The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 259 - 1 Unprecedented History_2
In the Great Western Forum, Jabbar scored 36 points as the Lakers defeated the Celtics to secure the championship point.
Two days later, on the parquet floor of the Boston Garden, in front of 14,890 highly emotional fans, the Lakers beat the Celtics 111-100.
The Lakers finally defeated their tormentors, dispelling the ghost that had haunted the basketball souls of Los Angeles since the 1960s.
"That was the greatest day of my basketball career," Assistant Coach Bertka said, "I sat there praying to God, ’somehow help us win this game. Somehow let us beat these guys.’
Jabbar scored 29 points and was named MVP of the series; his superb all-around performance marked the peak of his career in Los Angeles.
However, this victory also owes thanks to the Celtics’ unwitting gifts, as they played a game without discipline or skill.
Dennis Johnson and Danny Ainge combined for 31 shots and made only 6, while Larry Bird struggled with a fractured right elbow and swollen right index finger, making only 7 of 29 shots.
Many of his shots were taken with his left hand, and the home fans watched their team hero with an unprecedented look of bewilderment.
"I thought I could lead the team, but today I just stood on the court." Bird later said, "I was supposed to lead the team through difficulty, but I failed."
After he finished with the media, an assistant for the Celtics offered to fetch Bird’s car.
"I drive a Jeep," Bird sighed, "When you’re a loser, all you can afford is a Jeep."
When the players from Los Angeles rushed into the locker room, dozens of champagne bottles gushed out, leaving a sweet foam on the concrete floor.
It was the sweetest moment of the year for the Lakers, in the worst locker room of the Boston Garden.
Last year’s winners became the losers, last year’s losers became the winners, and the real big winner was actually the NBA.
The 1985 finals ratings reached an all-time high, and people were already looking forward to another Lakers-Celtics confrontation next year.
But as Trail Blazers Coach Jack Ramsay once said, "From that moment on, I reminded myself not to take anything for granted, nor live in the past. Only I didn’t expect everything to end so quickly."
Now that phrase could be applied to both the Celtics and Lakers, as everything would end so quickly.
Red and black were about to spread across the league with stunning speed.]
————Published in 2013 by Jeff Pearlman, excerpt from "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s".
For Gan Guoyang, the most exciting part of the summer of 1985 was not attending the award ceremony in San Francisco, where he received king-like treatment. He won the Rookie of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year, becoming the only player with such an unprecedented feat.
It wasn’t being named to the All-NBA First Team and the All-Defensive First Team, with the Defensive Player of the Year selected by the media and the All-Defensive First Team chosen by the coaches—he received recognition from both media and coaches.
It wasn’t signing five endorsement deals worth over five million US dollars, which increased his assets significantly as he looked for a reliable accountant to manage his finances.
All these mattered, they were the fruit of a season of hard work, the honors and wealth fought for with his own performances, but none compared to the China tour in July, an unprecedented NBA overseas game and visit event organized by Larry Fleisher.
Gan Guoyang and the Trail Blazers were undoubtedly the focus of this China tour. Over ten days, they visited four major Chinese cities from south to north, east to west: the capital, Shanghai, Xi’an, and Guangzhou.
They played four exhibition games against the Lakers, Celtics, 76ers, and Bulls, causing a huge sensation domestically.
Although the NBA had sent teams and players to visit China several times before, none of those trips had an impact comparable to this one.
In the relatively closed-off 80s, many Chinese people learned for the first time that in distant America, there was a basketball league called the NBA representing the highest level in the world.
The players there soared through the air, playing ball incredibly well, and tickets to the arenas were in such demand that they were hard to come by. China Central Television recorded the games and played them on loop for a year.
The presence of Gan Guoyang naturally played a significant part in this, as the appearance and success of a Chinese person on the international stage sparked a sense of national pride among the people.
In 1984, Xu Haifeng’s first gold in the Olympics made him a national hero for a time, and in the context of the country’s situation then, people needed such idols and role models.
And Gan Guoyang’s performance on the court was even more astonishing: Could a Chinese person really play ball like that? What did he grow up eating? Malted milk?
At that time, countless domestic manufacturers took the opportunity to seek endorsements from Gan Guoyang, most of which were various nutritional products, but he saw through them with his sharp eyes and refused these messy products.
After the games in the Capital, Gan Guoyang was received by the top leaders, and the Trail Blazers players and staff stayed at the State Guesthouse, enjoying the highest level of foreign affairs treatment.
Jack Ramsay joked, "With Ah Gan’s help, we got to experience what it felt like to be the president."
Four games, four cities, five teams, all of which were top-tier teams that would go down in history, a lineup and grandeur that could never be replicated in the future.
Avia, Converse, and Nike all joined in this grand event, responsible for the entire commercial promotion and event planning. Fleisher heeded Gan Guoyang’s advice and brought Nike into the picture.
This proved to be a very important decision, as without the help of Nike, a sports exchange of such magnitude would have been impossible to carry out.
Nike began testing the waters of the Chinese market as early as 1979 and established a branch in Shanghai in 1980. By 1981, after relentless efforts and negotiation through various levels, they cooperated with the Chinese Athletics Team and successfully signed contracts for outsourced processing, moving their production lines from other regions to China.
Although China was opening up in that era, it still differed significantly in terms of system, culture, language, and had once been in an adversarial relationship with America. Everything needed time.
Without a channel well-versed in Chinese affairs, it would have been impossible to carry out large-scale exchange matches and commercial promotions in four cities, even with the approval of the top leaders. Numerous details in various specific tasks would encounter great difficulties.
Just the basic necessities like eating, drinking, and transportation could be stumbling blocks, as China back then was not like America, where you could find restaurants everywhere and rent cars easily.
Nike’s involvement solved these issues well, allowing this unprecedentedly large event, never to occur again, to be successfully and smoothly completed.
On July 17, at the last stop of this event in Guangzhou, Gan Guoyang led the Trail Blazers against Jordan’s Chicago Bulls at the Liuhua Gymnasium in Guangzhou.
After an exciting exhibition game, over 6000 spectators in the venue were reluctant to leave, and people outside also pushed their way in, blocking the player’s passage. The fans’ enthusiasm left everyone at a loss.
As the organizers were about to call security to disperse the crowd, Gan Guoyang stepped in to stop them.
Gan Guoyang approached Jordan with an idea: "Michael, how about a one-on-one challenge? Let the others leave first."
Jordan readily agreed, and the announcer immediately informed the audience, which led to cheers. The venue regained order, and the other players from both teams were able to leave the court first.
Only Gan Guoyang and Jordan remained on the court, starting a confrontation both of them eagerly anticipated.
