The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 202 - 92: Stable Lineup

Gan Guoyang’s 6 for 6 three-point shooting caused a stir in the NBA. How can a center possess such shooting ability? Newspapers, media, and radio stations exclaimed, what kind of all-round basketball monster is this?

With most guards and forwards in the NBA not taking three-point shots, Gan Guoyang used three-pointers to reverse the game and defeat the strongest team in the Western Conference, a regular-season game that will surely go down in NBA history.

Television stations like ESPN and CBS covered the game extensively, playing footage of Gan Guoyang making all six three-pointers on screen.

His 42 points tonight led the team to a great comeback, and he jumped past Jabbar in the All-Star voting, becoming the starting center for the Western Conference All-Stars.

In this game, Gan Guoyang’s abundant energy and flexibility in play made Jabbar seem especially old, turning his once elegant Sky Hook shot into something that looked stiff and boring.

Jabbar had scored over 30,000 points with this repeating hook shot, becoming the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, even surpassing Chamberlain—fans had been watching it for more than a decade, and they really needed something new.

This game also ignited the competitive spirit of some of the NBA’s combative individuals. Larry Bird, who previously had a maximum of three three-pointers in a single game, shot six three-pointers and made four in the January 2nd game against the New Jersey Nets, setting a personal record for three-point shots in his career.

Michael Jordan, who had always been competing with Gan Guoyang, attempted four three-point shots against the Atlanta Hawks on the 2nd, missing all four, but he still scored 33 points and won the game against the Hawks.

After seeing this news hidden in a corner, Gan Guoyang made several calls to Jordan’s home, but nobody answered.

However, hot shooting like this, if overused, comes at a cost. The next game saw the Trail Blazers traveling to Texas to play against the Dallas Mavericks.

That night, Gan Guoyang’s outside shooting was off, and he couldn’t hook shots in from the inside either. He could only focus all his energy on defense.

Mark Aguirre learned from the last encounter and played smarter and more agile defense against Guoyang, effectively mobilizing the team’s offense.

With the guidance of experienced coach Dick Motta, Sam Bowie showed significant improvement, and the Mavericks played a beautiful defensive game on their home court, winning 108 to 105 against the Trail Blazers by a close 3-point margin.

On the last offensive try, Gan Guoyang attempted a three-pointer, but the Mavericks had prepared their defense in advance and foiled his attempt, forcing him to pass the ball to Vandeweghe who hastily took the shot and missed.

When the opponent is prepared, casually shooting threes is not easy, especially with no supporting tactics.

A team’s long-range shooting can only become truly powerful with multiple points supporting the offensive line from outside, not just one.

It also requires matching tactical strategies to create shooting opportunities for outside players, and these were not available in the 1980s.

In the ’80s, taking three-point shots was often seen as a one-off deal: Make it and gain an extra point, miss and give the opponent a chance to counter-attack, lacking sufficient volume and tactical coordination to drive the whole team forward.

After the game against the Lakers, Adelman approached Guoyang to talk about three-pointers. Guoyang himself said it was a secret weapon to be used sparingly, not in every game, as shooting too much could affect his ability to crash the boards inside.

The current frontcourt thrust of the Trail Blazers doesn’t really allow Guoyang to linger outside for too long.

If Jerome Kossie develops and the Trail Blazers have stronger frontcourt power, Guoyang will have more freedom on the perimeter.

"When everyone knows I can shoot threes but I haven’t shot yet, the deterrent effect is the greatest."

Guoyang gave an accurate assessment of his current level of three-point shooting.

As for the three-pointer, a powerful weapon on the court, he continued to silently amass strength, determined to make it the sharpest dagger in his arsenal one day.

Unknown to Guoyang, his three-point shooting was accelerating the change in understanding of the three-pointer among NBA coaches and players.

This season, the average number of three-point attempts per NBA game saw a significant increase from the previous season, from 2.4 to 3.2 attempts.

This 0.8 increase per game was the largest single-season jump since the three-pointer was introduced in the NBA in 1979.

In previous seasons, three-point shooting had even declined, averaging 2.8 shots in 1980 and falling to 2 in 1981. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

After trying out the novelty, traditional coaches did not allow players to take three-point shots, leading to a decrease in three-point attempts.

Now, in its sixth year, this view finally began to shift, even the traditional Ramsay began trying new things.

However, Ramsay was unwilling to admit this. When the team returned to Portland for rest and training, he saw Guoyang practicing three-pointers and commented sarcastically, "Did you flip a year and hit 35? Finding it too tough brawling in the paint and wanting to shoot long-range, huh?"

Guoyang, long used to the coach’s backhanded comments, replied, "35? I plan to play until I’m 40. Without a shot, how will I compete with the younger players?"

"Ha, 40, you’ve always said you’ll play until you’re 50. I aim to coach until I’m 80."

"With your physique, I’d believe you could coach until you’re 100."

Ramsay was fit and robust, having served in the military when he was young and taking on multiple roles in the NBA for many years.

This year, he was approaching 60 years old, and in a little over a month, he would celebrate his 60th birthday, yet this energetic old fellow could still compete in a triathlon.