The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 932 King of the World
After three group stage matches, the Chinese team has a record of 2 wins and 1 loss, and is currently ranked second in the group.

If China qualifies as the second-place team, they will face the third-placed team from Group B in the quarterfinals.

Furthermore, China will not be in the same half of the bracket as the United States, and they will not meet in the semifinals.

Maintaining second place is a good option, which means that the Chinese team will have to do their best to win the next two matches against Lithuania and Italy.

On September 22nd, the Chinese men's basketball team will have a rest day, while other Olympic competitions will proceed as scheduled.

In the men's 77kg weightlifting event, Zhan Xugang made a snatch mistake and fell far behind in total weight, but in his last attempt, he chose to break the world record with 207.5kg.

This was a weight he had never lifted before. In a situation that seemed hopeless to many, he lifted the barbell overhead and won the gold medal.

Zhan Xugang's incredible feat shocked Sydney, and his triumphant celebration after his success became one of the most iconic images in Chinese Olympic history.

Because of the harassment from fans, Gan Guoyang did not go out on his day off, the 22nd, and stayed in the Olympic Village to watch TV and witness Zhan Xugang's victory live.

Excited, Gan Guoyang tried a 207.5 kg barbell bench press during his strength training that evening and found it relatively easy.

207.5 kg, or about 457 pounds, while most NBA players' bench press weight is in the range of 150-250 pounds.

With Gan Guoyang's wingspan and current weight, being able to push to 457 pounds is already quite an amazing feat.

Seeing his shocked teammates, Gan Guoyang wiped his sweat and said, "I used to be able to push over 600 pounds, but I can't anymore. I'm afraid of getting injured."

It's not an exaggeration to say that in 1996, when he had just returned to the NBA and had increased his weight and strength to their peak, Gan Guoyang's bench press did indeed reach a peak of 600 pounds (272 kilograms), which is unmatched in NBA history.

It's important to know that Gan Guoyang achieved this result purely through strength, without using any bench press techniques, despite his long arm span. If he had used techniques or was specifically aiming to break bench press records, this number could have exceeded 1000 pounds.

That season, Gan Guoyang also achieved an unprecedented four-time champion in terms of statistics, reaching the pinnacle of individual heroism.

Besides Gan Guoyang, the strongest bench press player on the Chinese team is Liu Yudong. The 198cm tall Commander Liu can bench press 160kg (352lbs), which is already the ceiling level for domestic players.

For an inside player who is not tall enough, strength is the best way to make up for his lack of height.

The other Chinese players are quite strong, and although they are not as strong as European and American players, they are not at a disadvantage.

This is precisely the trend brought about by Gan Guoyang, which makes players pay more attention to strength training and maintain muscle strength, which can not only improve their competitiveness but also reduce injuries.

On September 23, the Chinese team faced Lithuania, their fourth opponent in the group stage. This was the first time the two teams had met in a major tournament since the 1992 Olympics.

Lithuania suffered a setback in their first match, losing to Italy by two points. They then defeated France, but lost to the United States in their last game. Currently, they have a record of 1 win and 2 losses and desperately need a victory.

Although veterans like Sabonis have retired, this Lithuanian team is quite formidable. They play a team-oriented style, and the players have excellent chemistry.

In order to counter the United States, Lithuania specifically invited Donnie Nelson—the son of Donnie Nelson Sr.—to serve as the team's assistant coach.

The head coach is Jonas Kazlauskas, known as the European Caesar, and is a typical European-style basketball coach.

Emphasis is placed on tactics, teamwork, and discipline, with extremely high standards. In the Lithuanian team, no player averages more than 15 points per game, and the scores of several key players fluctuate between 7 and 14 points, which is very average.

The players have excellent shooting skills. All the key players have a free throw percentage of over 80%. Players like Jasikevicius, Matthewlis, and Siskauskas have a free throw percentage of 90%, demonstrating extremely solid fundamentals.

