The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 435 - 53 The Winning Talisman
Jordan didn’t want to participate in the three-point contest, not because he was afraid of losing, but because he felt he lacked the ability and qualifications to stand on the competition stage—it just wasn’t his track.
In the ’85 All-Star Game, his brain overheated, and he promised Gan Guoyang that if he participated in the three-pointer, he would too, mainly because he hadn’t anticipated that Gan Guoyang would actually be so crazy as to, being a center, participate in the three-point contest.
Jordan thought, since you’re participating in the three-point contest, why not just do the dunk contest as well? You’re pretty good at dunking too.
As a result, Gan Guoyang readily agreed and dragged Jordan to discuss it with David Stern.
David Stern was greeting officials from the Seattle area with the League’s Vice President of Media, Rick Wiltz.
Wiltz, a Seattle native, worked for the Seattle SuperSonics throughout the ’70s and was with them when they won the championship in 1979.
In the ’80s, he was promoted to the NBA office as the Executive Vice President; he wasn’t even 30 at the time and is only 34 this year, truly young and promising.
The concept of "All-Star Weekend" was one he took over from President O’Brien and brought to fruition under Stern.
When the two saw Gan Guoyang and Jordan approaching together, they thought they were coming to greet them and hurriedly introduced these two popular new basketball stars to the guests from Seattle.
Gan Guoyang got straight to the point and said, "David, I’ve got something I want to discuss with you. I want to join tomorrow’s All-Star dunk contest, and Michael will join the three-point contest. Add our names.
Stern blinked, wondering if the two were joking.
Wiltz interjected, "But the registration has already ended, and the roster is set..."
Stern cut Wiltz off and said to Gan Guoyang and Jordan, "If you have any objections to the participants in the dunk contest and the three-point contest, we can discuss it after dinner, review and amend the roster to ensure fairness and justice." 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖
Then, Stern told Jordan and Gan Guoyang to go have fun for now and that they would be informed of the outcome later.
After the two left, Stern pulled Wiltz aside and said, "Start a press conference immediately, let everyone know about the situation. We’ll add two more spots to the dunk and three-point contests."
Wiltz wasn’t foolish; he understood the commissioner’s thoughts the moment Stern interrupted him. If these two could participate in both the dunk and three-point contests, it would be a huge hot topic for the NBA.
This year’s dunk contest already lacked highlights, as Dominique Wilkins from the Hawks team was absent due to injury and Doctor J, Irving, no longer young, was not willing to participate in the dunk contest in his last All-Star. Therefore, Jordan didn’t have any noteworthy competitors.
Drexler had always been compared to Jordan, but this year he didn’t even make the All-Star roster, and his performance in the regular season was far inferior to Jordan’s.
Now that Gan Guoyang was willing to join in, the dunk contest instantly had a topic of discussion.
The Christmas game before was a forced arrangement by the League—as they did not plan to schedule the Trail Blazers for Christmas, but, for the sake of ratings and topicality, the commissioner unprecedentedly arranged an East vs West Christmas showdown.
The players suffered, but the League benefited, with ratings and topical interest off the charts.
Now that the two had proactively shown up, Stern couldn’t be happier.
Adding two names to the list was no big deal.
"Jordan’s three-point shot level... I’m worried it’s not that good," Wertz said, afraid that Jordan might not get past the first round in the three-point contest.
"No worries, the three-point contest is not the focus; the dunk contest is. Try to ensure Sonny makes it to the finals. Of course, if it really doesn’t work out, there’s nothing we can do. Promote it more before the game and capitalize on this heat," Stern replied, not holding much hope for Jordan’s three-point shooting.
The three-point contest is a situation of every man for himself; if you make the shot, it’s in, but if you miss, the referees can’t help you put the ball in the hoop.
But the dunk contest is different, based on a scoring system where some slight manipulation is possible.
As long as the dunks are successful, the judges will have an idea of the scores for the preliminaries and ensure that the most exciting combinations make it to the finals.
Wiltz no longer had any interest in continuing the dinner. He left the banquet hall, immediately gathered the committee members for an emergency meeting, and decided to add extra slots to the three-point and dunk contests for Gan Guoyang and Jordan.
