The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 629 Patriotism
Time flies, and it's already mid-February. The All-Star Game is just around the corner, giving the players a chance to rest and relax.

After a rollercoaster ride in December and January, the Portland Trail Blazers embarked on a winning streak in early February.

They defeated a number of strong teams, including the SuperSonics, Jazz, Lakers, and Heat, demonstrating the team's formidable strength.

In these games, the Trail Blazers won solidly, not by a large margin, but they didn't give their opponents any chance, dominating from start to finish.

In the two games against the Suns and the Lakers, Gan Guoyang's performance was mediocre, while Sabonis, Petrovic and Reggie Lewis played exceptionally well.

They displayed near-All-Star level abilities on both offense and defense, with Sabonis scoring a season-high 28 points against the Jazz.

Petrovic scored a season-high 31 points against the Heat, showcasing his formidable scoring ability.

Reggie Lewis's highlight was his ability to severely limit Magic Johnson against the Lakers, who underperformed, scoring only 16 points and dishing out 9 assists.

As the season progresses, injury problems are gradually being resolved, tactical cohesion is improving, the locker room is calm, and the team is gradually accelerating at its usual pace.

Before the All-Star break, the Trail Blazers had a record of 38 wins and 10 losses, firmly holding the top spot in the league and the Western Conference.

The Lakers are ranked second in the Western Conference with a record of 35 wins and 11 losses, followed by the Suns, Spurs, and Jazz, making the competition for the rankings very fierce.

In the East, the Chicago Bulls follow closely behind with a record of 35 wins and 12 losses, ranking first in the East.

The Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons are behind the Chicago Bulls, with the three teams having very similar records, differing by only one win.

It's clear that while the overall talent pool in the league has been diluted, leading to weaker teams at the bottom, the competition among the top teams remains fierce.

After entering the 90s, super teams with star-studded rosters like the Lakers, Celtics, and 76ers of the 80s disappeared.

The salary cap system, draft rules, and the new lottery system all contribute to making it increasingly difficult for star players to come together.

Although the Trail Blazers have a strong roster and are very powerful, their advantage lies in their extremely strong core players, while the other players are of average ability and have good compatibility.

In terms of star power, the Trail Blazers don't really have a lot of star players. This year, apart from Gan Guoyang, only Sabonis was selected as an All-Star.

This season, Sabonis' average points per game have increased to 15.8, along with 8.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists, making him the team's second core player in terms of tactics.

He's only known as the second core player, but in reality, his stats are comparable to Petrovic, Porter, and Reggie Lewis, and he's even less experienced than Porter.

Sabonis's selection to the All-Star team was mainly due to Hakeem Olajuwon's injury.

In January, Hakeem Olajuwon suffered an eye injury from an elbow strike by Bill Cartwright during a game against the Chicago Bulls.

The injury was quite serious. After the game, doctors diagnosed that Hakeem Olajuwon needed two months of rest and would definitely miss the All-Star Game.

Although the video suggests that Cartwright's elbowing was unintentional, the Houston Rockets are still furious because this is not the first time Cartwright has committed such an elbowing incident.

He had previously been fined by the league for elbowing Greg Kate and Fred Roberts in the face, and then suspended for elbowing Robert Parish and Isaiah Thomas.

Thomas was furious after being elbowed by Cartwright because his face was already injured and vulnerable from being elbowed by Forrest Gump. If he were elbowed again, it would only worsen his injury, and he would never be able to smile again, as it would hurt.

So Thomas rushed up to chase after Bill Cartwright, but was stopped by the team's assistant coach, Brendan Malone.

In a fit of rage, Thomas grabbed Brendan Malone by the neck, a moment that later became one of the pieces of evidence used to smear Thomas.

But in reality, Bill Cartwright was the real culprit; his elbows caused harm to many players.

His honest-looking face, somewhat strange shooting motion, and slow pace make it difficult for fans to think of him as a "villain".

According to statistics, 8 out of 10 centers who matched up against Bill Cartwright had their worst performances of the season.

One reason was that they were wary of Cartwright's unpredictable iron elbows, not knowing when they might get hit.

In this respect, Cartwright was not much better than Lambiel.

Before Hakeem Olajuwon was knocked down, Cartwright elbowed Greg Kate again in a game against the Orlando Magic in December and made Jack Sikma bleed from the nose in a game against the Bucks.

When Hakeem Olajuwon's eye injury sparked outrage (because Olajuwon's influence was so great that minor players getting hit usually didn't cause a stir), Bucks head coach Del Harris edited a series of elbowing attacks by Bill Cartwright into a videotape and sent it to his former colleague, Rockets general manager Steve Patterson.

Patterson, who obtained the videotape, sent it to league president Rod Thorne, demanding that the league punish Cartwright and suspend him.

