The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 301 - 41: Not Keeping Promises

Perhaps because staying at Chapel Hill was too lonely, Jordan pulled Gan Guoyang into a conversation for over two hours.

It got to the point where Guoyang was annoyed. He had never realized how much of a chatterbox this guy was, always talking about every little trivial matter.

But then Guoyang thought about how he would call Jordan in the middle of the night just to vent his emotions so he could sleep better, and Jordan never complained.

So, as a friend, Guoyang endured it and let Michael ramble on this time.

By contrast, Guoyang’s other Michael friend, Michael Jackson, was a lot quieter.

Once a month, Guoyang would get in touch with him, and he was always so soft-spoken on the phone, so cautious that you couldn’t tell this was a pop superstar.

The extent of Jackson’s fame now was such that whenever you turned on the TV and randomly flipped through a few channels, you would almost certainly come across a program related to Jackson.

Be it news, musical performances, or advertisements, he was undeniably the superstar of the television era.

In the NBA, stars in their twenties and under thirty, such as Magic Johnson, were fans of Jackson; his music was what you heard most often during warm-ups at a game.

Jordan finally vented all the grievances he had accumulated this season. He felt much better, and before hanging up, he asked Guoyang,

"Hey Sonny, really, thanks for listening to me go on and on. These days, not being able to play basketball because of my injury have been tough."

"50 points."

"What? I said, thank you."

"I know. I said, 50 points."

"What 50 points."

"I’m going to score 50 points against the Bulls tomorrow night."

"...Are you sick?"

"You’ve been ranting about the Bulls’ nonsense for two hours, and now I really hate that team! So, I’m going to score 50 points, do you understand?"

"Go to hell, suit yourself, I’m not on the team anyway, score however many points you want."

The Bulls players had no idea that their own leader Jordan had inexplicably drawn some hatred towards them.

The next night, in the old Chicago Stadium, the venue still drew over ten thousand spectators, even without Jordan.

The Trail Blazers had become the hottest team in the League, especially among young fans, and Guoyang had gained lots of supporters.

This year, Avia launched a new model of high-rise basketball shoes, the Skyscraper II—the Hill’s. This was an all-black sneaker, creating a sharp contrast to the all-white Air Jordan IIs.

The Hill’s Building is a landmark structure in Chicago, once the tallest building in the world. The all-black skyscraper towers over the Chicago CBD, solemn and imposing, it is the most eye-catching building in the city.

Tonight, without Jordan to challenge him, Guoyang loomed over Chicago like the Hill’s Building, unstoppable by anyone.

The League had already abandoned the regulations on sneaker colorways, letting players wear whatever they wanted, so Avia no longer had to pay fines for Guoyang.

Decked out in the red and black jersey and the new Avia sneakers, Guoyang stepped onto the Chicago Stadium floor, ready to give the Chicago fans a New Year’s gift.

Another reason the Bulls’ home tickets still sold out was that, although they no longer had Jordan, the Bulls had signed former scoring genius George Gervin.

This move, initiated by Jerry Krause since he took over, traded forward Greenwood to get the old Spurs superstar.

Gervin, like Walter Davis, was sinking deeper into drug issues. He didn’t even attend the preseason training camp, and the Spurs knew it was time to rebuild, so they sent the veteran star to Chicago for younger players.

Jordan didn’t like this move, as Greenwood had a good relationship with him. Trading Greenwood for an aged Gervin made Jordan unhappy, of course.

But after Jordan was injured, Gervin did prove useful, somewhat filling the scoring void left by Jordan. Plus, he was once a superstar; despite his decline, he still had fan appeal which helped sell tickets.

Against the Dallas Mavericks, Gervin was in fine form, still managing to score 45 points. His talent for scoring was remarkable.

But this night was destined for Guoyang. Having been harassed by Jordan for two hours, he decided to spend two hours defeating Jordan’s Bulls.

Guoyang, now lighter and more agile from 258 pounds down to 248, was quick in his jump shots after pick-and-rolls and when attacking the basket.

The Bulls’ starting center, Juwann Oldham, couldn’t keep up with Gan Guoyang’s pace and speed at all and was completely outplayed.

Although he was 7 feet tall, he weighed only 230 pounds, a typical skinny center, but still no match for Gan Guoyang’s speed.

