The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 700 Lithuania

Barcelona is a large city with millions of inhabitants, and like all large cities, traffic congestion is a common problem.

The problem became even more serious during the Olympics.

Because we weren't staying in the Olympic Village, it often took an hour to drive from the hotel to the venues.

But our bus was different. Because it was escorted by local police cars, it only took us 20 minutes to get to the venue each time.

On the road, sirens wailed incessantly, and the streets were deserted, just like a scene from the movie "God of Gamblers"—our car sped past, while waiting vehicles lined both sides of the road.

One night, during a match against Puerto Rico, we once again traveled to the venue by bus, escorted by police cars.

I saw that the roadside was full of waiting cars and buses, making way for us.

As it turned out, one of the vehicles was carrying the Puerto Rican team, and I happened to see my friend José Ortiz sitting in it.

I waved to him, and he saw me and waved back, but then we both realized how strange this was.

We were both on the Olympic team, heading to the same venue for a competition, and I was on the way when he made way for me.

Realizing the irony, his smile vanished, while I smiled back, unsure what to say.

Saying that our Dream Team was spoiled by the escorts is an understatement. Once, after watching an athletics competition, I was on my way back to the hotel, but I got stuck in the traffic jam in Barcelona.

I saw a subway entrance and decided to get off and take the subway. I was sure that, given my fame, skin color, and attire, there was a high probability that no one would recognize me.

So my family—including my 70-year-old mother-in-law—followed me into the subway station, and then a few of my teammates followed suit.

This detour saved us 40 minutes on the road, but cost NBA security chief Steve Ballmer 4 years of his life.

When the empty bus returned to the hotel, you can hardly imagine the expression on Horace Ballmer's face.

It must be acknowledged that Ballmer made a great contribution to us; we slept very well because he and his team hardly slept at all.

It must be pointed out that when I am not with my teammates, I hardly need any security.

That's why I know I can ride the subway safely without worrying about being surrounded by people asking for autographs.

When I attend events or walk the streets of Barcelona, ​​I am never recognized. I wear a T-shirt and jeans and look no different from an ordinary tourist.

After learning about my situation, the NBA provided me with a portable camera so I could record my unnoticed moments on the street.

I accepted the suggestion and drove along the La Rambla, filming the tourists coming towards me, with my wife and children with me, and a hidden camera recording everything.

As expected, no one recognized me. I was just like an ordinary American tourist until I greeted a woman wearing a Dream Team T-shirt with the faces of the 12 Dream Team players printed on it.

The woman was American, but she still didn't recognize me. I asked her questions about the Dream Team, such as, "Which player is your favorite?" and "Which of them have you met?"

The woman replied, "My favorite is Forrest Gump."

I regretfully told her, "Forrest Gump isn't part of the Dream Team; he's Chinese."

She had seen Forrest Gump and Charles Barkley, pointing to the picture of Barkley printed on her clothes.

At this point, my two sons finally couldn't hold back any longer. They pointed at my picture on her clothes and shouted, "This is our dad!"

It was only then that the woman realized what was happening, and the film crew followed closely behind. More fans gathered around, asking me for photos and autographs—in fact, most of them didn't know who I was; they were just following the crowd.

However, some people recognized him and said, "You were Forrest Gump's college teammate."

My status as Forrest Gump's teammate in college is more famous than my status as a member of my dream team.

Many people are curious about how Forrest Gump got to the arena every day. During the Olympics, he lived with us and received NBA security services.

He didn't travel with us in the car; instead, he took a helicopter, bypassing all roads and vehicles, and went straight to the stadium.

—Excerpt from John Stockton's 2012 autobiography, Assisted.

The 1992 Olympic Games opened on July 25 at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium in Barcelona.

The opening ceremony was very grand, with delegations from various countries entering the stadium in turn. This was the first Olympic Games after the end of the Cold War, and the world situation had undergone significant changes.

Each country sent its largest and most complete delegation. With the reunification of Germany, a joint delegation was sent, eliminating the need to separate East and West Germany.

After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro, and other countries established their own National Olympic Committees.

The Soviet Union suffered the same fate; this former Olympic champion and sporting powerhouse will disappear from the Olympic medal table.

Instead, small countries such as Lithuania and Estonia, as well as a special "Commonwealth of Independent States," were established.

China has sent 118 male athletes and 133 female athletes to participate in more than 20 events.

The male athletes wore all-white suits and trousers, while the female athletes wore white tube skirts and red jackets, making them quite eye-catching.

The responsibility of being the flag bearer for the Chinese delegation undoubtedly fell to Gan Guoyang, which is a long-standing tradition of the Chinese Olympic delegation, with tall basketball players serving as flag bearers.

Standing at 6 feet 10 inches tall with a strong physique, he walked at the front of the team, holding the five-star red flag high. His excitement was indescribable. He would gladly trade this opportunity for a championship, since he already had plenty of championships to his name.

The Olympics are held every four years, and representing your country while holding the five-star red flag creates an irreplaceable memory.

