The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 550 - 52: Haven

Before the Eastern and Western Conference Finals began, the NBA announced the winners of this year’s MVP and Best Defensive Player awards.

Michael Jordan swept both of these heavyweight awards, averaging 35 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3.2 steals, and 1.6 blocks per game during the regular season.

As a guard, his steals and blocks reached an incredibly high level, thus winning the favor of the judges.

Jordan attended the award ceremony and was interviewed by the host.

From Jordan’s expression, it was clear that he was not particularly excited.

Despite receiving two crucial individual awards, the semi-finals elimination and the team’s inability to advance further left Jordan feeling helpless.

What was even more frustrating for Jordan was that not only had Ah Gan made it to the conference finals for the fourth consecutive year, but Charles Barkley had also reached the conference finals.

Among his close friends in the circle, only Ewing fared worse than Jordan, suffering elimination in the first round, whereas Ah Gan and Barkley even had the chance to meet in the finals.

In recent times, he had simply cut off contact with everyone, and it was only when the league announced the major individual awards that he began to recover a little.

Beyond his stagnant progress on the court, Jordan was also encountering troubles off the court.

Not long after being eliminated from the playoffs, his girlfriend Juanita told Jordan that she was pregnant.

Jordan immediately relayed the news to his parents, only to find that they were very upset.

They believed Juanita had intentionally let this happen to trap their son and coerce Jordan into marriage.

Unlike Gan Youwei, Jordan’s parents did not want him to marry so soon; he still had more options.

Meanwhile, Jordan collaborated with Nike to open a few small chain supermarkets owned by the Jordan family shares, named "Flight 23 by Jordan."

The store was managed by Jordan’s father, James Jordan, and Nike’s intention was not to make money but to find something for Jordan’s family to do, so it would appear they were self-supporting rather than just living off their son’s money.

The shop was located in Charlotte, and aside from James Jordan, all of Jordan’s brothers and sisters had shares and held positions in the store.

Although Jordan had not won a championship in these years, nor had he even made it to the conference finals, his commercial influence was astonishingly huge.

In the current NBA, only Gan Guoyang could hold a candle to him, and that too on the premise that Gan Guoyang had two championships.

Jordan’s style of play, his individualistic charisma, as well as his skin color and nationality, gave him a natural advantage.

However, the rise in Jordan’s fame brought a side effect: it made it more difficult for his siblings to find work.

In plain terms, as Jordan’s family members, they didn’t want to do inferior jobs, and they couldn’t handle the good ones.

They were being supported by Jordan, yet at home, the parents still had to maintain a facade, pretending that it wasn’t Michael who was subsidizing the family expenses and that everyone was working.

But in reality, the whole family, except for Ronnie Jordan, was living off Jordan.

For Jordan, this family situation was very sad; he was clearly supporting everyone, yet others, for their pitiful pride, had to pretend to support themselves.

Such is human nature: gratitude turns to grudges when you do so much for your family members that they feel they can never repay you, and they come to resent you instead, to ease their own moral burden.

Flight 23 Jordan had a grand opening ceremony in Charlotte, and Jordan’s acquisition of the MVP and Best Defensive Player took his fame to a new peak across All-America.

Yet, the opening of the new store brought even more severe disputes at home, especially between James Jordan and his wife Deloris.

On the day of the opening ceremony, many media outlets were on-site for coverage, and James Jordan and Deloris ended up physically fighting in the office over some disagreements.

Jordan found it exceedingly painful to be caught between his parents; his love for both his mother and father was the same.

On one hand, he had to mediate the conflicts between his parents.

On the other, he had to maintain a smile in public to hide these issues from the general public.

And soon Jordan would discover that apart from being a scumbag who raped his daughter, his old man was also worthless in business.

His father couldn’t even manage a small retail store properly, spending his days drinking and womanizing and even falling behind on payments to suppliers, which started dragging down the reputations of Nike and Flight 23 Jordan.

