The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 154 - 52: You deal with him

On November 13th, the Trail Blazers faced off against the Dallas Mavericks at home, where Sam Bowie encountered Gan Guoyang again on the court after eight months.

Gan Guoyang’s emergence changed the fate of Sam Bowie’s basketball career.

Bowie became famous early on; by 1979, he was already a star high school player known across America, averaging 28 points and 18 rebounds per game, and was named the Player of the Year.

At 7 feet 1 inch tall, with limbs as long as a giant spider’s, he was as renowned as Ralph Sampson. They met at the Capital All-Star Game in 1979, attracting over 19,000 spectators to the event, dubbed "The Battle of the Giants."

These two centers, seen as wonders, were loaded with expectations, believed to dominate the League’s interior for the next decade.

After high school, Bowie was coveted by many schools and ultimately went to the basketball powerhouse, Coach Rupp’s base at the University of Kentucky.

Unexpectedly, he spent five years at the University of Kentucky due to injuries.

In 1981, he suffered a stress fracture in his left tibia and wasted two full years on recurrent surgery treatments and rehabilitation.

Thanks to an NCAA exemption, he stayed an extra year at Kentucky, participating in the 1983-1984 NCAA National Tournament, forming Wildcats’ "Twin Towers" with Melvin Turpin.

Then, in the Final Four, both were explosively defeated by Gonzaga Bulldog Gan Guoyang alone, ending Bowie’s lengthy and winding college basketball career.

This battle directly affected Sam Bowie’s draft position in 1984. The Portland Trail Blazers, with the second pick, removed Bowie from their draft targets, focusing only on Olajuwon and Gan Guoyang.

Later, Stu-Inman lost interest in Bowie after witnessing Gan Guoyang’s talent at the Olympic Training Camp.

However, Bowie’s height and past performances still made him marketable, and the Dallas Mavericks picked him up with an attitude of finding a bargain.

In that era, having a tall, talented center was every team’s dream; acquiring such a player could instantly elevate a team to a new level.

The Dallas Mavericks reached the Western Conference semifinals in the 1983-1984 season, losing without suspense 1:4 to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Jabbar effortlessly scored 21 points in the series with a 62% shooting rate, while the Mavericks’ starting center Pat Cummings was only 6 feet 9, the tallest among the starting five.

Western Conference teams were eager for a big center capable of contending with Jabbar. With Olajuwon and Gan Guoyang picked and Ewing not entering the draft, Sam Bowie became the best option.

Once Dallas acquired Bowie, he quickly became the starting center for the Mavericks, immediately providing the much-needed height, interior defense, and rebounding they lacked.

From this perspective, being picked fourth by the Mavericks wasn’t necessarily a bad choice for Bowie. He didn’t need to compare himself with Olajuwon, Gan Guoyang, or Jordan and could focus on doing his job with the up-and-coming Mavericks without suffering from Portland’s poor medical treatment.

In the previous games, he performed very well; at 23, he had a strong immediate combat capability, and the Mavericks’ offense and defense improved by a level.

The only thing that troubled him was being in the Western Conference, where he had to face Gan Guoyang at least five times a year, which would be even worse in the playoffs.

The Final Four game haunted Bowie like a nightmare; he and Turpin, both centers, were toyed with by the 6 foot 10 Gan Guoyang and collapsed before halftime.

As he prepared in the visitors’ locker room at Memorial Coliseum before the game, Bowie struggled to adjust his mindset, telling himself not to get distracted by Gan Guoyang’s verbal attacks.

But that would prove difficult. The verbal attack itself wasn’t much, but paired with his "actions speak louder" performance on the court, it became fearsome.

It’s like someone on the street saying to you, "Eat shit," which might upset you or cause you to retort, but if every time they said it, you really had to eat a pile of shit, that would be truly distressing.

It was rumored that after facing the Trail Blazers, Lakers’ power forward Rambis was so shaken that he insisted he was dead and had to be taken to the hospital, where doctors attributed his poor state to a concussion caused by an elbow strike.

But Bowie knew that Gan Guoyang must have cast some sort of "curse" during the game, in combination with his in-game performance, to leave Rambis in that state.

In the NCAA Sweet Sixteen game, Gan Guoyang did the same to Ewing, who claimed that Guoyang’s lips were moving, yet he couldn’t hear anything he said, as if he was casting some mysterious incantation from the distant Orient.

In any case, this guy caused many of his opponents to feel dread. He had many tricks that others didn’t know or hadn’t used, and you had to be on full alert both tactically and mentally.

Sam Bowie didn’t even take in Coach Dick Motta’s game plan before stepping onto the Memorial Coliseum’s floor. He finally managed to calm his mind and was ready to face off against Ah Gan once again tonight.

However, once the game actually began, Bowie was surprised to find that Gan Guoyang wasn’t facing him in the match; he didn’t guard Bowie but instead went to guard Mark Aguirre one on one.

