The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 287 - 27 Burning Incense

Before allowing Ewing to experience the power of the Trail Blazers on the court, Gan Guoyang decided to treat him to some Portland Chinese cuisine.

Gan Guoyang initially planned to cook at home, but then he thought better of revealing his culinary skills too much. What if people started asking him to whip up a dish at gatherings, wouldn’t that be embarrassing?

"I’m your big brother here, not your cook. I’m no Klemenza."

Gan Guoyang first drove to the school to pick up Wang Fuxi, telling her he was treating a friend to dinner and inviting her to join.

Wang Fuxi cancelled a school event she had and agreed to come, asking, "Which player friend is it this time?"

Gan Guoyang said, "You don’t pay any attention to the Trail Blazers’ schedule nowadays. It’s Ewing, the Knicks Team is coming."

"Oh, Ewing, I know him, the player who looks like a gorilla."

"Hey, hey, don’t talk nonsense; if someone hears you, you could be sued for racial discrimination."

"I’m only saying this to you, and besides, he really does look like one."

"Even if it’s true, you can’t just say anything you want!"

Gan Guoyang drove to the airport to pick up Ewing.

When Gan Guoyang was in New York this summer, Ewing didn’t just lend him a car but often treated him to meals and allowed him unrestricted access to the Knicks’ gym for training.

So with Ewing visiting Portland, Gan Guoyang was definitely going to play the gracious host off the court. He took Ewing to Old Chinatown by the Willamette River to a familiar Chinese restaurant. Along with them was Wang Fuxi’s female friend, making it a group of four.

When Ewing saw that Gan Guoyang was treating him to dinner and had brought his girlfriend, he knew it was going to be a vegetarian meal and there wouldn’t be any after-dinner entertainment. He couldn’t help feeling a bit disappointed.

However, he knew Ah Gan was like this. After living in a hotel in New York for a month, not once did he hire a call girl, investing all his time and effort in training instead.

Therefore, he held a sense of awe for Gan Guoyang, knowing that his performance on the court was earned through a tremendous amount of sweat, which inspired Ewing.

"Patrick, how do you feel after joining the NBA? New York’s not bad, right?" Gan Guoyang asked Ewing at the dinner table.

Ewing was silent for a moment, scratched his face with his large hand, and said, "I think I was more comfortable in college."

Ewing had spent four years at Georgetown, well-protected by John Thompson, perhaps even overprotected.

Suddenly that iron curtain set up by John Thompson was gone, and Ewing found himself in a mega-city like New York.

The public expectations and pressure he faced were beyond what most people could imagine, with all sorts of chaotic opinions circulating from the moment the Knicks got the first draft pick.

Gan Guoyang somehow found a copy of the October issue of Sports Illustrated. Once Ewing saw the magazine cover, he knew it was bad news.

"Oh please, Ah Gan, don’t read that article, it’s pure nonsense!"

Gan Guoyang had brought the magazine all the way, so there was no way he wouldn’t read it out loud. He turned to Jack McCollum’s article, cleared his throat, and began to read:

"Summoning the echoes of the great Bill Russell! Patrick Ewing leads the rookies into the professional arena!"

Ewing couldn’t take the title and rushed over, grabbed Gan Guoyang by the shoulders, and snatched the magazine from his hands, stopping him from reading any further.

But Gan Guoyang had already read the article. He remembered some of the sentences and asked, "Patrick, did you really say that ’I won’t change for anyone!’? The article suggests etching that statement on your tombstone. My goodness, are you thinking about your death already?"

Ewing, holding his forehead, said, "I just said it off the cuff. Am I supposed to say, ’I will change myself for this city’? People will think you’re a pushover. It’s only pushovers who let others squeeze and change them. So I had to say I won’t change; most people would say the same!"

The October article was much more tempered in its praise of Ewing compared to when he was first drafted by New York in July.

By October, after the preseason games, the Knicks had a mediocre record of 2 wins and 6 losses, and Ewing’s performance wasn’t disappointing, but it wasn’t spectacular either.

On the contrary, he had revealed some issues on the professional court, like controlling his emotions. In the second game, he got ejected for saying something to the referees and had already committed six fouls by then, later being sent straight back to the locker room.

In the third game, he confronted Buck Williams and went after Michael Ray Richardson to settle scores, ending up fouled out again.

