The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 150 - 48 Never Stop

Gan Guoyang erupted in the third quarter, using his one-on-one offense to score 20 consecutive points and completely changed the momentum on the court.

Riley paid the price for his mistake in judgment, letting his power forward defend Gan Guoyang for an extended period.

Clearly, Gan Guoyang’s "restraint" in the latter part of the second quarter led Riley astray, plus Jabbar’s aversion to endless physical confrontations, allowed Gan Guoyang to seize the opportunity and create his own version of "Show time."

At the end of the third quarter, the Trail Blazers scored 39 points in the quarter, entering the fourth with a 94:84 lead, 10 points ahead of the Lakers.

Gan Guoyang had already scored 38 points, grabbed 16 rebounds, and blocked 4 shots. If it weren’t for knocking Rambis down which disrupted his rhythm, he might have continued to score.

During the break, there was silence on the bench as everyone looked at Gan Guoyang like a deity, even Ramsay hardly spoke a word, just patting Gan Guoyang on the shoulder.

Kolter passed water and a towel to Gan Guoyang, who took a drink, wiped the sweat, and said, "We’ve got to win this game, I don’t want to score in vain."

Then he said to Ramsay, "Don’t take me out in the fourth quarter, I need to win this one."

Ramsay didn’t say anything more but nodded in agreement; now, Gan Guoyang was the king of Portland, and no one dared to defy him.

Gan Guoyang could accept losing a game when he was in poor form, but he couldn’t stand playing well and then being overturned at the end. He needed to protect his fruits of victory.

When Riley saw that Gan Guoyang continued to play at the start of the fourth quarter, he had no choice but to keep Jabbar on the court as well.

Jabbar, having played for 30 minutes, was slightly weary and actually needed a rest.

In 1982, at 35 years old, his time on the court had significantly decreased, and he never surpassed 35 minutes again afterward.

He was no longer the young player who could average 44 minutes per game; whereas Gan Guoyang was at an age where he could play 48 minutes without needing a rest.

Gan Guoyang adhered to his coach Nate-Sermonde’s defensive principle: when I’m sweating profusely, I will make you sweat even more.

Magic Johnson tried to initiate a final comeback in the fourth quarter, but the spirited Trail Blazers, united in their efforts, did not give the Lakers another chance.

When Parkson caught the ball under the basket and succeeded in making consecutive cuts and layups, Pat Riley knew in his heart that the Lakers had collapsed that night.

From defense to offense, they were shattered by Gan Guoyang’s strong offensive wave. Tactically and mentally, they were unprepared for the onslaught of this young giant.

Their focus had been on far-off Boston in the Northeast. The Worthy-Wilkes small forward duo was prepared for Bird; Scott was busy handling Dennis Johnson, leaving him unable to support Magic.

But the finals were still half a year away, and everything had to start from the beginning.

In the past five seasons, the Lakers had made it to the finals four times, the only loss being due to internal strife within the team.

In the Western Conference, they had no rivals and were the undisputed kings of the West.

In five years in the Western Conference, they had only lost 10 playoff games, an average of two per year.

But this game made Riley realize that a new force was rising.

They should focus more on the present and not aim too high for the finals just yet.

If they continued like this, they might not even get the chance to meet the Celtics in the finals.

Gan Guoyang led the Trail Blazers players to withstand the Lakers’ final counterattack in the fourth quarter.

He did not provide the Lakers with the opportunity to create a miraculous comeback due to the solid foundation he laid in the third quarter.

The Lakers faced many issues: Jabbar’s fatigue, Rambis’ exit, Worthy’s foul trouble, and disordered rotation leading to Wilkes’ poor shooting touch.

Riley had a great many problems to deal with.

Ultimately, the Trail Blazers defeated the Lakers at their home court 121:110, securing a 5-game winning streak since the start of the season.

Back in the locker room, Gan Guoyang asked Ramsay, "Is this our best start in recent years?"

Ramsay shook his head and said, "No, in 1981 we started with 7 straight wins."

Gan Guoyang frustratedly said, "Fuck, we were quite strong before; I should have gone to a worse team."

Ramsay said, "But this winning streak is the most valuable; we have three consecutive away wins, four away games out of five. In 1981, we only had one away game out of seven."

"I like playing away games; it’s just that the arena was a bit too quiet today, not what I expected."

As he spoke, Gan Guoyang took a towel and headed to the shower, leaving a crowd of reporters waiting outside the locker room door.

The game indeed turned out differently than Gan Guoyang had anticipated; that morning as he ran in the Great Western Forum, he had imagined the arena full of cheers.

It wasn’t until the game started that he remembered this wasn’t a college game, it was an away game, where the only time the crowd went silent was when he played well.

The post-game interview was anything but silent; tonight Gan Guoyang scored 42 points and grabbed 19 rebounds, the last person to perform like that at the Great Western Forum was Moses Malone. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Back in 1982, when facing the Lakers on their court, he scored 39 points with 17 rebounds, shooting an astounding 83 percent from the field.

