in Europe for the past two years, while AC Milan won the Champions League twice in 87 and 88. Barcelona is also a strong contender for the Champions League title. In the next two years, they will compete with Split for supremacy.

It can be said that the three strongest European basketball clubs in recent years are all present.

The NBA didn't originally plan to send a very strong team; they thought that sending a team like the Nuggets would be enough to defeat the top European teams.

However, considering popularity and publicity, Stern changed his mind at the last minute and sent the international Portland Trail Blazers to Europe to defeat the European teams.

On the Trail Blazers' side, Sabonis, Petrovic, and Divac were all basketball superstars who were very popular in Europe in the mid-to-late 80s.

Equivalent to Croatian Jordan, Serbian Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Soviet Chamberlain, plus Forrest Gump, who was already incredibly popular in Europe, even the top European teams couldn't compete. After the Trail Blazers arrived in Rome, the city quickly became their home court.

The Trail Blazers team was training at the stadium on the 19th, and the locker room corridor was packed with reporters.

The players were warming up and shooting on the court, while cameras and microphones were snapping away non-stop, making it hard to see clearly.

As he left the stadium to return to his hotel, fans waiting in the parking lot swarmed around him asking for autographs. Gan Guoyang was already used to this, and he would try his best to satisfy the fans' wishes and give them autographs.

With Gan Guoyang around, Petrovic, Sabonis, and others seemed much less glamorous. Sitting on the bus, they watched Gan Guoyang patiently and smilingly signing autographs and taking photos with every fan who came up to them, and couldn't help but sigh that being a superstar is not easy.

During their time with Gan Guoyang, the newcomers of the Trail Blazers saw different sides of him from their own perspectives.

Petrovich saw diligence, and he thought he was already diligent enough, but he was still a bit lacking compared to Gan Guoyang.

What Sabonis saw was courage and determination. Sabonis's parents were ordinary people; his father was a famous tailor, and his mother was a housewife—a typical happy family, just like the one Jerry West described in his autobiography, "as Norman Rockwell depicted." Sabonis's tall and strong stature was due to a genetic mutation.

This gave Sabonis many of the weaknesses of an ordinary person in his character. Having served the Soviet Union for a long time, his pursuit of victory stemmed more from his love for collective honor and less from his inner wildness and desire.

Gan Guoyang's success and his absolute authority within the Trail Blazers team greatly impressed Sabonis.

Divac saw open-mindedness and optimism in Gan Guoyang. On the court, Gan Guoyang was extremely strict, but off the court, he was gentle and friendly, helping his teammates solve various problems, treating them to meals and going out to play, and having a good relationship with everyone.

Cliff Robinson saw the power of a star player, and Gan Guoyang's influence on the Trail Blazers and throughout Portland was beyond imagination.

When they went out for a late-night snack together, some shops that were clearly closed reopened when they saw Ah Gan, and they didn't charge him.

In the locker room and on the field, Forrest Gump could do whatever he wanted, and no one would object.

Strength brings power, and power brings freedom. Cliff Robinson felt he had figured it out.

Anthony Mason saw muscles; Forrest Gump's impressive physique was truly enviable, no wonder his strength was so amazing.

On the 20th, the first day of competition, the Trail Blazers' opponent was Barcelona.

When Petrovic played in Spain, his biggest rival was Barcelona, ​​and he knew the team very well.

The Trail Blazers easily defeated their opponents with a huge advantage of 137-105, winning the game by 32 points.

Gan Guoyang only played for 20 minutes, barely broke a sweat, and easily scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.

At that time, there was still a significant gap between European and American basketball.

There is a generational gap in physical fitness, technical skills, and especially individual player abilities.

From the perspective of NBA players, these European players are no different from college players.

In reality, European players are all professional players, and they all receive salaries to play in professional leagues.

Therefore, it is very unfair that NBA players are not allowed to participate in the Olympics, since not only the NBA but also European leagues are professional leagues.

These adult professional players in Europe can participate in the Olympics, but the United States can only allow college students to participate. Therefore, it is imperative to allow NBA players to participate in the Olympics.

After defeating Barcelona, ​​the Trail Blazers easily advanced to the finals, where they will face Split of Yugoslavia.

Split's team includes Petrovic and Divac, teammates and good friends on the Yugoslav national team, as well as Toni Kukoc.

And Dino Raja, the center who was snatched up by the Los Angeles Lakers in this year's draft.

Raja wasn't as lucky as Petrovic; he, like his former club, had contract disputes.

However, the Los Angeles Lakers were not as well-prepared as the Trail Blazers, nor did they have the Larry Fleischer family to do any preparation.

Ultimately, the court ruled that Raja must continue to play for his original team and cannot play for the Los Angeles Lakers.

This resulted in the Lakers wasting a first-round pick in the 1989 NBA draft, and Raja didn't know when he would be able to play in the NBA.

