The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 410 - 29: The Different Jabbar

[In the 1986-1987 season, Pat Riley finally decided that it was time to reduce Jabbar’s role as the offensive core of the Lakers.

Jabbar was already 40 years old, entering his 18th professional season; he was older than some of the coaches and assistant coaches in the league.

He was now a very good center but no longer great. His speed was a bit slow, and he looked somewhat frail when he moved. His stamina was gradually becoming an issue.

Once bullied by the energetic inside players like Moses Malone, Olajuwon, and Ah Gan, now even Jack Sikma and Mike Gminski could have their way with him.

Riley wanted to limit Jabbar’s playing time. They acquired Duckworth in the summer trade, which was a very good deal. Jabbar had a quality and young substitute—none of the old substitutes who were younger than him lasted longer than he did.

The Lakers finally brought in a 7-foot rookie with potential, who reduced Jabbar’s time on court even further.

Magic Johnson became the leading commander on the court, and Jabbar was just an aging supporting actor.]

————Published in 2013, an excerpt from Jeff Pearlman’s "Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and Los Angeles Lakers of the 1980s".

Biographers’ words are not always entirely credible, especially when describing bygone eras. Some writers, who are not professional basketball people, are given the leeway, even the opportunity, to speak nonsense under the guise that a considerable portion of their readers do not understand the context.

Jeff Pearlman’s biography chronicles the rise and fall of the 80s Los Angeles Lakers quite excellently, but his description of Jabbar in the 1986-1987 season is obviously biased.

At the very least, if Gan Guoyang were to come across this book years later and read this passage, he would definitely mutter "Buschet"—Sikma and Gminski could not have their way with him, in fact, no one could.

In the 1986-1987 season, Jabbar did indeed relinquish his role as the team’s leader, and Magic Johnson officially became the Lakers’ primary core.

The success of 1985 gave Jabbar an offensively resurgent ’86 season, after which they were pulverized by the Rockets in the Western Conference semi-finals.

This season, Magic had the strongest start to a career and, entering December, his performance only got better.

Aside from the Milwaukee Bucks—who managed to trouble him with their strong backcourt—all the other teams could not stop his magic display.

His most significant change was his rise on the offensive end. During set plays, he no longer looked for Jabbar first but instead shot the ball himself frequently.

His set shooting improved greatly. Against guards shorter than him, his sudden mid-range jumpers were unexpected and hard to defend.

His unique rhythm in driving to the basket combined with hook shots and low-hand layups often made it difficult for opponents to defend, not to mention his passes were as sharp as ever.

When a player combines shooting, driving, and passing well, his offensive influence becomes immense, and the difficulty in defending him grows exponentially.

By contrast, Jabbar’s hair appeared even thinner, nearing baldness. He was no longer the team’s first offensive choice, not even the second.

He went from a young lion who could destroy the opponent’s inside line to an old man who sparingly showcased his skyhook prowess.

His scoring was no longer as stable; on a good day with chances, he could score 20 points, and on an average day with fewer opportunities, he might score around 10 points.

Thus, people believed that he was truly getting old, starting his decline, his importance far from what it once was.

But on the night of December 18th, when Gan Guoyang stood near the center circle ready to jump ball, he knew Jabbar would be tougher to deal with than the year before.

Because the guy looked bulkier, transitioning from his previous slender shape to a much thicker build.

His arms got thicker, the muscle lines not as distinct as before, his shoulders rounder, and his thighs bulkier and more solid.

A regular at the gym, Gan Guoyang knew that Jabbar’s physique was clearly the result of gaining weight over the summer, and it was not a small amount either.

From his shoulders, thighs, and arms, with his 7-foot-2 stature, he must have gained at least 15 pounds.

And knowing Jabbar, he would not just fatten up by eating; he must have been working out in the gym, gaining a stronger body.

This information put Gan Guoyang on alert. He was not one of those outsiders or media people who only looked at data; he fought on the court every day and judged every change in his opponents.

From watching game videos and analyzing statistics, the details were not clear enough, but now facing Jabbar’s expected 265-pound frame, Gan Guoyang understood that the Lakers would be an enormous problem this year.

Gan Guoyang and the Trail Blazers’ coaching staff had long analyzed that the Lakers’ biggest reliance on defense, or rather their base, was that few people could singlehandedly explode against Jabbar in the paint, even though he was getting on in years.

His defensive capabilities in the low post were overshadowed by his exceptional offensive skills. In the ’80s, where inside offense was crucial, if your center could not pose enough threat to Jabbar, it was nearly impossible to beat the Lakers.

The Rockets, Celtics, and 76ers could defeat the Lakers by relying on their exceptional inside offensive power, which sometimes required not just one, but two players, a combination.

Although Gan had overwhelmed Jabbar before, it was in the regular season, not the playoffs, which were a different ballpark entirely; they had not overcome the Lakers in 1985.

