The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 330 - 66 The Leader

The deafening MVP chants once again aggrieved Bol, who sat on the bench burying his head in his long legs.

The Sudanese Prince, imbued with an inexplicable sense of superiority, finally understood who the true king was on the basketball court.

In three quarters, Gan Guoyang had already scored 40 points, and he was on his way to scoring his third fifty-point game of the season—if he so desired.

By the fourth quarter, Adelman deployed a tall lineup with Gan Guoyang, Walton, and Thompson, and their fluid frontcourt offense dominated the game.

However, unlike Jack Ramsay’s tall lineup, Adelman’s tall lineup still utilized the backcourt duo of Drexler and Porter.

Although Ramsay was Adelman’s mentor, their tactics differed. Ramsay’s tall lineup was absolutely centered around the height advantage, with the backcourt serving as support.

That’s why Ramsay preferred using Vandeweghe + Parkson or Vandeweghe + Drexler; their role was to space the floor, advance the ball, organize the play, and pass after crossing the half-court line.

Adelman’s strategy was to focus on Gan Guoyang and the dual guards, letting Thompson and Walton provide assistance. The backcourt wasn’t just support; it also quickened the pace and used the tall players’ screens as weapons to attack the opponent.

Ramsay’s approach was more traditional, while Adelman began to value the role of the backcourt players more, having been a guard himself and thus understanding their importance deeply.

With Adelman’s tall lineup, there was less passing and cutting, and more pick-and-rolls. Drexler and Terry Porter kept attacking the Bullets’ basket using the solid screens set by Gan Guoyang and Walton.

If Bol was on the court, he might have been able to block some shots, but with his confidence shattered and lacking physical stamina, he could only sit off the court and watch helplessly.

If the Bullets shrank their defense, Gan Guoyang and Thompson kept hitting mid-range shots, giving the Bullets a chance to hang on, provided their offense kept up.

But with the tall players crowding near the three-second zone, the short Barkley was dwarfed and completely controlled by Gan Guoyang and Thompson, utterly helpless.

In the fourth quarter, a 14:2 offensive surge completely knocked down the struggling Washington Bullets, with Gan Guoyang having scored 48 points.

At that moment, he took the initiative to call a timeout and asked Adelman to take him out of the game.

Adelman knew that Gan Guoyang wasn’t interested in padding his stats, and he lost interest in the game once its outcome was no longer in question.

He was just one aggressive layup away from 50 points, but he didn’t care.

As Gan Guoyang left the court, MVP chants rose again. This year, Gan Guoyang indeed possessed the qualifications to snatch the Most Valuable Player award.

Outstanding record, impeccable performance, impressive stats, and an "exemplary" off-court image—punching Pistons players didn’t tarnish Gan Guoyang’s reputation as a bad boy. In fact, it attracted even more admirers, and all of these met the criteria for the Most Valuable Player.

Even though Larry Bird’s name was also highly praised, Bird had already won the MVP the previous year, and the media and fans were somewhat tired of the same MVP two years in a row.

Gan Guoyang blew through the NBA like a refreshing breeze, adding much color to the league. According to the NBA officials, there had been an explosive growth in overseas broadcasting of the NBA this season.

Particularly in Italy, Gan Guoyang was extremely popular, the country in Europe where NBA basketball was most ardently followed. Many American players went to play in Italy in the ’70s and ’80s, and they were very accepting of foreign players.

Larry Fleisher told Gan Guoyang that the Trail Blazers were planning to visit Italy during the summer tour that year.

He mentioned that Gan Guoyang’s popularity among foreign players in Italy was second only to Maradona.

If Gan Guoyang could win the MVP, it would greatly enhance his prestige, status, and promotion of international players in the NBA.

Under the leadership of David Stern, the NBA was presenting a more inclusive and diverse face to basketball fans across America and the entire world.

In the end, the Trail Blazers beat the Bullets fairly easily at home by a score of 121 to 109, a 12-point advantage.

