The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 66: Noise
Gan Guoyang had never had any aspirations for UCLA, so he didn't feel any regret about not being able to go.

Although this place has a glorious history, what does it have to do with him?

Inheriting this history will not necessarily make him play better.

The longer Gan Guoyang stayed on the field, the more he saw and experienced, the less he believed in the glory of history.

Time casts a hazy gray over history, and memory filters out the bad parts, leaving only the essence, making it appear both hazy and beautiful.

But all of this is a lie.

Gan Guoyang only believes that things can be accomplished by human effort, living in the present and taking each step steadily. The past and the future are not in his consideration.

After the timeout ended, Gan Guoyang wiped his sweat and returned to the court. By this time, none of the Los Angeles fans on the sidelines were shouting at him anymore.

In this respect, Los Angeles fans are not bad; they know to shut up when they get beaten up.

Farmar didn't give up on his twin towers inside game, and as a result, Gan Guoyang returned to the court and focused on Gray alone.

Gray was a large man, but Gan Guoyang skillfully used his mid-range shot and face-up hook shot to put Gray in a difficult position.

Whenever Wright comes over to help defend, Gan Guoyang will pass the ball temporarily to avoid him. Moreover, once Gan Guoyang receives the ball on the outside, double-teaming will be ineffective, leaving a large open space on the weak side and under the basket.

Gan Guoyang's flexible inside style of play was not well adapted to by college teams in the 80s, because they had not played like this since childhood, their coaches had not taught them this way, and they did not know how to defend against it.

In the second half, Farmar finally decided to stop using the twin towers and bring on a regular-sized power forward to replace Gray, with Wright guarding Gan Guoyang.

In the first half, Gan Guoyang's attacking touch was honed, and he was on fire, becoming unstoppable.

"John, give me the ball more often, no matter where I am."

"Hurry up, it'll get cold soon."

"Run, run, you're all as slow as turtles!"

The whole team was spurred on by Gan Guoyang's attack. Because they were leading in the first half, Gonzaga relaxed a little and everyone was quite tired.

Only Gan Guoyang was alive and kicking, and Bellman believed that he hadn't been fooling around with any girls last night.

A notable characteristic of Gan Guoyang's game also emerged in the second half: energy and excitement.

Unless he wants to save his energy and slack off on the field, once he gets into it, he's always full of energy, incredibly noisy, and extremely boisterous.

When they get excited, they keep talking and going head-to-head with the opponent's key player the whole game, and they don't feel tired even after playing the full game plus two or three overtime periods.

This is completely different from some big guys who run a few laps and then start panting with their heads down, or who brace their knees when they pause.

Any extraordinary person must possess extraordinary energy, and this is true in any field of human existence.

The physical fitness of big men in the paint is often a bottleneck for them. Yao Ming was greatly hampered by his own physical fitness, often only able to play well for three quarters or half a season.

Gan Guoyang was very prescient, setting the highest physical fitness and health values ​​for himself. Coupled with his self-discipline and rigorous, scientific training, he was like a catfish in a sardine can on the field.

He abandoned the effortless hook shot from the first half and started attacking the basket aggressively, grabbing offensive rebounds, cutting to the basket and attacking the rim, and then using deep positioning to push past the defender and dunk with both hands.

He unleashed all his offensive skills at the Poly Arena, giving nothing back to the Los Angeles fans. If college basketball didn't lack a three-point line, he would definitely have shown off his long-range shooting. He brought a heated and boisterous atmosphere to the game, as if the temperature in the Poly Arena had risen along with it.

This will excite teammates, exhaust opponents, and terrify Los Angeles fans.

This would remind them of Moses Malone, and the Lakers' and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's helplessness when facing that 6-foot-10 beast.

That savage, aggressive aura disrupted the rhythm of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's elegant hook shot, causing the entire Lakers to lose their steady pace toward victory.

In the first half, this kid played quite steadily, and his hook shot was quite intriguing. How come he changed his tune in the second half?
Sitting on the sidelines, Berman watched Gan Guoyang's energetic performance and thought to himself, "Gan must have been lying when he said he wasn't targeting UCLA in the first half. Today he's brought out all his best skills and put on a spectacular show, just to show the UCLA management and Farmar what kind of player they've lost."

Gan is a vengeful guy, but he doesn't show it easily.

As for Farmar, he was incredibly stupid. In 77, he tried to recruit Magic Johnson by making a phone call, but ultimately gave up, causing UCLA to miss its chance for revival.

In 1981, Bill Walton strongly recommended Michael Jordan to UCLA. Jordan also wanted to play for the Golden Bears, but Farmar said, "There is no place for you here."

Now that they've given up on Forrest Gump, UCLA is unlikely to amount to anything under his leadership.

Many subsequent examples have proven that when selecting players, talent should be the primary consideration, rather than their position, suitability for the team's lineup, or whether the selection is reasonable.

An unreasonable lineup can be adjusted, and a combination that looks harmonious now may be completely different in a year or two, but a high-quality talent can serve as a cornerstone for a long time.

The second half of the game gradually turned into a personal show by Gan Guoyang. He scored 17 points in the first half and another 26 points in the second half, for a total of 43 points.

Although it was just a warm-up game and neither side went all out on offense or defense, the 43-point performance at the Poly Stadium left UCLA looking humiliated, making the school leaders and local fans quite embarrassed.

The people who came to watch the game were not just ordinary students and citizens, but also some political figures and entertainment stars from Los Angeles. Watching UCLA get thrashed by a Chinese center they had once given up on, everyone had mixed feelings.

Berman was worried that Gan Guoyang was getting too carried away and angering his opponents, so he substituted Gan Guoyang after a timeout and did not intend to let him play again.

Gan Guoyang said, "I haven't had enough of Bobby yet, why are you taking me off?"

"That's enough. Do you want to inflate your stats?"

"Oh no, I'm just enjoying basketball. You know I haven't played a proper game in a long time."

"There will be plenty of opportunities later, so take a break."

The match started at 7 p.m. and ended before 8:30 p.m., which shows that the match went very smoothly without any ups and downs or suspense.

Reggie Miller only got some playing time as a substitute after Gan Guoyang left the game. He played for a few minutes, but missed both of his shots and was completely out of form.

Looking at Miller, Gan Guoyang thought that if he came to UCLA, he might receive the same treatment.

As Gan Guoyang was leaving the stadium after the match, he glanced at the audience and noticed Wang Fuxi's pink hat, which was very eye-catching.

Wang Fuxi waved to him, and Gan Guoyang waved back, made a phone call gesture, then left the Poly Stadium, got into the car, and headed to their next destination with the team.

The cold can only be kept short.

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(End of this chapter)