The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 146 - 44 Desire

[The Lakers’ start to the 1985 season was far from smooth. Following the painful Finals in 1984, they intended to conquer the new season, but Riley’s experiments with the starting lineup led to disappointing results. Before their November 4 battle against the Trail Blazers, they had a record of 2 wins and 3 losses. Against the Trail Blazers, Gan Guoyang began with a terrifying fast-break dunk off the tip-off that nearly shook three Lakers players off the court...]

————Excerpt from "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s" written by Jeff Pearlman, published in 2013.

Standing on the sidelines, Riley touched his forehead reflexively after seeing Gan Guoyang’s basket, smoothing out his slick hair before crossing his arms to continue watching the game.

He had dressed as impeccably as the Hollywood stars watching from the courtside, but inside he was anything but the picture of calm and grace.

At the start of the season, he adjusted the starting lineup, using Wilkes and Worthy as dual small forwards, hoping to further strengthen the team’s offense.

Worthy had to cover the power forward position defensively, while second-year rookie Byron Scott was promoted to starting shooting guard due to Riley’s belief that his shooting ability surpassed that of Cooper’s.

It was Riley’s fourth season with the Lakers, and what should have been his third complete season. Initially considered an interim figure, he seized the opportunity to reach the Finals three years in a row, securing one championship and firmly establishing his position as head coach.

This coach, once merely an assistant echoing Magic’s calls, was now evolving into a commanding leader adept at molding the minds of his players through time and authority.

Before the season began, Riley held intense training sessions in Palm Springs and invited family members to join the team for meals and speeches, asserting to the women that "men are only responsible for basketball" in an effort to fiercely bond the team’s spirit and hearts, hoping for revenge this year.

But professional leagues are incredibly harsh; they hardly bend to your personal will and the competition is a survival of the fittest between teams.

Riley’s ideas were noble, but a 2-3 record suggested that they might not have been the right choices, and the mounting pressure made him desperate for a victory.

Gan Guoyang’s opening dunk was like striking a gong right next to Riley’s heart—he who already suffered from a heart condition—reminding him of the Olympic Team’s experience where he had first witnessed this Chinese player’s exceptional energy with the All-Star Team.

Riley believed that in the entire league, only Magic could match Ah Gan’s relentless energy; they seemed to never tire.

And wearing down the opponent had always been one of the Lakers’ magic tricks for conquering other teams, with noisy inside players like Gan Guoyang and Moses always causing headaches.

Gan Guoyang made the bonus free throw, and the Lakers’ offense looked for Jabbar, but Gan Guoyang started fronting Jabbar, wrestling in the paint.

Jabbar possessed a stature like an ancient tree, while Gan Guoyang had the strength of Lu Zhishen; without the constraint of fouling, Gan Guoyang really wanted to uproot Jabbar.

Johnson surveyed the situation and instead of lobbing the ball to Jabbar, he passed it to Worthy on the low right side. Worthy received the ball, turned and took a close-range jump shot—it missed, the shot fell short.

The problem with fronting the defense is that you might lose the offensive rebound, and, as expected, Jabbar turned to grab the offensive rebound, luckily, Thompson kept the ball in control.

In the Trail Blazers’ set offense, Gan Guoyang backed down Jabbar in the same position.

"Ah Gan, challenging Jabbar in the low post! This kid really has no idea who he’s up against; he probably doesn’t know that Kareem is the all-time leader in blocked shots... Oh, the spin move followed by a fold-up layup, and it’s in! Woah, Ah Gan’s spin layup avoids Kareem’s block, beautifully executed."

Chick Hearn has his face slapped twice by the opening plays, maybe he needs to re-evaluate Gan Guoyang.

Jabbar was surprised by the strength of Gan Guoyang in the low post, and even more stunned by Gan Guoyang’s spin move technique.

Gan Guoyang’s right foot entwined around Jabbar’s leg like a vine, stepping deep. This allowed him to be almost immediately under the basket when he spun.

Then Gan Guoyang used his strong core strength to weave past Jabbar’s block, laying the ball in from the other side.

This move was reminiscent of Moses’s low post maneuvers. The old tree with spreading roots had been a nightmare for the Lakers’ interior in ’83.

Every time he executed that scissor-leg spin move to get inside, he not only scored, but also often drew a foul.

While thinking, Jabbar hurried to establish position down low, looking to make a play.

But Gan Guoyang, fresh past mid-court, began entangling Jabbar, staying in contact all the way.

After that tangle for a couple of possessions, Jabbar still couldn’t get the ball, and he finally couldn’t resist giving Gan Guoyang a light shove, saying, "Don’t go so hard, kid. The game’s long."

"No, the game is short, it will end quickly," Gan Guoyang replied as he tangled up again.

However, Jabbar was a superstar with vast experience; mere entangling wasn’t going to prevent him from getting the ball.

