The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 531 - 35: Meat Grinder
(I mixed up the content of Chapters Thirty-Four and Thirty-Five; the title can’t be changed, so I’ll adjust the content. This Chapter will cost an extra credit, as the word count can be altered.)
Chapter Thirty-Four: The Fierce Tiger
In the past three seasons, every time Gan Guoyang played in Washington, he would be warmly welcomed by Charles Barkley.
They were close buddies, and in many ways, they were alike in their bad taste.
Now, two more of Gan Guoyang’s acquaintances had joined the Washington Bullets.
One was Bernard King, who joined the Bullets in the summer, bringing with him a determination to prove himself. After an average start to the season, he gradually regained form.
In just 29 minutes per game, he could efficiently score 18 points, grab 4 rebounds, and dish out 3 assists, slowly working his way from the bench to the starting lineup.
The other was Steve Colter, who was traded from Atlanta to Washington just before the All-Star game.
After experiencing a drug dealer’s kidnapping, Colter knew he couldn’t stay in that place for long.
Just as well, the Hawks were dissatisfied with Colter’s performance, viewing him as a slim, undisciplined, and talent-lacking point guard who could spoil the locker room atmosphere. So, they sent him to the Bullets.
It goes without saying how closely Colter was connected with Gan Guoyang; in Colter’s heart, Ah Gan was his lifesaver, the one who changed his destiny.
Three old friends, good buddies—by all rights, Gan Guoyang should receive a warm welcome in Washington.
But Charles Barkley called Gan Guoyang and regretfully informed him, "Sorry Ah Gan, Coach Dick Motta won’t allow us to have too much contact with you before the game, he told us to keep our distance from you."
"What? Dick, that old man, is such a Dick. Basketball is just a job; why should he interfere with your regular socializing?"
"In theory, he shouldn’t, but this is the whole team’s decision... I can’t talk too much with you, but after the season ends and I win the championship, I’ll make it up to you."
"Oh, cut it out, Barkley, winning the championship—don’t make me laugh; the championship is mine."
"I’m not going to argue with you, Sonny, we’ll see," Barkley seemed confident about the Bullets’ prospects.
Afterward, both Bernard King and Steve Colter called Gan Guoyang, saying the same as Barkley—the coaching staff would not permit private contact with Gan Guoyang. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮
In the end, it was Colter who let the details slip to Gan Guoyang. He’d been with the Bullets for the least amount of time and owed his life to Gan Guoyang, so he couldn’t keep secrets.
"Dick Motta implements militarized management in the team. Although Wes Unseld is the head coach, Motta is the strategist, and his words carry weight. The Bullets aim for the championship this year; the team’s morale is high. The Portland Trail Blazers and you are our greatest hypothetical enemies. Motta made it clear that when the Trail Blazers visit, no one is allowed to meet with you privately; we have to beat you on the court."
The last time the two teams met was at the beginning of the season. At that time, the Bullets were formidable, but they were shattered by Gan Guoyang’s 61 points and 25 rebounds.
Subsequently, the Bullets suffered a series of setbacks, Lou Holtz stepped down, Wes Unseld took over, and, by the way, Dick Motta returned to the Capital Gymnasium, with the Bullets starting anew.
At that time, Gan Guoyang’s focus was on internal team conflicts; he had completely overlooked the quiet changes occurring with the Eastern Washington Bullets.
"Didn’t Dick and Barkley fight all the time?" Gan Guoyang asked.
During his time with the Mavericks, the discord between Dick Motta and Mark Aguirre was common knowledge.
There was even a period when Mavericks fans bought tickets just to watch Aguirre and Motta argue on the sidelines, to see how Motta would scold Aguirre, and whether Aguirre would talk back or they would come to blows.
The Mavericks finally got on track in the ’87 season, securing second place in the Western Conference, and the relationship between Motta and Aguirre improved significantly as they moved toward higher goals.
But fate has a sense of humor—they were ousted in the first round by the Supersonics in a shocking upset.
Motta resigned and left the Mavericks, free from the endless disputes, to continue arguing elsewhere—he returned to Washington at the invitation of his disciples.
And Charles Barkley, no doubt a more talented and hot-tempered player than Aguirre, left many wondering, just like Gan Guoyang, if the two could get along.
"There haven’t been any issues since I arrived. And you know, Dick is the strategist; he makes plans, and the head coach is Unseld, which eases the tension between Dick and the players. Besides, with Moses in the locker room, Charles behaves quite well, and he always says, ’I’m going to beat Ah Gan dead.’"
