The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 189 - 82 Ghost fighting technique

"Ah Gan tonight is filled with a thirst for victory, but he will be facing two giants taller than him. I worry if he will still be able to perform well?"

Before the game began, Trail Blazers’ voice Bill Schonely expressed his concerns.

Gan Guoyang had not played enough games at Memorial Coliseum, nor had he torn apart this city enough times, to alleviate the veteran commentator’s worries.

Just ten seconds into the game, Gan Guoyang started to make Bill Schonely dismiss such a ridiculous thought.

On the first offensive play of the game, after winning the ball, Guoyang swiftly moved to the low post, then spun past an unprepared Olajuwon in the blink of an eye.

Against the oncoming help-defense of Sampson on the baseline, Guoyang exploded, using his strength to overpower Sampson, and dunked the ball over this towering figure!

It was the first time Sampson felt Guoyang’s powerful burst and unrivaled strength.

Blocking isn’t just about height and arm span; aerial confrontation is crucial.

If the contest isn’t strong enough, it’s easy to get overpowered by the opponent and be unable to exert force to block.

The end result is becoming a stepping-stone, becoming a backdrop as the opponent slams the ball into your face.

With the first basket, Guoyang left the Twin Towers somewhat dazed, instantly heating up the atmosphere in Memorial Coliseum, enough to melt the heavy snow outside.

The entire Trail Blazers team felt Guoyang’s intense desire to win.

His teammates on the bench all stood up to applaud Guoyang, while only Drexler sat still without any reaction.

It wasn’t because the two didn’t have a good relationship, but because Drexler was thinking that Olajuwon must be furious after that play.

"What is he doing, letting Ah Gan get past him with such an easy spin?"

Before the game, Drexler had been trying to get in touch with Olajuwon. After joining the NBA, the two had stayed in contact.

But they had not yet met in a game. Today’s Christmas battle was the first time, and to Drexler’s surprise, Olajuwon wasn’t answering his phone or pager.

Drexler understood that Olajuwon certainly wanted to win; their consecutive losses in the NCAA finals were a lingering regret for both of them.

For the team, of course, Drexler wanted the Trail Blazers to win the game, but in the personal matchup, he hoped Olajuwon wouldn’t lose too badly to Ah Gan.

"I know you’re great, Hakeem, but you have no idea how terrifying Ah Gan can be."

Olajuwon was already freakish enough, with his physical talents and basketball skills, and an extremely fast learner, improving rapidly.

How good was his physical condition? When Olajuwon first joined the Rockets, he bet with his teammates that he could hit the backboard from mid-court with a soccer kick.

His teammates didn’t believe him, so he did it. But instead of kicking the ball directly, he tossed it up and performed a bicycle kick, striking the backboard dead center.

With such an abnormal level of physical ability, Drexler still believed that it would be very difficult for him to compete against Ah Gan, because Ah Gan had more than just athleticism; he had many weapons.

Olajuwon’s first defensive failure wasn’t due to a lack of focus, but rather too much focus, too eager to engage in physical confrontation with Guoyang. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Unprepared for Guoyang’s "King of Qin circling around a pillar" maneuver, a beautiful spin move, Olajuwon clenched his fists in frustration.

On the offensive end, he stubbornly drilled toward the basket, intending to retaliate in the low post, but he quickly discovered that the Trail Blazers weren’t allowing Guoyang to guard him; instead, Mychal Thompson was assigned to him.

Olajuwon shoved Thompson under the basket, swatting away his hands, and muttered, "What kind of person has come to guard me?"

Thompson snorted in response, "To deal with you, we don’t even need Ah Gan."

The game quickly changed on the court, leaving no time for further exchange; the Trail Blazers’ one-on-one defense was very tight from the start.

Guoyang went for a fronting defense against Sampson, while Lucas on the outside found McGrady, whose jump shot did not go in.

Sampson turned to grab the rebound, only to find that Guoyang, who had been fronting a moment ago, was now positioned right in front of him.

Gathering the defensive rebound smoothly, he then passed long to Vandeweghe, who had surged to the frontcourt, executing a classic Trail Blazers fast break.

As Vandeweghe drove the ball to the basket, he was Portland’s most reliable scorer. He was sure to find a way to get the ball into the hoop.

Slipping along the baseline, he executed a left-hand reverse layup, evading the Rockets’ defense, and the Trail Blazers led 4:0 at the start, with Guoyang performing beautifully on both ends.

Olajuwon made another mistake in this play, already out of position and with the ball not bouncing his way; he still rushed to go for the offensive rebound.

The ball wasn’t grabbed and the chance to fall back in defense was lost; tonight, his mentality was even worse than it had been at the start of the NCAA finals six months ago.

Gan Guoyang’s disregard for him added fuel to the fire, but what truly made Olajuwon feel unbalanced was realizing that Ah Gan seemed a lot stronger than he had been half a year ago.

