The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 506 - 9 Going to Take a Bath

The long, hot off-season completely ended in November, and the fires of competition were ablaze once more.

On November 6, 1987, the Trail Blazers opened their new season at home against the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns, having experienced the shock of the All-America drug scandal in April and the cost of two lives, ultimately remained in Phoenix.

The team changed ownership, but the core roster remained the same.

Rebel Walter Davis stayed with the team, along with Edwards, Larry Nance, Sanders, and others.

The new owner did not make any flashy trades or cuts during the off-season, wanting to see if the current lineup could still perform in the new season.

If things really didn’t work out, it wouldn’t be too late to make changes mid-season.

After such turbulence, the internal cohesion of the Suns had completely dissipated.

Especially since Walter Davis’s role as a tainted witness compromised his status as the team leader, and no one respected him anymore.

Facing the Trail Blazers in the first game was like throwing themselves on someone else’s sword.

The Trail Blazers only needed half the game to crush the Suns.

During half-time, the team held a ring presentation ceremony.

Gan Guoyang personally hoisted the third championship banner to the ceiling of the arena.

Amidst the frenzied cheers of over 12,000 fans, the Trail Blazers completely tore apart the Suns.

The regular season is different from the preseason, with players more focused.

However, in terms of playing style, it was much the same as last season.

Gan Guoyang’s isolation plays had decreased, as, according to the new rules, the offense could not have more than three players positioned far from the ball and above the three-point line.

This meant that there had to be at least two players on the strong side with the ball.

The ball-handler would inevitably have a teammate close by, and a nearby defender, who could then come over to help and trap.

In such situations, Guoyang could still play, but not as effortlessly or efficiently as last season.

And the referees tonight had come with a mission, to closely call the Trail Blazers for offensive fouls.

They were called once in the first half and once in the second, disrupting the team’s rhythm.

Fortunately, the Suns were weaker, and the team was in disarray and not united.

With just a little effort from the Trail Blazers, the opponent collapsed.

They easily beat the Suns at home, 127 to 101, with a 26-point lead, securing a strong start to the season.

Then they easily defeated the consistently poor-performing Clippers away, winning by 31 points.

In these two games, Drexler, Kossie, and others had impressively inflated stats.

Especially Drexler, who posted 27 points, 12 rebounds, and 10 assists in the first game.

In the second game against the Clippers, he had 31 points, 8 rebounds, 12 assists, and 5 steals.

Clearly, Clyde was in excellent form for the new season.

Vandeweghe, who performed poorly during the pre-season, actually did well in the regular season.

In the first two games, he scored 21 points in one and 30 in the other, with a high shooting percentage.

On the other hand, Gan Guoyang willingly gave up some ball-handling responsibilities as his teammates excelled, scoring 23 points in one game and 21 in another, with more than 5 assists in both games.

If their opponents were always such weak teams, Guoyang wouldn’t mind if his stats suffered a bit, allowing Drexler, Kossie, and others to pad their stats for bigger contracts.

But facing slightly stronger teams was a different story.

On November 10, they faced the Houston Rockets.

Even with the Rockets on the decline, the Trail Blazers suffered a narrow 108 to 109 loss at home.

In that game, the Trail Blazers failed to display the necessary intensity and rhythm.

Porter, Parkson, and the other guards clearly hadn’t fully grasped the essence of Ramsay’s "two reductions, one increase" strategy, resulting in hesitation in the offense.

This led to lower offensive efficiency and an increase in turnovers for the team.

At a critical moment, Porter hesitated with a pass that got intercepted, causing the Trail Blazers to squander their efforts and miss the chance for a game-winning shot, losing the game.

Gan Guoyang wasn’t too bothered by the loss, knowing that the regular season is meant for training and trial and error, and that the record isn’t that important.

However, Drexler complained about Porter after the game, questioning why he didn’t initiate a fast break when he should have, instead slowing down to set up the offense.

Porter responded that the coaches wanted to reduce fast breaks and slow the pace.

Drexler retorted, "The coach said to reduce fast breaks, not eliminate them! You need to make the right decision!"

A heated argument ensued between the two in the locker room, while Guoyang and Ramsay were attending the post-game press conference at the time.

By the time Guoyang returned to the locker room, he sensed a subtle change in the post-game atmosphere.

The Trail Blazers’ locker room was always full of joy.

Guoyang would play music in the locker room, and everyone would have a good time dancing along.

Kenny-Carl and Thompson would make bets, nearly every game.

Vandeweghe and Parkson would make some tea to enjoy, overall, it was a harmonious environment.

Now, Guoyang was surrounded by reporters after every game and had no time to play music. If anyone wanted to listen, they would wear their own big headphones and listen on their own portable devices.

Kenny-Carl had retired to work on his big project, and Thompson had gotten married and was always eager to get home early to be with his wife.

After each game, Vandeweghe had to lie down for back therapy and Parkson needed to soak in an ice bath to relieve muscle pain in his legs.