A team like this is actually more troublesome for the Chinese team than the American team. In the 1992 Olympics, the Chinese team defeated Lithuania, which was actually done by Gan Guoyang alone. He completely suppressed Lithuania's core player Sabonis.

Now, the Lithuanian team has shifted its focus to the perimeter, with Jaskovicius, a superb point guard, as the tactical core, supplemented by a high-quality inside player. The team has a lot of multi-layered screen and movement tactics.

But in addition to the characteristics of these traditional European powerhouses, assistant coach Donnie Nelson also brought many elements of American basketball to Lithuania.

They place greater emphasis on personal abilities, are better and faster at seizing opportunities, and possess better physical fitness.

Another change is in defense; like the Chinese team, Lithuania is no longer confined to zone defense.

Instead, it combines zone defense with one-on-one individual defense, leveraging the strengths of both while minimizing their weaknesses.

In this respect, the Lithuanian team did better than the Chinese team; their defensive coordination was very high.

Moreover, the zone defense allows for seamless switching between man-to-man defenses, with smooth communication between players and very few instances of lost man-to-man marking or misplacement.

This made the match quite difficult for the Chinese team, who were stunned by Lithuania's 14-4 run at the start of the game.

Gan Guoyang usually conserves his energy in the first half and exerts it in the second half, but Lithuania seized this opportunity and launched a fierce attack at the start to establish an advantage.

Lithuania's interior players are not very tall; their tallest center, Sangaira, is only 6'9" (2.05m). China has an absolute advantage in the paint.

However, Lithuania's zone-man defense is quite tight; they don't simply collapse the paint, but can effectively switch between inside and outside.

Furthermore, Lithuania plays a very fast-paced offense, starting strong and setting the pace, giving the Chinese team no chance to slowly build their inside game and find their rhythm.

Jiang Xingquan called a timeout, and the Chinese team adjusted their tactics. Gan Guoyang realized that if they wanted to win tonight, they had to exert themselves early, otherwise they would definitely be doomed.

Meanwhile, Jiang Xingquan replaced Wang Zhizhi with Sun Jun, appropriately reducing the useless height in the paint and increasing the firepower on the perimeter—Wang Zhizhi's shooting touch wasn't good tonight against Lithuania's fierce physical defense.

The substitution did have an effect. Gan Guoyang immediately scored repeatedly in the paint and drew fouls from the opponent several times, sending him to the free-throw line. In a short time, the Lithuanian interior players were constantly complaining.

Meanwhile, Yao Ming was unstoppable in the paint. He and Gan Guoyang formed a twin towers in the paint, and in a few possessions, the two of them grabbed 5 offensive rebounds together, prompting Jonas on the sidelines to berate the players.

Old-school coaches are most intolerant of losing defensive rebounds, as it has a huge impact on team morale and tactics.

However, the Chinese team failed to reverse the score, and Lithuania maintained their lead thanks to their attack.

At the same time, the Chinese team made too many mistakes in the backcourt. Whether it was Guo Shiqiang or Li Xiaoyong, the point guards still struggled against strong and tall guards.

Li Xiaoyong started in the first game, but Guo Shiqiang played more and had more opportunities in the final game, but his performance was only mediocre.

China's guards still lack aggression; aside from dribbling the ball across half-court and passing it around, they pose almost no significant offensive threat.

In modern basketball, a point guard who lacks offensive threat will also have a significantly reduced playmaking threat.

As you dribble towards them, your opponents don't need to concentrate too much, allowing them to leisurely set up their defense.

Even when double-teaming or pressuring the point guard, mistakes still occur, or defensive passes lead to half the failure of the attack—this has been the biggest problem for the Chinese team against strong European teams for a long time.

Lithuania happens to be a team with a very strong point guard. Jaskovicius is a rapidly rising Lithuanian super guard. He is tall (6'4"), strong, and has good shooting, playmaking, and dribbling skills. His biggest problem is that he is relatively slow and his defense is not good, but these are not problems in Lithuania's system.

Lithuania's zone-man defense strategy will protect Jaskovic well.

When facing the Chinese team, this kind of protection is not really necessary, because the Chinese team's point guards are too weak in individual offense.

