The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 195 - 86: I’m Only Second?

After Christmas, 1984 was quickly drawing to a close.

Players had no holidays; after a short rest, they continued on with the regular season’s journey.

In the last two games of the year, the Trail Blazers left Portland and headed to Texas to play two away games.

On December 27th, they challenged the Spurs at the San Antonio Convention Center Arena, a stadium that resembled the Fujian Tulou,

it was the second recent encounter between the two teams.

Last time, Gan Guoyang furiously slammed Gilmore, which caused him to face boos from the San Antonio fans when he entered the game.

Gan Guoyang had played for two months, and this was the first time he got booed on an away ground, and the Trail Blazers lost the game on top of that.

It’s not because Gilmore was hellbent on revenge and exploded in the game; on the contrary, the Train very friendly greeted Gan Guoyang before the game started.

The gentle giant expressed his apologies to Gan Guoyang, saying his rage in the previous game was somewhat inexplicable, and that the slam actually woke him up.

Gan Guoyang was someone who couldn’t stand toughness but would soften to a gentle approach. If the opponent communicated with him in a friendly tone and genuinely respected him, Guoyang would feel embarrassed to play aggressively.

Moreover, Gilmore was a thirty-five-year-old elder statesman; having previously blindsided and sent him sprawling to the ground, now he was even taking the initiative to apologize to you.

This caused Guoyang quite some embarrassment, and he shook hands and hugged Gilmore amicably, committing to better behavior in the future, this fostered good relations between the two from that point on.

Many years later, when Gilmore was neglected by the NBA and struggled to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, Gan Guoyang proactively spoke up for him and helped elevate the Train into the Hall of Fame.

Of course, while friendly off the court, the competition was fierce on it, and that night, with the Spurs bursting with energy on their home ground, six players scored in double figures.

Gan Guoyang did score 25 points with 21 rebounds, but from beginning to end, it was Gilmore who defended him one-on-one, meaning Guoyang didn’t exhaust too many of the Spurs’ defensive resources.

Along with the Spurs’ home-court eruption, the Trail Blazers were defeated 131:142 in a high-scoring battle. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Due to the relentless booing by the San Antonio home crowd and the heavy loss, Gan Guoyang held a grudge against the Spurs.

Two days later, the Trail Blazers flew to Houston, where, after the Christmas battle, the Rockets were eager to seek revenge at home.

Having gone through an internal fight, the Rockets regrouped upon returning to Houston, with Fitch holding a strong team meeting to rectify the team.

Olajuwon and Sampson shook hands and made peace, the entire team regained their unity, and Fitch also dismissed veteran player John Lucas from the team.

The reason was Fitch discovered Lucas secretly using banned substances; without reporting to the League, Fitch used his power as head coach to suspend Lucas indefinitely, until he could overcome his dependency on drugs.

John Lucas was the top draft pick selected by the Rockets in 1976, after playing two years for the Rockets he went to the Warriors, and returned to the Rockets this season to mentor the young, being highly respected within the team as a big brother figure.

In a League where many players and stars used banned drugs and still played normally (such as George Gervin, Michael Ray Richardson, Walter Davis), Fitch’s suspension seemed a bit heartless.

But this was Fitch’s style; he demanded strict adherence from every player, all for the team, all for victory, absolutely not allowing the tumor of drug violations to harm young people, sending a stern warning to the younger players.

The reinvigorated Rockets at the Summit Arena fought a real battle with the Trail Blazers.

The tense game went into two overtimes, with both sides going back and forth from the very first round, the lead never exceeding 5 points.

Gan Guoyang didn’t bother with psychological tactics and went straight for the hard fight, exchanging block shots with Olajuwon under the basket—each blocking the other’s shots.

He didn’t duck or hook, just drove straight on when he got the ball. If he got blocked, he’d snatch it back and keep playing, or he’d block it back on the defensive end and frantically chase offensive rebounds.

In the final moments of overtime, Ralph Sampson hit a key basket to help the Rockets lead the Trail Blazers by one point, 114:115.