Subsequently, Hickma, Kate, and others called Thorne to complain that Cartwright wasn't playing at all and that his elbows were awful.

"Let him elbow Forrest Gump if he dares. Look at my nose, I'd rather fight Forrest Gump. At least as long as you don't mess with him, he plays cleanly."

Milwaukee Bucks center Jack Hickma said in a media interview that the pressure is on the league's operations office.

Since the game was over, and elbowing incidents are common in the league, it would be difficult for Thorne to issue a penalty to Cartwright.

He could only call the Bulls and ask Cartwright to wear a soft elbow brace during the game so that his elbow wouldn't be so hard.

Cartwright refused, saying that wearing elbow pads would affect his feel for the game, especially his shooting.

Phil Jackson said that Cartwright would not wear elbow pads, and the Bulls would not allow him to wear them; it was a matter of the player's personal freedom.

Moreover, the players made such a fuss mainly to weaken the Bulls' interior defense, since the Cartwright-Buck Williams combination is very tough defensively.

Thorne didn't have many options, only saying he would keep an eye on it, and that the players' complaints were likely to increase.

"Lambill wasn't wearing elbow pads, so why should Cartwright?" Jackson said nonchalantly.

In short, the Bulls didn't care at all. Assistant coach Bach even drew tombstones on the tactical board, with names like "Hakeem Olajuwon," "Kate," "Parish," and "Thomas" written on them, and "Cartwright National Cemetery" written next to them.

After seeing this, Jordan shook his head in dissatisfaction and said, "Forrest Gump has buried far more people, and he didn't even have a cemetery built for him, and no one complained."

Bach knew that Jordan was a huge Forrest Gump fan and had never liked Cartwright, so he silently erased the drawing on the whiteboard and muttered, "He's the one who gets rid of all the complainers."

Jordan said, "At least he beat his opponent fair and square. Look at Cartwright, how did he fight against Forrest Gump? Did his elbows have a sign that said 'Automatic dodge function against Forrest Gump'?"

Bach shrugged, not wanting to get entangled with Jordan.

However, Jordan's words do make sense. Bill Cartwright elbowed so many people, but he didn't dare to elbow Forrest Gump. And Cartwright's performance against the Trail Blazers was consistently terrible, exceptionally terrible.

Especially when matched up against Gan Guoyang, he often puts up a dismal stat sheet with 0 points and only one or two rebounds.

This has always been a major concern for the Bulls. You can't stop Forrest Gump, but you can't be this bad on offense.

Moreover, the Trail Blazers also have Sabonis, which is a huge test for the Bulls.

Because Hakeem Olajuwon was sidelined for two months due to Cartwright's elbow, the All-Star backup center position became vacant.

Gan Guoyang was placed in the forward group in this year's All-Star voting. The league's intention in doing so was to ensure that the three popular big men, Agan, Robinson, and Olajuwon, could all make the All-Star team, so that if Agan secured a spot, one of Robinson or Olajuwon would have to be eliminated, as both of them are very popular among fans.

Unexpectedly, Olajuwon's injury allowed Sabonis to take his place and be selected as an All-Star for the first time in his career.

It was all down to luck; otherwise, the Trail Blazers would only have Gan Guoyang as an All-Star, which is similar to the situation of the Bulls, the top team in the East.

Michael Jordan was the only one among them who was selected for the All-Star game without any doubt, and in the final stage of voting, Jordan surpassed Forrest Gump to become the leading vote-getter.

The reason is simple: because of the Gulf War, the heightened patriotism of Americans made them unwilling to allow a foreigner to become the top vote-getter.

The league's games ended on February 7th, officially entering the All-Star Weekend period, which will continue until February 12th.

On the same day, in the Gulf region, the "Desert Storm" air campaign, led by the United States and carried out by the United Nations forces, had been going on for more than 20 days.

For more than 20 days, multinational forces were constantly flying around in the air, using high-tech weapons to carry out precision bombing of Iraqi troops and military targets, paralyzing Iraq's command and control system. The Iraqi army fought for more than half a month but did not even see the enemy's face. They were bombed until they were deaf, blind, dizzy and unable to resist.

On the 7th, U.S. troops crossed the border between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait and began ground combat with Iraq.

Before the war broke out, Saddam Hussein was obsessed with waging a ground war with multinational forces, hoping to turn Iraq into a second Vietnam.

However, times have truly changed. The Americans have shown the world a completely new model of warfare, refusing to engage in any ground combat and instead using high-tech precision bombing to leave the Iraqi army utterly helpless.

Ground combat is not about determining the outcome, but about cleaning up the mess and reaping the rewards of victory.

Moreover, after entering Kuwait, the US military did not rush to engage in a full-scale ground war with Iraq, but instead sent advance troops to fight preliminary battles.