In the first half, Guo Shiqiang took four shots and missed all of them. Li Xiaoyong played for four minutes and took two shots, both of which missed.

Jaskovic, using skillful screens, constantly evaded Gan Guoyang's defense and successfully organized the team's offense.

In the first half, Jaskovic had already dished out 6 assists, which is a very high number in FIBA ​​competition.

立陶宛也以53：46，领先中国队7分，甘国阳半场17分，也拉不动两个控卫6中0。

The problem of Chinese guards has become increasingly prominent in recent years, especially after the emergence of Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi, and Battier in the paint, the guards have become more and more one-dimensional in their functions.

During training in Eugene, Oregon, Gan Guoyang realized this and repeatedly emphasized to the coaching staff that the backcourt must be strong.

"In the future, when selecting players, we shouldn't get hung up on point guards or shooting guards. As long as they are guards, the standards are the same: they need to be able to pass, score, and defend, and play both the one and two positions. They don't necessarily need to be tall. Being tall and fast is naturally the best, but we shouldn't make a blanket decision about those who are short but have ability and unique characteristics. Ultimately, we should look at their performance on the court. They must be all-rounders, and their function cannot be one-dimensional. Offense is more important than defense, and their offense must be threatening. That's the most important thing."

Gan Guoyang offered his suggestions, establishing a basic policy and general direction for the future development of the Chinese team's backcourt talent.

Guards are not mere accessories to the inside players, but rather a vital and dominant force on the court.

In fact, since the birth of basketball, including after the establishment of the NBA, backcourt players have always been dominant.

Although interior giants often attract the most attention and garner the most glory, being the pinnacle of the sport, the fundamental players in the entire basketball world have always been the backcourt players.

You could assemble a team made up entirely of small and medium-sized players, and they could even make it all the way to the NCAA Finals (like Kentucky in the 60s).

But if a team consists entirely of interior players, then the game won't even get going.

During halftime, back in the locker room, Gan Guoyang was not angry with Guo Shiqiang and Li Xiaoyong for their poor performance.

Instead, he said, "It's okay. I'll take charge of both control and defense in the second half. I'll take on this king of Europe."

Clearly, with the crucial group stage matches determining the quarterfinals, Gan Guoyang will no longer hold back and conserve his energy; it's time to make a push.

Gan Guoyang can play point guard too. Anyway, Jasikevicius isn't the kind of fast, explosive small guard; he's tall, slow, and technically skilled, which is Gan Guoyang loves to defend.

At the peak of his career, Gan Guoyang could defend Allen Iverson—of course, that was when he was helping or assisting in the paint; if he went to guard him outside the three-point line, he would easily break his ankle by being faked out.

Jasikevicius, a player with average physical attributes who relies on his intelligence, is in trouble against Gan Guoyang. Sure enough, at the start of the second half, Gan Guoyang suddenly stood in front of Jasikevicius, startling the European king.

"My God, Sonny, are you standing in the wrong place?"

"No, I'll stand wherever you stand. I'm your fan."

"Do not make jokes……"

Gan Guoyang can communicate with Jaskovicius in Lithuanian; he learned it from Sabonis.

Because of Sabonis, most of the young Lithuanian players are fans of the Trail Blazers and Gan Guoyang.

Tonight, Sabonis is sitting on the sidelines, wearing glasses, with his wife and son beside him, watching the match between China and Lithuania.

As soon as he saw Gan Guoyang staring at Jaskovic, he knew something was wrong and muttered, "Gan is bullying the young man again. Hang in there, hang in there."

However, it was really tough to keep up. Jasikevicius could no longer play with the same ease and freedom he had in the first half, with no pressure on either offense or defense, and fully committed to organizing the attack.

First, once you cross half-court, you'll face Gan Guoyang's oppressive defense. At 6 feet 10 inches tall, he possesses absolute strength and a commanding presence. Trying to force your way through by turning sideways is completely useless.

