The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 262 - 4 Only by Moving Forward Bravely

Qian Chenghai listened to Gan Guoyang’s words and repeatedly praised him, saying, "That’s right, we need to dampen their enthusiasm a bit, to fire them up! The Olympic experience was a painful one. Everyone’s used to reigning supreme in Asia. But once on a larger international stage, that’s when our shortcomings were exposed."

At that time, China’s sports environment was fairly closed off. Although there were friendly matches with many strong teams from Eastern European countries, socialist countries often prioritized friendship first and competition second during those times.

The powerful teams from the Eastern European countries would show some face and not play to the death, giving each other some leeway. In Asia, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia all fell short of the Chinese team, which led some domestic players to feel superior to some, yet not quite up to par with others.

Feeling like they reigned supreme in Asia and while they couldn’t beat the strong teams from Europe and America, Asians were originally behind in this regard. If we work hard to catch up, we’ll eventually get there one day.

The Los Angeles Olympics delivered a heavy blow to everyone, especially the hit from the Americans.

The Trail Blazers’ visit to China was primarily for commercial promotion. The national team players got to enjoy a bit of spectacle off the court, but they had no real idea of what was actually happening on it.

Young guards like Min Lulei were very confident. Seeing Gan Guoyang performing so well in the game, he believed this showed that Asians’ athletic abilities were no worse than those of white or black people.

Min Lulei too was Asian, of pure Huaxia descent. Therefore, he naturally wouldn’t be worse than those NBA players. This logical reasoning was quite stringent, bolstering his confidence.

When dividing up the players, everyone implicitly wanted to be on Gan Guoyang’s team, eager to experience what it was like to be teammates with an NBA star center.

Min Lulei, however, voluntarily stood on the other side. He even pulled Song Tao to his side and whispered, "Taozi, this is our chance! Just think, if you dunk on Gan Guoyang’s head, won’t Coach Qian start looking at you differently! During the scrimmage later, I’ll pass you the ball more. Just drive hard to the basket and slam it down!"

Song Tao was nervous inside. He had watched Gan Guoyang’s two games live and had also viewed the Western Conference finals recordings.

Just from observing, Song Tao could only describe Gan Guoyang’s strength with one word: terrifying.

In terms of height, Song Tao was about the same as Gan Guoyang, both around 2.08 meters tall—no significant difference.

Song Tao’s wingspan and shoulder width were decent, and with his fair and clean appearance and gentleness, he had a bit of Kevin McHale’s vibe.

But now, standing on the court, Gan Guoyang was visibly larger than Song Tao by two sizes.

The width and thickness of Gan Guoyang, as well as the muscles on his arms, were all brimming with a sense of power.

This was even after he had slightly lost weight; he had recently increased his aerobic exercise to maintain his weight around 250 pounds.

Song Tao had no doubt that if Gan Guoyang were to collide with all his strength, he could definitely scatter his frame.

Although he felt some fear inside, which young basketball player doesn’t have a bursting spirit? No matter how strong the opponent, one must always give it a try.

He knew that Gan Guoyang was only a year older than him. As peers, Song Tao really wanted to measure up against Gan Guoyang.

Thus, Song Tao volunteering himself, along with Min Lulei, Yang Jun, Zhang Xuelei, and Wang Fei, formed the young team, ready to challenge the main team led by Gan Guoyang.

Lyu Changxin, the assistant coach of the men’s team, asked Qian Chenghai aside, "Coach Qian, letting Ah Gan lead the main team against the young team, isn’t that a bit unfair? Can they handle it?"

Qian Chenghai said, "The main team already knows how formidable NBA players are. There’s not much point in letting them be defeated again. Instead, Ah Gan should lead them, let them understand how high-level basketball is played. The young players like Xiao Lu and Song Tao are all full of youthful vigor. They must want to prove themselves in front of their elder brother, to show off their faces. It’s a good opportunity to test them, letting them feel the pressure of playing against an NBA-level center, especially that kid Song Tao. We didn’t let him play in the Olympics, and he’s not content with that."

Lyu Changxin nodded after listening. Coach Qian was indeed thinking further ahead.

When both sides had finished warming up, and the scrimmage started, Gan Guoyang stood at center court to jump ball against Yang Jun.

Yang Jun’s height was 218 centimeters; as a teammate of Min Lulei on the Capital Team, he was quite tall but not very heavy, as Chinese athletes were generally quite lean at that time.

Min Lulei wasn’t very tall, standing at just 183 centimeters, a typical height for a point guard, but his weight ranked fifth on the Capital Team, only behind three inside players and the forward, Guan Zhengang.

Thus, the duo was known in the Capital Team as ’fatty and skinny’, one tall and lanky, the other short and stocky, a combination that most normally composed teams would find unusual.

Min Lulei had already planned things out. If Yang Jun could win the jump ball, he would drive the ball to the basket, then find a way to lob it inside or attack by himself. If his shot didn’t go in, Yang Jun and Song Tao could fight for the offensive rebound and score on the second chance, catching their opponents off guard from the start.

Yang Jun indeed won the jump ball because Gan Guoyang didn’t jump for the ball. Min Lulei smoothly got hold of the ball; the plan was already halfway to success! The situation was in his favor! 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

He was moving the ball, ready to push forward and organize the offense, when suddenly a figure swooped in. Min Lulei was met with tight defense—it was Gan Guoyang.