This halved Bowie’s tensions, as he only had to face Ah Gan on defense, leaving the offense to Aguirre, which was fine.

The Trail Blazers’ confused match-up at the onset caught the Mavericks off guard, and Gan Guoyang’s defensive stance against Aguirre put this 6-foot-6 rugged power forward under unprecedented pressure.

In fact, before the game, Aguirre was relaxed because he knew the Trail Blazers’ power forward was Vandeweghe. Against the Nuggets last year, Aguirre scored 39, 31, 25, 28, 26, and 46 points respectively.

In six games they won four of them. Neither Vandeweghe nor English could stop Aguirre’s precise shooting, robust physique, and clever low-post offensive skills.

Though only 6-foot-6, Aguirre could easily score under the basket and had surpassed Isiah Thomas to become the number one pick in the 1981 draft, owed to his strong and versatile scoring techniques.

Players taller than him weren’t as fast; he could use his speed and footwork to attack you. Those of similar height weren’t as strong; he could use his body to go against you. In short, he created matchup problems for anyone he faced.

But facing Gan Guoyang, Aguirre was flustered. Gan Guoyang was taller and stronger, and his speed was not inferior. This was the first time Aguirre faced such a defender.

Gan Guoyang did not rely on his height and arm span to attempt blocks on Aguirre. Instead, he kept a low center of gravity, using his body and strength to push and hold Aguirre, keeping him out of his comfort zone on the offense.

Many taller players tried to suppress Aguirre with their height to no avail. In last year’s semi-finals against the Lakers, when Jabbar was switched onto Aguirre, he could use his footwork and mid-range shots to punish the Sky Hook.

Gan Guoyang, tall and powerful, chose to harass Aguirre up close, rendering all four of Aguirre’s offensive attempts in the first quarter ineffective, directly collapsing a corner of the Mavericks’ offense.

To everyone’s surprise, the Trail Blazers played out a staggering score of 13:36 in the first quarter, leading their opponent by as many as 23 points, almost blowing the Mavericks out of the game in just one quarter.

The Mavericks’ coach, the hot-tempered Dick Motta, ripped off his suit and threw it to the ground at the bench at the end of the first quarter, angrily cursing the players, saying they played like shit.

Motta, who led the Washington Bullets to a championship in 1978, was known for throwing things when he was angry.

He would throw his jacket at referees, basketballs into the stands, and even fling US Dollar bills onto the court to vent his dissatisfaction with the game.

During the intermission, he especially scolded Aguirre, his proud protégé after joining the Mavericks and the team’s first draft pick. Motta always had high expectations for Aguirre.

Motta favored players with very strong physiques, such as the former Bullets’ core Unseld, building a disciplined, tough, and brave iron army.

After coming to the Mavericks, Motta hoped Aguirre would maintain his weight between 230 and 250 pounds, but the carefree Aguirre had already been 253 pounds in his freshman year. He loved sweet, sticky pancakes and earned the nickname "Pancake Man."

Later, he joined the 1980 Olympic American national team, and during the tour, he lost 35 pounds, returning to normal. At that time, he and Sam Bowie were teammates.

Because America boycotted the Olympics, the national team couldn’t participate in the events in Moscow and was disbanded after playing only a few exhibition games.

Entering the NBA without the impetus of the Olympics, Aguirre’s self-control gradually declined, indulging in eating and drinking again, causing his weight to rise. Motta and he often quarreled about it.

The Mavericks’ disastrous first quarter led to another eruption from Motta. He shouted at Aguirre, "Where are those 40 pounds you’ve put on? Where have they gone? Why can’t they make a difference in the game, can’t even push a rookie? Does he look like he weighs 300 pounds to you?"

Aguirre retorted angrily, "This guy is a center! Do you know what a center is? They’re using a center to defend me. You have no adjustments or tactical assistance? And I’m not up 40 pounds! At most 20!"

"You’re the star player, you should be able to handle this one-on-one! I told you to lose weight and you didn’t listen, now you want my help? I suggest you immediately suck out the fat on your belly, increase your agility, and use footwork against him. Can you do it?"

Aguirre furrowed his brows in anger, a signature expression when he was successful in offense, as he resignedly said, "If you think so little of me, just trade me away!"

Motta snorted coldly, "No one will want you."

Motta’s strictness and Aguirre’s lax attitude represented the main conflict between most old-school coaches and new-star players of the 80s, a scenario present in every team.

These coaches were mostly people born in the 20s who had experienced World War II, while the new-wave stars grew up during the civil rights movements of the 60s and 70s, their understandings of basketball, and especially life, starkly different.

Fortunately, the intermission was short, forcing an end to the intimidating argument on the Mavericks’ bench, but their problems were not solved.

Dick Motta benched Aguirre and then said to Sam Bowie, who had rested for part of the quarter, "Sam, think of a way to deal with Ah Gan later."

Sam Bowie: "..."