Journalists began an unrelenting invasion of the champion team’s space, leaving less and less privacy for them.

The players’ fanbase was growing, and people like Drexler and Vandeweghe had signed endorsements, participated in interviews, gone to do radio shows – in short, everyone was very busy.

Apart from games and training, there was less time spent together in private.

Gan Guoyang could no longer remember how long it had been since he had last had dinner at Drexler’s house; there simply was no time.

Gan Guoyang did not ask what exactly had happened; he remained patient.

After the game against the Rockets, the Trail Blazers embarked on a road trip to the Western Conference.

On the 12th, they narrowly defeated the Nuggets team in Denver, having been behind at one point in the fourth quarter.

In the end, they relied on strong defense and three-pointers from Gan Guoyang and Vandeweghe to turn the game around.

On the 14th, they encountered a defeat in Dallas.

Last season’s underperforming Mavericks spent the off-season earnestly laying the groundwork for improvement.

They fired their old coach Dick Motta and hired former Suns coach John MacLeod to reorganize the team’s offense and defense.

In this battle against the defending champions, they played beautifully, suppressing the Trail Blazers with their strong firepower.

Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers still hadn’t found their rhythm or feeling on the offensive end.

They lost 120 to 127, a 7-point difference.

Next, on the 17th of November, the Trail Blazers lost to the Supersonics by a 4-point margin.

In that game, Vandeweghe scored 27 points and was in a good offensive state.

But plagued by injuries, his defense once again worsened, allowing McDaniel to score 32 points.

In 1985, it didn’t matter much if Vandeweghe’s defense was poor, as the Trail Blazers had a lot of fast breaks, and the mutual offensive play could make up for it.

By the 1987-1988 season, with bad defense during set plays and fewer fast breaks, the situation was troublesome.

After losing this game, Jack Ramsay made an adjustment, moving Vandeweghe to the bench and promoting Jerome Kossie to the starting lineup.

Vandeweghe complied with the coach’s arrangement, but clearly, he was not pleased inside.

His relationship with Kossie became even more delicate, worsening the atmosphere in the locker room.

It just so happened that Vandeweghe was very close with Drexler, while Porter had the best relationship with Kossie (years later, when Kossie died unexpectedly, Porter attended and hosted the press conference and funeral).

Thus, there was a subtle trend of division into two factions in the Trail Blazers’ locker room.

When Vandeweghe moved to the bench, the Trail Blazers did indeed start a winning streak.

They successively defeated the Kings, Clippers, Nets, and Spurs, marking four consecutive victories.

But in Vandeweghe’s eyes, these were already weaker teams, and they could have won whether Kossie started or not.

The explosion of the conflict occurred on November 29, after a home game against the Washington Bullets.

It was the first time in his career that Gan Guoyang and Bernard King had met on an NBA court.

Facing King, Moses Malone, and Barkley, Gan Guoyang had an explosive performance, scoring 61 points with 25 rebounds and 9 blocks, singlehandedly penetrating the season’s strong-starting Bullets.

The facts proved that his ordinary performance in previous games was just him biding his time.

Just as Gan Guoyang was happily going to the press conference after the game, in the locker room, Drexler and Porter got into another argument.

Drexler believed that Porter was deliberately not passing the ball to him.

Porter retorted, "Tonight was Ah Gan’s night. It’s only right that I passed the ball to him. You didn’t have better opportunities or efficiency, and you couldn’t make your threes either."

Porter’s last comment struck a nerve with Drexler.

Drexler had a good temper compared to other black players.

But that’s relative to other black players; he himself was a very proud man.

Gan Guoyang can joke about my shooting, but what about you, Porter? Just because you shoot slightly better than me?

The two nearly came to blows, and Kossie and others hastily intervened, resulting in Vandeweghe pushing and shoving with Kossie, both harboring resentment towards each other.

Vandeweghe felt that Kossie had taken his starting spot, while Kossie believed Vandeweghe’s poor defense didn’t warrant a starting role.

What was initially an argument between two people turned into a quarrel among four, creating a deafening cacophony.

In the locker room, Beelman could hardly hold them back. As a master of profanity himself, he even felt the fight wasn’t heated enough, lacking in swear words.

Gilmore attempted to mediate but was stopped by Mychal Thompson, who whispered, "Let them argue until Ah Gan comes back."

When Gan Guoyang pushed the door open and entered the locker room, the argument ceased instantly.

The locker room became frighteningly quiet in a moment, with the buzz of the fluorescent lights audible.

Gan Guoyang gestured with his finger for Drexler to come over, and then pointed towards the showers.

Drexler followed Gan Guoyang into the shower room like a student who had done something wrong.

"Strip."

"What?"

"Take off your clothes and shower."

"I... I’ve already showered."

"Shower again, and turn the water up."

Drexler had no choice but to undress and shower again.

Gan Guoyang was showering in the next stall. There was a divider, but you could hear each other’s voices.

After ten minutes, Drexler emerged from the shower, dried off, and said to Porter, "Terry, go shower inside."