The oppressive feeling brought on by Gan Guoyang’s size and speed nearly caused Min Lulei to turn the ball over. He protected the ball, ready to accelerate, only to realize he couldn’t shake his defender.

Try to bump with his body? That would be no different from hitting a wall, and he would quickly be called for a violation.

Pressed into a corner at half court, Min Lulei had no choice but to jump and pass the ball, which Gan Guoyang intercepted.

With the intercepted ball, Gan Guoyang led a fast break, easily dunking it.

In the first play of the game, Gan Guoyang gave Min Lulei a little taste of what NBA playoff-level defense felt like.

This was the defensive intensity and skill used by Gan Guoyang when he switched to defend Magic Johnson, how could Min Lulei possibly break through easily.

It was only then that Min Lulei realized, watching from the sidelines and actually facing it on the court were not the same thing.

Primarily because he saw himself as a guard and Gan Guoyang as a center, his responsibility was to thread passes to his teammates.

He wouldn’t risk shooting in front of Gan Guoyang, but why was it that every time he dribbled the ball he couldn’t get three meters away without being stolen!

Latter, as soon as Yang Jun got the ball on the offense, he was cut off by Gan Guoyang, who then received the ball on the counterattack and charged under the basket to make a layup.

Song Tao tried to block Gan Guoyang, but the moment they collided, he felt as if his breastbone had been cracked open.

In that era, even NBA players didn’t have enough strength training, not to mention the Chinese team, who were all lean in stature.

Song Tao was knocked so hard he couldn’t recover for a good while, and by the time he did on the offense, he found it difficult even to receive the ball if Gan Guoyang was guarding him.

Qian Chenghai shook his head as he watched from the sidelines. After being blocked twice by Gan Guoyang, Gan said, "Don’t go one-on-one, it’s useless. Pass more, cooperate more."

Although Song Tao was unwilling to accept this in his heart, what Gan Guoyang said was correct. Static one-on-one indeed couldn’t break through Gan Guoyang’s defense line; the Chinese team needed to keep moving.

Even though they suffered a crushing defeat against Team USA at the Olympics, the Chinese team still executed some beautiful offenses, none of which relied on individual play, but all on quick cooperation.

The game quickly showed a one-sided trend. Gan Guoyang’s deterrence under the basket was exceptionally strong, bringing a huge threat to the young players like Song Tao, Yang Jun, Min Lulei, and others.

He couldn’t block every shot, but he made the opponents feel like every shot they took could be blocked, thereby affecting their shooting touch.

In the offense, Gan Guoyang had little cooperation with the older players of the Chinese team, after all, they hadn’t played together, but he had his own weapon: offensive rebounds.

It was as if he was back in high school, intimidating opponents on defense, and bombarding with offensive rebounds on offense. He didn’t need any skills, just these two things could defeat many teams.

This violent Moses Malone-style play was particularly demoralizing for the opposition; they failed to score, then couldn’t hold onto the ball after defending, and lost points easily again.

After playing for more than ten minutes, Qian Chenghai called a stop to the game. He knew they couldn’t continue, as the young players were clearly disheartened, physically spent, and mentally exhausted on the court.

Qian Chenghai came over and said to Gan Guoyang, "It won’t do, these young players can’t compete, their level is still lacking, they’ve lost their spirits."

Gan Guoyang replied, "You need to strengthen physical training. Confrontation is fundamental. Without strength, it won’t work."

"Our training load is not small." Although the men’s basketball players were leaner, they were still quite fit, the result of extensive training.

In their 1984 match against Team USA, they weren’t utterly crushed and managed to hold their own in some plays.

However, they couldn’t last long in high-intensity confrontations, and their movements tended to deform under sustained high-intensity conditions.

"Volume alone is not enough; you need scientific training and diet. In the future, we should cultivate some nutritionists and trainers domestically. They can come to Portland to learn so that players can eat well and train well."

Qian Chenghai nodded. All these were the reasons they came to America, to learn advanced practices.

Gan Guoyang also hoped that these practices could enter China sooner, as being late would mean some concepts couldn’t take root in people’s hearts.

Gan Guoyang even gave special praise to Song Tao, saying that Song Tao had a good leap, played intelligently and, most importantly, had a spirit of not admitting defeat.

He was the most spirited among the young players, scoring 6 points in the paint, and he even tried to dunk over Gan Guoyang twice but got blocked both times.

Just for that courage alone, he deserved appreciation, while Min Lulei had thoroughly recognized reality and, panting heavily, had gone to rest at the side of the court.

Latter, a disheartened Song Tao asked Gan Guoyang how to compete with aces in the paint, to which Gan Guoyang replied, "Don’t be afraid of getting blocked, don’t be afraid of getting knocked down, only by moving forward bravely can you win."

The following day, the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team faced their first opponent in America, the New York Knicks. At the Knicks, Gan Guoyang saw Patrick Ewing, who had just been selected as the first draft pick.

Ewing was taken aback upon seeing Gan Guoyang and asked, "Gan, are you playing for the Chinese team?"

Gan Guoyang shook his head and said, "I am a professional player now, idiot, I’m just here to watch."

Ewing breathed a sigh of relief. Today was supposed to be just a friendly game to relax, but if he had to confront Gan Guoyang, it would be inevitable torture.

Ewing was not mentally prepared for that.

In the end, the Knicks easily defeated the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team without any suspense, but during the game, Song Tao scored a dunk over Ewing, becoming the biggest highlight of the match.