The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 413 Madness
Even as the Phoenix Suns were embroiled in a drug scandal involving the team's drug use, trafficking, and gambling, the NBA playoffs proceeded as scheduled.

The NBA is trying to downplay the issue while simultaneously ramping up its promotion of this year's NBA playoffs to build momentum for the new championship race.

One of the biggest highlights of this year's playoffs is whether the Portland Trail Blazers can break the 17-year curse of defending champions failing to win the title and become the second team after the Celtics to win consecutive championships.

Although Gan Guoyang delivered a stunning 81-point performance in the final game of the regular season, many people still favor the Lakers or the Celtics in the playoffs.

They believe the Trail Blazers rely too much on Forrest Gump. Although the Trail Blazers' championship win last year also relied on Forrest Gump, the Trail Blazers are clearly a very cohesive team.

This year is different. The Trail Blazers have become more reliant on Gan Guoyang on offense than ever before. He won the scoring title for the second consecutive year and has become another Chamberlain in the eyes of some.

Wilt Chamberlain's once-superstar scoring style was considered detrimental to the team, making it impossible for them to defeat the more team-oriented Boston Celtics in the playoffs.

In response, Gan Guoyang stated bluntly during the media open day: "Sorry, I won the championship in my second year."

He didn't care about saving face for Lao Zhang anymore. "I won the championship in second grade. What can Lao Zhang use to compete with me?"

Amid a chorus of doubts, the Trail Blazers' first game of the first round took place on April 24 at the Portland Memorial Stadium, against the Golden State Warriors.

Facing the Warriors, who were clearly weaker than themselves, the Trail Blazers showed no mercy and did not relax. Instead, they went all out, winning the first game 101-129, a 28-point advantage at home, giving the Warriors no chance to fight back.

甘国阳上场31分钟，拿下33分14个篮板球6次封盖3次助攻，延续了他常规赛的良好状态。

In the second game, the Trail Blazers continued to dominate the Warriors, with Gan Guoyang only scoring 21 points. Tonight, he was creating opportunities for his teammates to find their rhythm.

Drexler and Vandeweghe had breakout performances, with Drexler scoring 31 points and Vandeweghe recording a triple-double with 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists.

The gap in strength between the two sides was indeed quite large, especially the difference in the inside game, which was decisive at the time.

Joe Barry Carroll's passive, clock-in-and-out attitude in the game posed little threat against the Portland Trail Blazers' pack of hungry wolves and their alpha, Gan Guoyang.

Although head coach George Karl tried his best to motivate the players, especially Carroll, who played well together in the regular season, Carroll played listlessly against Forrest Gump in Portland.

The game gradually lost its suspense in the latter half of the third quarter, but a conflict broke out between the Trail Blazers and Warriors players.

After completing a fast break dunk, Drexler picked up the ball and threw it to Greg Ballard, who was inbounding the ball from the baseline. Ballard threw the ball back to Drexler forcefully, and it hit Drexler.

The two got into an argument, which escalated into a physical fight, starting with pushing and shoving and turning into a full-blown brawl.

Players from both sides rushed over, and some fans also stormed onto the court, surrounding the Warriors players.

The scene was chaotic. Gan Guoyang, who was originally sitting on the bench, rushed over as soon as he saw the conflict.

Unexpectedly, the referees were very experienced. One referee went to control the players involved in the conflict, while another referee rushed over and grabbed Gan Guoyang around the waist, locking him in place and keeping this potential troublemaker away from the source of the conflict.

But how could the referee stop Gan Guoyang? Gan Guoyang grabbed the referee with both hands, picked him up, and rushed towards the crowd with him, cursing "Fuck you all" while telling the referee, "Tell them to go back to the bench."

"You're the one who should be back on the bench! Put me down!"

"I brought you here to solve the problem... Anyone who wants a one-on-one fight can come find me! I'm right here!"

Gan Guoyang's appearance quickly quelled the conflict. The Warriors players knew that this guy was too good at fighting, and there was no need to sacrifice themselves in a game they were bound to lose.

