The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 567 - 67 The Great Time Era

Even many years later, Riley would not admit to having fanned the flames of internal turmoil within the Portland Trail Blazers in 1988.

Stu-Inman and Spoelstra, two long-standing members of the Trail Blazers, stepped forward to assert that they had access to some inside information about the team but absolutely did not sabotage the Trail Blazers by leaking it.

Buckwalter and Yin Man, friends of many years, had a huge argument and almost cut ties, with Buckwalter not communicating with Yin Man for over a year.

Little Spo also had conflicts with his father, leading to him being unwilling to work in Miami many years later.

Jerome Kossie eventually reconciled with his father, but it is said that he did not give his father a penny; they merely shared drinks and chatted together.

Of course, the summer of 1988 saw many things happen, such as the changing of the team’s franchise ownership, player departures, the old coach’s resignation, and the management’s overhaul, all of which shrouded everything in layers of fog.

In the end, these all became enigmas, and along with who punched Ah Gan during the 1984 Christmas Battle, became some of the great unresolved mysteries of the Trail Blazers.

But one thing was undoubted and beyond certain: Ah Gan was continually climbing towards the crown of the greatest player in NBA history, leaving everyone else further and further behind.

In 1988, people thought he had reached the pinnacle, but in reality, he was just standing at the foot of the mountain of his life.

————Excerpt from the 2025 published biography of Gan Guoyang, "The True Story of Ah Gan," written by Wu Zhixiong.

The plane carrying the Trail Blazers slowly landed at Portland Airport.

The Portland Police Department had been managing the airport lockdown since the early hours of the morning to prevent too many fans from coming to pick up the team, to avoid affecting traffic and causing accidents.

Even so, more than 5,000 fans still gathered near the airport to welcome the Portland Trail Blazers home.

Although they did not bring back the championship trophy, everyone understood that the Trail Blazers hoped to complete their three-peat on their home court.

The massive parade in 1977 when the Trail Blazers won the championship on their home turf was unforgettable, and the insanity of the fans on-site later became known as "Trail Blazers Fever."

A decade had gone by, and the Trail Blazers were on the verge of even greater achievements; if they became champions, they would be the third team after the Minneapolis Lakers and the Boston Celtics to complete a three-peat.

Unlike the discounted prices at the Bullets’ home game, tickets for the sixth game at the Memorial Coliseum were next to impossible to find.

Whoever had a ticket to the sixth game of the Finals would become the most shining star among the Portland crowd.

To satisfy the fans’ desire to watch the game live as much as possible, the Trail Blazers temporarily added more than 200 seats.

But 200 tickets was just a drop in the bucket, and even the adjacent Paramount Theatre increased its seating by 100 and opened up some standing tickets.

On the day of the match, Portland experienced an unprecedented traffic jam, with a large number of fans driving to the Memorial Coliseum.

In fact, most people didn’t even have tickets; they just wanted to get as close as they could to the Coliseum to feel the championship atmosphere.

The game was in the evening, but many schools started their holidays at noon, shops closed, and businesses ended work early. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

It was all to facilitate everyone’s ability to go to the game or to wait in front of their home TVs for the start of the match.

Gan Guoyang went to the training gym with his teammates in the morning, and in the afternoon Quentin drove him to the Memorial Coliseum, but the closer they got to the Coliseum, the worse the traffic jam became.

When the Portland Police Department received news, they dispatched helicopters and police cars to direct traffic, clearing the way for Gan Guoyang to reach the Coliseum.

On the way, all vehicles made way for Ah Gan, clearing the roads so that he could arrive at the Memorial Coliseum smoothly at three in the afternoon.

The outside of the Coliseum could be described as a sea of people; many without tickets camped outside the venue, ready to celebrate the Trail Blazers’ victory.

This placed no small amount of pressure on the Trail Blazers’ players, with many thinking they might as well have won the championship in Washington.

If they couldn’t win at home, wouldn’t they be doomed?

However, when Ah Gan entered the locker room, those doubts vanished.

Upon entering the locker room, he shouted, "Everyone tidy up a bit, get your hair done, put on some hair gel, and look sharp tonight when accepting the award. Don’t embarrass ourselves."

Ah Gan was the confidence of everyone; with him on the court, each player would play with much more confidence.

Yes, with Ah Gan there, what was there to fear? They would certainly win.

Just before the game started, Jack Ramsay dropped a tear grenade in the locker room during the final rally.

He openly admitted that this would be his last NBA series, and if they won this game, it would be the last game of his career.

He was about to retire.

Although the players had heard rumors about the coach’s retirement while in Washington, actually hearing Ramsay admit it shocked everyone.

Ramsay grew increasingly emotional as he spoke, tears streaming down his face. Mitchell Thompson, who had played under Ramsay for 10 years and spent his entire career with him, couldn’t help but cry out loud.

Everyone’s emotions were incredibly mixed at that moment.

If they won the championship, they would reach the pinnacle of glory, but they would also face disbandment.

The team was to be sold, and they still didn’t know who the new owner was.

The head coach was retiring, marking the end of the Jack Ramsay era.

And they would become the last champions of the Ronald Reagan era.

Everyone was filled with a mix of sadness and joy, longing for the glory of a three-peat, while also making plans for their own futures.