Gan Guoyang's close-up shot appeared on the live television broadcast, becoming an important moment in the history of the Chinese Olympics.

At the opening ceremony, renowned singer Sarah Brightman and soprano José Carreras performed "Friends Forever," a song composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black.

The original song for the Olympics was "Barcelona," performed by Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen. However, Mercury passed away from AIDS last year, so a pre-recorded version of the song was played at the event.

During the most exciting torch lighting ceremony, Paralympic archer Reberlo lit the main torch with an arrow, creating one of the most iconic torch lighting methods in Olympic history.

The Chinese men's basketball team's first game is scheduled for July 26, the day after the opening ceremony.

Their opponents were the Lithuanian team, who had only recently gained independence and were participating in the Olympics for the first time.

For Gan Guoyang, the Olympic men's basketball team was quite lucky in this group draw, as they were placed in Group B and not with the United States.

This made Gan Guoyang very happy, but it made the members of the Dream Team very unhappy, because it meant that they would not have the chance to beat the Chinese team and Agan in the group stage.

If the two teams are to meet, they will have to go to the knockout stage.

The match is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. at the Badalona Sports Centre.

This is the second match of the day. In the first match, Venezuela faced the CIS. The former Soviet republics, led by Russia, still maintain a very strong presence. They easily defeated Venezuela, winning by 12 points.

At 11 o'clock, the match was about to begin, and the players from both sides went onto the field to warm up.

At this moment, Gan Guoyang was chatting with Sabonis on the sidelines.

Sabonis was wearing a rather strange-looking, very unique sports T-shirt.

The main color is green, the fabric is tie-dyed, colorful, and also has a skull printed on it.

It's hard to imagine that this is a national team uniform.

"This is the tracksuit that Grateful to Death designed for you guys? God... this is the coolest jersey I've ever seen, awesome Arvidas... it's this skull..."

Gan Guoyang saw Sabonis wearing sportswear and expressed his appreciation, but said that Sabonis wouldn't wear it himself because it was too flashy.

“That’s the style of being grateful to the death. Thank you for your help, Sonny, but on the field, I won’t hold back!” Sabonis said.

Gan Guoyang thought to himself, "Damn it, once they get to the national team, they all start acting all high and mighty!"
Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that the Chinese team is too weak. Even if they added a player like Forrest Gump, they would still be looked down upon.

Sabonis thanked Gan Guoyang because Gan's help was instrumental in Lithuania's participation in the Olympics. In the past, Lithuanian players represented the Soviet Union in major tournaments; in the 1988 Olympics, four of the Soviet team's starting five were Lithuanian players.

After Lithuania gained independence, although the people of the country gained freedom, the whole society was in chaos, the government was bankrupt, and the sports department did not have enough money to form an Olympic team to participate in the Olympic Games.

In this situation, Sabonis, who plays in the NBA and earns a high salary, contributed some of his own money to support the Lithuanian men's basketball team to play in Barcelona.

But his salary wasn't enough, so Gan Guoyang, along with Trail Blazers legend Bill Walton and Walton's old friend, the basketball-loving band Grateful to the Death, all offered their help.

They contributed a large sum of money to support the Lithuanian men's basketball team's daily expenses, including training, games, travel, and all costs related to the game in Barcelona.

The band Grateful to the Death specially designed this wild sports T-shirt with a strong rock style for the Lithuanian men's basketball team, which attracted the attention of fans as soon as the Lithuanian team appeared in Barcelona.

Spanish fans love this style, but Chinese head coach Jiang Xingquan doesn't quite understand it; he's a rather old-fashioned person.

Before the match started, he complained to Gan Guoyang, "Why is this Lithuanian wearing a skull T-shirt? That's unlucky. Does it mean they're dead?"

Gan Guoyang hurriedly said, "Hey, Coach Jiang, you said it yourself! The Lithuanians are dead! We've got this game in the bag!"

Jiang Xingquan quickly waved his hand and said, "That's not what I meant, no, no, don't talk nonsense."

The entire Chinese men's basketball team, all the players, especially the young players, were very afraid of Jiang Xingquan.

During daily training and life, he wouldn't dare to joke with Coach Jiang even a little bit.

They understood Jiang Xingquan's character; he was an extremely conservative and strict person.

If you joke with him and annoy him, he can really get angry with you.

Only a top-tier figure like Gan Guoyang would dare to joke about Coach Jiang.

Say whatever you want; this is a treatment that even veterans of the national team don't receive.

"Don't worry, Lithuania is unlikely to die tonight. We agreed before the match that this game is just for everyone to practice. It would be best if we could win, but it's not shameful to lose."

Gan Guoyang patted Lao Jiang on the shoulder. Jiang Xingquan sighed inwardly. He was really not used to Gan's joking personality.

However, Gan Guoyang's skills are truly undeniable, and his tactical thinking is also very sharp and advanced. To put it bluntly, Jiang Xingquan feels that he is inferior to him in many aspects.

In this strategic deployment, Jiang Xingquan and Gan Guoyang had in-depth exchanges of opinions and formulated a strategic plan based on the strength level of Group B.

