The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 404 A Trivial Beginning

On the evening of April 19th, the Atlanta Omni Arena hosted the final game of the regular season, a highly anticipated match.

The Omni Stadium has a unique design, with its roof covered with huge cones. From above, it looks like a giant waffle, and from the front, it looks like a spaceship.

Instead of using paint or patches on its outer layer, it exposes the steel structure to the air, allowing it to rust and form a dense oxide layer to protect the steel. This is a common anti-corrosion technology used on railway tracks.

Omny Arena was packed tonight, with the press box already filled with reporters from major newspapers, magazines, and television stations across the United States, all eager to see the outcome of the scoring duel between Gan Guoyang and Jordan.

Due to time zone differences, the Celtics vs. Bulls game started half an hour earlier than this game, and by the time the Trail Blazers vs. Hawks game was about to begin, the first quarter of that game had already ended.

Bobby Bellman walked up to Gan Guoyang and said, "The first quarter of the Chicago vs. Boston game is over. Michael's stats are out. Do you want me to tell you?"

Gan Guoyang shook his head and said, "No need, no need to tell me. No matter how many points he gets tonight, it has nothing to do with me. I will do my best to perform."

Bellman nodded without saying anything.

Before the opening ceremony at the end of warm-up, the Trail Blazers players gathered together in a circle.

Gan Guoyang didn't say "Give me all the balls," he just said, "Let's play well and win."

Gan Guoyang didn't say it, but the Trail Blazers players were all thinking about giving him a push.

Their pre-match slogan was no longer "May Buddha protect us," and after Ramsey learned the truth, the slogan was temporarily discontinued.

Ramsey no longer trusted Gan Guoyang to provide any Chinese slogans, so they changed it to the ordinary "Go-Blazers".

However, because the Bodhisattva blessed everyone and they won the championship, after shouting my slogan, everyone would silently say a few words of blessing from the Bodhisattva.

Bill Walton even clasped his hands together devoutly and prayed to Buddha for his health, hoping to finish the season healthy.

After the opening ceremony, the players from both sides stood on the field, and the match was about to begin.

The Trail Blazers' starting five remained solid, and before this game they had already secured second place in the Western Conference with a record of 60 wins and 21 losses.

This is the second time in Trail Blazers history that they have achieved a 60-win regular season record. Throughout the season, the Trail Blazers experienced some ups and downs, but Gan Guoyang's super stable performance brought the team back on track.

With the return of Bill Walton and the rise of Jerome Cahill, the team has reached a level of mastery in controlling the game, with only the Los Angeles Lakers able to rival them in the entire Western Conference.

The Hawks secured second place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 57 wins and 24 losses. Regardless of the outcome of their final game, they will not be able to overtake the Boston Celtics who are ranked ahead of them.

This game is a battle between the second-place teams in the East and West. The Hawks' strength this season should not be underestimated. Under the leadership of Dominique Wilkins and the four years of coaching by Mike Fratello, they have blossomed.

Since the 1980 season, the Hawks have broken the Celtics, 76ers, and Bucks' monopoly on the top two spots in the Eastern Conference, seemingly heralding a new era for the East.

Especially after Dr. J Kyrie Irving retired at the end of this season, the 76ers entered a rebuilding period, and Dominique Wilkins, who is also known for his dunks, rose to prominence, and Atlanta fans regarded him as the new icon of the league.

Wilkins is known for his dunks, but his scoring ability is equally impressive. This year, besides Gan Guoyang and Jordan, Wilkins is next in the league.

The two guys in front were just too dazzling, and Gan Guoyang even won the dunk contest, which overshadowed Wilkins's brilliance.

When the final game will decide the scoring title, it is destined to be an extraordinary game, especially since Jordan just scored 61 points against the Hawks. The Atlanta team will not allow Gan Guoyang to score high points again and become a stepping stone to compete for the scoring title.

Before the game started, Hawks head coach Fratello gave the players his instructions:

"We've already let Jordan score 61 points, we absolutely cannot let Forrest do whatever he wants in this game!"

"Don't let Forrest Gump score more than 50 points in this game!"

With a target of no more than 50 points, that's the only goal Fratello can set.

After all, even preventing Forrest Gump from getting 40 points seems like a very difficult task.

If Gan Guoyang is determined to score high, 40 points is definitely not a problem.

In fact, Fratello knew there was an even better way to stop Gan Guoyang from scoring high points: to throw the game at the start, be down by 30 points at halftime, and call it a day.

Based on his understanding of Gan Guoyang, Gan wouldn't pad his score when he had a large lead and was certain to win.