Last season, Jabbar was breached defensively by the Houston Twin Towers, losing too many defensive rebounds and overwhelmed in low-post defense, leading to the Lakers’ 1:4 defeat.

Jabbar and the Lakers’ coaching staff learned their lesson. Riley knew that at 40 years old, Jabbar could no longer keep up with Showtime’s constant running on offense.

The most important thing at this time was to preserve Jabbar’s role on the defensive end and further highlight his value there.

After the start of the new season, Jabbar’s rebounds had even seen a slight increase compared to the previous season, even though his playing time was shorter.

Before the jump ball, Gan Guoyang reached up to squeeze Jabbar’s arm, which Jabbar quickly shook off, saying, "What are you doing? Why are you touching me randomly?"

Gan Guoyang laughed and said, "Nice muscles, did you hit the gym this summer?"

Jabbar replied, "It’s not just you who’s been in the gym, we all get stronger."

Indeed, players in the League were becoming stronger and stronger, and the past lean type of inside players were becoming less common.

Gan Guoyang had certainly promoted this trend to some extent, his 6-foot-10 frame dominating the inside with unmatched strength.

Without the foundation of strength and weight, many insiders couldn’t even make him break a sweat when defending Gan Guoyang, so what was the point of trying to guard him.

The referee stopped the chitchat between the two and tossed the ball into the air; the game began.

Gan Guoyang still touched the ball first, and the Trail Blazers launched their first offense.

The Great Western Forum was a place too familiar for Gan Guoyang.

Every time he competed here, he always put on a stunning performance, leaving Los Angeles fans with quite the shadow.

Riley stood on the sidelines, chewing gum, fidgety at heart. Seeing the Trail Blazers for the first time in the new season at a home game was just unlucky.

He would rather play the Trail Blazers at Portland Memorial Coliseum, where the Lakers always performed better, and Guoyang wouldn’t be up to any tricks.

That morning, the Great Western Forum was traditionally closed to Gan Guoyang, not allowing him to come to the arena early to warm up.

Before the game, Riley didn’t make any crazy statements to provoke Ah Gan, but he also prohibited AC Green from going to eat with Gan Guoyang.

He feared that Green might reveal some inside information and problems of the Lakers this season, such as the discord between Johnson and Worthy.

Of course, Gan Guoyang might already know about the almost-completed trade during the draft that nearly destroyed the relationship between Worthy and Johnson.

At that time, Worthy wasn’t watching the draft but was in a hotel in North Carolina, preparing to attend a school event. He received calls from friends saying the commentators at the draft were discussing his trade for Mark Aguirre and that he was going to Dallas, and behind it all was Aguirre’s good friend Johnson.

Worthy was stunned and sad. Just then a Los Angeles reporter called him for his comment on the trade. Worthy vented to the reporter, saying he would go to Dallas and make the Lakers pay, that he would explode on Aguirre and so on.

In the end, the trade was canceled not because Magic Johnson had a change of heart, but because Jerry West threatened to resign.

When the two met in October’s training camp, the atmosphere was awkward. Johnson admitted that he hadn’t vetoed the trade but he hadn’t pushed for it either.

Worthy didn’t say much; he knew that the Lakers were Magic Johnson’s team, and the Lakers wouldn’t allow anyone to tarnish or oppose their leading star—Morris Lucas was an example, marginalized and then kicked out.

The two weren’t friends off the court to begin with. They coordinated flawlessly on the court, but off the court, they were completely different people.

Johnson’s castle rarely invited Worthy to their iparty; Worthy had to go to strip clubs himself to find busty women to play with.

This was similar to the relationship between Celtics’ Bird and McHale—great teammates on the court but doing their own thing off it.

But Bird never thought of trading McHale away.

Riley was worried this rift could be exploited by the devil Gan Guoyang, so he strictly forbade his players from interacting with Gan Guoyang too much or hanging out with him.

With this concern, Riley watched as Gan Guoyang took on Jabbar for the first one-on-one of the game on the low post.

Tonight, Riley hadn’t assigned any power forward to singlehandedly guard Gan Guoyang as fodder; this method had long been proven self-deceiving and had ruined Rambis.

Jabbar wasn’t daunted or weary; before the game, he had volunteered to take on Ah Gan, claiming he would hold his shooting percentage below 50% that night.

On the low post to the left, the court was completely cleared, with only Gan Guoyang and Thompson on the strong side. Thompson passed the ball to Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang received the ball, made a smooth turn, a hook shot feint, a step up and down with no opportunity, then turned back, releasing a right-handed hook shot that made the basket!

A complex set of moves under the basket made it very difficult for Gan Guoyang to rely purely on strength to push Jabbar away.

Even though he scored, Gan Guoyang was aware that one-on-one play tonight would become much more difficult.

Jabbar did indeed feel stronger than before when he was holding position under the basket. The first physical encounter of the game generally set the tone for the clash of the two insiders for the rest of the match.

This was destined to be a tough game.