The Trail Blazers only had 5 seconds left, and Ramsay set up the play. Vandeweghe got the ball from a run to the outside and shot directly.

The ball didn’t go in, but Ramsay had already arranged for Gan Guoyang to crash the boards for an offensive rebound, and sure enough, Gan Guoyang grabbed the rebound amid a throng of players.

Within the forest of Rockets’ towering arms, Gan Guoyang took a dribble, turned and stepped back to avoid Olajuwon’s defense, and took a fadeaway jump shot, hitting the buzzer-beater!

The ball went in as the light flashed, an undeniable game-winner. After the shot, Gan Guoyang jumped like a dancer from an African tribe and embraced his teammates as they rushed back to the locker room.

Olajuwon and the over 16,000 spectators stood there dumbfounded, with Olajuwon thinking to himself, damn it, who said my fadeaway jumper wasn’t tough? Aren’t you using it too?

In this fierce battle, the Houston Twin Towers Ralph Sampson had 31 points, 11 rebounds, 5 blocks, and 2 steals, while Hakeem Olajuwon added 26 points, 17 rebounds, 6 blocks, and 3 steals.

But they couldn’t withstand Gan Guoyang’s incredible performance inside with 47 points, 24 rebounds, 8 blocks and 4 assists, and his jump shot that sealed the game at the last moment.

Back in the locker room, Mychal Thompson looked at the sweating Gan Guoyang and shook his head, saying, "It’s great to be young... But even when I was young, I wasn’t as intense as you. Aren’t you tired?"

Gan Guoyang drank a lot of water and said, "I feel a bit tired now, but as long as I’m on the court, I’m in good shape."

Ramsay came over, sniffed the water bottle Gan Guoyang was drinking from, and said indifferently, "I thought you were drinking diesel."

At this point, direct communication between Gan Guoyang and Ramsay mostly consisted of various dry jokes.

The Trail Blazers were generally in average form in December, but Gan Guoyang entered his own state of high performance.

He had played against more than half of the teams in the League, and even the most ferocious Rockets were no big deal from his perspective. The physical confrontations of the ’80s were harsh, but the players generally lacked physical quality (from Gan Guoyang’s point of view), especially in terms of strength. Their arms were thick, but their legs and core strength training were lacking.

In simple terms, the intensity was high, but the quality was lacking. It was like hacking away with broadswords—a brutal scene, but not as deadly as a machine gun firing.

Moses Malone had once dominated the League with his iron-hard physique, but after he passed his peak at 27, his prowess greatly declined.

Gan Guoyang didn’t have to worry about declining physically yet. Even if he declined at 27, he still had seven years to wreak havoc in the League and force other teams to upgrade their interior presence.

After winning this game, the Trail Blazers’ record rose to 20 wins and 10 losses, second only to the Los Angeles Lakers’ 22 wins and 10 losses, placing them second in the Western Conference.

The Lakers had dropped to eighth in the Western Conference at the start of the season, but after a third of the season’s adjustment, Magic Johnson was back.

Pat Riley had completely abandoned the aggressive starting five he had used at the beginning of the season, opting to start Larry Spriggs as power forward, with Michael Cooper and Byron Scott alternating starts depending on the situation.

The aging Jamaal Wilkes was relegated to the bench, marking the countdown to the end of a career for the veteran who had contributed to the Lakers’ championship glory.

With their offense and defense rebalanced, the Lakers steadily climbed to the top of the Western Conference. They were set to face the Portland Trail Blazers again on the first day of 1985.

After completing two games in Texas, the Trail Blazers returned to Portland to give the Seattle SuperSonics a sound thrashing, 121:83, winning by 38 points.

Lenny Wilkens’ seat as coach of the SuperSonics was in jeopardy.

Then, on the last day of 1984, December 31st, the team flew to Los Angeles, ready for their third battle with the Lakers.

At that time, in the All-Star Western Conference center starting lineup voting, Gan Guoyang was second only to Jabbar, ranked second.

Gan Guoyang thought to himself, damn, only second?