The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 513 - 16 Fun

Kevin Johnson certainly remembered the Northern California championship semifinals held in San Jose in 1982.

The overconfident him had claimed he would score 40 points over Gan Guoyang’s head.

But during the semifinals, he was completely dominated by Gan Guoyang, who easily scored 40 points and controlled the game.

From that moment on, Kevin Johnson knew that Ah Gan was a player of a higher tier.

Only he didn’t realize how much higher, so high that when he just entered the NBA, Gan Guoyang was already a back-to-back champion, a Demon-King-like figure in the league.

Kevin wasn’t one of those hot-headed, aggressive Black players.

On the contrary, he was well-mannered, well-educated, and his earlier claim of "scoring 40 points over Ah Gan" was just a bit of fun.

Who knew that Gan Guoyang, this grudge holder, would cling to it until now.

Faced with Ah Gan bringing up the past, Kevin Johnson just smiled faintly and said, "It’s all in the past, tonight I’ll try to manage just one point over your head."

In the face of Johnson’s submission, Gan Guoyang didn’t push too hard, he patted Johnson and said, "I was blocking Price’s shots just to get you on the court sooner."

Johnson said, "You don’t have to go easy on me, no need for that."

"Of course not, I’m going to keep blocking your shots tonight," replied Guoyang.

"Then I really have to drive into the paint and contribute a few blocks to you," Johnson retorted.

The two chatted on the sidelines for a while as the game continued.

Kevin Johnson took charge of orchestrating the Cavaliers’ offense as the point guard.

Unlike his time in high school and college, in the Cavaliers, Johnson wasn’t the key player.

If it weren’t for Harper being absent due to injury tonight, Johnson wouldn’t have taken to the court until the second quarter.

On the court, he fulfilled the traditional role of a point guard, organizing the offense at the top of the key, distributing and handling the ball with caution.

The Trail Blazer’s defense in the first half wasn’t tight—in fact, it was even looser than usual—but they ramped up the intensity of one-on-one defense.

The aim was clear: expose gaps to force you to penetrate, creating opportunities for Gan Guoyang to block your shots.

Such tactics are rarely seen in general teams.

Because the paint is the last line of defense, it requires layers of protection from the perimeter.

If the perimeter defense keeps leaking or getting slashed open, the pressure on the interior defense would be immense.

Centers are easily mired in foul trouble from the opponent’s repeated attacks.

Only when you have top-tier rim protectors like Gan Guoyang, Yi Dun, or Russell would you dare to deliberately leave flaws and send opponents under the basket for a block party.

Mark Price ate three blocks in the first quarter alone.

Kevin Johnson wasn’t that foolish; instead of charging with the ball, he patiently organized the offense.

Even when Hornacek defended with his body turned, giving him space to penetrate, Johnson didn’t rush in.

He knew there was a tiger inside; Ah Gan was waiting for him.

By the end of the first quarter, the calm Kevin Johnson had contributed two assists and hit one mid-range shot.

The Trail Blazers led the Cavaliers 31:26, ahead by five points with Gan Guoyang recording four blocks and adding six points and four rebounds to his account.

This season, Gan Guoyang’s scoring had declined, but his blocks had seen their first increase in four years.

After his rookie season, as Gan Guoyang’s offensive responsibilities grew with increased scoring and assists, his rebounding and shot-blocking began to decrease.

During his rookie season, his rebounds and blocks were the highest in three seasons. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

However, this season, Gan Guoyang’s blocks reached a new career-high of 4.2 per game.

Following the current trend, this number is expected to continue rising.

During the interval, Gan Guoyang headed off the court for water, Gilmore came off the bench to replace Ah Gan.

After a summer of hard training with Gan Guoyang, Gilmore looked much more muscular than last season.

His role in the Trail Blazers was simple: play defense and protect the basket when Gan Guoyang was out or when Gan Guoyang played the power forward position.

For this former all-star and basketball genius, contributing about 15 minutes of high-quality defense per game was achievable.

However, right off the bat, Kevin Johnson suddenly accelerated to the basket, faced Gilmore with a floater, and banked a shot for two points.

Gan Guoyang noticed that Johnson was quite cunning, taking advantage of the elder.

While Gan was on the floor, Johnson had been organizing plays, drifting around the perimeter.

As soon as the Old Train stepped on the court, Johnson began using his speed to attack the Trail Blazers’ interior defense.

Daugherty remained on the court, along with Williams, who was 6-foot-11.

The Cavaliers had quite a decent height on the floor, and unlike other teams, the Cavaliers were a double inside-offense team.

Teams that center their offense around a big man typically have a standard lineup: a reliable point guard, a small forward who can fast break and attack the basket, a shooting guard with accurate shooting, and finally, a power forward who does the dirty work and plays solid defense.

But both Cavaliers’ Williams and Daugherty possessed offensive prowess, and Williams wasn’t cut out to be a blue-collar power forward.

So, all the dirty and tiring tasks like setting screens, diving for loose balls, and help defense, were left to veteran Phil Hubbard.

At 6-foot-8, he was of standard small forward height, but on the floor, he assumed the role of a power forward.

John Williams, as a power forward, had a versatile offense with skills in low post moves, hook shots, turnaround jumpers, drives, and mid-range shooting.

