The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 620 Desert Storm
Injuries are like contagious germs; once one falls, another follows.

In the NBA, it's common to see a situation where the healthier you are, the better; but once you get injured, one injury after another follows.

Because injuries can be contagious in a high-intensity league like the NBA.

When a player goes down, especially if he is a key rotation player, it means that the playing time of other key rotation players will increase.

Increased playing time leads to greater physical strain, which in turn increases the risk of injury for even healthy players.

If a second player goes down, the workload for the remaining players will increase further, and the risk of injury will increase even more.

If not managed properly, it will start a vicious cycle: before the previous ones are done, the next ones will fall down, and eventually there will be no one left to use.

To avoid such a situation, and having learned from Bill Walton's experience, coupled with Gan Guoyang's strong intervention in the Trail Blazers' medical system, the Trail Blazers have done a very good job in injury management in recent years.

Starting with the 1984-1985 season, the Trail Blazers have never suffered a major injury crisis in any season, which has provided the most basic guarantee for their victories and consecutive championships.

Of course, luck played a part. Their key players haven't suffered any devastating injuries in recent years; they've only had minor injuries that, with proper treatment and timely rest, have allowed them to recover quickly and return to the game.

In the crucial playoffs, no key players were absent, which ensured the Trail Blazers' stability.

The most stable thing for the Trailblazers is their ballast, the former Eastern bio-engineered man, now the nuclear-powered warship Gan Guoyang.

In the 80s, Gan Guoyang's long playing time gave the team a strong margin for error in the lineup. At that time, Jack Ramsey was also an old-school coach who had coached Chamberlain.

Since you can play, I'll keep letting you play. This gave Gan Guoyang a lot of playing time, boosted the team's record, helped them win many tough games, and gave his teammates a chance to rest.

In the 90s, Bobby Bellman adopted a more modern personnel strategy, elevating rotation, playing time, and game details to a whole new level.

For example, when traveling to away games, Bellman would always bring a small barometer to measure the air pressure of a basketball to determine what kind of game pace was suitable for the ball that night.

Back then, NBA teams still retained some tricks from the 60s and 70s. For example, the Detroit Pistons would remove the cushioning pad at the connection between the rim and the backboard on one side, making the rim harder and the ball bounce further when it hit the rim. Pistons players would develop different rebounding strategies depending on the rim in the first and second halves of the game.

Auerbach used to do this frequently at the Boston Garden in his early years.

Changing the air pressure on the ball has a similar effect.

When the air pressure on the ball is particularly high, the ball bounces very lightly on the floor, which also makes it easier to create a long backboard, which is beneficial for launching fast breaks.

Therefore, when the Lakers play at home, they always inflate the ball to make it easier for Magic Johnson to launch fast breaks.

Some teams that prefer a slower pace of play will deflate the ball slightly, making the rebound softer and slower, thus slowing down the game's tempo.

A meticulous coach like Bellman pays close attention to these small details. Although the Trail Blazers can play at any pace, and these little tricks have a limited impact on the game, Bellman will still carefully measure before the game and then tell the players how to play tonight.

Such a meticulous coach naturally pursues precision and efficiency in player rotation, rather than the arbitrary decisions and on-the-spot improvisation of a traditional coach.

He paid great attention to the precise control of Gan Guoyang's playing time to ensure Gan Guoyang's health. He knew that even nuclear power needs to be fueled and carefully maintained.

In December, Sabonis and Petrovic suffered injuries one after another. In January, while Petrovic was still missing games due to an elbow injury, Reggie Lewis was asked by the team doctor to rest for a week due to a back injury, which would mean missing about three games.

Reggie Lewis has been plagued by a back injury since last season, and after each game he has to put ice packs on his back to cool down his back muscles.

With Petrovic absent, Lewis' playing time increased slightly. His back injury worsened in the game against the Golden State Warriors, and Bellman decided to rest him for three games.

Meanwhile, in the paint, veteran Mitchell Thompson experienced knee soreness. At his age, almost no NBA player has a healthy knee. The coaching staff rested Thompson for another two weeks, as the veteran needs to shine in the playoffs.

