The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 449 - 67 Forgot

"The Hawks will definitely double-team you; you won’t have that many chances for one-on-one play,"

"We have the best tactical system, I can at least get 10 opportunities for one-on-one isolation plays,"

"Haha, work on your shooting touch. If you start off with a cold hand, there’s no way you’re scoring over 50 points in this game, at most 45,"

"If my shooting’s off, I’ll aim to draw fouls. You, son of a bitch, got 21 free throws; the refs really looked after you,"

"Those were all opportunities I fought for. If you’re capable, you can take 30 free throws,"

"The Bostonians will definitely go all out to stop you. Unless you score another 63 points, the scoring title is mine. I bet you’ll only get 35 points,"

"I just need to score 40 points. If you want the scoring title, you’ll need to score 70 points to make it, and I don’t believe you can score 70, unless your whole team stops attacking and lets you play alone,"

"I don’t know how many points I can score, but I’ll give it my all. Michael, you surely want to see what I can do when I go all out, right?"

At the Westin Hotel in Atlanta’s Peachtree Plaza, Gan Guoyang was on the phone with Jordan, who was at the time in Boston.

Tomorrow, the Trail Blazers and the Bulls will play their last game of the regular season, with the Bulls facing the Celtics, and the two were exchanging experiences.

Jordan told Gan Guoyang about the Hawks’ double-teaming defense system, and Gan Guoyang advised Jordan to attack Bird’s weak point during set plays.

The Hawks and the Celtics are this year’s top two teams in the Eastern conference, and on the defense leaderboard, the Hawks have the least points allowed in the league, with only 102 points per game.

To these two top teams, however, in the mouths of Jordan and Gan Guoyang, they were as insignificant as "chickens and dogs"; if they said they’d score 30, they’d score 30, if they said 40, then 40 it would be.

"Of course, I want to see you play with full effort; I’ve always been curious to see if you’ve been holding back during the regular season,"

"Just watch the last game and you’ll understand. For the most part, the regular season is just for fun, isn’t that right, Michael?"

When Gan Guoyang said that, Jordan didn’t dare to agree, since he always gave his all during the regular season, or the Bulls would have been losing big time a long time ago.

Although Jordan suspected that Ah Gan was probably just showing off again, thinking back to their confrontations, Jordan couldn’t help but think more than once that Ah Gan wasn’t putting in his full effort.

This guy’s basketball skills were astonishing, always playing some awe-inspiring games, and it seemed his stamina was even better than last season’s.

When the two chatted, Jordan often asked Gan Guoyang, "Have you undergone some kind of biotechnological experiment, enhancing your body?"

Every time Gan Guoyang just chuckled and never argued, Jordan initially didn’t think much of it; it was just a joke between them.

But as time went on and the topic was brought up often, Jordan started to wonder if this guy had actually undergone some kind of special modification.

As a country with highly developed media and press freedom, America is rife with all kinds of conspiracy theories and bizarre tales.

Things like the "Bermuda Triangle mystery," the "Easter Island mystery," the "Alien Pyramids," and the like are all gimmicks developed by American publishers and unscrupulous publishers, who wrote a bunch of books to dupe readers out of their money.

Then there are other stories like "the Loch Ness Monster," "Nasobemia," and so on, which are legends created by Europeans and Americans to gain fame and attract attention.

Before high-definition portable cameras, the United States reported the most UFO sightings in the world, as if aliens particularly liked visiting America.

These messy things flooded into China during the time of China’s reform and opening up, and at a time when extra-curricular reading materials for young people, in particular, were scarce, they became the spiritual food for many, although sadly, they were pure fabrications and had no substance.

Among the numerous legends and rumors on the market, one about Gan Guoyang spread far and wide, which was that Ah Gan was a ’Bionic Man’ who had undergone biotechnical modifications in the Soviet Union/Eastern Europe but escaped the laboratory to become a basketball player in America.

A third-rate writer named Grace-Gert wrote a lengthy piece called "The Secret of Ah Gan," claiming he had investigated Ah Gan’s high school life and even visited China to understand his childhood environment. He discovered that before the age of 16, Ah Gan had shown no basketball talent, and there was no official record of his existence in the Chinese sports department’s records.

