The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 292 - 32: The Fierce Nature

After finishing the interview, the warm-up had ended, and the players all returned to the locker room to prepare to take the court.

Gan Guoyang kicked open the door of the away team’s locker room and shouted to his teammates, "I just said in a CBS interview that we’re definitely going to beat the Lakers black and blue tonight! You guys just watch!"

Everyone was stunned, turning their heads toward Guoyang, wondering what got into him this time.

Everyone had a fire in their belly about last year’s Western Conference finals loss, hoping to surpass the opponent this year.

But no one was like Guoyang, thinking that they could easily beat the Lakers black and blue on an away game, let alone openly saying it on television.

The locker room fell silent, and Ramsay said, "Forget it, let’s just play casually tonight."

The locker room erupted in laughter, filled with a merry atmosphere.

Gan Guoyang hurriedly said, "Jack, what side are you on?"

Ramsay said, "I’m on the side of the sane people."

"I just want to win the game, how is that not sane?"

"Everyone wants to win, but it’s done with brains, not with mouths."

"I can win with my mouth."

"..."

In times like this, Ramsay didn’t want to have a dialogue with Guoyang that went beyond three sentences; saying two more might drive his own sanity awry.

Walton came over and patted Guoyang on the shoulder, saying, "Dr. Jack has made full preparations; we all want to win tonight, not just you."

Gan Guoyang said, "I know, I’m just trying to boost everyone’s morale. Your foot’s okay, right?"

"No problem, I feel great right now, really, really good." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

Walton felt something with the New Trail Blazers that was completely absent in the Clippers.

Positive, united, harmonious, optimistic—they seemed to have returned to their best times in the past.

Walton was already planning to have his wife and kids move back to Portland from Los Angeles.

He wanted his kids to grow up there, although Los Angeles was nice, Portland had its unique charm.

Ten minutes later, the Trail Blazers team gathered around the locker room doorway in a circle, with Gan Guoyang standing in the middle holding his right arm high.

Everybody placed their hands on Guoyang’s, a ritual many teams perform to rally before entering the court.

Typically, someone, often the team leader, would shout a slogan, and everyone would respond in unison to boost morale.

Like the Celtics shouting "Go Celtics!" or teams facing the Lakers usually yell "Beat LA," and so on.

The Trail Blazers asked Guoyang to come up with a Chinese motto-something with a good meaning that was also catchy and vibrant, to become the battle cry on their journey to the championship this year.

Gan Guoyang racked his brains for three days and nights and finally came up with a motto that had a great meaning, was catchy and rhymed well, was very powerful, and was easy to learn.

"Bodhisattva bless us!"

Gan Guoyang shouted loudly, and the others from the Trail Blazers followed, shouting "Bodhisattva bless us!" in their not so standard Chinese.

Ramsay asked Guoyang what the slogan meant, and Guoyang said it was the Chinese equivalent of "God bless the Trail Blazers."

Ramsay was a devout Christian, and Americans love to say "God bless America," a well-known slogan.

Ramsay was satisfied, so the Trail Blazers used this slogan before games all season long.

With the confidence of being blessed by God, the Trail Blazers stepped onto the floor of the Great Western Forum once again.

As soon as they set foot on that floor, the light-hearted atmosphere disappeared.

Before Guoyang’s arrival, it had always been the "forbidden ground" for the Trail Blazers; they had an easier time winning at the Boston Garden Plaza than here.

Since Magic Johnson joined the Lakers in 1979, from the 80 season to the 84 season, in 4 seasons and 12 away games against the Lakers, they only won three times.

Counting the playoffs, that was 15 away games, with only three victories.

After Guoyang joined the Trail Blazers, they won four games at the Great Western Forum in just one season.

They played so well that Riley didn’t dare let Guoyang come to the arena to warm up, and Rambis needed a psychologist to treat him before the game to resolve negative emotions.

The Lakers faced a bewildering four consecutive away games at the start of the new season, with the first game resulting in a tough double-overtime win against the Spurs in San Antonio.

But the defending champions, with their great strength and the momentum from last season, consecutively took down the Spurs, Mavericks, Suns, and Warriors, achieving four consecutive away wins.

Finally, in their fifth game, they returned to their home court for the championship ring ceremony opening game, only to lose to the Cavaliers, who hadn’t won a game since the season started, in an unexpected upset.

However, they soon found their rhythm again, winning all the way to the present, tied with the Trail Blazers Team in the standings. Tonight’s game would be the battle for the top spot in the Western Conference.

Pat Riley learned from last season’s lessons and didn’t go for an all-out offensive lineup anymore. He put Kurt Rambis and Michael Cooper in the starting lineup, with Byron Scott, who often started last season, coming off the bench.

But this wasn’t fixed; Riley often made changes at the shooting guard position based on the opponent to decide whether to start Cooper or Scott.

In facing the Trail Blazers, he still preferred to start Cooper. Cooper’s defense, especially his help defense, was crucial. Rambis alone would have a hard time dealing with Ah Gan.

