The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 160 - 58 Do Not Hit People

[In November 1984, the Portland Trail Blazers’ "eastern campaign" had teams in New York and the Great Lakes region on edge, not because the Trail Blazers were on a winning streak—in fact, they lost several games—but because Ah Gan frequently collided with opponents during the games. His football player-like strength and impact were intimidating. The style of play on the basketball courts in the ’80s was no longer as violent as in the ’70s, following the warning bell sounded by Kermit Washington’s infamous punch. The crafty players down low became adept at using subtle moves and covertly dirty defensive actions to gain an advantage, but Ah Gan sent them sprawling.

It was said that the reason for this was Mitchell Thompson telling him before the game that the Eastern style of play was very tough and to be careful. Ah Gan said he might as well just knock them dead. Similar to the 1984 NCAA Championship game where Gonzaga faced Duke University, upon learning that Duke played dirty, Ah Gan decided to play dirty from the start, no matter if they were or not. This preemptive action logic pervaded his basketball career.]

————Published in 2025, written by Wu Zhixiong, an excerpt from the biography of Gan Guoyang, "The True Story of Ah Gan".

David Stern was flipping through the newspaper in his hands:

The New York Post, sports section headline, "Ah Gan’s game in New Jersey attracted 20,149 spectators—a 100 percent attendance rate for the first time since the 1982-1983 season."

The subhead of the report read, "Although he sent Gominsky flying, it was not intentional, and the fans’ love for him has not diminished one bit."

The report narrated the process of the conflict during the game, how Gominsky repeatedly used small movements to interfere with Gan Guoyang in defense.

On one occasion, when he attempted to draw an offensive foul, he was sent out of bounds by the powerful impact of Gan Guoyang, stumbling and chipping a tooth in the process.

Gan Guoyang wasn’t ejected from the game, as the referee deemed it an accident, though he still received an offensive foul call.

Stern knew all this. There was a large Chinese and Asian-American population in New York and New Jersey, and almost every person with yellow skin and black hair came out when Gan Guoyang played, easily filling a 20,000-person stadium.

The same situation happened two days later at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks, another full house. This was the only game where Ah Gan didn’t collide with anyone.

His good friend Bernard King, who was sidelined with an injury, watched the game from the sidelines as the Trail Blazers clinched the victory in harmony.

"Today’s New York," regarding the post-game interview of this match, Bernard King praised, "Ah Gan is the best player who combines entertainment and practicality. Fans love to watch him play, and they don’t find him boring because he’s a center, since he learned all of his offensive techniques from me."

The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 24 sports section, headline: "Moses Malone sees blood, thanks to Ah Gan—his aggression has now surpassed Bruce Lee."

However, in the actual content of the report, the Inquirer did not harshly criticize Gan Guoyang. His face-off with Malone was filled with sparks, and the atmosphere in the stadium was completely energized.

The bloodshed and conflicts between the two sides brought the confrontation to its climax. The photo of Gan Guoyang lifting Cheeks and tossing him onto the scorer’s table became the front-page photo of the day—causing a surge in the Inquirer’s sales.

Afterward, Malone checked the wound. It was just a skin break, with no bone injury. A little treatment and he was good to continue training and playing.

Naturally, the Trail Blazers lost the confrontation. Philadelphians felt they had watched a great show and also won the game, which was quite satisfying.

Newsweek did a follow-up report on the game, where Moses Malone actually praised Gan Guoyang’s bravery in battle afterward.

The usually quiet Malone, who rarely spoke much in front of the media, made a point to tell reporters, "He’s earned respect through his actions, the respect of the players."

The report said that after this game, quite a few players called Gan, expressing admiration and appreciation for his courage to clash with Moses.

The report further explored the "underworld and overworld" of the NBA at its conclusion. The underworld is the world of the players, while the overworld is the world seen and described by the media and fans.

The writer stated that some players might be glorified in the overworld, but may not earn genuine respect in the underworld, where the rules are purer, more savage, and more primal.

The Detroit Free Press, November 26, just yesterday—the game between the Trail Blazers and the Pistons made the entire newspaper’s front-page headline. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

The headline photo was exactly of Gan Guoyang diving to tackle Bill Laimbeer, sending Laimbeer sprawling, unable to get up for quite a while.

The headline of the Free Press was also very concise and powerful, "Say No to Violence!"

This was the only newspaper Stern had seen so far that criticized Gan Guoyang’s violent behavior.