The only options are to accelerate, break free, get away, turn your back, look for someone, not find them, be forced into a corner, and pass the ball to a teammate who is coming to receive it.

A defensive pass that posed no threat, the first pass failed, but Jaskovic immediately ran to the wing and used movement to find a new position to receive the ball.

Gan Guoyang, however, did not follow. He would not waste his energy running after them. Instead, he stood at the top of the arc, overseeing the overall situation, judging the ball's trajectory, and blocking Lithuania's central attack.

Jaskovic ran to the inside, but Yao Ming was already inside, so receiving the ball was useless. He circled around to the right wing, where Gan Guoyang had already moved over. As soon as he received the ball, Gan Guoyang would definitely rush to meet him.

Even from a distance, his height and defensive coverage area can still affect Jaskovic.

This puts Lithuania's offensive organization in a difficult position.

The low-post attack missed, Yao Ming grabbed the rebound, and the Chinese team launched a counterattack.

Gan Guoyang controlled the ball past half-court, displaying skillful ball control and ignoring all kinds of interference.

Then, with Jaskovic's defense practically nonexistent, he pulled up for a three-pointer and made it!
Jonas knew the situation was bad, but it was too early to call a timeout, so he could only shout from the sidelines.

If Lithuania still had Sabonis at this point, it would be great. He is familiar with Agam's playing style and can receive and organize play in the middle, rebuilding the team's offense.

But Sabonis has retired; he's retired from both the NBA and the national team. He really can't play anymore.

Jaskovicius was blocked by Gan Guoyang, and Lithuania's positional attack immediately came to a standstill.

They relied more on individual skills to force their way through the paint, which greatly reduced their offensive efficiency, while Yao Ming held the paint tightly.

Gan Guoyang controlled the attack when he had the ball, and his offensive threat was too great. Lithuania's defense focused all its attention on him.

When two or three people surround him, Gan Guoyang immediately passes the ball, or he can force a shot before they surround him.

After hitting consecutive three-pointers and two-pointers, and assisting Wang Zhizhi and Hu Weidong to score, the Chinese team went on an 11-4 run to tie the score.

Jonas had no choice but to call a timeout to rearrange the team, making personnel changes and adding another guard to free up Jaskovic and avoid Agam's sharp attacks.

When they arrived at FIBA, the coaches, just like those in the NBA, realized that avoiding Forrest Gump was the best option in the end, as they were bound to suffer losses.

Seeing this, Gan Guoyang relaxed his defense on Jaskovic and returned to the small forward position during the offense, handing over the main control to Guo Shiqiang and Hu Weidong.

Since his first comeback in 1996, Gan Guoyang has completely transformed back into a human superstar – in his own words, "I'm only half a body length ahead of Michael."

The rhythmic changes, with fast and slow moments, acceleration and steady pace, are no longer possible like in my youth, where I could relentlessly rage and suffocate my opponent.

However, this also gave Gan Guoyang more opportunities to think with his hands on his hips, to better observe the dynamics of the game, and he used his brain more and more.

The two sides entered a stalemate for a period of time. Lithuania regained its offensive rhythm, while the Chinese team relied on Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi's advantage in the paint to score repeatedly.

Yao Ming was in excellent form tonight, unstoppable inside. Gan Guoyang, playing at the small forward position, repeatedly fed him shots, and Yao Ming scored with hook shots and layups.

The score remained close, tied at 65 and then at 80, as the match entered its final decisive stage.

At this point, Lithuania finally pulled out their trump card – continuous cover to create offensive space for Jaskovicius.

FIBA's pick-and-roll rules are different from the NBA's. Before 2000, the NBA was very strict in its penalties for illegal screens.

Basically, when a player sets a screen for a teammate, the requirement is that they cannot move; any movement will result in a foul.

Because the NBA doesn't want too many screens to disrupt one-on-one matchups between players.

Therefore, popular NBA stars like Jordan, Kobe, and Iverson are all skilled one-on-one players on the perimeter and rarely rely on pick-and-roll screens.

In the league, big men like David Robinson, Ewing, and Olajuwon rarely came out to set screens for their teammates on offense.

