The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 125 - 27: Not the Worst Class_2

But with Gan Guoyang present, as long as he did the assistive work well, listened to commands, protected the rebounds, set good screens on offense, and retreated in time on defense, everything would be just fine.

After the Rookie Team took an early 4:0 lead, the main team gradually began to exert their strength. Vandeweghe scored consecutively in counter-attacks to tie the game.

Thompson and Kenny-Carl double-teamed Gan Guoyang, Kolter, Kossie, and Bernard-Thompson, who failed to find their offensive rhythm.

Valentine, as an experienced point guard, orchestrated well-coordinated set-play offenses, exploiting a couple of tactics in a row to find and make outside shots.

About 5 minutes into the game, the main team led 16:8, already 8 points ahead. Gan Guoyang raised his hand towards Adelman and called a timeout to let everyone adjust.

The pace of the NBA game is much faster than that of the NCAA. In the NCAA, scoring over 10 points combined in the first 5 minutes is considered quite a lot.

In the NBA, scoring comes much quicker, and even more so in intra-squad practice games. Having experienced Gan Guoyang’s initial shock, Thompson and others felt that this kid might just be that good.

As a center, he still feared being double-teamed, and in fast-paced games, that was still a disadvantage.

On the sidelines, Ramsay was already silently noting down some of Gan Guoyang’s "flaws" in his notebook, preparing to discuss them with Gan Guoyang after the game.

Yin Man and Weinberg sat on the sideline, pleased with Gan Guoyang’s initial performance and seeing the Rookie Team’s lag as normal and expected.

If they could dominate the main team, wouldn’t that turn the world upside down and create chaos?

Only Adelman, who was refereeing on the court, felt that Gan Guoyang’s performance was not as simple as it seemed.

"Their defense is very solid. Ah Gan is mostly focused on teaching his teammates defense, finding the offensive rhythm for his teammates; he hasn’t even started to exert his real power,"

Adelman had close contact with the players of both teams and had a more intuitive feeling about the progress of the game.

After the timeout, Gan Guoyang once again posted up in the low block. After receiving the ball, Kenny-Carl came over to double-team.

But before the double-team took shape, Gan Guoyang had already made a fake move followed by a spin move and made a turnaround jumper.

Gan Guoyang received the ball deep in the post; Thompson couldn’t push him out far enough.

It was too difficult to stop that kind of turnaround jumper.

Mychal Thompson, though not tall, had a strong build, excellent wingspan, and was good at defense.

Especially against low-post skilled players, Thompson had insights defensively, and with any carelessness, one could easily have the ball stolen by him.

As an interior player, he averaged one steal per game, most of which were from low-post steals.

This was his seventh year in the league, and at 30 years old, he was at the peak of his defensive experience.

Yet facing Gan Guoyang, he felt helpless because Gan Guoyang was just too quick.

Thompson had a good impression of Gan Guoyang because he had won over the players with his resistance to the Trail Blazers’ medical system.

But after these few plays, Thompson only had one thought in his mind, that he had indeed gotten old, and that damned injury had ruined him.

He was fierce, swift, and explosive when he played at the University of Minnesota, but after a fibula fracture in ’79, he missed an entire year.

After returning, he never regained his former speed and explosiveness. Now, at 30, he could still get by in the league on his experience.

But after a series of one-on-one battles with Gan Guoyang, Thompson was frustrated. When it was his turn to attack, he demanded the ball from Drexler, intending to play one-on-one against Gan Guoyang with his back to the basket.

After receiving the ball, he made a fake inside spin move, followed by an outside spin hook shot, but it was blocked...

Thompson couldn’t understand how his slick fake and spin hook, which could score even against Jabbar when playing against the Lakers, could get blocked when Gan Guoyang was of the same height as him and only had a slightly longer wingspan.

As Thompson was still perplexed, Gan Guoyang caught a pass from Kolter in a fast break and slammed an easy dunk.

After catching up by 4 points, it looked like the timeout was pretty useful.

As Thompson crossed the half-court, he asked Gan Guoyang, "How did you block my hook shot just now?"

Gan Guoyang replied, "You were too slow, and I used my left hand to block."

Thompson understood that, first, he was slow, and his feint didn’t work.

Second, Gan Guoyang’s left hand was blocking, which, if guarding a right-handed player, would be closer to the ball and more likely to block it.

Thompson called for the ball in the low post again, and the perimeter players cooperated, passing the ball to Thompson. This time, he used his skills to spin repeatedly, trying to shake off Gan Guoyang’s one-on-one defense.

Gan Guoyang stuck to him like glue, regardless of how he spun, sticking to him just right.

The experienced Thompson still found a gap, seized the opportunity to drive in for a layup, and drew a defensive foul from Gan Guoyang.

After all, Thompson’s years in the NBA weren’t for nothing. He scored both free throws and managed to regain some face.

But it was from this play that the situation on the court started to reverse, and the score went from 18:12 to 18:18.

The main team’s perimeter offense kept missing, while the Rookie Team played with more strategy, with both Kossie and Kolter scoring consecutively.

Then, during defense, Gan Guoyang closely guarded Drexler’s layup attempt, grabbed the defensive rebound, and made a long pass to the frontcourt.

Jerome Kossie was already on the fast break, received the ball and easily dunked it, giving the Rookie Team the lead.

Ramsay, furious, called a timeout for the main team, letting them reflect on where the problem lay.

The Rookie Team was elated; although they hadn’t won, coming back to take the lead once during the 20-minute scrimmage was really great.

"Gan, you were right, they really started to misfire," said Kossie.

On the sidelines, Kossie was excited. He scored the critical points for the lead, and besides Gan Guoyang, he was the top scorer for the Rookie Team.

He had always been worried that he wouldn’t be able to gain a foothold with the Trail Blazers, that he would be cut after the training camp.

The college Kossie graduated from could be described as obscure among the obscure.

At least Gan Guoyang’s Gonzaga was an NCAA Division 1 institution, whereas Kossie’s alma mater Longwood College’s basketball team only played in the NAIA League.

Although the NAIA has a long history, having been established by Dr. Naismith, it is far inferior to the NCAA and NIT in terms of level and influence.

Moreover, Longwood College was a women’s college until 1976 and only started to admit male students in recent years, becoming coeducational.

Because of this, Kossie had often been the butt of jokes after joining the Trail Blazers, being called an outstanding graduate from a women’s college with full home economics skills.

So Kossie cherished every opportunity to perform. He was born in a poor rural area of Virginia, where his family had seven children, and he grew up with his grandparents.

Even though he went to college, he didn’t get his degree because he was two courses short. Basketball was his only way out.

Ramsay once suggested he play in Europe for two years and then come back, which was a common choice for less-talented players at that time: gain some experience, earn money, and then return to the U.S. to become a qualified cog in the machine.

But Kossie didn’t accept this suggestion. He was stubborn about staying; he wanted to play in the NBA.

Gan Guoyang told Kossie to calm down and not be like a corgi. He said, "Stay solid on defense. Later, let Vandeweghe into the three-second area, I’ll be waiting for him there."

Kossie nodded vigorously. He was completely convinced by Gan Guoyang because during the first timeout, Gan Guoyang had said:

"I’ll lead you guys in a counterattack soon. It’s very likely that the opponents’ offense will falter. We need to seize this opportunity and not make mistakes. Remember, no mistakes."