Defensively, Olajuwon once again braced himself in the low post against Ah Gan. After Gan Guoyang received the ball, he made a scissor-leg crossover turn and charged towards the basket, easily scoring two points with a left-handed dunk.

Olajuwon discovered he couldn’t hold his ground against Gan Guoyang.

Ralph Sampson on the other side wanted to come over to help defend and block, but Gan Guoyang’s resolute dunk gave him no chance to make a move; any attempt would have been a foul.

Olajuwon was familiar with this move; it was often used by Moses Malone in the low post, utilizing his strong base to carve out a position and kill his way to the deepest part of the basket, directly attacking the hoop to compensate for his height and arm length.

Olajuwon had been studying this move since college and often used it in the NBA. When he joined the league, he told reporters that the players he most often imitated were Moses Malone and Darryl Dawkins.

But now, Ah Gan was using this move even better than he himself did... No, that wasn’t right. From watching the video, Ah Gan seemed to rarely use this move in previous games, preferring hook shots and turnaround jumpers during regular play.

As for shattering the backboard, Gan Guoyang had already managed it, while Olajuwon had secretly tried to do the same in the training gym. Other than causing his hand to hurt as if it had been whipped, the tempered glass didn’t so much as budge.

Against Ralph Sampson’s defense, Gan Guoyang was firm in his decision to play front defense, testing the Rockets’ ability to lob the ball from outside.

One reason Bill Fitch paired such tall forwards and guards on the perimeter was to pass the ball better to the Twin Towers.

The experienced Lucas lobbed the ball in, Sampson turned to catch it, and then found Gan Guoyang once again positioned in front of him...

Weren’t you playing front defense? How come you’re behind me playing defense again?

Gan Guoyang didn’t have a Shadow Clone, he employed a three-quarter front defense to create space to fall back for back-to-the-basket defense.

He knew that playing full-frontal defense was too risky—the moment someone like Sampson turned around and caught a lob pass beneath the basket, no one could stop him; it would be giving away points.

Already in the front of the three-second zone, Sampson had a chance to hook shot directly, but Gan Guoyang kept pushing him outwards, putting up a physical confrontation.

Gan Guoyang wasn’t going to jump. What’s the use? To give them a target to aim at? If it goes in, it goes in; if not, I’ll turn around and immediately hustle for the rebound.

Under strong confrontation, Sampson’s hook shot didn’t go in; Olajuwon rushed in for the offensive rebound, a common sight during the Rockets’ games—Sampson’s miss followed by Olajuwon storming in for a dunk or a successful follow-up.

In his rookie season, Olajuwon averaged 5.4 offensive rebounds per game, the highest of his career, and the Rockets ranked second in offensive rebounds in the league, just behind the Detroit Pistons.

But on this play, Gan Guoyang was a step ahead of Olajuwon, leapt up, and snatched the rebound with his right hand, causing Olajuwon to miss yet again.

The league’s top rebounder wasn’t about to let opponents easily snatch offensive rebounds.

With firm control of the rebound, Gan Guoyang passed the ball to Valentine, then followed alongside Valentine across half-court.

After half a season of play, Valentine had come to know what Gan Guoyang wanted to do: to position at the high post around the arc.

Valentine passed the ball to Gan Guoyang, who shot a long two-pointer directly from the high post as he caught the ball, sinking it through the exact center of the hoop.

This was the result of Gan Guoyang’s hour-and-a-half warm-up shooting practice before the game; his shooting touch at home was always better than away.

Olajuwon and Sampson didn’t even react before the ball went in, starting with an 8:0 run, forcing the Rockets to call a timeout.

Bill Fitch stood on the sidelines with his arms crossed and shook his head slightly, what the hell is the game style of this Number 11 center from China?

Dr. Jack, why are you not playing according to the script now?

And Ramsay, rising from a kneeling position at courtside, thought to himself, it’s this bizarre style and rhythm again, but it’s quite effective.

Ramsay didn’t know that in order to spare his feelings, Gan Guoyang was shooting long twos instead of three-pointers.

Otherwise, a few more hairs would have been lost from his head.

[Every night, Ah Gan battles against people taller than himself in the three-second zone. It has been almost a constant since he played as center, always against taller opponents. Jabbar, Gilmore, Lan Bi’er, Olajuwon, Sampson, Ewing, David Robinson. But he always makes life difficult for them with his speed, his skill, his strength. And most importantly, the often-ignored aspects—intelligence and willpower.

I believe this is why he towers over his contemporaries who are giants themselves.

Of course, as a dominant giant in the post, Ah Gan seems to never have the various psychological issues that plague other tall players, what we usually call ’The seven-footer syndrome.’ Maybe it’s because he barely falls short of 7 feet, and he never claims to be 7 feet tall, similar to how 6-foot-9 Russell dominated the era of seven-foot centers.]

————Published in 1999, excerpt from "The Bill Schonely Story" written by Kerry Eggers.