Even Stockton Malone, who is often labeled as a pick-and-roll player, actually used pick-and-rolls very rarely in important games and crucial possessions.

Back when we played the Princeton offense, we used cuts and reverse runs much more often than pick-and-roll.

Gan Guoyang is an excellent screener in the paint, but his pick-and-roll plays with Porter, Drexler, Kobe, and Petrovic are just a secondary tactical tool.

The root cause is that the league doesn't encourage it. If the screener stands still and can't move, the effectiveness of the screen is greatly reduced. You can't screen well, and it's not easy to execute subsequent tactics. It gives the defender too much time to react.

However, FIBA ​​rules are different, and the standards for calling pick-and-roll are much looser. The screener can make many moves and move in various directions, and the pick-and-roll is more varied, which makes it much more difficult for the defender.

In two consecutive attacks, Lithuania scored both shots, while China only managed one mid-range shot from Hu Weidong. Lithuania took the lead and had possession of the ball.

Gan Guoyang knew that he had to find a way to break Lithuania's continuous double-man cover.

At this point, Gan Guoyang resolutely bypassed the defense and screen, then used his long arms to disrupt the defense.

Jaskovic attempted a three-pointer, but it was contested and missed, and Yao Ming grabbed the rebound.

During the counterattack, Gan Guoyang took a long stride, drove the length of the court to the basket, and dunked with one hand!
At 36 years old, after accumulating energy with his hands on his hips for a while, he can still dribble the ball and launch fast breaks.

The score was tied at 84-84, with 30 seconds remaining, and Lithuania called a timeout.

Jonas devised a key attack strategy, and Sabonis, sitting behind the Lithuanian bench, was pacing anxiously.

Because he knew that when the crucial moment arrived, Forrest Gump's time would come, and he had to be careful.

Sabonis's intuition was correct. Jonas had been setting up the attack for a while, but then ran into problems with his serve.

Yao Ming stood on the sideline to interfere with the serve, causing Lithuania's serve to be too high and too slow, which Gan Guoyang noticed.

Gan Guoyang rushed over and jumped, heading the ball forward. Jaskovic made an even bigger mistake at that moment.

As Gan Guoyang was running forward with the ball, he grabbed Gan Guoyang from behind and was called for an unsportsmanlike foul. The Chinese team was awarded two free throws and possession!
This goal completely dashed Lithuania's hopes of winning.

If Gan Guoyang steals the ball and scores on a fast break, Lithuania will have plenty of time to attack.

They even had a chance to hit a game-winning three-pointer and take the game out of the game, leaving no chance for Agan to fight back.

But Jaskovic got impulsive; in the second half, he was so badly marked by Gan Guoyang's defense that he became disoriented and prone to making mistakes.

This is what makes Gan Guoyang so formidable; when you're matched up against him, it's easy to break down, and once you break down, you make mistakes, and those mistakes often cost you the game.

So after the foul, Jaskovic squatted on the ground and covered his face for a while. He felt that he was too stupid. Why did he reach out?

But what's done is done, it was too late. Gan Guoyang made both free throws, meaning he hadn't missed a free throw in either of the two Olympic Games.

84:86, and the Chinese team still has to serve.

Gan Guoyang received the ball, and Lithuania had to foul again. Gan Guoyang went to the free throw line again and made both free throws, making it 84-88, a difference of 4 points.

Lithuania had run out of timeouts, and when their final three-point attempt missed, the game ended, with China defeating Lithuania by 4 points.

With a record of 3 wins and 1 loss in the group stage, they have already secured a place in the knockout stage and are highly likely to finish in the top two of their group, thus avoiding being in the same half of the bracket as the United States.

After the victory, Gan Guoyang raised his arms high and enjoyed the cheers of the fans. However, his expression was much calmer. He was very calm even when he won the NBA championship.

Gan Guoyang scored 33 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. In the second half, he successfully contained Jaskovic, making the King of Europe understand the weight of the King of the World.

(End of this chapter)