The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 70 Listening
Gan Guoyang jogged along the way and entered the stadium through the passageway of the memorial gymnasium.

There were many fans at the Memorial Stadium tonight, and they were mostly teenagers.

The competition originated in 1956 and initially started as a small invitational tournament held on campus by Oregon State University.

Later, they invited the University of Oregon to become a co-organizer, hoping to expand the influence of basketball through a major event and attract and cultivate local youth basketball enthusiasts.

The number of teams has expanded from the initial 4 to 8. The schedule is very intensive, with 3 matches in 4 days and multiple matches in one day. A ranking tournament system is implemented, and the 8 teams will eventually be ranked from 1 to 8.

The tournament's booming growth effectively developed the basketball market in the Oregon region and ultimately led to the Trail Blazers moving to Rose City.

With their season tickets, young fans can watch several games a day, for a total of four days. It's fair to say that tickets to the "Far West Classic Basketball Game" are one of the best Christmas gifts for local children.

The game is in progress, with the score at 37-55, Gonzaga trailing Oregon by a whopping 18 points.

Berman stood on the sidelines watching the situation on the field, arms crossed, his face serious, completely unaware that Gan Guoyang had appeared on the sidelines.

The situation was extremely unfavorable for the Bulldogs. They had clearly crushed Oregon during their long trip in August, but when it came to the Classic, the University of Oregon seemed like a completely different team.

After all, the Classic is different from the Warm-up. The Oregon Ducks have the second-highest winning percentage and number of championships in this tournament, second only to the Oregon State Beavers. Playing at home, they have the advantage of home ground and support, with the stadium full of fans cheering for the Ducks.

"Bobby, it's my turn to go on."

Gan Guoyang called out, and only then did Behrman come to his senses and realize that Gan Guoyang had returned.

"I thought you froze to death on the way. In this situation, what's the point of you going?"

"Nonsense, of course it makes sense. We're only down by 18 points, there's still hope."

Just then, the University of Oregon hit a mid-range shot, bringing the point difference back to 20.

Berman called a timeout, and the Bulldogs players returned to the bench. When they saw Gan Guoyang come back, everyone's expressions improved a lot.

"Who said I wasn't needed? Who told me to go straight back to Spokane? John, let me see your stats..."

Stockton wiped his sweat and said, "Gan, take care of number 40. None of us can handle him."

Gan Guoyang glanced at the Ducks' bench, where a tall white center stood, number 40, Blair Rasmussen, the core inside player for Oregon State.

Gan Guoyang had fought him before. He was a typical tall white man, standing 7 feet tall, with great strength, solid technique, and good low-post attacking ability.

However, the last time Gan Guoyang scored 33 points against him and kept his scoring in single digits.

Gan Guoyang didn't play most of the game tonight, while Rasmussen performed exceptionally well, scoring 18 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, and blocking 3 shots, completely suppressing the Bulldogs' inside game.

After the timeout, Gan Guoyang came on as a substitute and warmed up his body a little.

When Rasmussen saw Gan Guoyang approaching the bulldog, his eyes and body visibly froze.

"Oh, Gan, you made it to the match. I thought you weren't playing today," Rasmussen greeted him.

"I'd be happy if I didn't hit you, but now that I've done it, aren't you a little disappointed?"

"No, no, no, you can fight, that's great."

"Lying is bad, I'm going to put one on your head right now."

"Don't do this, Gan..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Bulldogs inbounded the ball, and Gan Guoyang set a screen for his teammate before running to the right to receive the ball.

At a 45-degree angle, Rasmussen didn't rush up to defend, fearing that Gan Guoyang would dunk the ball at the basket.

Gan Guoyang opted for a mid-range jump shot, and with a decent touch, he made both points. "Didn't you say you were going to dunk?"

"Who told you to lie first?"

Rasmussen reluctantly went to the baseline to serve, cursing inwardly, "Damn it, why is this guy back?"
The Ducks had already secured the win, with Rasmussen playing exceptionally well, and a 20+10 performance was practically guaranteed.

Who knew that the bulldog demon would come back halfway? Rasmussen still remembered the painful memory of being blown out by Forrest Gump under the basket in a home warm-up game in August.

As soon as Gan Guoyang returned, the offensive and defensive posture of both sides changed dramatically.

In an effort to close the gap, the Bulldogs began employing full-court and half-court press defenses to pressure the ball handler and disrupt Oregon's first pass.

The downside of pressing defense is that it is too rigid and easily broken. It is strong on the outside but weak on the inside. Once the opponent withstands one or two waves of pressure from you and gets rid of your outer defense through continuous passing and teamwork, your defense will easily have big loopholes.

Either there are huge open shots on the perimeter, or the paint is completely exposed.

When Gan Guoyang is on the court, his ability to cover the three-second zone allows his teammates to confidently and boldly engage in risky, high-pressure defense, putting pressure on the opponent.

The Ducks, caught off guard, made a mistake, and Stockton stole the ball and passed it to Anderson on the wing, who scored a layup and added two more points.

Rasmussen had no choice but to serve from the baseline again, at which point Gan Guoyang rushed over to interfere.

"I bet you'll make a mistake. Be careful, or you'll lose points."

Gan Guoyang kept putting psychological pressure on Rasmussen because he knew that he had just entered the game and was not in good form. He had to use his opponent's mistakes to find his form.

Rasmussen indeed made a turnover on the inbound pass, which was intercepted by Jeff Renate. Renate then passed the ball to Gan Guoyang, who slammed it home with a two-handed dunk.

"I told you, I'd dunk one! You really made a mistake. Don't be nervous, Lass. You're still leading by 14 points. The scales of victory are on your side."

Rasmussen no longer wanted to talk to Gan Guoyang; there was no center in the entire Northwest Pacific region as torturous as Gan.

The ducks' coach sensed something was wrong and called a timeout to reorganize the offense and defense.

The young fans at the scene were cheering the Ducks hard.

If the Ducks win this match, they will be able to compete against the Beavers in the final for the Far West Classic championship.

In Portland, teenagers who love college basketball are either die-hard fans of the Ducks or the Beavers.

During a timeout, Gan Guoyang chatted with young fans on the sidelines, loudly asking them, "Why don't you support the Bulldogs? We play great! We're going to win this game, you know?"

The young fans shouted that it was impossible, and a few of the more polite ones even gave Gan Guoyang the middle finger.

Gan Guoyang smiled and shook his head. After returning to the court, he first blocked the Ducks' shot on defense, and then made three consecutive hook shots on offense, narrowing the gap between the two sides to 10 points.

However, as he passed by the group of young fans, he was given a technical foul by the referee for giving them the middle finger, sending the Ducks player to the free-throw line.

With 3 minutes left in the game, the Bulldogs made a successful defensive play, Stockton grabbed the rebound, and made a long pass to the frontcourt, where Gan Guoyang received the ball unguarded.

He touched behind his ear with his left hand, grabbed the ball with his right hand, and lightly extended his arm, performing a "listening" dunk, tying the score at 66-66. After Gan Guoyang returned, they beat their opponents 29-9.

Gan Guoyang's dunk amazed the young fans in the audience. Although they still verbally supported the Ducks, many of them secretly hoped that the Bulldogs would win.

Forrest Gump is so cool when he plays basketball, and that dunk was absolutely amazing.

Many years later, when Karl Malone frequently performed this dunking move, Stockton always thought that Forrest Gump was the one who did it first.

(End of this chapter)