Even when Jordan was in school, James Jordan had been sued for taking kickbacks and embezzling funds and had lost his job over it.

All of this made the relationship between James Jordan and Deloris increasingly worse, and their conflicts escalated.

Jordan felt more and more that his family was no longer his haven but the source of his problems, leaving him utterly exhausted.

So after the end of the 1987-1988 season, besides training, Jordan spent a great deal of time on golf and gambling to seek excitement and escape from the troubles that bothered him.

And seeing Gan Guoyang and Barkley advance further in the playoffs, the frustration and pressure led him deeper and deeper into gambling..., deeper and deeper...

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Gan Guoyang watched the entire MVP award ceremony on TV while he was at home preparing for the Western Conference Finals.

Trail Blazers fans were not satisfied with the outcome. They believed that Ah Gan was more deserving of the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year.

The reason MVP was not awarded to Gan Guoyang was that Ah Gan had already been MVP twice in a row, and the Trail Blazers had not made a breakthrough success this year. The selection committee did not want to choose Gan Guoyang again.

As for Defensive Player of the Year, Gan Guoyang’s defense was better, but he was too consistent and equally lacking in surprises.

Gan Guoyang, however, didn’t mind. This year, his goal was only the championship; he had already seized the All-Star Game MVP. He was fine with Jordan having the MVP and Defensive Player awards.

Unlike Jordan who was deeply troubled by family issues, Gan Guoyang’s life off the court was simple and satisfactory.

His family relationships were very simple: just a dad, a wife, and a child yet to be born.

He did not have any blood siblings, which meant he also had fewer unnecessary troubles.

Avia, like Nike, wanted to help Gan Youwei start a chain restaurant to deepen the connection with Ah Gan.

But Gan Youwei was not interested in doing business and was strongly against appearing in public, saying he didn’t want to cause trouble for his son.

Gan Youwei possessed a traditional Chinese virtue of selflessness as a parent, considering only his child’s welfare, never his own personal gain.

Furthermore, given Gan Guoyang’s current achievements and financial situation, Gan Youwei was very content and had no further interest in fame and fortune.

All he wanted was a grandson or granddaughter.

Before the Western Conference Finals began, Gan Guoyang shared the news of his wife’s pregnancy with Gan Youwei.

Over the phone, Gan Youwei remained very calm and simply told him to "make sure Fuxi takes good care of herself."

However, that very night, Gan Youwei called and said he wanted to visit Portland.

Gan Guoyang said there was no need, as there were people taking care of them and there would be nothing much for him to do if he came.

Gan Youwei saw the reason in that and grudgingly hung up the phone.

Afterward, Gan Youwei, who was usually not one to call frequently, started calling almost every day.

It wasn’t for anything important, just to say hello and chat for a bit. Gan Guoyang could tell that his father was very happy.

On May 23rd, Gan Guoyang said goodbye to his wife and headed for Los Angeles to start his journey in the Western Finals.

After the plane landed, Gan Guoyang received a message on his pager from a familiar number.

After arriving at the hotel, Gan Guoyang returned the call from his room, it was to Jordan.

"Hey Michael, did they finally fix your phone or what? How did the League let you know you got the MVP? Carrier pigeon?"

"Enough, enough, Sonny, cut it out, I know you called me, and you also joked with George just to make fun of me."

"I fucking called not to make fun of you, but to show my concern and comfort you!"

"Buschet, okay, let’s talk serious. How about we train together this summer?"

"Sorry, I haven’t even started thinking about summer training."

"It’s just a suggestion, to make an appointment with you."

"Michael, are you in a bad mood?"

There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"What are you talking about? I just got the MVP and Defensive Player of the Year. Why would I be in a bad mood? The Bulls are still progressing, it’s just my fourth season. Not everyone is you, Sonny."

Jordan tried to hide it, but Ah Gan could feel Jordan’s unusual mood. They knew each other well, having made too many phone calls before.

"Alright, we’ll train together this summer. I’ll show you how to win a championship."