The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 324 - 60: The Great Chef

The Trail Blazers’ victory mitigated some of the harm that Gan Guoyang’s rampage had dealt to the team.

After the game, as teammates returned to the locker room, they embraced Gan Guoyang one after another, with Drexler almost splitting his sides with laughter.

In the second half, almost every time Drexler drove to the basket, he would be met with the Pistons’ brutal treatment.

But with his personality, he wasn’t one to start a fight; he had a temper, but he didn’t hit people.

Not only him, but the likes of Vandeweghe, Paxson, including Walton and Thompson, were all serious about playing the game.

This was related to their upbringing and personal character. For starters, let’s just say that nearly all of these Trail Blazers players had fathers.

Vandeweghe and Jim Paxson were second-generation players, both with fathers who were former NBA players, and as such, their family circumstances and education were not lacking.

Walton’s father was a music teacher and a social worker, and his mother was a librarian; Walton had been steeped in music, literature, and art since childhood.

Mychal Thompson was born into a Catholic family in the Bahamas, while Porter’s parents divorced when he was 12. However, he always adhered to the rules, took out student loans for college, and then worked to pay them off while playing basketball. Any remaining time was spent in the library studying with his girlfriend.

The situation with Drexler was a bit more complicated; technically, he had three fathers.

Before he was born, his mother had a fiancé who was a police officer. After his birth, his fiancé was killed in action.

Later, Drexler’s father married his mother, and they lived in New Orleans, where they had three children, with Drexler being the third.

After the two divorced, the mother moved to Houston with her four children and married her current husband, Drexler’s stepfather, and had another three children.

Therefore, there were seven children in Drexler’s family, with Drexler in the exact middle, the fourth oldest, yet their family life was quite comfortable, solidly middle-class.

Both parents had respectable jobs, and their neighbors in the community were police officers, firefighters, doctors, and teachers. The environment in which they grew up was peaceful and harmonious.

It was a group of such individuals; while they were skilled on the basketball court, they had no clue how to throw a punch in a fight.

Thus, Gan Guoyang single-handedly took on all the fights for the team. "If you guys can’t fight, I’ll fight for you."

Of course, not everyone from a good background was a goody-two-shoes. The likes of Bill Lambier belonged to the kind who became shamelessly decadent once they became exceedingly rich.

Gan Guoyang appeared to have a normal family environment too, but nobody knew that he was the king of the orphanage, specializing in dealing with all kinds of orphans.

In the locker room, the only one who didn’t give Gan Guoyang a warm welcome was Jack Ramsay; he criticized Gan Guoyang, "Why did you just let Thomas go?"

Gan Guoyang explained, "Strom already had my legs in a hug."

"Then you should have given him a kick and busted his head open."

"..."

"Jack, do you have a grudge against the referees?"

"Of course, every coach wants to bust a referee’s head open."

Indeed, the disputes between coaches and referees were always a main theme on the sidelines.

Earl Strom had always referred to Jack Ramsay as "the master of monologue communication with referees," and the sarcastic undertones are easily imagined.

Over more than a decade and hundreds of games of interaction, all the conflicts and friction inevitably made Ramsay wish his favored pupil would land a blow for him.

Fortunately, Gan Guoyang was quite sensible. Although the NBA officials were shocked at yet another outbreak of violence on the court, upon investigation, they found it wasn’t a serious incident.

Though the scene was big, the consequences were not severe. Fans had their fill of both excitement and curses, adding much to the NBA’s topicality in a year short on star power.

With Jordan and Ewing both sidelined with injuries, Stern, who was keen on commercial promotion, felt a headache brewing. Fortuitously, Ah Gan stepped up at just the right time to quench the thirst, albeit with negative news. But in the realm of celebrity, infamy is also fame.

As long as one doesn’t appear on crime shows, but rather on Sporting News and entertainment programs, it’s more beneficial than detrimental for the NBA.

The key was that Gan Guoyang fought beautifully, not like black players brawling senselessly among themselves.

He used his excellent wrestling skills to take down the strongmen of the NBA one after another, drawing the attention of Americans who had always been fans of boxing and looked down on ground techniques like wrestling. They began to recognize the practicality of this combat skill.

Statistics showed that following the end of this game, sign-ups at wrestling and judo clubs around America surged, and various mixed martial arts competitions reached out to Gan Guoyang, inviting him to compete or endorse their events.

