The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 92 - 30: Leave it to Me

In the 15-minute halftime break, Wang Fuxi finally found that pink hat with the help of a janitor at the Kingdome, buried in a pile of sweepings gathered for cleaning.

Entering the venue that evening, there had been just too many people, and her hat was knocked off. She tried to bend down to pick it up but couldn’t, and it was quickly trampled and swallowed by the crowd.

In a stadium with over 40,000 spectators, her seat was deep inside. Once the game started and the fervent fans all stood up, there was no way to get out.

Wang Fuxi, with patience, watched the entire first half, and during the halftime break when everyone scattered to use the restroom or get food, she found a staff member and with persistent pleading, finally retrieved her hat.

But since it had been stepped on countless times, the hat was crushed and dirty, its pink surface covered in black footprints.

The plump cleaning lady asked, "This hat’s important to you, isn’t it, girl?"

Wang Fuxi, while wiping the hat, replied, "Yes, it’s very important."

The hat was now unwearable, and with reddened eyes, Wang Fuxi felt a surge of emotion. The lady consoled her, "At least you found it. There are many important things that once lost can never be recovered."

Her words made Wang Fuxi feel a bit better, and she returned to the stands with her hat, just as the second half of the match was about to begin.

At this point, Gan Guoyang could no longer afford to worry about who was or wasn’t watching the match; his focus was entirely on the finals, entering his most concentrated state.

There was no room for errors for them, trailing behind in the score. In the slow-paced, low-scoring NCAA finals, a 6-point deficit was significant.

"Their defense will surely concentrate on me, so go ahead and attack, John. I will protect the rebounds under the basket, but offensive rebounds will surely be harder to get in the second half, so you must seize the opportunity," Gan Guoyang said to Stockton before the second half commenced.

Stockton didn’t say anything, just nodded slightly. He knew he had to step up and share the pressure.

Gan Guoyang’s performance in the first half had drawn enough attention to him. If the Bulldogs could have another man stand out, it would enable the team’s offense to become more dynamic.

"Two shots, I only ask for two shots from you, go for it, John," Gan Guoyang said, tossing the ball to Stockton on the baseline. He knew Stockton needed a push, that he had to whip him to unleash his great energy.

The second half of the match officially began.

The immense pressure from the huge stadium was upon the players, who all had strong nerves and robust bodies. They had endured more than four months of matches and made their way here step by step; none of them would back down now.

Stockton’s first half was standard, without any particularly outstanding play, and on the defensive end, he was somewhat made a fool of by Franklin.

His little tricks didn’t work in such high-level competition, as the referees were strict.

He needed to provide offensive support for the team, and Gan Guoyang came out to screen for Stockton.

Using the screen to shake his defender, Stockton suddenly accelerated with the ball and broke into the basket area!

Facing the overpowering defense of Olajuwon, Stockton launched a high arcing floater!

The ball rebounded off the backboard to the rim’s front edge but didn’t go in.

However, Gan Guoyang followed up with a put-back dunk.

Gonzaga caught up by two points, Stockton’s desperate breakthrough still managed to tear the Cougars’ defense.

"Good job, those two points are yours," Gan Guoyang encouraged Stockton as they transitioned back to defense.

Stockton had no time to respond to Gan Guoyang as he immediately started an on-the-spot counter-defensive, initiating a full-court press.

In the first half, the Cougars handled the full-court press quite well, but they didn’t expect the Bulldogs to keep up the pressure in the second half.

Nobody is perfect forever, especially under pressure. Franklin, while crossing half court, increased his speed too much, the ball not settled in his hands, and Stockton swiped it from behind!

Stockton made the steal, and the roles switched. Gan Guoyang sprinted towards the basket, Stockton made a long pass, and with a quick catch by Gan Guoyang who evaded the defense, he scored with a two-handed dunk!

In a game like this, Gan Guoyang would absolutely choose to dunk over a layup, no matter how much his palm hurt from the slam.

Back then, some coaches banned players from dunking, considering it too much of a show.

Among the older generation of players, someone like Oscar Robertson, who had excellent physical abilities, never dunked because he felt it disrupted his rhythm in the game.

Cougars Coach Lewis, on the other hand, was a supporter of dunking, but in those days, players dunked with restraint, often merely grazing the water. This might have been partly due to the poor quality of the hoops.

But Gan Guoyang’s dunks were either as elegant as Doctor J’s or as fierce as fire, utterly reckless, as if he meant to burn the hoop down to nothing.

His passion ignited both the Bulldog players and the emotions of the 40,000 spectators in the Kingdome stadium.

The cheers were deafening. Most of the neutral fans onsite were leaning toward the Bulldog.

They all hoped that this Cinderella story could go all the way, making up for the disappointment of the Fig Team in 1979.

44:46, after the start of the second half, the Bulldog had closed the gap to just 2 points.

The pressure shifted to the Cougars, who managed to stabilize their formation against the full-court press.

Taking full advantage of the individual abilities of their outside players, Michael Young hit a mid-range shot from outside, regaining the lead.

Stockton’s outside shot still missed, and Olajuwon caused Gan Guoyang to commit a foul on the offensive.

One of two free throws made, the Cougars once again obtained a 5-point safety advantage.

Stockton stopped shooting from the outside and, gathering strength, he waited for the right moment to penetrate under the basket.

This time, Olajuwon, facing Gan Guoyang, didn’t dare to help defend, which resulted in Stockton scoring with a close-range floater!

Because of the force used, Stockton flew out of bounds due to the momentum and crashed heavily into the crowd.

He immediately got up and threw himself into the full-court pressing defense until, after two possessions, Stockton finally felt a sharp pain in his leg during the offense.

The fall had caused a contusion in his calf muscle, the team called a time-out, and he was immediately treated on the sidelines.

Coach Delong, who also acted as a part-time team doctor, promptly checked him out, and seeing the swollen area, he asked Stockton whether he should be treated in the locker room.

"No, just wrap it up for me, Steve, wrap it up."

"It might cause more serious problems."

"It’s okay, just wrap it up."

Stockton, sitting calmly on the bench drinking water, said.

Coach Delong had no choice but to perform an emergency treatment on the swollen area of Stockton’s leg – spraying on some medicine and applying bandages before Stockton got back on the court.

He walked with a slight limp, but it didn’t affect his defense or offense.

On the contrary, the spike in adrenaline from his injury put Stockton in an even stronger state.

First, using an Anderson screen, he came to a sudden stop at the free-throw line and hit a jump shot.

Then, under the full-court pressing defense, he got another steal and drove all the way in for a layup!

After scoring, Stockton, uncommonly, punched the air and roared – scoring four consecutive points and bringing the Bulldogs to within just one point!

The duration of Stockton’s heightened state was limited.

With about eight minutes left in the game, he had to leave the court for further treatment due to severe pain in his leg.

Gan Guoyang helped Stockton off the court, gave him a pat, and said, "Don’t worry, leave it to me now, John."