When it came to strength, it goes without saying that when Gan Guoyang grabbed an offensive rebound under the basket, he could easily push Oldham aside and dunk the ball into the hoop with one hand.

Tonight, Ramsay didn’t use a tall lineup but opted for a regular rotational formation. Dr. Jack saw that Guoyang was emotional and had a hot hand, so he gave him plenty of opportunities to shoot.

This year could be said to be an unlucky one for the Bulls. Not only was Jordan out for the season, but the league’s scheduling had been particularly cruel to them, starting the season with a six-game road trip during which Jordan got injured and was out.

In November, they were scheduled for a ruthless nine-game road trip, causing the Bulls’ team to spend more than half a month away from home, playing away games to the point of questioning their existence.

Without Jordan, Coach Albeck had no choice but to adjust the team’s tactics, and with Gervin’s standout performances in some games, the Bulls surprisingly found themselves on the edge of the playoffs, able to rank within the top eight in the Eastern Conference.

At that time, there were a total of 11 teams in the Eastern Conference, but there were eight playoff spots, so unless a team played exceptionally poorly or intentionally tanked, they could still scrape into the top eight.

But facing the Trail Blazers, a popular team on a roll, wasn’t going to work out. The Blazers, who had just lost to the Bucks, were at their most focused and determined, and they broke down the Bulls by halftime.

Jordan, at his home in North Carolina, watched the live broadcast of the game—this matchup that was initially slated to be nationally televised because the entire league wanted to watch "Gan vs. Joe" Season 2.

Who knew the much-anticipated duel would turn into a one-man show, with Gan Guoyang scoring at will on the Bulls’ home court.

"Xie Te, don’t you know to block that?"

"F***, can’t you see the fake, why go for the block?"

"Let him shoot... Why let him attack the rim!"

"Don’t let him take the shot anymore, don’t you know the kid’s shot is accurate?"

Jordan sat on the sofa, watching the live broadcast, nearly wearing out the cushions.

Through the not very clear live broadcast, Jordan could distinctly feel Gan Guoyang’s progress.

He was faster, more agile, and it seemed as if the physical contact didn’t affect him at all.

His scoring seemed much more effortless than last season, especially his shot selection near the three-second zone, using different attacking methods in different areas, which was very meticulous.

Ordinary fans might not have noticed, but someone like Jordan who played basketball year-round could tell at a glance. Gan Guoyang, after careful training, had filled his shooting with details, making everything look easy.

By halftime, Gan Guoyang had already scored 31 points. Jordan knew if this guy said he would score 50 points, he would definitely do it. The Bulls’ interior defense, Jordan was aware, couldn’t stop Ah Gan.

When Gan Guoyang caught the ball in the low post, turned around and jumped to shoot, facing the help defender Oakley, he dodged in mid-air, then while hanging, shot the ball towards the basket for two points, prompting exclamations from the audience: "Isn’t that just like a larger Michael Jordan?"

Watching the television at home, Jordan burst into laughter when he saw that basket. The guy was actually imitating me!

Although his hang time wasn’t like Jordan’s, who could evade two or three people, Gan Guoyang could only evade one.

But the play was enough to show how much blood, sweat, and tears Gan Guoyang had put into his body, that kind of core strength had to be trained.

Watching Gan Guoyang cut through the defense like slicing vegetables, heading straight for 50 points before the third quarter was even over, Jordan couldn’t sit still anymore.

He turned off the TV, called George Keller and asked him to arrange a pickup game, to set up a game for that night.

Keller said, "It’s nighttime, who’s going to come out and play?"

"NBA players play at night, I’ll pay, you round up the people!"

Keller knew Jordan was itching to play basketball, it was like a drug addiction to him; once it flared up, he had to play a couple of games or he wouldn’t be able to rest easy.

He could only hang up the phone and figure out how to gather people, then drive over to pick up Jordan.

Keller asked Jordan why he suddenly wanted to play so badly, and Jordan replied, "Because Ah Gan is about to score 50 on the Bulls, and I can’t do anything. I need to play ball, is it set up yet?"

"It’s set up. But..."

"But what? Don’t worry about the Nike people, they won’t know."

"Not that, I was listening to the radio while waiting for you, and Ah Gan has already scored 60 points."

"What? He promised to score 50! Damn it, he’s unreliable!"