But for some reason, hearing this message coming from Detroiters made Stern feel somewhat amused.

The conflict brought Gan Guoyang’s "violent behavior" to the forefront, and Stern needed to handle it.

Bill Davidson, the owner of the Pistons, personally made a call, hoping to address Ah Gan’s wrestling behavior on the court.

However, looking at the prevailing public opinion, there wasn’t a consensus condemning Gan Guoyang for his violent actions; in fact, there was even some praise.

Larry Fleisher tapped the table and said, "Put down Detroit’s newspapers and see how Chicago and Cleveland are reporting it, how much they’re looking forward to the Trail Blazers’ game. A suspension? Do you know that tickets for the Bulls and Trail Blazers game have been scalped up to 200 US dollars each? That’s Chicago, have you been to The Forum, it’s big and dirty, who the hell would want to watch a game there? But if the players are Jordan and Ah Gan, no one would want to miss it."

Stern flipped through the "Cleveland Plain Dealer" and the "Chicago Forum Newspaper" that Fleisher had brought in. They were jubilant about Gan Guoyang’s body-slamming of Lan Bi’er, fully reflecting the humanitarian spirit of cheering amidst adversity.

The headline of the Plain Dealer was very honest, "Lan Bi’er’s funeral held at Silverdome, presided over by Sonny Gan, 32,127 in attendance."

The Pistons’ home court, Silverdome, is a converted multi-purpose stadium that can hold 60,000 people at most, and up to 30,000 plus for basketball games.

For home games against strong opponents like the Celtics and 76ers, the attendance can reach over 30,000, but for ordinary opponents, it’s usually around 15,000; less attractive weak teams bring less than 10,000.

The visit of Gan Guoyang and the Trail Blazers, plus the previous hype, brought the attendance for this game to a new season high.

"When Boston and Philadelphia come to Detroit, it’s just over 30,000. The Trail Blazers brought the number to 32,000; that’s double the box office draw of Jordan!"

"But as I understand it, Detroiters really hate Asians; many of them buy tickets just to curse people out."

"Of course I know, because of the Toyota thing, but motherfucker, Ah Gan is Chinese!"

In June 1982, two unemployed auto workers from Detroit mistook Chinese-American Chen Guoren for a Japanese person and took out their anger of job loss on him, beating him to death with a baseball bat.

However, the assailants were lightly sentenced, and the twenty-five years of prison terms were dismissed by the appeals court. The Chinese community was outraged and staged large-scale protests, but to little effect, because they were too weak.

Two years later, the negative impact of this incident had not faded among the Chinese community, and Detroiters, resentful of the invasion of the Japanese car market and the decline of Motor City’s status, continued to take it out on people.

So, the conflict erupted on the basketball court. After enduring a whole game of booing and cursing from Detroit fans, and Bill Lan Bi’er’s constant nagging and dirty defense, Gan Guoyang seized an opportunity and resolutely acted, body-slamming Lan Bi’er heavily to the ground near the baseline.

Lan Bi’er, who was grabbed and thrown to the ground, had no chance to resist or struggle, it all happened very fast and sudden.

After the body slam, no one on the Pistons side even dared to come forward to stand up for Lan Bi’er, as everyone was worried whether he was already dead.

He lay motionless on the ground, rolling his eyes back, and only after the team doctor came over did Lan Bi’er slowly come to, but he couldn’t get up.

Gan Guoyang shouted from the side, "Get the fuck up, you’re not dead, I know I didn’t break your neck with my throw, and the floor is soft!"

In this situation, still, no Pistons player dared to do anything.

If the two had been pulling at each other’s clothes and throwing punches, then others might have joined in or pretended to break it up.

Directly body-slamming a 6-foot-11 man into the air and heavily to the floor was too shocking; no one wanted to experience that again.

Gan Guoyang was ejected from the game for this move, but not a single fan dared to throw anything at him or curse him; this guy had real Kung Fu skills.

The Trail Blazers thus lost the game, and after examination, Bill Lan Bi’er was found to have no serious injuries.

As Gan Guoyang said, he had a measure of control, and the floor was soft; he was just stunned.

After the game, Gan Guoyang refused to apologize to Lan Bi’er and claimed the whole of Detroit should apologize to Chinese people; they mistook a Chinese for a Japanese.

When Lan Bi’er sobered up and was interviewed, he only said one sentence, "Don’t hit people."