Now Don Nelson has a slight regret. He should have known better than to get angry with the Trail Blazers and trade Edwards for Divac.

Later, when Nelson wanted to be traded, the Trail Blazers, for the sake of team unity and stability, refused to make the trade.

After all, the team has plenty of interior players and doesn't necessarily need James Edwards.

During the pre-match warm-up, Kukoc, Raja, Divac, and Petrovic gathered together to chat and ask each other about their experiences playing in the United States.

Kukoc patted Petrovic on the shoulder and said he seemed to have gotten stronger, while Divac seemed to have lost weight.

Petrovich said, "Tony, from today onwards, the gap between us will only widen."

Kukoc couldn't help but laugh and said, "Look at how arrogant you are. You haven't even played an official game in the NBA yet. How big do you think the gap between us is?"

Petrovich said, "We're missing a Divac."

Divac: "..." The match officially started that evening. Hornacek would miss the match due to muscle tension, and Petrovic got the starting opportunity.

Petrovic wore the Trail Blazers' number 44 jersey and made his first start in a preseason game.

The KK Splitter team truly lived up to its reputation as the 1989 European champions, boasting two NBA-caliber players, Raja and Kukoc.

They engaged in a fierce battle with the Trail Blazers, with the score fluctuating back and forth. Both sides scored many goals, making for a very intense and exciting game.

The Trail Blazers gave Petrovic a lot of room to perform. Facing a familiar European team and Kukoc, he unleashed tremendous power, eager to showcase his superb and diverse offensive skills in the game.

He did it. His shooting, his diverse drives after getting the ball, his floaters, his mid-range shots—he dominated the game and won cheers from the fans time and time again.

The two teams battled until the final 8 minutes, with the score tied at 109-106, the Trail Blazers leading by only 3 points.

Berman called a short timeout and then said to Gan Guoyang, "Let's end the game early."

Gan Guoyang said, "Aren't we going to wait a little longer? Five more minutes."

"Eight minutes, just to be on the safe side."

Berman was under pressure, afraid of going too far and losing the match and embarrassing himself.

Gan Guoyang nodded. He had been playing casually and taking it easy during the match.

After the timeout ended and the game resumed, Gan Guoyang instructed everyone to increase their defensive intensity.

"Regular season," Gan Guoyang said, indicating the required intensity of the regular season.

Splitter, who had been playing with great flair, suddenly seems to have forgotten how to play.

The Trail Blazers destroyed their offense with intense one-on-one defense.

Gan Guoyang attacked outwards from the three-second zone, making consecutive steals and succeeding.

He initiated a fast break from the backcourt with the ball, dunking twice and drawing a foul on a layup.

At the same time, he assisted Terry Porter to hit a three-pointer, and a 9-0 offensive surge forced Splitter to call a timeout.

In this high-intensity offense and defense, even Petrovic struggled to keep up; it was too fast and the intensity was too high.

Petrovic even became a weak point in the defense. After Toni Kukoc called a timeout, he tried to take on Petrovic one-on-one, but Gan Guoyang, who came over to help defend, stole the ball again.

Kukoc realized that the NBA's top center was too fast. He silently came over to double-team and accurately stole the ball from his hands.

Another counterattack. Gan Guoyang didn't accelerate, but slowly dribbled the ball across half-court, and then casually took a three-pointer from the top of the arc.

hit.

Splitter's half-court attack missed, and Sabonis grabbed the rebound.

Gan Guoyang received a pass from Sabonis at the top of the arc and launched a three-pointer.

Hit again.

Gan Guoyang blocked the opponent's layup in the paint and launched a leisurely counterattack.

He dodged the defense at a 45-degree angle, took a three-pointer, and it went in!
Gan Guoyang hit three consecutive three-pointers, another 9-0 run, effortlessly.

FIBA's three-point line is just too short; that distance is exactly where he has a high shooting percentage in the NBA mid-range game.

His steel-like body and machine-like execution of shooting commands left his opponents utterly powerless to stop him.

The initial 3-point gap quickly widened to 21 points, demonstrating the significant difference in strength between the two sides.

The previous matches were evenly matched and looked spectacular, but it was basically the Trail Blazers throwing the game and playing along.

Ultimately, the Trail Blazers easily defeated Split 136-110, a 26-point advantage, to win the McDonald's Championship.

After finishing their preseason games in Europe, the Trail Blazers' number 23 flew back to Portland to play the remaining two preseason games before the 1989-1990 regular season began.

This year's Trail Blazers preseason training camp is longer than usual because the team has more new players, and Bobby Bellman has to conduct a lot of tactical training and experimentation with player combinations.

Berman is under a lot of pressure; being a head coach is a completely different experience from being an assistant coach.

He knew perfectly well that although the preseason training camp in October and the finals in June next year were almost eight months apart, a solid and well-prepared training camp would determine whether you could persevere until June next year and whether you could go all the way in the June games.