However, the Rockets lost the game, and Malone was that year’s MVP, whereas Gan Guoyang was just a rookie who had played five games.

After Michael Jackson left the venue mid-game, Gan Guoyang became the most eye-catching star.

He calmly answered the reporters’ questions, saying it was just a regular season game and the Lakers did not bring their full energy.

And he wanted to apologize to Kurt Rambis, for elbowing him unintentionally and knocking him out, hoping he was unharmed.

Gan Guoyang displayed his buffalo-like physique in the game, tutored by the spirit of fitness from later generations in an era when scientific strength training was not widely popular, showing the power of robust strength.

His physical talent was already far above average, and with years of consistent training, his impact was like that of a football running back, perhaps even more terrifying.

Pat Riley fell silent for a while when mentioning Gan Guoyang in the post-game interview, scratching his receding hairline, he said, "I see the rise of a new force, maybe as the old guard we should consider exiting."

The reporters laughed, knowing Riley was joking, but Riley wasn’t smiling.

He said this deliberately to motivate Jabbar, who had been completely outplayed by Gan Guoyang tonight.

Not just in terms of stats or on-court performance, but also in spiritual power—Riley knew that the 37-year-old Jabbar often acted no differently than an 8-year-old kid.

He was emotional, needing to be cajoled, encouraged, and occasionally prodded; Riley was adept at this.

The defeated Johnson didn’t invite Gan Guoyang to his party, cancelling their previous arrangement and deciding instead to spend a night at the arena.

Rambis went to the hospital for a checkup, and it seemed like he had a mild concussion, but the poorly-performing Lakers gave him no chance to rest, and he was back training and playing immediately.

Gan Guoyang’s remarkable performance once again ignited excitement among the Los Angeles Chinese community; Chinatown held a celebration, making for a raucous night.

Upon returning to the hotel that evening, Gan Guoyang found the door crammed with phone messages and a few pictures of sexy beauties, with phone numbers written on the back.

Gan Guoyang distributed them among his teammates, especially giving a few more to Drexler, knowing the guy liked beauties and enjoyed dating young girls.

As for himself, he only wanted to sit in the pitch-dark hotel room, close his eyes, and meditate on everything about tonight’s game—the good and the bad.

Dr. Ogilvy said that doing so would help deepen your game experience, but Gan Guoyang simply felt it brought him peace.

After the noise comes the silence, a thrilling victory is but a minor step on the long journey of an expedition.

The next morning, the whole Trail Blazers team took a plane out of Los Angeles back to Portland, concluding their brief road trip.

Gan Guoyang’s performance caused some stir within the circle; after all, 42 points and 19 rebounds, with 20 points in the third quarter that blew apart the Lakers, was phenomenal.

But this game was not broadcast nationwide, only a local TV station covered it, so aside from the live audience and those watching on TV, most fans did not get to appreciate Gan Guoyang’s brilliant performance; to them, 42 points and 19 rebounds were just a set of numbers.

The CBS network wouldn’t make a special point of reporting the results of a regular-season game, nor would there be any game highlights circulated—those just didn’t exist at the time.

Gan Guoyang’s opening dunk, so forceful and powerful, left no video record, and it wasn’t until years later that an audience member uploaded the game footage recorded on a home video camera to the internet, allowing people to witness this great victory.

Gan Guoyang’s 42 points set a scoring record for the rookie class of ’84, but just 10 days later, Michael Jordan eclipsed Ah Gan with a game of 45 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks.

After a day of rest at home, on November 6, when Gan Guoyang stood on the court of the Memorial Coliseum to face the Phoenix Suns again, the splendor of the November 4th game faded away like extinguished fireworks, vanishing into darkness.

The packed professional sports schedule leaves little time to savor moments—one game follows another, with fans craving new matchups and the league selling more tickets.

The high-spirited Trail Blazers didn’t disappoint the Portland fans, crushing their opponents 112:96 at home.

McLeod learned his lesson this time and did not start the ’three highs,’ opting for Kyle Maxi instead, only to find they lost even more disastrously...

Basketball is like that; sticking to the map, trying to fix things after a loss, often doesn’t work, as each game presents new situations.

After the game, the Trail Blazers boarded a plane for Denver, not resting for a moment, and the weary team faced the Nuggets in the high altitude.

The game was incredibly hard-fought; both teams clawed away till the final moments when the Trail Blazers secured the victory with Gan Guoyang’s key offensive rebound and assist to Thompson for a layup, edging out the Nuggets 124:123 and achieving seven straight wins.

But the whole Trail Blazers team reached their physical and mental limits, and after a tantamount to combat battle at altitude on the 8th, they had to get up at 4 in the morning on the 9th to catch a 6 AM flight, before flying back to Portland at noon and then facing the Lakers at home in the evening.

Just five days after their second encounter, the now-adjusted Lakers, with a slim 126:123 three-point advantage, managed to win a tough game against the Trail Blazers at the Memorial Coliseum and put an end to their winning streak.