The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 315 - 53 Blaming You

Since last year, Gan Guoyang had been considering the selection of personal bodyguards, assistants, and lawyers.

For routine financial, security, and legal consulting tasks, Gan Guoyang always relied on recommendations or services provided by Avia.

For instance, if he needed to attend an event, Avia would hire two temporary bodyguards from a security company to ensure Gan Guoyang’s personal safety.

Come tax season, Avia would have the company’s accountants assist Gan Guoyang with his tax filings.

If legal assistance was needed, as long as you have money, in America, you never have to worry about not finding a lawyer.

But Gan Guoyang knew that with his growing fame and increasing assets, he needed some closely associated individuals to handle these matters.

Like Jordan who has George Kohler, who met Jordan when he picked him up in a taxi at the airport, mistakingly calling him "Larry Jordan," the name of Jordan’s older brother.

At the time, Jordan was surprised and asked him, "You know my brother?" In fact, Kohler got the name wrong, but it led to a conversation and the two became good friends.

George Kohler really suited Jordan’s taste, so he became Jordan’s bodyguard and personal assistant, the closest person to Jordan in his life besides his parents and wife. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

Unlike Jordan, who enjoyed hanging out with friends, Gan Guoyang was more of a loner, but with the increasing busyness of playing games and training, as well as more and more events, he truly needed a full-time bodyguard and assistant to deal with everyday issues and hassles.

For instance, when running in the morning, Gan Guoyang previously felt safe running anywhere in the city while at Gonzaga and just after arriving in Portland.

But after encountering people dealing controlled substances outside Kolter’s home last time, Gan Guoyang realized that no city is absolutely safe.

In the 70s and early 80s, Portland was generally very safe, but as time went on, Portland gradually started to "Los Angeles-ify."

In fact, not just Portland, but most mid-sized cities on the West Coast are inevitably taking the same path to becoming like Los Angeles.

And ironically, the more these cities try to escape the fate of becoming "centers of crime and drug proliferation" like Los Angeles, through urban planning, road improvement, and community divisions, the faster their Los Angelization—because that’s exactly what Los Angeles had tried to do but ended up where they are now.

Now, Gan Guoyang could still feel safe running in Downtown Portland, but soon, he’d only be able to exercise in the upscale residential areas of Lake Mountain Park.

After returning to Portland, the Trail Blazers took a brief rest, then faced the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings back-to-back at home, both relatively easy games.

The Trail Blazers won with ease, and their record had now reached an astonishing 48 wins and 9 losses, just two wins short of that sweet start in 1978.

The atmosphere within the Trail Blazers was very relaxed; victory is the best lubricant for good team relations, washing away any conflict or friction.

However, surprisingly, Jack Ramsey had become increasingly irritable during this period, not off the court, but on it, and not at his players but at the referees.

In games against the Suns and Kings, Ramsey got consecutive technicals for yelling and complaining at the referees, and in one game, he was ejected from the court.

Off the court, however, he showed no abnormal behavior, which puzzled the players. Later, Adelman explained, "Jack is worried about you guys getting hurt; he doesn’t want to see past tragedies repeat. So he gets very angry when he thinks the referees are too lenient, and that makes him lose his temper a bit more."

It seemed that the shadows of the past still loomed over Ramsey; once bitten, twice shy. With the Trail Blazers showing their dominance once more, Ramsey was determined not to see their hopes dashed again.

Apart from pressuring the referees, Ramsey started to control the playing time of the starters, reducing Gan Guoyang’s minutes below 37 minutes from a previous 38.

Especially in the fourth quarter, he’d have to wait five or six minutes before going on, but fortunately, the Trail Blazers were always able to establish a big enough lead in the third quarter, so Gan Guoyang could afford to rest.

Bill Walton was miraculous in that he hadn’t missed a single game; Ramsey’s control over his playing time and usage was excellent, making it very possible for him to complete an incredible full-attendance season.

Winning regular-season games is of course important, but the NBA playoff system dictates that health often takes an even higher priority, and having learned from a costly mistake, Ramsey was not willing to take that risk again.

By the end of February 1986, the trade deadline had arrived, and the trade market closed without any significant moves from the teams.