Therefore, Sabonis and others quickly realized that their head coach, Bobby Berman, was by no means gentle, and had nothing to do with gentleness at all.

Basically, by the second hour of training, the entire arena would start to be filled with the atmosphere of "Full Metal Jacket".

Bobby Berman's firepower has increased dramatically since becoming head coach, living up to his nickname "the best of human profanity."

During the preseason training camp, Divac's English swearing improved more than his basketball skills.

Even Gan Guoyang couldn't escape the barrage of fire. When he made mistakes in tactical training, he would still be scolded, "You're not even as good as you were in high school. At least back then you had some room for improvement!"

Berman pushed his players to their limits with rigorous training, and he had no intention of becoming a player-coach who was loved by his players.

He knew that with Forrest Gump there, locker room issues could be left to him; as a coach, his job was to push the players to achieve victory.

His appropriate role as the villain actually helps to further establish Gan Guoyang's authority in the locker room and make the team more united.

Forrest Gump is a mature leader. He doesn't need a mentor to guide him on how to use power. In this respect, Forrest Gump is different from Jordan, Bellman and Jackson, and the Trail Blazers and Bulls.

After a hellish preseason training camp, returning from Europe, Berman threw away his whip and loosened the reins for everyone.

Two days before the start of the regular season, Bobby Bellman gave everyone a day off, taking them hiking and camping by the lake on the edge of the Oregon forest. Everyone could bring their wives, girlfriends, or even children to relax.

Gan Guoyang's child is too young to stay at home, so he lifted Dale Curry's one-and-a-half-year-old son, Stephen Curry, high in the air, just like Simba was lifted up in The Lion King. Stephen wasn't scared at all and was happily laughing.

Thompson's wife is pregnant with their second child, due in February next year. Thompson said that if it's a boy, they will name him Clay.

Sabonis called his wife and said he thought he might be able to stay with the Trail Blazers and that he wanted to buy a house in Lake Oswigo.

After a few days of relaxation and adjustment, the players' physical and mental state has recovered to a very good level.

In November, on November 3rd, the Trail Blazers will host the Sacramento Kings in the opening game.

As always, tickets for the Memorial Arena sold out, and everyone is very excited about the Trail Blazers' upcoming season.

The whole team is under a lot of pressure, as players like Petrovic and Sabonis may make their NBA debut in the first game.

In the first game, Bobby Bellman was not going to start the three Eastern European brothers. He used the same starting lineup as last season: Gan Guoyang, Thompson, Kexi, Porter and Hornacek.

Judging from the starting lineup alone, the Trail Blazers have not improved compared to last season, and have even regressed slightly.

Because Mitchell Thompson is another year older, he is now 35 years old and entering the late stages of his career. He will retire after playing for at most two more seasons.

Currently, the only players who have been with Gan Guoyang since the 84-85 season are Thompson and Korsey.

However, Thompson maintained a decent level of performance. With the arrival of his child and the stability of his family life, he became even more focused than in the 1988 season.

Meanwhile, Porter, Hornacek, and Korsey are all entering their prime. These three low-draft picks, despite not showing much talent, have reached great heights through perseverance, hard work, and the support of their teams.

However, there are still concerns that their talent limits their potential, preventing them from reaching Drexler's level and thus from filling the gap left by the departure of the glider.

Gan Guoyang is the most reliable person, but also the easiest to overlook.

Superstars like these are generally considered by ordinary fans to maintain a certain level of performance during their peak.

In fact, they may undergo significant changes every season, and their tactical focus will be constantly adjusted.

Before the season actually started, nobody knew what kind of performance they would deliver, not even the head coach.

As the game approached, the atmosphere in the Trail Blazers' locker room became slightly tense, and everyone was quiet.

Bellman kept his head down, taking notes on his tactical cards.

Jerry West and Rick Adelman are talking about something.

Hornacek and Curry are tying their shoelaces.

Kossie and Porter were listening to music, while Sabonis and Divac were chatting quietly.

Petrovich was holding a pen and paper, writing something.

Just then, the door was kicked open with a bang, and Gan Guoyang strode in from the outside.

He had just finished an interview and was being harassed by reporters, which made him a little annoyed.

Actually, I'm not annoyed, but excited, because the new season is about to begin.

As soon as Gan Guoyang entered, the air seemed to circulate more and immediately became more active.

Gan Guoyang glanced around the locker room and said, "Today is the first game of the new season, and the team has a lot of new players. Tonight I'll score 50 points, blow out the game in the first three quarters, and then give everyone a chance to shine in the fourth quarter. Everyone be prepared! Get your spirits up, take a good look in the mirror, there will be close-ups on the TV broadcast!"

Everyone laughed, and the locker room was filled with a joyful atmosphere again; the new season was really about to begin.

(End of this chapter)