The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 187 - 80: The Irritable Twin Towers

America had entered into the Christmas spirit, and Oregon obligingly began its snowfall.

On November 29, 1984, CBS aired the Christmas single in various TV and radio stations, Wham!’s "Last Christmas".

Upon its release, the song immediately dominated the charts, with households and businesses, schools and malls all playing this melodious Christmas song.

Gan Guoyang had adopted the local customs in recent years and began to celebrate Christmas too; after all, he graduated from Gonzaga University, a Catholic School that held grand activities every Christmas.

Unfortunately, this year the Trail Blazers had a game on Christmas, so he couldn’t go back to San Francisco for Nate-Sermonde’s barbecue and get-togethers.

Playing games on Christmas Day is an old basketball tradition; since the NBA’s first season in 1947, this major holiday has been used to promote the league and its teams.

During Christmas, MLB and NHL both take breaks, and even prohibit games on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day through agreements, whereas the NFL hosts Christmas battles only occasionally and those need to fall on weekends.

Therefore, the NBA’s Christmas battles are uniquely enjoyed amongst the four major leagues, and NBA players play as if they have no holidays, essentially working the holiday for everyone’s entertainment.

Because it’s an opportunity to showcase the league’s best teams and games, the Christmas battle schedule is carefully arranged each year, with games being handpicked for high viewer engagement.

Teams from big cities are naturally favored, with the New York Knicks participating in the Christmas battle since the NBA’s very first year, and having a slot in nearly every Christmas lineup since then.

This year is no exception; one of the four games is a city battle between the New York Knicks and the New Jersey Nets (three years running), while the other three feature a matchup of the established Philadelphia 76ers against the rising Detroit Pistons from the Eastern Conference, and a Western duel between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Houston Rockets.

The last game pairs the Atlanta Hawks against the Cleveland Cavaliers, which is relatively less exciting, but league scheduling also needs to account for the development of these mid to small teams and the fringe markets, as focusing only on big cities is not an option.

In the past, the struggling Cleveland Cavaliers, after undergoing the "submarine ticket refund" scandal, saw an unexpected resurgence, winning three out of their last four games, gradually getting on track under the direction of George Karl.

The Portland Trail Blazers have been involved in the Christmas battle for eight years in a row since their championship season in 1977, a testament to the league’s favoritism towards this emergent team.

The Trail Blazers have always performed well in Christmas battles, last season, in the 1983 Christmas battle, they triumphed over the Western Conference champions, the Los Angeles Lakers, with a massive 20-point lead at 141:121—setting the record for the largest point difference in Christmas battle history at the time.

By contrast, big-city teams like the Chicago Bulls haven’t been scheduled for a single Christmas battle since their arrangement in 1977 until today.

This time, the Trail Blazers’ Christmas battle was scheduled at home, against the rising Western rivals, the Houston Rockets, and the entire team was making meticulous preparations.

After Christmas Eve, the Trail Blazers gathered at the training ground the next morning, conducted targeted tactical training in the morning, and then watched the Rockets’ most recent game videos in the video room.

This was the first encounter between the two teams this season, and the Trail Blazers’ front line would be facing Houston’s "Twin Towers" for the first time, with the pressure landing on Gan Guoyang’s shoulders.

During the preparation meeting, Gan Guoyang confidently said, "No one understands how to deal with the Twin Towers better than I do."

Ramsay didn’t respond to Gan Guoyang’s remark, being well aware that although the Rockets’ tactics revolved around the Twin Towers, their perimeter players were just as formidable in terms of height.

The shortest starter on the Rockets was point guard John Lucas, standing at 6 feet 3 inches (190 cm), with the guards and forwards all being big men over 6 feet 6 inches (198 cm).

They had two 7-foot giants in the frontcourt, with 6-foot-8 Robert Reid and 6-foot-10 Jim Petersen coming off the bench, along with previous Trail Blazers champion and one of Ramsay’s former players, Lionel Hollins.

Many teams felt like they were fighting in a jungle whenever they faced the Rockets, with no light in sight, struggling to find a way out.

And the Trail Blazers just happened to be a team with relatively shorter stature, so they had to exploit their speed advantage, turning the game into a fast-paced offensive and defensive battle, not giving the Rockets’ towering players a chance to settle in and root themselves.

Ramsay emphasized running, passing, speed, all things he had repeatedly mentioned in the past, and finally said, "Although the Christmas showdown isn’t broadcast nationwide, the local TV station will air it, and many families will watch the game with their parents and children on Christmas Day, so let’s play with restraint, not too violently, no fighting. The Rockets are a violent team; we won’t follow their example. We’ll defeat them with basketball."

Ramsay gave a special reminder, as Stu-Inman had received a call from the League Commissioner’s office before the game, instructing that there should be no fighting in this game and that players should be as restrained as possible. If there were any signs of conflict on the court, they were to immediately pull the players apart.

On the Trail Blazers side, there was no need to mention that Gan Guoyang was a particularly watched individual; if he continued fighting, the NBA was about to turn into a professional wrestling tournament.

On the Rockets side, there was a pair of irritable Twin Towers. Olajuwon was the league’s number one fighter this year, either fighting or on his way to a fight, his matches always involving brawls with a side of basketball.

The other giant, first pick Ralph Sampson, was no less daunting. In his college days during ACC games, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the game by slamming the ball on the floor and then furiously kicking the sideline benches.

In an interview with a reporter, when talking about a player from Georgia Institute of Technology named Lee Goza, Sampson bluntly said, "If I had a gun, I’d definitely shoot him dead."

Sometimes, if he was dissatisfied with the on-site audience, he would even make boxing gestures towards the fans, throwing punches in the air, giving the impression that it was only a matter of time before he hit a fan.

Of course, compared to Olajuwon’s direct fighting and Gan Guoyang’s body slams, Sampson’s actions were much milder.

The reason he kicked the benches was that the opposing University of Maryland center, Mark Fothergill, kept elbowing him.

The reason he wanted to kill Lee Goza was that this player spat at him during the game.

If Ah Gan had been in the same situation, he definitely wouldn’t have settled for just kicking benches and talking after the game.

A classic red-braised elbow, plus an invincible fire wheel kick, would be indispensable.

After reminding the players, Ramsay ended the preparation meeting and let everyone go have lunch and rest well, as the game was set to start at three-thirty in the afternoon.

After everyone had left, Adelman called Gan Guoyang aside and asked, "Ah Gan, tell me about your strategy for dealing with the Rockets’ Twin Towers in the afternoon game."

Gan Guoyang knew that this must have been Ramsay asking, as now the two were communicating about basketball matters through Adelman.

Gan Guoyang said, "It’s simple, although they have Twin Towers, I’ll just stick to one and play against him."

Gan Guoyang remembered the advice Chamberlain had given him; when facing Twin Towers, just stick to one and play hard, on offense and defense, and wear him down.

A Twin Towers lineup inherently demands that both interior players perform together to be effective, and the Rockets’ previous games had proven that if one tower does not perform well, they struggle to win.

After all, two big men on the court take up a lot of ball rights and space that would otherwise belong to perimeter players, and without output, how could they possibly win the game?

Adelman nodded and said, "So which one of the Twin Towers are you planning to take on? Olajuwon? You’ve beaten him in the NCAA finals."

Gan Guoyang shook his head, "No, I’m going to stick to Ralph Sampson."

"Why? Because Sampson is easier to handle, right? We do not want to see you fighting with Hakeem."

"No, Sampson hasn’t played against me. I want him to experience what it’s like to be defeated by me."