The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 340 - 75: Inner Demons

After the game-winning shot, Ralph Sampson and his teammates embraced each other in a heated hug, cheering ecstatically.

They had defeated the Lakers, the defending champions, by a score of 4:1, with a fantastic buzzer-beater on the road.

What an astonishing achievement it was, to so easily trample the 61-win Lakers underfoot—so what was there to fear from the 63-win Trail Blazers?

However, Hakeem Olajuwon was missing from the jubilant crowd; he had been ejected from the game with 5 minutes and 14 seconds remaining and had returned to the locker room.

As he left the court, Olajuwon felt some regret; he had previously held onto Sampson to keep him from acting rashly, but ended up losing his temper and punching Kupchak.

Olajuwon couldn’t help but wonder, what would Ah Gan have done in his place? They had already eliminated the Nuggets and were waiting in Portland for their next opponent. Surely, he would be watching this game live on TV.

"That guy must be gloating over seeing me get sent off," he cursed inwardly, frustrated that he hadn’t managed to refrain from throwing a punch.

Back in the locker room, Olajuwon sat dejectedly in front of his locker, praying in his heart that his teammates would pull off the victory.

But even if they lost, they could still claim the series back in Houston.

He swore that if they returned to Houston, he wouldn’t let victory slip through their fingers again.

Although both Olajuwon and the Rockets’ goal was to nab the championship, in Olajuwon’s heart, advancing to the Western Conference finals and crushing the Portland Trail Blazers was even more crucial.

During the regular season, after the Trail Blazers secured the first spot in the Western Conference, Olajuwon even thought about throwing the last few games to fall to the fourth spot, hoping to face the Trail Blazers in the semifinals.

If they couldn’t beat the Lakers, they would miss out on the chance to compete with the Trail Blazers.

However, the outside world underestimated the energy of the Houston Rockets, as did they themselves.

In the regular season, the Rockets had a 1-4 record against the Lakers, placing them at a complete disadvantage.

But the playoffs are a different beast than the regular season, Jabbar could score 40 points repeatedly over the Twin Towers during the regular season.

However, come playoff time, he was as slow as an old tree in front of Olajuwon and Sampson.

Jabbar’s Sky Hook skills were still unparalleled, but he was a bit light, lacking in brute strength.

Olajuwon could easily push Jabbar out of the paint, crash in for an offensive rebound over his head, and swat his hook shots away.

After each game during the review, Olajuwon would think to himself, could he have grabbed rebounds like that over Ah Gan’s head, boxed him out of the paint, and blocked his shots?

The 1984 draft class had a deep bond with each other, being such magnificent talents, and rivals as well as friends since their college days.

They were full of geniuses and became the main characters on the stage in only their second year in the League, making players from the ’70s step back.

Michael Jordan’s 63 points, Ah Gan’s 40+42, Olajuwon and the Rockets on the verge of eliminating the Lakers, Charles Barkley leading the Bullets to the semifinals and pushing the Bucks to a Game 7.

No rookie class had ever grown into League superstars so quickly and shone so brightly on the playoff stage.

For Olajuwon, the 1984 NCAA final was a perpetual sore and nightmare in his basketball career, with the memory of being defeated by Ah Gan’s last shot frequently haunting his dreams.

Sometimes, he dreamt of blocking Ah Gan’s shot, but more often he failed in his dreams.

In his dreams, he would try to go for the block, but his feet were impossibly heavy, unable to move.

Once he dreamt that Ah Gan jumped incredibly high, out of Olajuwon’s reach, and even when stacked on top of his teammates, they couldn’t reach Ah Gan.

He clung tight to Ah Gan’s leg, trying to pull him down, but somehow, Ah Gan’s arm became extremely long, stretching from the free throw line all the way to the basket, and he gently laid the ball in.

The moment the ball went in, Olajuwon woke with a start, drenched in sweat, wondering why he was having such a strange dream and why he still couldn’t let go of that championship game.

Now Olajuwon understood that he must vanquish Ah Gan in a significant contest; this was his personal demon that he needed to exorcise.

Suddenly, the cheering of his teammates came from outside, and Olajuwon felt a sense of relief. He knew the team must have won!

As expected, his teammates were crowding around Sampson in the locker room, and after learning that Sampson had scored the winning shot against the Lakers, Olajuwon joined the celebratory group.

After the frenzied celebration, the Rockets left Los Angeles that night for Houston, and then the next day, after a brief preparation, they took a plane to Portland.

There were still three days before the start of the series, but Bill Fitch wanted his players to come early to acclimate to Portland’s environment.

Starting from the previous season, the Rockets had always struggled in Portland, with constant rain and snow in the winter, and the hotel stay was never comfortable enough.

To ensure the players were in the best possible shape for the game, he was willing to spend extra on two days’ worth of hotel rooms to give them a chance to relax and adjust.

Just like the Christmas battle two years prior, once in Portland, Olajuwon cut off all contact with Drexler and devoted himself entirely to preparing for the battle.

He incessantly watched replays of the Trail Blazers’ games against the Nuggets in the hotel, observing Ah Gan’s performance on the court, his defense, and assessing his level of confrontation.

"How does it feel?" Bill Fitch, who was playing the videos, asked Olajuwon.

Olajuwon didn’t answer directly but lay back on the sofa, propping his chin with his hands.

"What’s the matter, feeling nervous? You know the level Sonny is at. He’s MVP caliber this year."

Gan Guoyang’s performance in the semifinals against the Nuggets was overwhelming. Aside from the first game where he shot mediocrely, 10 out of 23, only scoring 27 points and winning the game for the Nuggets at the buzzer.

In the other three games, Gan Guoyang scored 33 points, 41 points, and 45 points, respectively. His performance was even better away than at home, and the Nuggets had no way to stop him.

His rebounds, and the way he launched attacks after receiving the ball in different positions, made everything look so easy, almost as if the Nuggets were not playing defense at all.

But Olajuwon had played against the Nuggets; he knew their defense wasn’t as absent as it appeared. Cooper and Knight had tough defenses, but they were useless against Ah Gan.

Jabbar could be as efficient as Ah Gan in offense, but Jabbar didn’t have the same workload or make as many super endgame defensive contributions; he protected the rebounds very well, giving his teammates numerous chances for quick counterattacks.

Olajuwon knew he needed to grab more offensive rebounds; otherwise, the Trail Blazers’ fast breaks would be a real headache.

Moreover, Olajuwon had heard that Ah Gan always claimed to be the "Twin Tower Killer," with no one understanding better than him how to deal with the Twin Towers.

The guy was just overly confident.

"Nervousness isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Ah Gan is a challenge, a real challenge."

Bill Fitch continued, spurring Olajuwon on. He needed Olajuwon to reach a state better than his usual to face Gan Guoyang.

Olajuwon still didn’t speak. He stood up to go to the bathroom and washed his face with the tap water.

Shutting off the tap, he looked at his reflection in the mirror. With his dark, resolute face staring back, he told himself, he had to win, he simply had to win.

[In the 1986 Western Conference semifinals, I faced another opportunity to battle with Ah Gan for a spot in the finals. It had been two years since the NCAA championship, and I had waited another two full years, still looking to recapture what I had lost.]

——Excerpt from Hakeem Olajuwon’s autobiography "Living The Dream," published in 1996.