Colter, the spy, leaked all he knew to Gan Guoyang.
Gan Guoyang cursed Barkley under his breath, calling him a damn scoundrel.
At the All-Star game, Barkley had been following Gan Guoyang around, addressing him as Ah Gan this and Ah Gan that.
But behind his back, he’s thinking about taking me down. Nevertheless, that’s how NBA players are, friends off the court, competitors on it.
The bigger the star, the fiercer the competition.
Whether it’s Jordan or Barkley, as they age, they all feel an increasing anxiety for honors, all hoping to win championships to validate themselves.
At that moment, Gan Guoyang became their biggest roadblock.
After getting valuable information from Steve Colter, Gan Guoyang knew that the Washington Bullets had big ambitions this year.
Looking at the roster, the Bullets were indeed quite formidable.
Center Moses Malone, power forward Charles Barkley, Malone may have been past his prime, but he was still an excellent center averaging 20+ points and 10+ rebounds per game.
Barkley was entering his prime, a top power forward averaging 25+ points and 13+ rebounds per game.
His and Barkley’s "double snatch" combination was very powerful, and most teams simply couldn’t withstand their crazy offensive rebounding onslaught.
Small forward Bernard King, shooting guard Jeff Malone, two top scorers who focused on scoring without much organizing ability.
The Bullets had always lacked a good point guard.
Now they had acquired Colter, and although Colter wasn’t outstanding and his performances with the Jazz and Hawks were somewhat disappointing,
he had already secured a starting position in the few games after joining the Bullets.
After the kidnapping incident, his mentality had changed significantly.
He started playing seriously and fully integrated into the Bullets team.
His one year of championship experience with the Trail Blazers could bring many benefits to the Bullets.
Just as he said on the phone to Gan Guoyang, "Ah Gan, we’ll do our best to meet you in the finals."
This statement was the same as what Jim Paxson had said, but only one of Paxson and Colter could make it to the finals stage.
On the evening of February 9, the Portland Trail Blazers arrived at the Capital Gymnasium to compete against the Washington Bullets.
Beyond the starting five, the Bullets bench boasted players like Manute Bol, Rick Mahorn, Tiny Bogues, Mark Alarie, Terry Catledge, a group with considerable strength.
Among them, Bol and Bogues were the tallest and shortest players in NBA history, respectively; the Bullets had brought them together on one team, surely with some aim for spectacle.
This was indeed an interesting combo, and their on-court performance was decent, not just the water cooler type only playing during garbage time.
They each played around 15-20 minutes per game, and every time they appeared on the court together, it always attracted the fans’ eager attention.
Mark Alarie was a forward from Duke University who had faced off against Gan Guoyang in the NCAA Tournament, unable to contain Gan’s sharp offensive attacks.
Before the game started, as Gan Guoyang warmed up and looked over this group of familiar faces, he thought the Bullets really had a knack for gathering a motley crew of old, weak, sick, tall, short, fat, and thin eccentrics and melding them into a team with decent fighting power—which wasn’t an easy task.
The coach who had unified them must surely be quite the character.
Gan Guoyang was right, Dick Motta was indeed a character.
Even though he was currently only an assistant coach for the Bullets, the team now flowed with Motta’s blood, as Unfeld had also been trained by Motta.
Motta had done many bizarre things as a head coach; the guy was the personification of outrageous, taking it to extremes.
For instance, to watch the Muhammad Ali vs. Leon Spinks boxing match, he cursed out the referees during his own basketball game, getting himself ejected so he could go watch the boxing.
Or, during a game, he suddenly had the idea to let his center (Wayne Cooper) block an opponent’s free throw because he believed the rulebook didn’t define it as a foul.
He argued with the referees when they called a foul and demanded to see the rulebook.
Turns out, it was in there; the basket counted.
But the most outlandish thing he did was during a game against the Warriors; he felt the team was playing without passion in the first half and needed a jolt.
So at halftime, he borrowed a tiger from a performing circus Beast Tamer and brought it into the locker room to scare the players.
The players were indeed scared, but it didn’t really have the effect of boosting their morale.
Now, Dick Motta understood that a real tiger off the court could only terrify the players, not inspire them.
Only a fierce tiger on the court could motivate the players to fight bravely.
Bernard King had said, "Ah Gan is a fierce tiger, the most ferocious one."
Dick Motta deeply agreed.