Just as things were calming down, a fan suddenly rushed out and punched George Karl. George Karl immediately became enraged and charged at the fan to hit him back.

The TV commentator shouted, "George Karl hit a fan! George Karl knocked a fan down! George Karl lost his temper and attacked a fan!" In reality, Karl did not hit the fan; it was Chris Mullin who rushed over and pushed the fan down.

When Gan Guoyang saw his fan being pushed down, he immediately rushed over, grabbed Chris Mullin from behind, and threw Mullin onto the scorer's table.

The scene became even more chaotic, with police and security guards rushing into the area, but no one stopped Gan Guoyang.

Although Gan Guoyang threw Mullin onto the scorer's table, his appearance calmed down the Warriors players and Trail Blazers fans who wanted to rush up.

Gan Guoyang pulled the fallen fan up, carried him to George Karl, and at the same time stopped and intimidated everyone else who was about to rush over.

"It was wrong of you to hit someone from behind. Apologize to Coach Karl!" Gan Guoyang said to the fan.

This guy was a young man in his early twenties, wearing a baseball cap, and was being carried in Gan Guoyang's hands like a little chick.

He shouted an apology at George Karl, and Karl, who had been furious, calmed down a little, but he did not accept the apology.

At this moment, Mu Lin jumped off the technical table and rushed to Gan Guoyang. Gan Guoyang reached out his hand to him, and Mu Lin hesitated for a moment before giving Gan Guoyang a high five.

The two trained together at the Olympic training camp and had always had a good relationship. At the same time, Mullin knew that he was no match for Forrest Gump, and Forrest Gump's handling of the situation was also fine.

Fine, I'll let it go. A high five will make up.

The conflict has been temporarily quelled.

Although the Warriors suffered a crushing defeat, their willingness to take shots shows that they have a temper.

After losing by 28 points in the first game, they lost by 21 points in this game, and it seems like there is no hope at all.

But George Karl didn't think the series was over. Back in the locker room, the madman yelled and screamed at the whole team to vent his anger.

He used Gan Guoyang as an example, saying to the whole team: "Did you see that? Did you see that? Their fans rushed out and attacked someone from behind, and he just dragged the person over and apologized and that was it? Who does he think he is? An arbitrator? A judge? Just because he's the best fighter, does that mean everyone else has to be afraid of him and listen to him in everything? I didn't accept his apology at all!"

"And he even threw his good friend Chris Mullin into the stands. Mullin was just standing up for me. Why didn't he throw that fan into the stands to teach him a lesson! He's just a hypocrite, thinking he's so great. He scored 81 points, wow, how amazing. We'd better just surrender in front of them. The next game is in Oakland, his home, his hometown, where more than half the fans will be cheering for him."

"He must be thinking of winning the game in Oakland and ending this series. But I, and we, are determined not to let him have his way, and we're determined to take a piece of their flesh!"

Thirty-six-year-old George Karl was flushed and nearly frantic in the locker room. He was genuinely angry about the loss, the rudeness of the Portland fans, and the deep-seated helplessness in his heart.

But he didn't want to give up. There was a crazy, indomitable spirit in his blood that drove him to fear no powerful opponent and to be determined to dethrone the king.

On the other hand, Gan Guoyang did not let the fan who rushed onto the court and assaulted someone get away with it. He demanded that the Memorial Arena ban the young fan from coming to watch the Trail Blazers' games at home until he completed his three-week community service activity at the arena—helping to clean the arena.

The young man accepted the punishment and stated that he was a huge Drexler fan.

Gan Guoyang smiled and said, "Clyde's fans have really poor manners. Don't do such stupid things again."

After learning that the man was a fan, Drexler gifted him a pair of his Avia signature sneakers.

Subsequently, on April 27, Gan Guoyang and the Trail Blazers traveled to San Francisco, hoping to end the series in Oakland.

(End of this chapter)