With both inside and outside players short-handed, Berman was unwilling to increase Gan Guoyang's playing time, even though doing so would guarantee the team's record.

He boldly gave experience to new players and made full use of the deep bench that Jerry West had built for the Trail Blazers, allowing Cliff Robinson, Mike Sanders, and Antonio Davis to enter the main rotation and play for long periods of time.

Of course, the cost of this was that the Trail Blazers lost two games in the second week of January, just as they were going through a tough five-game road trip.

One of their losses was to the Dallas Mavericks on the road. After the Mavericks traded Sam Bowie for Eddie Johnson, the team completely transformed into an outside shooter team.

Before the game, Bielman checked the air pressure of the ball, and it was fully inflated, indicating that the Mavericks wanted to play a fast-paced offensive game.

Besides Eddie Johnson, the Mavericks' backcourt also includes Blackman, Derek Harper, and Alex English, a "big name" they signed in free agency this summer.

English spent the most glorious period of his career with the Nuggets. Although the Lakers and Trail Blazers prevented him from going further, he has already left a significant mark on history.

After the 1989-1990 season, Doug Mo left his position as head coach of the Nuggets. In the summer, the Nuggets management decided not to re-sign Alex English, who had become a free agent. An era for the Nuggets came to an end, and the team entered a rebuilding period.

English, now a free agent, has no plans to retire. In the 90 season, at the age of 36, he was still able to contribute an average of 17 points per game, believing that he still had fuel left in the tank.

However, signing with the Dallas Mavericks doesn't seem like a wise choice, as the Mavericks are not a championship contender, but rather a team in a rebuilding phase.

English, who is in good form, still played some nice games, such as this one against his old rival, the Portland Trail Blazers.

With the Trail Blazers shorthanded on the perimeter, English, who started the game, made 13 of 22 shots and scored a season-high 28 points.

This is one of the few 20-point performances he has delivered while playing for the Mavericks this season.

Along with Blackman, Eddie Johnson, and Harper, he used precise, unpredictable shooting to defeat the Trail Blazers 111-104 at home, a 7-point advantage.

Besides injuries, another reason the Trail Blazers lost this game was that the referee tonight was Jack O'Donnell.

The relationship between O'Donnell and the Trail Blazers players deteriorated further, with him refusing to communicate or speak to them during the game.

Although his calls were generally fair, they were always unfavorable to the Trail Blazers in crucial moments, which greatly annoyed everyone in the team.

Last year in the Finals, the Trail Blazers suffered a humiliating defeat to the Pistons in a game officiated by O'Donnell, and now the entire league knows that O'Donnell and the Trail Blazers are at odds.

All of this is a "aftereffect" left by Drexler. It was Drexler who clashed with O'Donnell, but O'Donnell harbored resentment towards him and had a very bad relationship with the entire Trail Blazers.

O'Donnell has officiated two of the Trail Blazers' losses this season.

Gan Guoyang was already thinking that if this kid continued to be biased, he would have to send him to a VIP ward to enjoy himself.

Back then, Gan Guoyang gave Baveta a VIP package at Portland Hospital, and afterwards, his officiating at Trail Blazers games became much more normal.

In another loss, the Trail Blazers battled through overtime on the road to defeat the Detroit Pistons.

The Trail Blazers, lacking outside firepower, dug themselves a hole from the start of the game, and their Princeton offense faltered under the Pistons' strong defense.

The Trail Blazers trailed the Pistons by 11 points in the first quarter. Starting in the second quarter, the game turned into a battle of offense in the low post, with Gan Guoyang initiating attacks with the ball a lot, gradually closing the gap.

However, because of Bobby Bellman's control over Gan Guoyang's playing time, the Trail Blazers started to lose points whenever Gan Guoyang went to the bench to rest, and their offensive firepower couldn't keep up.

Even so, Gan Guoyang still led the team to launch a counterattack in the third and fourth quarters, and hit the game-tying shot in the final moments of the fourth quarter, forcing the game into overtime.

At the end of regulation time, Gan Guoyang had scored 48 points, while the entire Trail Blazers team had only scored 91 points, meaning Gan Guoyang's score was more than half of the team's total.