Gan Guoyang ended the game with a stunning 48 points, 22 rebounds, 3 blocks, 4 assists, and 2 steals, unquestionably the star of the stars.

At the end of the game, Manute Bol came over to shake hands with Gan Guoyang and took the initiative to apologize, "I express my apologies for my rudeness, your basketball skills are truly amazing."

Gan Guoyang smiled and accepted Bol’s apology. In the NBA, respect and apologies are always earned on the court.

Don’t argue over someone else’s rudeness, conquering them with skills and fists is the most effective way, more so than a thousand words.

In the locker room after the game, reporters and microphones crowded in front of Bol again, interviewing him about his experience facing off against Gan Guoyang.

The reason people liked to interview Bol, besides his height and nationality, was his straightforwardness.

Influenced by cultural background and language, Bol wasn’t like some players who speak in officialese and clichés. Although somewhat presumptuous, he was very honest and only expressed his true feelings.

Therefore, although Gan Guoyang was angry at his rudeness and had harshly taught him a lesson, he didn’t dwell on it afterward. He understood Bol was the kind of person who didn’t pretend or hide his true self.

Bol was silent for a moment before saying in accented English, "He’s more terrifying than a lion, I can’t beat him, he is the Lion King. But the food he makes is very tasty."

This assessment quickly spread across America through the media. Of course, the fact that Gan Guoyang was a great cook became public knowledge, known by everyone in America.

When saying goodbye to Barkley, Gan Guoyang once again reminded the big guy to watch his financial health and to keep fit for the sake of selling shoes.

Barkley scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the game, which was a decent performance, but it paled in comparison to the brilliance of Gan Guoyang.

What’s worse, the relationship between him and Gene Shue deteriorated further due to this game.

He found himself more comfortable playing under Lou Holtz, not used to the system of Gene Shue.

Finally, a week later, with one month left in the regular season, Gene Shue chose to resign, leaving his position with the Washington Bullets. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Lou Holtz replaced Gene Shue as the new head coach of the Bullets, leading the team through the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs.

According to Washington media reports, Barkley played a part in this behind the scenes, expressing his dislike for Gene Shue directly to Pollin.

This caused quite a stir in the NBA media and coaching circles, and people further realized that the era when coaches held authoritative power truly had ended.

The NBA is now the era of the stars; if a star is unhappy, it is the coach who will be leaving, not the star.

Because stars sell tickets, people come to the arenas to watch the stars play, not the coaches. If you don’t want to coach, there are plenty of others who can.

Of course, stars must also bear the infamy of being labeled as team tyrants, and to shake off such a bad name, they must perform better in the game and secure victories.

For dunking over Manute Bol, Gan Guoyang got the money in the pot, a total of over a thousand US dollars, which was a substantial amount.

On how to use this money, Gan Guoyang pondered. He originally thought about whether to buy a bucket, so he wouldn’t have to steal one (Drexler wasn’t wrong, he had still stolen this one, from the cleaning lady at the home arena).

But spending a thousand dollars on buckets would be too wasteful, enough to buy a car.

Treating everyone to a meal was even more pointless; after all, nobody was lacking that bit of money.

After much thought, Gan Guoyang used the money to buy a large box of the finest Cuban cigars.

He placed this box of cigars in his locker and said to everyone, "There’s a tradition in the NBA of smoking cigars for a victory. Now, I’ve bought the cigars in advance, and all we lack is a championship. When we win the championship, I will open this box of cigars. Otherwise, it will just lie here in my locker. I hope it will be opened sooner rather than later."

Gan Guoyang’s words greatly boosted the team’s morale, and the entire team united, making a final push for the 1986 playoffs.

[In 1986, Ah Gan used the money he won from dunking over Bol to buy a box of victory cigars, which was one of the most inspirational tactics I’d ever seen. He was a true leader without a doubt, a Lion King.]

———— Excerpt from "The long hot winter" written by Adelman, published in 1991.