However, Fratello also couldn't accept his team giving up the game so easily; this was their home ground, and they had to defend Atalanta.

Just defend him and let him score around 40 points. He and Jordan have scored a lot of 40 points this year, so it's nothing.

With this mindset in mind, Fratello set up the defense and told the players to play well.

Soon, Gan Guoyang stood in the center circle and jumped for the ball with Hawks center "The Tree" Rollins.

The Hawks used a twin-tower lineup, with 7-foot-1 center Rollins and 7-foot power forward Kevin Willis.

This twin-tower combination in the paint is very powerful, excelling on both offense and defense, and possesses ample size. Rollins, a former All-Defensive Team member, is known for his tough playing style and fiery temper.

In 1983, he clashed with Danny Ainge in a match, and the two wrestled at Boston Garden.

Despite being a small guy, Angie used his skills to throw the massive Rollins to the ground, and the two wrestled together.

Rollins was at a disadvantage due to his height when he entered the ground battle, so he decided to be a gentleman and bite Angie's hand hard instead of using his fists.

Because Rollins' nickname was "The Tree," the incident was later referred to as the Tree Bites Incident.

Besides Angie, Rollins had conflicts with other thugs in the East, such as Mahone and Lambill.

However, Gan Guoyang was not afraid of Rollins. Even Angie couldn't handle this guy in wrestling, so how could Gan Guoyang be afraid of him?

As for Kevin Willis, as a fellow graduate of the 84 class, Willis has an impressive height and muscles, but at 7 feet tall, his wingspan is only 6 feet 10 inches, making him one of the few black centers in the league with a wingspan shorter than his height.

Some players have such long arms that their arms can reach almost to their knees, while it's questionable whether Willis can even reach his waist.

He later earned the nickname "Tyrannosaurus Rex of the Stadium".

Gan Guoyang is never afraid of twin towers; he always has a way to deal with these big men in the paint.

During the jump ball, both players touched the ball simultaneously in mid-air. Gan Guoyang then used his strength to deflect the ball towards his teammate.

Van de Wesley received the ball and passed it to Terry Porter; the game began uneventfully.

From the start, Rollins positioned himself in front of Gan Guoyang to prevent him from receiving the ball.

Gan Guoyang suddenly turned to the inside, and Porter lobbed the ball to Gan Guoyang.

Willis immediately came over to help defend, and together with Rollins, they launched a pincer attack.

Despite being surrounded by two players, Gan Guoyang still managed to create space with his strength and put the ball into the basket.

As a result, the referee called a traveling violation on Gan Guoyang.

The referees tonight are Hugh Evans and Mike Mathis.

It was Evans who was blowing on Gan Guoyang's walking pace. Gan Guoyang complained to him, "Hugh, are you out of your mind again?"

At that time, the NBA had not yet implemented a zero-tolerance policy, and Gan Guoyang had always been domineering in the league, often complaining to the referees and making sarcastic remarks.

Evans is best remembered for the 1984 NBA Finals game where the air conditioning broke down, causing the temperature in the Boston Garden to reach 36 degrees Celsius.

At the time, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was sitting on the sidelines needing oxygen, while Evans, as the referee, fainted from the heat and dehydration and was replaced by a substitute referee.

Evans didn't take Gan Guoyang's joke to heart, shook his head, and said, "Your hands are still very cold, you've cooled me down."

As expected, Evans was right. In the subsequent attack, Gan Guoyang received the ball on the right side and went one-on-one against Rollins, but his hook shot missed.

During the counterattack, Doc Rivers hit a mid-range jump shot.

Next, Gan Guoyang turned around on the left side in the low post and made a layup that seemed destined to go in, but he still missed.

The Hawks launched another counterattack, and Dominique Wilkins received a pass on the left side at a 45-degree angle and surprisingly launched a three-pointer.

The ball went in!
The Hawks started with a 7-0 run, and Gan Guoyang missed all three of his attacks, his hands were indeed freezing cold.

Jack Ramsey called a timeout; Gan Guoyang didn't look to be in good form at the start of the game.

His shots were all fine, but they just wouldn't go in.

Tom Heinsohn, the commentator for tonight's game, said, "Sonny may have been too impatient and too eager for the scoring title, which affected his performance."

If Gan Guoyang heard Heinsohn's explanation, he would definitely not agree with him.

During the timeout, Ramsey didn't make any adjustments; he simply sat on the bench to rest.

It's perfectly normal to have a bad start; you can't always hit consecutively at the beginning.

Ramsey believed that Gan Guoyang would adjust on his own.

Every great action and thought has a humble beginning.

—Albert Camus, *The Myth of Sisyphus*

(End of this chapter)