The article claimed that in China, talented basketball players are found within the system. Ah Gan’s remarkable talent should have been uncovered early on, rather than him ending up in America.

Ah Gan’s basketball talent only burst onto the scene after his arrival in America, then he swept through San Francisco, shocked All-America, and became a phenomenal figure to this day.

Grace-Gert stated that since high school, the nickname "the Eastern Bionic Man" caught on, and as they say, there are no mistaken nicknames, only mistaken names. There must be unknown secrets and connections behind it.

This article was published after the Trail Blazers won the championship in 1986. Most people took it as a joke, but as time went on, it circulated more and more widely.

Grace-Gert published another science fiction novel this year, simply writing out how Ah Gan was taken away and sent to Eastern Europe for bionic experiments, and how he later escaped the laboratory to start a new life in America—surprisingly, it sold quite well.

Jordan had a copy on hand and enjoyed reading it in his free time. He even asked Gan Guoyang why he didn’t sue the author, to which Gan Guoyang just laughed and said nothing.

So much so that sometimes Jordan began to wonder if everything written in the book was true?

The two talked for a long time, and even though they were competing for the scoring title, there was no sense of enmity between them.

Because they both knew the scoring title was just a gimmick, a mere honor. Winning it or not wasn’t that important.

Moreover, their competition was fair—everyone playing their own game and even motivating each other.

Starting in March, watching the game reports of the Trail Blazers and the Bulls and checking how many points the other scored became a daily must for Jordan and Gan Guoyang.

It added a lot of fun to the long and tedious regular season, and before every game, they were full of motivation to perform their best.

"See you in the Finals, Michael."

"See you in the Finals, Sonny."

They would always say "See you in the Finals" to encourage each other when saying goodbye.

After hanging up the phone, Gan Guoyang lay down on the bed to rest, still living in a single room. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

He turned off the light, sat in a ball on the elongated bed, and visualized the scenes of Jordan playing against the Hawks.

Yesterday, he had watched the recording of Jordan’s 61-point game, and the Hawks’ double-teaming defense was indeed formidable.

From the first to the final quarter, Jordan hardly got any chance for one-on-one solo play.

Doug Rivers clung to him like a leech, always near Jordan, and even Jordan grew impatient eventually, almost coming to blows with Rivers.

No wonder during their chat a while ago, Jordan said, "Remember to elbow Rivers." Jordan was thinking of Ah Gan taking revenge for him.

With his eyes closed, Gan Guoyang pondered in his mind how to deal with the Hawks’ tight defense—in the last game against the Hawks, Gan Guoyang scored only 31 points.

The Hawks’ defense was incredibly tight, insisting on helping even when they were spaced out for isolation plays. Kevin Willis moved quickly, and Doug Rivers was always there to harass, trying to force Gan Guoyang toward the baseline.

The Hawks’ defensive line was highly disciplined. Playing one against four sometimes did not work, especially in the last game of the regular season when the Hawks knew that Gan Guoyang and Jordan were competing for the scoring title; they definitely would not let Gan Guoyang score easily.

So if Gan Guoyang wanted to score high, he had to come up with some unconventional strategies and not fall into the Hawks’ defensive traps.

For several seasons, Gan Guoyang had been persisting with Dr. Ogilvy’s visualization training, using this special method to improve his decision-making on the court.

This was one of Gan Guoyang’s secrets to efficiency; while many players relied on instinct, Gan Guoyang used his mind to analyze and solve problems beyond instinct.

Gan Guoyang analyzed in his mind for quite a while, simulating different defensive strategies of the Hawks and how he would respond and resolve them.

Thinking and thinking... his body tilted, and he fell asleep.

He slept very well, and just before waking up, he dreamt of a memorable number.

Consequently, when he came to, he shook his head, trying to recall the content of yesterday’s visualization training—he couldn’t seem to remember it at all.

"Damn, I forgot."

"Good to forget, good to forget; to forget is to remember, to remember is to forget."

The only thing he remembered was that number from the dream.