With everyone else struggling, the Pistons decisively double-teamed Gan Guoyang in overtime, working together to shut him down.

Porter and Sanders missed two crucial open three-point attempts, ultimately leading to the Trail Blazers losing the game 97-99 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Gan Guoyang scored 51 points in total. In overtime, he only had two shot attempts and unusually missed one free throw.

This left him somewhat frustrated after the game. In the locker room, he spoke with Bellman, saying frankly, "Coach, I feel I can play longer, and I can definitely step up when others are injured. I should play the entire third and fourth quarters instead of being rested on the bench."

"I know you have amazing stamina. You can play a full 48 minutes. You want to win all season, but that's impossible, Sonny," Berman said. "Sometimes you get tired too. Relax a bit. There's a long road ahead. Save your energy for when you're needed most, like in June." Berman tried to comfort Gan Guoyang. They had worked together for so many years, and he knew Gan Guoyang's competitive spirit and how much he carried as the team's leader and the league's top player.

While losing a game is certainly unbearable, now every time the Trail Blazers lose a game, the news media give it extensive coverage.

In particular, the team still lost the game despite Gan Guoyang scoring 51 points. This kind of loss is exactly what the media likes, and it is very suitable to criticize Gan.

In his early years, Jordan often faced such criticism: he would score high points but lose the game, and experts would say that this would prevent him from achieving success.

Then in 1987, Gan Guoyang proved everyone wrong. With his high scoring ability and strong defense, he easily led the Trail Blazers to the championship.

Now that Gan Guoyang has scored high but lost the game, he has provided ammunition for his critics.

However, regular season losses are quickly forgotten and usually lose their news value before the next game begins.

The real impact comes from losses in the playoffs and even the Finals, especially this year when people are hoping for him to reunite with Jordan.

With this in mind, Gan Guoyang calmed himself down and decided to follow Coach Bellman's strategy and maintain a steady pace throughout the regular season.

Of course, the frustration of two consecutive losses needs to be vented on someone, and that's when the next opponent is going to be in trouble.

After the game against the Pistons, the entire Trail Blazers team flew to their next destination, New Jersey, where they will face the Nets the day after tomorrow.

On the afternoon of January 16, the team finished their tactical practice at the training facility, boarded the bus, and prepared to head to Brenda Barry Arena in East Rutherford.

On the bus, the driver turned on the radio and played "You're in Love," a hit song released in January of this year by the female trio Wilson-Philippe.

The song has a beautiful melody, and the lyrics mainly tell about the love between men and women, the betrayal of love, the pain of loss, and so on.

In the 90s, American pop songs broke free from the influence of rock and roll in the 60s and 70s and began to produce more and more sweet love songs.

Because this piece is performed by a trio, the harmonies are very beautiful, and it was later covered by Hong Kong singers.

This trend of sweet love songs in the United States will soon influence the Japanese music scene, followed by Hong Kong and Taiwan, and then spread to mainland China.

Teenagers in the 90s and 00s grew up under the influence of these kinds of sweet love songs, which ultimately originated from the pop music style brought by Americans.

The radio was playing soft, languid music. Some players were chatting, some were playing cards, while Gan Guoyang sat in his seat with his eyes closed, meditating and engaging in "visual" training.

His free throw percentage has declined in recent games, dropping below 90%. If the training volume remains unchanged, we need to start with visualization.

At that moment, the song on the radio ended, and the host broadcast the latest news: the United States had begun bombing Iraq, and the Gulf War had officially begun.

When the players arrived at the stadium's locker room, the game footage that was supposed to be played was replaced, and everyone gathered around the television to watch news reports about the war.

Last summer, while Michael Jordan was touring Europe, the U.S. military was already massing in the Persian Gulf region, casting a shadow of war over the country.

After nearly six months of tug-of-war, Iraq has consistently refused to withdraw from Kuwait, unwilling to relinquish the prize it has already gained.

Finally, the U.S. military, having completed its assembly and preparations, launched Operation Desert Storm, a large-scale air campaign against Iraq.