Of course, Gan Guoyang couldn’t possibly agree, as basketball was his main profession, and wrestling was just a hobby. Nevertheless, he was growing increasingly fond of this wonderful sport that combined flexibility, explosiveness, strength, technique, and combat spirit. Training in moves and techniques such as the duck walk and captures provided great assistance in enhancing his overall physical quality.

One of the biggest benefits was that through wrestling, one could learn to concentrate force, harnessing most of the body’s strength in unity, as well as gaining an understanding of the body’s structure and balancing points, something highly advantageous for exerting force and contending in the paint.

On-court fights were just an ancillary deterrent effect, and Gan Guoyang didn’t want to fight either because it always caused trouble and worried his family and friends.

That evening, Wang Fuxi called to inquire about Gan Guoyang’s wellbeing after hearing the news on the radio. She was very concerned and asked, "Why did you get into a fight again? I heard you punched Lan Bi’er in the nose. Did your hand hurt? Don’t just hit people, with your strength it’s easy to fracture your hand!"

Wang Fuxi’s concerns were not unfounded; human bones and wrists are indeed fragile, and incorrect punching can easily break one’s own bones.

Like when Jabbar first arrived at the Lakers and faced his old team the Bucks, he punched rookie Kent Benson in the face in response to provocation and ended up fracturing his own hand.

Remembering his girlfriend’s worries, Gan Guoyang said, "I know, next time I’ll just tackle him."

"Uh-huh, tackling is a bit better, just don’t hurt the brain."

The two chatted affectionately on the phone for a while, and upon reaching New York the next day, Fleisher came to speak with Gan Guoyang directly.

"I can’t cover for you this time; the league will definitely suspend you, starting with three games."

"I’ve told you before, don’t just lash out, don’t just lash out, you are the King, and the King can’t lash out."

"What am I supposed to do if I don’t lash out? Just shrug?"

"Shrugging might not be a bad choice," Fleisher said.

Fleisher repeated his usual spiel, and it made sense, which Gan Guoyang took to heart, but he had no regrets. Suspension and fines were no big deal.

In any game against any team, one mustn’t lose momentum or let the opponent get the upper hand, especially in away games.

After this incident, no one in Silverdome was not intimidated by Ah Gan; the Trail Blazers now had a psychological advantage for future away games.

"By the way, my brother is in New York now, right? How’s he doing?"

"He just got there. I had Mark accompany him to get used to the environment and start with some basic work. You take good care of your brother, that’s good. Men should look after their family once they have achieved something."

"I’m only giving him a chance; the main thing is he has to rely on himself."

"Do you want to see him?"

"Oh no, let him focus on what he needs to do."

As Fleisher said, the League was indeed not lenient this time. Considering Gan Guoyang’s fight at the Silverdome against the Pistons players, Stern issued a $5,000 fine and a three-game suspension.

The Trail Blazers were set to play the Knicks, and the matchup would have been interesting if Ewing had not been injured.

Since Ewing was out, Gan Guoyang playing alone wasn’t much of an attraction, so the suspension served as a warning to others.

Even without Gan Guoyang, the Trail Blazers still easily defeated the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.

Gan Guoyang used the rest from his suspension to visit Bernard King in New York, who was undergoing rehabilitation training and had begun practicing sprinting.

However, he ran slower than a 40-year-old trainer. He didn’t dare to exert force, and every sprint was a huge mental challenge.

With such severe leg injuries, psychological recovery is as important as physical recovery; otherwise, one could never play basketball again.

"Following the trainer’s and doctor’s plan, I’ll need another year to recover enough to compete. A year, until 1987 — it seems so long~"

Bernard King’s will was incredibly strong, and his determination to return to the court was equally resolute.

However, when he came back, the NBA and New York might no longer be his dominion.

Gan Guoyang encouraged his old friend, saying that he would definitely return to the NBA and reclaim his spot as a king.

After losing to the Nets on March 2nd, the Trail Blazers finished their road trip and returned to Portland.

Gan Guoyang’s suspension caused them to lose to the visiting Houston Rockets, which allowed Olajuwon, who had just returned from injury, to dominate the Trail Blazers.

The Trail Blazers faced their first consecutive losses of the season, but their record still firmly placed them at the top of the Western Conference.

On March 7th, Gan Guoyang came back, just in time to face the visiting Washington Bullets.

Barkley had phoned Gan Guoyang beforehand, saying he wanted to eat hamburgers made by Gan Guoyang.

He also asked if Gan Guoyang knew how to cook African cuisine and, after receiving a negative answer, Barkley grumbled about Gan not truly being a chef since he couldn’t even cook African dishes.