Rambis had to do a lot of psychological preparation before the game even started, only then taking to the court with glasses in a starting role. He indeed had a "shadow" cast over him by Gan Guoyang’s play.

In the playoffs, at the most intense moments, Gan Guoyang’s charges were like a dump truck, and Rambis could not handle his impact in terms of height or build.

Especially Gan Guoyang’s iron elbow, which knocked out Rambis twice and shattered his glasses once (Gan Guoyang later compensated him for that)—and after reviewing the videos, it still wasn’t clear whether it was intentional.

Under such circumstances, Rambis couldn’t fight back, didn’t dare to engage, and couldn’t defend properly, which made for a very poor game experience. It was normal for Rambis not wanting to start.

But Riley still insisted on starting Rambis instead of the more experienced and personally capable Morris Lucas.

When the pre-game show ended and both teams’ players stood on the court, the lights and cameras all focused on the brightly shining area.

Rambis took a deep breath and then let it out slowly, reminding himself in his heart, "Don’t look at Ah Gan, don’t talk to him, just play well, just play well."

Gan Guoyang stood at the center circle, originally not planning to talk to Rambis. But after catching a glimpse of him turning his head away and muttering to himself,

"Hey Rambis, are you still mad at me? Don’t be angry, I’ve forgiven you already."

"Next time, don’t hit my elbow with your face, it really hurts. I’m talking about my elbow."

Rambis clenched his fists tightly, and the calm he had managed to find suddenly seemed a bit uncontrollable.

Jabbar stepped between them and said to Gan Guoyang, "Kid, don’t say things that are too extreme."

Gan Guoyang replied, "You’ve already made me an enemy, can’t you even handle a few words from me? If you lose to me, are you going to kill yourselves?"

Tonight, Gan Guoyang was very aggressive because he felt the hostility from the Lakers and Riley, from AC Green’s narration, and from the attitude of the entire Lakers team.

You treat me as an enemy and yet expect the enemy to speak kindly to you; don’t be too naive.

The only two on the Lakers who were still warm and friendly to Gan Guoyang were AC Green, because he wasn’t truly a Laker yet,

and Byron Scott, who encountered Gan Guoyang in the player’s tunnel before the game, greeted each other, joked around, and even chatted for a while.

But the rest, whether in the tunnel or warming up on the court, acted as if they were too proud to even see Gan Guoyang.

Apparently, only Scott was adhering to the first rule of the Ah Gan Principles, while Pat Riley had gotten carried away, completely forgetting his own rules.

Jabbar found himself at a loss for words after Gan Guoyang’s rebuff. The referee was already coming over to start the jump ball, and Jabbar saw a wild ferocity in Gan Guoyang’s eyes.

In the jump ball, Gan Guoyang was the first to tap the ball, securing possession for the Trail Blazers as Drexler took the ball to organize the attack.

Gan Guoyang quickly made his way down to near the three-second zone, with Drexler lobbing a pass to him.

Before receiving the ball, Gan Guoyang had already thought through the two best maneuvers for attacking from that position: a turnaround jump shot or a left-handed hook shot.

Jabbar was in the middle, Cooper was on the wing trying to come over for the double team. Gan Guoyang made a quick judgment upon receiving the ball and chose to quickly turn and jump to shoot.

Jabbar stretched his hand to block, but Gan Guoyang’s turn and shot were too fast; the ball went over his fingertips and straight into the basket.

This was one of Bernard King’s most prized moves, from any position near the three-second zone, he provided the best solution.

In the summer, Gan Guoyang rigorously trained these best solutions—turning, shooting, hook shots, driving, passing—along with visual training with Dr. Ogilvy, simulating the occurrence of various situations on the court to enhance his adaptability.

Whether facing double teams, triple teams, front defense, or illegal early double-teams, Gan Guoyang, based on Bernard King’s suggestions, made further derivations to find the most optimal solution, then practiced repeatedly to build muscle memory.

Thus, when he had the ball near the three-second zone, he could react in the fastest way possible without getting stuck in the defensive mire, while also driving the team’s offense.

However, the Lakers made a basic mistake on offense. Johnson passed the ball insidethe center lane, but due to a positioning error, neither Jabbar nor Rambis was there to receive the ball.

The ball flew straight out-of-bounds, and possession went to the Trail Blazers.

Riley stood with arms crossed at the sideline, not too happy with the start.

Even less pleasing was when Gan Guoyang locked down Jabbar in the low post, accepted the ball, turned outward, walked the baseline using his strength and speed to completely overpower Jabbar.

A one-handed slam with the right hand—it was a powerful dunk!

This monster had indeed improved over the summer.

Riley, who had repeatedly studied the Trail Blazers’ game tapes from the season, realized that Gan Guoyang had not been exerting his full force in previous games.

Even when he scored 50 points over Joe Barry Carroll’s head, most of it was done with turnaround jumpers and hook shots.

Now, starting the game with a strong post-up only happened against the Lakers.