The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 413 - 31: Strike When the Time Comes

The Trail Blazers and Lakers game started at seven o’clock in the evening, Pacific time.

On the other side of the Earth, in Italy, when the game started, it was four in the morning.

Little Kobe Bryant had set his alarm clock, and at four o’clock in the morning, he woke up on time, tiptoed into the living room, turned on the television, tuned to the sports channel, and watched the broadcast of the game. The family’s television could receive the CBS signal.

He had been looking forward to this game for a long time, his two favorite players would be competing against each other in this game, Magic Johnson vs. Ah Gan, he couldn’t sleep at all last night.

Outside, it was still dark, pitch-black, and in order not to disturb his family’s sleep, Little Kobe didn’t turn on the lights; only the television was lit up in the living room. He turned the TV volume down to the lowest.

He sat on the floor, facing the glowing TV, waiting for the game to start.

Since the 1986 season, CBS had been getting more and more advertisements, a sign of flourishing TV broadcasts.

Especially since they landed the Toyota car advertisement; car commercials have always been a significant content in advertising, receiving a car advertisement means that the program is trendy.

In the advertisement, a 1986 Toyota Corolla only costs 5,848 US dollars, and Japanese cars are conquering the American market with their economic benefits.

The NBA is no longer a rubbish TV program that needs to clear out ad slots before games but rather the darling of the current TV market, where manufacturers eagerly place their ads.

Kobe naturally had no interest in these advertisements; he was still young, his heart only had basketball, and he just wanted the game to start quickly.

His passion for basketball was extraordinary, especially after seeing Ah Gan during the summer; he was like a believer who had completed a pilgrimage, with his soul further purified and sublimated.

After Ah Gan left Italy, Kobe went back to Philadelphia with his father and then returned to Italy at the start of the new season. This time, his family moved from Leti to the southern Italian city of Reggio Calabria, which faces Sicily across the sea. Joe Bryant changed teams and played for Standa Reggio Calabria.

Already 8 years old, Kobe became the ball boy for Reggio Calabria, enjoying the job, liking to watch the games up close, and feeling the high-speed running and intense physical contact of the players.

Of course, for Kobe who had seen Ah Gan and Jordan compete live, the physicality of the Italian league was somewhat lacking in excitement.

However, the basketball atmosphere here is very, very good, stronger than in America. In America, to see an NBA game, it’s more like the fans have come to see a circus rather than a basketball game.

Unless it’s a critical moment in the game, for most of the time, the fans’ attention isn’t on basketball. They are more into chatting, watching the excitement, watching performances, as if attending a big party.

In Italy, it’s different; here, the venues are smaller, the number of fans is lesser, but the fans are very focused on basketball, and there’s nothing else in the venue to distract you besides basketball.

As a ball boy, Kobe was a little star that attracted fans’ attention. He liked to be noticed, so he often ran onto the court to mop the floor. During half-time, he’d dribble, shoot, and lay-up to win the fans’ applause.

He enjoyed being the focus of the game, even at a young age.

But passion aside, the level of play in the Italian league was ultimately unable to be compared with the NBA. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

So, Kobe got up at four in the morning just to watch an NBA live broadcast, patiently waiting through the lengthy advertisements and the opening ceremony, and finally, the game started.

The Trail Blazers and Lakers were neck and neck in the first quarter, and when Gan Guoyang broke through after a final pick-and-roll, dunking over Duckworth, Kobe jumped up excitedly and shouted out loud.

Upstairs, Joe Bryant heard the commotion, came downstairs to check, and discovered his son watching TV in the living room, and it was only just after four in the morning.

"Hey, Kobe? Aren’t you sleeping, watching TV this early?"

"There’s a live NBA broadcast this morning, Lakers vs. Trail Blazers, I have to watch it."

"Alright, it’s indeed worth watching, dad will join you," said Joe Bryant, putting on a coat and sitting down to watch the game with his son.

The TV station repeated the shot of Gan Guoyang’s dunk over Duckworth, Gan Guoyang’s impact was so strong, and the rookie Duckworth, weighing in at 260 pounds, a genuine heavyweight center, still couldn’t withstand Gan Guoyang’s force.

During the break on the bench, Duckworth looked very dejected; anyone would feel bad after being hit like that.

Jabbar comforted Duckworth, "It’s normal, the first time facing off against Ah Gan, one tends to be careless, thinking it’s not necessary to go all out, but actually, that’s not the case. You have to give it your all from the first minute to avoid being pushed away; this guy is a monster."

Hearing Jabbar call someone a monster was indeed strange because Jabbar himself was a basketball monster.

Jabbar rarely gave pointers to newcomers, but tonight was an exception for Duckworth.

Johnson said to Duckworth, "It’s very normal to get knocked down by him; it will often happen in subsequent confrontations, and you might even get a wrestling move from him. You need to be mentally prepared."

Everyone laughed, and Michael Cooper said, "Don’t scare Kevin, we need him against Ah Gan. Just play seriously, and there’s no need to be afraid."