While engaging in probing firefights, they continued to call in air power for a comprehensive and relentless bombing campaign, shattering the Iraqi army.

Before the Gulf War began, there were many anti-war voices in the United States. People were worried that the United States would fall back into the quagmire of the Vietnam War in the 60s and 70s. A generation of young people had lost their youth and lives in the jungles of Southeast Asia. Would they be left in the deserts of the Middle East again this time?

As a result, in just over 20 days, the US military, armed to the teeth with high technology, swept through the enemy with unstoppable momentum and was invincible.

An Iraqi veteran who fought in the Iran-Iraq War commented that his brigade "suffered more punishment from the Allied air force in 30 minutes in Hafji than it did in eight years of fighting Iran."

When the US sends out battle reports, they often claim to have destroyed hundreds of enemy vehicles and tanks, and dozens of artillery pieces. The results of a single day's battles are more than what was achieved in a month or even a year during the Vietnam War.

This unprecedented mode of warfare and the results of the battles sparked an unprecedented wave of patriotism in the United States, which also influenced the 1991 NBA All-Star Game and various sporting events.

In January, prior to the NBA All-Star Game, the NFL held its biggest event – ​​the Super Bowl.

During the famous Super Bowl halftime show, singer Whitney Houston sang the national anthem, perfectly performing the difficult "The Stars and Stripes" with her unparalleled voice, and shed tears (years later it was confirmed that it was a pre-recorded lip-sync).

This may be the most classic national anthem performance in Super Bowl history, and even in the history of American professional sports. Whitney Houston's performance propelled the American national anthem into the top 100 songs chart, a feat that is unprecedented and unlikely to be repeated.

The surge of patriotism among Americans undoubtedly played a significant role in fueling the frenzy. When the concert ended and four F-18 fighter jets flew over the stadium, the crowd's emotions reached their peak. A large number of fans waved the Stars and Stripes and held up signs that read "God Bless America," cheering deafeningly. Although God probably doesn't know, since you went to fight someone else instead of being attacked, what is God supposed to bless you for?

Then came the Charlotte All-Star Game in February. On the night of the All-Star Game, February 10th, for the national anthem performance before the game, the NBA invited Branford Marsalis and Bruce Hornsby, a pianist and a saxophonist, to accompany the national anthem on the piano and the saxophone.

Unlike Whitney Houston's soaring and magnificent singing, the saxophone playing is gentle and beautiful, even sounding somewhat quiet.

Because there are many military families in the Charlotte area, they were invited to watch the game, and soft music was played to commemorate the victims of the war.

NBC's cameras repeatedly focused on men in military uniforms and women with tears in their eyes on the sidelines, and also on David Robinson, a former Navy serviceman.

The basketball hoops were covered with American flags, and the crowd was just like at the Super Bowl, with a multitude of American flags and "Forward America" ​​signs that resonated with everyone present.

Gan Guoyang is not American, but after living in the United States for more than ten years, he has to admit that the patriotic education and propaganda of Americans are really powerful.

I used to read some domestic magazines that always said Americans weren't that patriotic, that they loved themselves more, and that they resisted patriotic brainwashing propaganda, etc.

It wasn't until I got to the United States that I realized that the patriotic education and propaganda in the United States is the most extensive and advanced in the world, and that the patriotic education in China is simply child's play compared to it.

Putting aside other things, the NBA has thousands of games every year, and the national anthem is played at the start of each game.

Different performing artists use different forms to adapt and interpret the national anthem in various ways, which is the best way to promote patriotism.

This is just basketball; there's also ice hockey, American football, baseball, college sports, tennis—you could say there are more national anthem performances in the US than anywhere else.

Besides the national anthem, the American flag is ubiquitous, appearing on small flags, T-shirts, baseball caps, and even bikinis; the stars and stripes can be seen everywhere.

Not to mention Americans themselves, even foreigners know that the Stars and Stripes is the American flag, which also enhances a sense of honor and demonstrates the country's great influence.

Moreover, Americans' patriotism is unparalleled. They will criticize the president, criticize this and that, and take to the streets to protest when nothing is wrong. When something happens, they will really go to the front lines, and their enthusiasm for joining the military never stops.

In such a strong patriotic atmosphere, Gan Guoyang naturally didn't want to steal the spotlight. "I'm not American, so I won't join in the fun."

During the game, he played a supporting role, constantly passing the ball to his good friend Charles Barkley, allowing Barkley to score frequently.

Ultimately, Barkley scored a game-high 31 points, leading the West to a 118-114 victory over the East.

Barkley won the All-Star Game MVP award, earning the first major honor of his career, and he was all smiles.

In this All-Star game, which held special significance, he became the brightest star.

However, Sir Charles's troubles were just around the corner.

(End of this chapter)