Different players on the Trail Blazers had different reactions to the outbreak of war. The American players were quite excited and believed it was a just war.

Foreign players like Gan Guoyang and Sabonis didn't show much emotion, since they weren't playing against their own country. If the Soviet Union or China were fighting the United States, that would be a real problem.

There are no Muslims on the Trail Blazers team, so there were no conflicts or disagreements among the players regarding this game, and the overall situation was relatively calm.

That evening, the Trail Blazers played the New Jersey Nets on the road, and Gan Guoyang was matched up against this year's number one draft pick, the talented forward Derrick Coleman.

Coleman graduated from Syracuse University. Standing at 6'10", he is an excellent low-post scorer. Before the draft, he was inevitably compared to Forrest Gump.

He is left-handed, possesses outstanding physical attributes, brilliant offensive skills, and is the same height as Forrest Gump. He is seen as the future hope of the Nets.

However, before the match began, when the two stood on the court for comparison, anyone could see that Gan Guoyang's sculpted physique was much stronger and larger than Coleman's.

The two players' experience is on completely different levels. Coleman is more like a college student. He is very talented, but he does a poor job in the details of the game and plays very roughly.

Facing Gan Guoyang's top-tier, tough defense, he was almost helpless, and from the first quarter onwards, Gan Guoyang tormented the number one draft pick with points and words, much like the US bombing Iraq—any number one draft pick has to endure torment from all sides during their rookie season.

If you can get through that and gain the recognition of the veteran players, then you've established yourself.

Otherwise, you will receive less and less respect, and that is the weight that the top draft pick has to bear.

When Gan Guoyang was posting up Coleman, he would tell him how to play before taking the shot.

"I'm going to use the hook hand later."

"Turn and shoot, get ready."

"I'm going to crush them all the way in from the bottom."

"Remember to contest my jump shot when I'm in the box."

Even so, Coleman was still unable to stop Gan Guoyang in the slightest.

The Nets' defense is disorganized, and their head coach is veteran Bill Fitch.

It's not that Fitch doesn't know how to coach defense, but that he requires Coleman to defend one-on-one and doesn't allow teammates to assist.

In the first quarter, Gan Guoyang made 5 of 6 shots over Coleman, easily scoring 11 points and drawing two fouls from Coleman.

During the break, Fitch sarcastically remarked to Coleman, "If Iraq's defenses were as strong as yours, we would have won this war."

Coleman sat on the bench, not even glancing at the renowned veteran coach, and threw his sweat towel on the ground to express his dissatisfaction—the conflict between the senior coach and the young, talented player has always been a recurring theme in this league.

In the second and third quarters, as Gan Guoyang continued to use various techniques to dominate Coleman one-on-one with an astonishingly high shooting percentage and completely shut down the number one draft pick on the defensive end, Coleman finally couldn't hold back and yelled at Fitch during a timeout: "Why are you always making me guard him one-on-one! I'm no match for him at all, he's number one, number one!"

Feige retorted, "You're the first one too, the first one drafted in 1990, why can't you guard him? Are you missing an arm or a leg? Your job is to guard Forrest Gump!"

"I'm still very young, and I'm no match for him."

"So you're planning to surrender? Oh, if Saddam had your resolve, this war wouldn't have started."

Whether with the Celtics, the Rockets, or the New Jersey Nets, Fitch remains as sharp-tongued as ever, enjoying mocking the young players he deems not working hard enough, especially the big men, in an attempt to ignite their fighting spirit.

From Kevin McHale to Ralph Sampson, and now Coleman.

But young players are increasingly averse to criticism, especially sarcastic remarks from figures like Fitch.

This had already sown the seeds of their troubled relationship.

Throughout the game, Coleman received no help from his teammates, and Gan Guoyang easily scored 43 points against him.

Moreover, his shooting percentage was exceptionally high. In 31 minutes of play, he made 19 of 22 shots, as accurate as an American bomb—the Americans are fighting a high-tech war that no one has ever seen before.

Meanwhile, Forrest Gump unleashed his own desert storm in New Jersey, leading the Trail Blazers to an easy victory over the Nets and ending their two-game losing streak.

(End of this chapter)