Then, they informed the journalists attending the All-Star Game and called an emergency press conference to announce this news to the public.
Upon receiving the message, the reporters swarmed in immediately. Those with keen intuition began searching for Gan Guoyang and Jordan, hoping to interview them in person to understand why they decided to participate in the dunk and three-point contests at the last minute.
However, that evening, the two of them seemed to have vanished; their presence was nowhere to be found at the Ritz Hotel.
Jordan, after being pulled by Gan Guoyang to join the three-point contest, decided to find a gym to practice seriously.
The Ritz Hotel didn’t have an indoor basketball court, so they had their subordinates contact gyms around the Seattle downtown area and finally found one that was open all day.
The two left the hotel and went to the gym together, where Gan Guoyang fed Jordan the ball for him to shoot threes.
The three-point line at the gym was closer than the NBA’s, so Jordan stood a step outside the three-point line and complained, "Damn, why is this distance so far!"
"Just shoot, Michael. A last-minute effort is better than none. Practicing tonight might just earn you an extra point tomorrow."
"Aren’t you going to practice dunking?"
"Do I need to practice dunking? Let me tell you, my dunking skills and creativity are enough to keep you guys learning for ten or eight years."
Jordan took a corner three, and it was terribly off, not even hitting the rim.
Corner shots are the hardest because there’s no backboard to use as a reference for distance, making it easy to overshoot.
After several misses, Jordan started to regret it, feeling like he had let his emotions get the better of him and had been tricked.
Ah Gan obviously came prepared; he was just waiting for Jordan to say "If you join the dunk contest, I’ll join the three-point contest."
Gan Guoyang’s dunking ability was already high. Although he was a center, his height of 6 feet 10 inches made his dunks not cumbersome but rather graceful.
His 360-degree dunk over someone and his imitation of Doctor J’s rock baby were counted among the classic dunks in NBA history.
Although Jordan was confident he could surpass Gan Guoyang in dunking, even if he won, Gan Guoyang wouldn’t lose face too much, getting second place wouldn’t be too bad.
But his own three-pointers? Could he make it into the second round?
Jordan was highly skeptical, realizing he had indeed fallen into the trap that Gan Guoyang had designed.
Jordan moved to a 45-degree angle and threw another ball, another miss. Gan Guoyang told him to relax and raise his arc a little.
Gradually, Jordan found his touch, sinking several in a row, and he began to feel confident again.
After Jordan finished practicing, Gan Guoyang started, and Jordan kept feeding him the ball.
Gan Guoyang had an incredibly quick release; he didn’t even need to aim, catching the ball and shooting immediately.
Because of Gan Guoyang’s strength, his shooting motion from the perimeter was very small and stable.
With no one defending him, he was like a consistent shooting machine, continuously firing and hitting shots.
Jordan had watched Gan Guoyang practice threes before and noticed the guy’s shooting had become even steadier and more accurate than before.
His core was as solid as a rock, unwavering at any angle he shot from.
Jordan had to admit, he was somewhat envious. He suddenly felt that joining the three-point contest was the right decision, as it allowed him to realize the gap.
Of course, no matter the outcome tomorrow, Jordan had no intention of working on his own three-pointers because he felt that would disrupt his game rhythm.
He had his own style and habits, and he wouldn’t change them according to Ah Gan’s way of playing.
The two practiced until late at night, not satisfied with just shooting threes, they also played a game of one-on-one.
Gan Guoyang suggested finishing up, as a married man shouldn’t let his wife wait in the hotel for too long.
When they returned to the hotel, the reporters had already left. Wang Fuxi told Gan Guoyang, "The NBA officially announced that you and Jordan will participate in both the three-point contest and the dunk contest tomorrow."
"Great! Stern is sensible after all; he knows we have to catch this wave of excitement."
"By the way, Fuxi, did you buy the thing I asked you to get for me?"
"Don’t worry, I got it. Are you really going to bring it to the contest tomorrow?"
"Of course. It’s my secret weapon to win!"