Using movement and tactical coordination with his teammates, Jabbar still secured a favorable low post position.

Receiving the pass, he turned smoothly and sunk the two-pointer with his hook shot.

Gan Guoyang attempted to block, but realized it was futile without the assistance of his teammates.

"I told you, the game’s long, don’t be shortsighted, kid."

An irritated Jabbar scolded Gan Guoyang after scoring.

He had seen too many of these brash defenders who thought they could handle him just by physical contact and entanglement.

But the game is long, 48 minutes, and Jabbar would use every gap to kill you with his refined hook shot.

How many times had defenders started the game confident, only to be ultimately breached and unable to defend any longer?

However, that’s not what Gan Guoyang was thinking.

The game started off rather chaotically, with both teams playing messily for the first three minutes.

Thompson’s mid-range shot was blocked by Jabbar.

Johnson snatched the defensive rebound and his outlet pass was intercepted by Valentine.

Vandeweghe’s mid-range jumper from the right corner didn’t go in.

Byron Scott’s long-range shot during the counterattack also missed the mark.

After a full rotation, it was still up to Gan Guoyang to take charge of the Trail Blazers’ offense.

Down low again, Valentine passed the ball to Gan Guoyang, who took a moment to survey his teammates.

Parkson cut along the baseline with no opportunity, Vandeweghe on the wing was too far out, and Thompson at the high post didn’t have a good angle.

It was still a one-on-one situation, but this time Gan Guoyang’s turnaround jump shot was blocked by Jabbar!

At 7 feet 2 inches tall with a super-long wingspan, Jabbar wasn’t someone you could easily get a shot over — and the 6-foot-10-inch Gan Guoyang had never encountered such a towering wall before.

Jabbar’s block gained possession, and Magic Johnson got the ball, his engine revving as he started the fast break!

Byron Scott and Worthy charged down the court on both flanks. Just as Magic Johnson turned his head towards Worthy, he whipped a pass to Scott on the left.

Scott caught the ball and finished the fast break with a layup!

"Showtime!" Hearn exclaimed.

The Lakers’ signature fast break came quickly.

Yet the Trail Blazers didn’t slow down, as Gan Guoyang wasn’t discouraged by the block.

He immediately went down to the baseline to quickly inbound the ball, telling Valentine, "I’m going to charge inside."

Valentine nodded in understanding. As Gan Guoyang crossed halfcourt, he started to accelerate towards the basket.

Valentine matched his speed, threading a pass through the Lakers’ unsteady defense to Guoyang inside.

Gan Guoyang caught the ball, breezed past Jabbar, and slammed it home with one hand!

Jack Ramsay saw Gan Guoyang score on the counter and applauded from the sideline, "Nicely done, nicely done!"

Many players might get frustrated after a setback on offense, but not Gan Guoyang. He knew that the best way to deal with a setback was to strike back immediately.

Ramsay also understood why Riley’s starting lineup kept failing. Without a qualified blue-collar power forward, once the opponent gained momentum, Jabbar was at a loss.

If Rambis had been on the floor just now, he wouldn’t have allowed Gan Guoyang to just barge in and dunk the ball like that.

From this point on, the pace of the game suddenly accelerated.

Magic Johnson backed his way across halfcourt, butt sticking out.

Just as he crossed halfcourt, he suddenly threw a direct pass. Worthy caught the ball at about an 8-foot mark with his back to the basket, turned around, and made the jump shot.

The connection between Johnson and Worthy was incredibly fast. By the time Gan Guoyang stepped into the key, Worthy’s shot was already in.

Gan Guoyang was just there to inbound the ball.

Gan Guoyang quickly inbounded to Valentine, once again making eye contact as a signal.

Then Gan Guoyang went down to the low right block. Valentine passed the ball to Parkson.

Parkson decisively passed it back to Gan Guoyang, who was determined to overpower Jabbar this time.

Their struggle under the basket reached its peak, but Gan Guoyang held his ground, received the ball, and turned, maintaining his position over Jabbar.

Jabbar’s center of gravity shifted as he tried to block the shot, but Gan Guoyang just made a feint. He dribbled under the basket and scored a left-handed layup off the backboard, with Worthy, who already had one foul, not daring to risk another and thus conceding the score to Guoyang.

9:6, Gan Guoyang single-handedly accounted for all of the Trail Blazers’ points at the start.

Indeed, coach Ramsay had not instructed to focus the offense on Gan Guoyang at the beginning of the game.

But Gan Guoyang opened with a slam dunk that shocked everyone, including his teammates.

They knew that tonight they had to let Gan Guoyang take charge, for his desire for victory was undisguisable.

Valentine could feel it — if he didn’t pass the ball to Gan Guoyang, there was a chance Gan Guoyang might "kill" him.