The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 218 - 104: Chinese Restaurant

"An unbelievable, desperate hook shot reminiscent of Jabbar’s game-winner in 1974... Oh, the only good thing I can remember now is that after Jabbar’s game-winner, we clinched that year’s championship. Well, my friends, the thrilling game has come to an end, and Johnny-Most’s company has concluded. Looking forward to seeing you all next game..."

Above Boston Garden Plaza in the commentator’s booth, Johnny-Most’s voice sounded weary. As a die-hard Celtics fan, witnessing the team lose in such a fashion must have been tough.

What was even more difficult for Most was that he didn’t get to see the wonderful winning shot up close. He could only observe a red shadow from his high vantage point in the stands, and then watch the ball fly towards the basket— and go in.

In his early years, Most could sit at courtside, closest to the hoop, where he could see the tension on the players’ faces, hear the sound of muscles colliding, listen to the trash talk between players, and experience every fascinating moment up close, turning his personal experiences into words and broadcasting them to listeners through the airwaves.

With the development of television broadcasts and changes in ticketing policies, commentators’ seats kept getting pushed higher. From initial courtside tables to middle stand passages, they ended up being placed up high, needing binoculars to see the details on the court.

Play-by-play commentary, no matter how clear, could not compare with the clarity of a television image. The front row seats needed to be sold at high prices to fans, making it a waste of resources to seat commentators and reporters too close.

However, as a die-hard Celtics fan, one loss didn’t amount to much. This season’s Celtics were still the best team in the league. In a week, they would face the challenge of the Los Angeles Lakers—that game was the real war.

Most, having removed his headset, suddenly smelled cigar smoke. He turned around to find Red Auerbach hidden in a cloud of smoke, who said to Most, "Let’s go, John. Let’s have some late-night eats."

Auerbach, the Celtics’ head steward, former coach, later general manager, and the true leader of the Celtics. He was the creator of the team’s championship lineups over 30 years and the soul of the team.

Starting in the ’50s, Auerbach and the then Celtics owner Brown hired Most as the court’s commentator. It’s been 30 years since then, and Most had witnessed all of the Celtics’ glories. They had a very good relationship.

Yet, Most frowned and said, "Should we still go for late-night eats looking like this tonight?"

Auerbach replied, "As long as the world hasn’t ended, we need to eat. Come on, we have a guest tonight."

Upon hearing Auerbach mention a guest, Most wondered if it was a sponsor or a former player visiting.

Most followed Auerbach out of Boston Garden, which quickly grew quiet as the team had lost the game.

They drove together to a Chinese restaurant in Boston where Auerbach was a minor shareholder—he was an out-and-out aficionado of Chinese cuisine.

As early as his days coaching the Celtics in the ’50s, Auerbach took a liking to Chinese food because the coach often had to travel across America with the players, making the time and place for dining uncertain.

In each unfamiliar city, settling down with a group of black players for a hot meal wasn’t easy, and it was Chinese restaurants that were open 24 hours, providing takeout to people of all races, that came to the rescue.

There was a Chinese restaurant in almost every city in America, and Auerbach’s favorite was Washington’s "China Doll." After leaving his coaching position to become a manager, he invested in a Chinese restaurant in Boston for convenience in dining and hosting.

Once at the restaurant and in the private room, Most greeted his familiar friend, John Havlicek, with a handshake and embrace. The two had a very good relationship.

In the ’70s, when television broadcasting wasn’t widespread and radio commentary was at its peak, Most’s voice brought all of Havlicek’s classic games to the listeners.

"You’ve come back. Did you watch tonight’s game at the Boston Garden?"

"I did. It’s a pity we lost."

After exchanging pleasantries, Most was somewhat surprised to see another person in the room.

"Good evening, Mr. Fleisher."

The other individual was Larry Fleisher, once Auerbach’s nemesis. Could tonight’s guest be him?

In 1964, Oscar Robertson represented the players in bringing a pension issue to the league. With Fleisher’s help in 1967, they further demanded that the NBA provide a reasonable pension system and grant players the right to free agency and transfers.

At that time, Auerbach was about to leave his coaching position. In the 1967 All-Star game, a hot-tempered Auerbach got ejected from the game, becoming the only coach in NBA history to get thrown out of an All-Star match.

As a manager later on, Auerbach faced the Oscar Robertson lawsuit head-on, repeatedly clashing with Fleisher and becoming bitterly opposed adversaries.

During the 1970s, when the ABA challenged the NBA for competition, a furious Auerbach called Fleisher "a reincarnation of Little Hitler," for Fleisher had convinced Don Chaney to go to the ABA instead of staying with the Celtics.