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Last year, during the game against the Celtics, Williams scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while facing Bird’s defense, causing a small stir in the media.

Of course, scoring high against Bird was not really anything unusual.

However, Bird was after all the top player in the Eastern Conference, and the Celtics were the top team in the East, so performing well in the Boston Garden Arena was enough to prove his offensive talent.

Before entering the league, his prototype was none other than Gan Guoyang.

Looking at the early style of play, he indeed had similarities with Gan Guoyang.

With comprehensive offensive skills and a tall physique, he was a prodigy, and if not for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal, people originally predicted he would be one of the top three draft picks in 1985.

But as time went on, the gap between Gan Guoyang and those players who were 6-foot-10 and claimed to be similar to him grew wider and wider.

In the early minutes of the second quarter, the Cavaliers launched a beautiful counterattack.

Gilmore seemed to be somewhat overwhelmed in the paint, and Kevin Johnson, using his speed and weaving moves, fully mobilized the team’s offense.

His presence caused Lenny Wilkens some trouble, this guy, just like Price, had the capacity to start.

However, Wilkens, with his traditional style, favored the white guard Price.

Although Kevin played well, it was obvious he was suppressing his own desire to attack, striving to look like a traditional point guard.

But in reality, he wasn’t.

The Cavaliers closed the gap to 37:36, just 1 point behind, and Jack Ramsey called a timeout.

Gan Guoyang re-entered the game, replacing Mychal Thompson, and took the power forward position.

Then, Lenny Wilkens made a substitution at the scheduled time, bringing in Mark Price for Kevin Johnson.

As soon as Price saw Gan Guoyang come on, his mind was flooded with ten thousand devils.

Why do I have to go on and off with Ah Gan? Can’t I play the linking part and avoid Ah Gan?

Price was a devout Christian, he played very clean basketball on the court, never cursed, and didn’t employ sneaky moves—which was in stark contrast to John Stockton.

Gonzaga was also a Christian school, but it was clear that the glory of God did not shine on Stockton enough.

Price knew that tonight, Ah Gan was targeting him, and he tried to adjust his mentality.

However, as soon as the second quarter began and Gan Guoyang switched to the number four spot, Price’s life became even harder.

Gan Guoyang’s defensive range expanded, and he would often step out to interfere.

Do not underestimate the impact of a big man stepping out to play defense.

A defensive player with excellent instincts, every time he stepped out to stretch his hands and delay the ball carrier, he could slow down the opponent’s offensive rhythm by 0.5 to 1 second.

As long as he could return to his position in time, such continuous outside harassment and delay would make the ball-handling organizer very uncomfortable.

After all, Price was only a sophomore, and his experience on the court was not enough.

Gan Guoyang’s relentless harassment left him unable to find his rhythm in offense.

And Gan Guoyang, that bastard, deliberately left openings after stepping out, tempting Price to make a direct pass inside.

As a result, John Williams, after receiving the ball twice for layups, had his shots blocked from behind by Gan Guoyang, who had come prepared with a trap.

After being blocked twice like that, the Cavaliers were hit with a fast break.

On the offensive end, Gan Guoyang used low post plays and screens to create opportunities for Kossie and Porter, plus follow-up offensive rebounds, allowing them to score consecutively.

The Trail Blazers countered the Cavaliers with an 8:0 run, widening the gap and forcing the Cavaliers to call a timeout.

During the timeout, Gan Guoyang shouted to Lenny Wilkens, "Why not give Kevin a try? Maybe he’d organize the play better."

Wilkens ignored him, thinking Ah Gan was just trying to mess with his head.

This kid was well-informed, knowing about the competition between Price and Kevin Johnson within the Cavaliers, and was trying to stir things up.

In fact, Wilkens was overthinking it; Gan Guoyang didn’t need to stir up any internal conflicts when playing the Cavaliers.

He simply wanted a direct confrontation with Kevin Johnson.

Price was a bit too ’plain’, defending him lacked some fun.

Kevin Johnson sat on the sidelines, his heart stirring.

But his personality and upbringing prevented him from telling Lenny Wilkens openly that he wanted to get on the court sooner, that he wanted to play a bit longer.

In the first half, Kevin Johnson didn’t get another chance to play.

It seemed that Lenny Wilkens was intentionally curbing Johnson’s time on the court.

He wanted to prove that he wouldn’t change the team’s rotation strategy or the starting point guard because of Gan Guoyang’s interference.

Ultimately, Kevin Johnson only got 15 minutes of game time, with no chance to contribute to Ah Gan’s blocks.

Two months later, Kevin Johnson was traded to the Phoenix Suns, where he began a new basketball life.

Gan Guoyang delivered 8 blocks in the game, Gilmore had 2, and together they gave the Cavaliers a total of 10 blocks.

The Cavaliers could still put up a bit of resistance in the first half, but when the Trail Blazers’ defense tightened up in the third quarter, the offensively struggling Cavaliers collapsed, losing 118:97 at home to the Trail Blazers.

Gan Guoyang collected all the money in the bucket for himself, and boosted the entire team’s defensive morale with his 8 blocks.

"During this away trip, anyone who delivers a block can take 10 US dollars from the bucket until all the money is gone."

The money wasn’t important; what mattered was the fun that this little bonus brought to everyone.