Byron Scott said, "You could try complimenting him and have some friendly exchange. Ah Gan is easy to talk to. Don’t try to provoke him, or you’ll be unlucky."

Worthy said, "Don’t listen to Byron. Give Ah Gan an elbow and he’ll calm down."

Everyone laughed again; the atmosphere on the bench during the halftime break was filled with cheerfulness. That’s how it was with the Lakers; there was always a sense of ease, which is why the players loved playing here.

Duckworth didn’t know whom to listen to at first. right before he went back on for the second quarter, Riley pulled him aside and said, "Don’t listen to them, listen to me. Remember, when facing Ah Gan, you have to discard any unnecessary thoughts. You’re just playing basketball, nothing more."

Duckworth nodded, but his mind was actually already muddled. Fortunately, as soon as the second quarter started, Gan Guoyang rested off the court, so Duckworth didn’t have to face Gan directly.

Kobe watched intently at the television, observing the intense competition between the Trail Blazers and the Lakers. The second units on both sides played fiercely and exchanged leads during the second quarter.

For the Trail Blazers, Drexler became the leading point guard. Ramsay would let Drexler rest towards the latter part of the first quarter and then he would come back in the second quarter to lead the second unit.

When Ah Gan was out, Drexler had a lot more room to perform. After several weeks of practice and games, he had regained a lot of his form and was attempting a richer variety of plays.

He played like a commandant on the perimeter, handling the ball, distributing it, taking outside shots during the offense, and frequently cutting inside to attack the rebounds.

He decreased the number of his fast breaks, no longer stubbornly charging forward with his head lowered every time he got the ball. Instead, he weakened his forward characteristics and played more like a guard.

Of course, whenever there was an opportunity for a fast break that led directly to the basket, Drexler absolutely wouldn’t miss it.

His ball handling had improved compared to the past two seasons, decisive and skilled, and his passing was clever, often featuring ingenious and imaginative passes.

The only thing that hadn’t improved significantly was his shooting—there was improvement, but not much, or rather it was slow.

His shooting motion had become much more consistent than before, with his legs slightly bending in the air for balance before "slinging" the ball out rather than pushing it.

After receiving a pass from Jim Paxson and hitting a midrange jumper, Drexler seemed quite confident in his touch.

In the following offense, he stopped abruptly during a drive twice for midrange shots, but missed both. The Lakers then counterattacked and scored 4 points.

Kobe shook his head at Drexler’s shots and asked Joe, "Dad, why can he play in the NBA with that kind of shooting and you can only play in Italy?"

This question made Joe Bryant somewhat embarrassed. Joe Bryant’s shooting was very good, and he was a high-scoring player but only in lower-intensity games.

In the NBA, with such defensive intensity and pace of game transitions, it was impossible for Joe Bryant to score a large number consistently, his physical condition wouldn’t allow it.

Drexler’s counterattack came quickly. Jim Paxson threw a long pass from half-court down to the basket, where Drexler had just failed to get back on defense.

He soared high, catching the ball with both hands in midair for a slam dunk!

Seeing this play, Joe Bryant said, "That’s why he can play in the NBA. I can’t do those things."

Kobe shook his head and said, "I’ll be able to do that in the future, and my shooting will be much better than his."

Joe Bryant wasn’t sure how to respond to his son’s confidence: should he encourage Kobe or push him harder?

He didn’t know. He just left it be, as Kobe, despite his young age, already had his own world, one that others couldn’t interfere with.

The two teams found it tough to gain an edge in the second quarter. With Drexler leading the second unit, they engaged in an offensive battle against the Lakers’ reserves.

The pace of the game accelerated, both sides pushing their speeds recklessly, until Gan Guoyang and Jabbar returned to the court. Only then did the pace return to a normal offensive and defensive rhythm.

Ah Gan successively attacked Jabbar down low, utilizing his footwork, explosive power, and highly deceptive spins to score over Jabbar again and again.

Of course, Jabbar also managed to defend a couple of times, even drawing an offensive foul from Ah Gan, then he continued to hook shots successfully on the offense.

With the weight gain, Jabbar’s hook shots in the low post became even harder to defend. You could only prevent his reception of the ball and his start, but as soon as he started his action, it was difficult.

The second quarter ended with the teams tied at 57:59, neck and neck, with the Trail Blazers trailing the Lakers by 2 points on the road.

Ah Gan scored 18 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and dished out 5 assists in the first half, a standard performance for him, with the 5 assists being particularly noteworthy.

Since his time at the big man camp and Bill Walton’s tutoring, Ah Gan’s ability to organize plays had been steadily improving.

Joe Bryant took this opportunity to say to Kobe, "You see, both Ah Gan and Magic have great passing. You also need to pass more in your team. That’s how you win games."

Kobe, unperturbed by his dad’s preaching, sat there and said, "Ah Gan once said, when it’s time to shoot, you’ve got to shoot."