In 1976, after years of struggle, Fleisher finally freed NBA players from their "slave contracts," allowing free agency, and played a key role in the NBA-ABA merger. At the press conference, he lit a victory cigar in Auerbach’s style.

The media at the time exaggerated, "Auerbach never had a victory cigar that could compare to the victory Flesher achieved here."

By 1984, Flesher and Stern had together devised the salary cap system, leaving old-timers like Auerbach increasingly baffled by the operational rules of the NBA today.

Most knew that the relationship between the two had always been very poor, but their animosity was due to official stances and public duties, with no personal grudges between them.

Larry Flesher stood up to shake hands with Most, and after the four sat down, Auerbach explained, "In the past, my relationship with Larry was not good, but that was because of our stances and public duties; we were each doing our jobs. Larry came to Boston today to take the initiative to talk to me about the overseas market development, and I was just going to have a meal with Larry to let bygones be bygones." 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Auerbach could feel that the NBA had entered a new era, especially after Stern took over.

Although Auerbach had his stubborn side, the fact that he kept the Celtics standing for 30 years proved that he was definitely not an obstinate fool.

On the contrary, from his past series of maneuvers, it was evident that he was a person with a very flexible moral bottom line; for the benefit of the team, there were no true enemies and no principles that had to be adhered to unwaveringly.

Currently, Larry Flesher was one of the two most powerful men in the League—the other being David Stern.

One represented the capital side, the owners, and the management, while the other represented the labor side, the players, and the fans.

These two forces, cooperating and contending with each other, maintained a delicate balance that ensured the whole system operated.

Now, Auerbach must be on good terms with these two men to ensure that the Celtics continue to remain competitive under the new rules.

At the moment, it appeared that Stern was indifferent to Auerbach. The series of new rules after he assumed office seemed somewhat targeted at the Celtics.

In light of this, if Auerbach did not establish a friendship with Larry Flesher, the future for the Celtics would be even more difficult.

Flesher held in his hands the agency resources for many of the League’s star players, including Gan Guoyang, who had clinched victory with a hook shot against Boston that night.

The reason why Larry Flesher had come to meet Auerbach was partly that he also did not want to continue being hostile to the Redhead. They admired each other and reconciling would be helpful for negotiating with the Celtics as an agent, since he had two players playing for the Celtics.

The other reason was that he had come to discuss with Auerbach about the China trip in the summer of 1985. He hoped that the Celtics, Lakers, Trail Blazers, and Knicks—the four teams—could visit China in the summer as pioneers in cultivating and developing the Chinese market.

However, if you talk about pioneers, Auerbach was the true pioneer.

Having retired as the Celtics’ coach to become a general manager in 1967, Auerbach led the team to Japan, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia for visits in Taipei, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and Tokyo, hoping to open up the Asian basketball market.

But at that time, basketball was not yet popular around the world, and with backward media, no one recognized them when they visited these places, so it hardly had any effect on market publicity.

Because Auerbach thought the Chinese cuisine in Taiwan was good, he stayed for a long time, looking for Chinese restaurants to eat at, visiting geisha houses for back stepping and massages, and meeting with local officials. However, Auerbach hated drinking baijiu, which was too spicy and difficult for him to swallow.

Afterward, they headed to Hong Kong with the aim of tasting Chinese food and ended up arriving during the riots of ’67. Confined to the hotel with nowhere to go, the restless Auerbach led his players in pretending to be Russians, going to the duty-free shop to buy a bunch of stuff, eventually taking it back to America.

At the dinner table, Auerbach talked about these events from more than a decade ago, both as stories and expressing skepticism about the viability of the China trip.

"The people there are not passionate enough about basketball; I’m not optimistic about the market there."

"My view is the opposite of yours. You went to Taiwan and Hong Kong, a small island and a British colony. We’re going to the real China, the vast mainland, larger than America, with many times the population of America, completely different, Arnold. And times have changed, now we have television, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, more teams, better players, and we have Ah Gan."

Auerbach was silent for a moment, chewing on his food. He didn’t respond directly to Flesher but instead changed the subject, asking, "Larry, I heard that Ah Gan is a good cook?"

Flesher paused for a moment, "Where did you hear that?"

"There are no walls in the League that don’t leak; news travels fast."

"Seems like it, his family owns a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco, quite famous; his father is an authentic chef from China."

"Maybe sometime have Ah Gan cook a meal for me, and I’ll seriously consider letting the Celtics join the China trip."

Flesher looked at Auerbach deeply, thinking to himself that this really was a gourmet who loved Chinese food.