Since the Buffalo Braves traded their MVP Bob McAdoo to New York in 1976, the League had gone 10 years without any mid-season major trades involving star players.

Back then, conflicts between NBA players and teams that would lead to trades were less frequent, not because players lacked temper, but because the team owners had absolute authority, and the players had little say.

Especially in terms of public discourse, the media mostly sided with the teams. If a player had a conflict with a team, media and fans would generally support the team, putting a lot of pressure on the player.

Like Earl Monroe and Bill Walton, they had suffered in this regard. The era that truly belonged to the players had not yet arrived, or rather, it was on its way.

On February 26, the Trail Blazers were at home facing the formidable Houston Rockets. Currently, one team ranked first in the Western Conference and the other third.

The Rockets’ improvement this season was visible to the naked eye, with the Twin Towers becoming more mature. In the matchups between the two teams this year, Gan Guoyang had distinctly felt the Rockets were tougher to play against than the Lakers.

In January, the Rockets had stormed through the West, losing only two games all month – one was a 3-point defeat to the old nemesis Utah Jazz, and the other was a dismal loss to the Mavericks when they were not in good shape. In general, their momentum was very strong.

However, in mid-February, their starting center Olajuwon was troubled by injuries, missing seven consecutive games, and without their core center, the Rockets lost some games.

Olajuwon was still missing from the Rockets’ roster for this game, and the official word from the Rockets was that he would be out for another two weeks.

This greatly reduced the suspense of the game. If Olajuwon could have contested Guoyang head-on, then Ralph Sampson always had a hard time facing Guoyang.

Despite having an absolute height advantage at 7 feet 4 inches, he was often pushed out of the paint by Guoyang’s strength, being suppressed on both ends of the court and having a tough time.

With Olajuwon’s rise, Sampson’s status within the Rockets had slightly declined, with his stats falling off from last season, averaging 18 points per game and his blocks also declining.

At the young age of 25 and only three years into the League, this was not good news for a young center, and indeed, he was also troubled by injury issues.

For giants on the basketball court, a large stature is both an advantage and a burden, with every bone and tendon having to withstand more pressure.

Players like Gan Guoyang who can bounce around the court for the entire game are truly rare. He hadn’t worn any protective gear to date – he did wear some for the All-Star game, mainly to advertise for Avia, including a unique protective sleeve that caught the attention of many young fans.

The game against the Rockets was over in less than three quarters, with the Rockets surrendering and the fourth quarter turning into garbage time.

Drexler excelled in this game, achieving a triple-double with 24 points, 12 rebounds, and 13 assists.

Since Drexler’s rise, Guoyang’s dominance on the rebounding leaderboard had been weakened. His average rebounds per game had dropped from last season’s 17.6 to 15.8.

Although still unmatched as the League’s first, his lead over the second-placed Lan Bi’er was only 2.5 rebounds.

Conveniently, the game against the Rockets on February 26 concluded, and the Trail Blazers were set to head to Detroit to challenge the Pistons away.

The two rebounding powerhouses could learn from each other on the court in a wrestling match.

The Pistons, top to bottom, equally thirsted for a showdown with the Trail Blazers.

Thomas wanted to avenge the loss of the All-Star MVP.

Lan Bi’er wanted to see if Ah Gan could still score 50 points on top of his head.

Melvin Turpin would face his biggest challenge since being traded to the Pistons.

Detroit fans had bought out all 22,000 plus tickets at the Silverdome early, in anticipation of this great battle.

However, Jack Ramsey had only one requirement for this game: he hoped the team would stay healthy.

So when the Trail Blazers arrived at the Silverdome and were about to start the game, Ramsay said to Chuck Daly in a slightly threatening tone:

"Chuck, I hope there won’t be any injuries to players on either side during this game. If, and I mean if, any of our players get injured for whatever reason, if it happens in this game, I will hold you responsible."

Daly had previously been an assistant coach under Cunningham, and Cunningham was one of Ramsey’s players on the 76ers.

So, Ramsay could be considered Daly’s mentor.

Looking at his mentor’s stern expression, Daly thought to himself, who gets injured by whom, it’s not necessarily certain!