Group B consists of six teams: the CIS, Lithuania, Australia, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and China.

Among them, the CIS and Lithuania are the strongest on paper, as they are the two major inheritors of the Soviet Union's legacy after its breakup.

The second tier consists of Australia and Puerto Rico, while the third tier includes Venezuela and China without Forrest Gump.

With Gan Guoyang joining the team, the strength of the Chinese team remains uncertain. So far, Gan Guoyang has not participated in any of the Chinese team's warm-up or friendly matches.

He has been training in secret, playing internal matches with results not made public, in order to maintain the team's mystique.

The reason for doing this is that they hope to achieve a breakthrough result at the Olympics.

The tournament format dictates that you must make choices and develop targeted tactics and strategies.

Jiang Xingquan and Gan Guoyang both believe that the CIS and Lithuania are too strong, and that it would be unprofitable to fight them head-on.

If we win, that's fine, but if we lose and someone gets injured, the physical exertion will be great, and it won't be worth it.

It would be better to save our energy and tactics for matches against second and third-tier teams.

If the Chinese team can win three or two games, they can advance to the quarterfinals.

Gan Guoyang certainly doesn't have physical problems, nor is he afraid of getting injured, but his teammates are not.

After a month of intensive training, Chinese players have made significant progress.

But the time was still too short, and their ability to fight back could not be significantly improved.

The biggest problem for Chinese players is physicality. Without physicality, they are not on equal footing in basketball games and will not be able to compete with their opponents.

In their first match against Lithuania, the Chinese team focused on testing their lineup, getting a feel for the game, and refining their tactics.

Let the players warm up, especially let Gan Guoyang find his form for playing official FIBA ​​games.

As it approached 11:30, Gan Guoyang took off his sports jacket and stepped onto the court wearing his number 11 jersey.

A large number of fans came to watch Gan Guoyang's game today, and there were also many reporters gathered on the sidelines.

The Chinese team is wearing white jerseys tonight, while the Lithuanian team is wearing green.

Gan Guoyang stood in the center circle, and the thin-strapped jersey of the Chinese team made him look even more robust.

Although he was considerably shorter than Sabonis, he didn't look intimidated at all when they stood face to face.

Sabonis, on the other hand, was a little nervous, because he knew best just how strong Forrest Gump was.

Before the game, in the locker room, Sabonis kept telling his teammates, "Don't provoke Forrest Gump, don't challenge him, don't get into a conflict with him, just stay away from him and focus on attacking the others. I'll take care of Forrest Gump."

While Sabonis said he would "take care of Forrest Gump," what he really meant was that he would sacrifice himself to stop Forrest Gump from messing with other people.

The Chinese team fielded a very traditional starting lineup: Gan Guoyang at center, Song Ligang at power forward, Sun Jun at small forward, Zhang Yongjun at shooting guard, and Sun Fengwu at point guard.

This is a lineup of veteran players, with the oldest player in each position on the court. This is partly to ensure stability and partly to conceal their core intentions.

On the sidelines, players and coaches from other teams in Group B were watching the Chinese team closely, hoping to understand their playing style after Gan Guoyang joined the team.

The match began, and Gan Guoyang took the lead in the jump ball, passing the ball to Sun Fengwu and initiating the first attack of this Olympics.

After joining the Chinese team, Gan Guoyang seemed to revert to the traditional center-forward style of play, immediately going down to the low post to demand the ball.

Lithuania used a traditional zone defense strategy, a 2-3 zone defense, with Sabonis guarding a large area of ​​the three-second zone.

Gan Guoyang didn't go very deep, but instead made simple positioning in the rib area, and Sabonis didn't try to get close to him.

Sun Fengwu easily passed the ball to Gan Guoyang, who then turned and faked out Sabonis.

Sabonis merely tiptoed, and Gan Guoyang immediately ducked down the baseline, dribbled to the other side, and scored the first point with a reverse dunk!
Lithuanian forwards tried to cover, but they couldn't keep up with the speed and power.

Gan Guoyang said to Sabonis, "Avidas, you promised you wouldn't go easy on me!"

Sabonis shook his head, thinking, "I'm doomed. I have to face this guy for the entire match. What am I going to do?"
Back on the offensive end, Sabonis tried to score against Gan Guoyang in the middle, but his hook shot missed.

Gan Guoyang turned around, grabbed the rebound, and passed it to Sun Fengwu, then called for the ball in the low post again.

This time, Lithuania learned their lesson and immediately double-teamed Gan Guoyang, denying him any chance to receive the ball.

Sun Fengwu immediately passed the ball to the middle, then to Sun Jun on the baseline, who immediately took a three-pointer.

The ball goes in!

China started the game with a 5-0 victory over Lithuania.

Jiang Xingquan was surprised to find that with a superstar center, the game felt completely different.

At the same time, Chinese players will soon discover that basketball is actually quite a simple sport.

Giving the ball to the best player will solve most problems.

(End of this chapter)