In the game against the Pacers, he elbowed Steve Stipanovich in the throat, and Steve Stipanovich tackled him to the ground, the two of them scuffling together.

Ewing ended up on the losing end, pinned beneath Stipanovich, and eventually, both of them were ejected from the game.

In the 8 preseason games, Ewing was ejected 4 times due to fouling and fighting issues, holding an ejection rate as high as 50%, which was higher than his shooting percentage.

At Georgetown, he had John Thompson and a host of teammates protecting him, especially Thompson, who formed a solid team to resist all outside noise.

But the Knicks were different, they had been in a state of decline for a long time, with Bernard King out injured and a lack of leadership within the team, no one would protect Ewing.

He roared angrily like King Kong on top of the Empire State Building, ready to show his toughness to the people of the league, but no one paid him any mind.

On the contrary, New Yorkers felt he was too reckless and lacked the composure of Willis Reed. In interviews, he was always indifferent, unable to utter any interesting phrases, completely lacking the charm of Walt Frazier.

Gan Guoyang watched on TV as Ewing and Stipanovich fought, and he said to Ewing, "If you’re not particularly good at fighting, then don’t fight. Because if you provoke and then everyone finds out you can’t win the fight, your toughness becomes a joke in their eyes, understand? Don’t learn from that dummy Hakeem."

Having grown up fighting in an orphanage, Ah Gan knew that one shouldn’t fight just for the sake of it. If you have to fight, you must be absolutely sure you can hurt your opponent and make them afraid to confront you again.

If fights become more frequent, with someone coming after you for revenge the day after you fight, it means the fight was in vain and didn’t have any effect, instead inviting endless trouble.

Ewing tried to pick up the peanuts from his Kung Pao chicken with chopsticks in his large hands and nodded, "Coach Thompson told me the same thing, he said in the NBA you are a star, you shouldn’t just get into conflicts. It should be up to the Knicks to find someone to handle it for you."

In that era, it was common for star players to be accompanied by enforcer players, especially during the 60s and 70s when fights were most prevalent.

John Thompson himself was Bill Russell’s enforcer.

Every team had tough players, and if you had tough guys trading punches with star players, leading to both getting ejected, the game couldn’t go on.

Thus, teams signed tough players as a deterrent. With enforcers on both sides, it was understood that you don’t hit me, I don’t hit you.

If there was a need to fight, it would be the enforcers fighting each other, not the star players.

Fights started to decrease following the incident involving Tomjanovich and Washington.

By the 1980s, there were fewer conflicts on the court than in the 60s and 70s, but they still happened continually.

After all, this is professional basketball, where physical confrontations are intense, and it’s impossible not to have any clashes or conflicts.

Of course, Gan Guoyang chose a different path, beating every challenger in the league to the point where no one dared provoke him anymore.

Trail Blazers’ games were always played controlled and peacefully, with everyone using basketball to solve problems. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Patrick, how about I teach you wrestling? Look at how embarrassingly that guy Stipanovich flopped you! He locked your throat from behind, and at that point, you should’ve firmly grabbed his hand, then do this, and that, and this... and you could’ve flipped him over your shoulder!"

Gan Guoyang demonstrated to Ewing how to break free from a rear chokehold, indicating that if Ewing wanted to learn, he could offer him a discount on the lessons.

"I’d rather not learn. I just want to play basketball."

Ewing had practiced wrestling with Gan Guoyang that summer, but Ewing’s tall stature and high center of gravity didn’t suit him.

Plus, during practice, Gan Guoyang had thrown him several times to the point where his bones almost fell apart. Ewing seriously suspected that Ah Gan was using him as a punching bag, which is why he didn’t return for a second time.

"Then you should avoid starting fights on your own. Just wait for the Knicks to find you an enforcer."

"That’s one thing Michael is good at; many have been rough with him, but he never retaliates. As long as you don’t start fights, you won’t get sucked into the mire. You’ll stay clear-headed and restrained."

Gan Guoyang shared his experiences with Ewing, and he told Ewing about many of his own rookie season experiences, including confrontations with Jabbar and Moses Malone, which Ewing found immensely beneficial.

"So how should I deal with you then?" Ewing suddenly asked.

"Go to a temple and light some incense. I am under the care of the Bodhisattva."