The Golden Age of Basketball.

Chapter 16 Surviving to the End

"For an inside player, there are two very important parts. First, your butt. When you have a strong butt, you can have a stable lower body when you are positioning yourself, so that you can firmly hold your position and not let your opponent push you away easily."

"Secondly, your back. Once you've secured your position with your buttocks and stabilized your lower body, you need to use your strong and flexible back to create space for your movements. At the same time, your back is your second pair of eyes; you need to know how to use it to observe the defense."

At the end of July, on the basketball court in the backyard of THE BEGINING restaurant, Nate Thurmond was instructing Gan Guoyang on how to use his body muscles to execute a back-to-the-basket one-on-one play.

Both kept their promises; one taught them the techniques step by step, and the other brought a delicious meal.

"Use the strength of your hips to push back and see if you can push me away." Thurmond stood behind Gan Guoyang, making him push back.

Gan Guoyang stuck his butt out and arched his back, but it was not easy to maintain his balance when no one could see him, so he had to lean forward to prevent himself from falling to the ground.

As a result, he rubbed against Thurmond like a wild boar rubbing against tree bark, but Thurmond remained rooted to the spot, unmoved.

Suddenly, Thurmond leaned forward, thrusting his hips forward and giving Gan Guoyang a light push with his hand. Gan Guoyang stumbled and fell to the ground.

"Shit, is my strength still not enough?" Gan Guoyang stood up, somewhat annoyed.

“No, you’re wrong. Actually, your strength is quite good; it’s just that your center of gravity and technique are problematic. Don’t rush it; it takes time,” Thurmond corrected him.

Since the birth of basketball, the back-to-the-basket technique has always been a special "high-end skill" that is hard to find in other sports.

It requires you to walk backwards with your back to your defender, without being able to see your target, and finally put the ball in the basket.

Many talented athletes are naturally gifted at basketball, with excellent ball handling and accurate shooting. They are also often good at American football and baseball because these sports have commonalities.

But very few people are born with the ability to hit from behind.

Because everything about backhand strikes seems to defy the basic principles of sports, you have to practice a lot to master it.

“Adjust your center of gravity. You’re too far forward; that’s making it difficult to concentrate your strength. Try again,” Thurmond sternly instructed Gan Guoyang.

He wasn't just playing around; he was very serious. He found that Gan Guoyang was improving very quickly, so quickly that it seemed unbelievable to him.

Gan Guoyang got up and tried again. This time he shifted his weight backward, but Thurmond pulled the chair away, and Gan Guoyang fell to the ground again.

"You're cheating!"

"You were too careless. I told you to shift your weight backward, and you just fell backward without a care? Fool, get up and keep going."

Gan Guoyang got up again, dusted off his clothes, and continued to carry out the mission with his back to the ground.

This time, he didn't rush to exert force. Instead, he leaned on Thurmond to find a suitable balance point so that his center of gravity and the point of force could be combined.

When his feet were firmly planted on the ground, and his whole body leaned back without falling, he felt it was time!

He gathered all his strength, combined with his body weight and explosiveness while dribbling, and pushed rhythmically backward.

Thurmond, the boulder, actually loosened slightly; he took half a step back, revealing a crack.

Gan Guoyang was overjoyed to feel the change in his back. He stepped in with his right foot, gathered the ball, turned to the right, and laid it off with his left hand!

But his pressure on Thurmond was clearly insufficient. Thurmond jumped at the same time, blocking Gan Guoyang's layup. Gan Guoyang picked up the ball and banged his head twice, very frustrated; he had almost scored a one-on-one.

"Well done, young man, but you still have a bit to learn." Thurmond said this, but in his heart he thought, "This kid's progress is truly amazing."

If Gan Guoyang had been a little faster or more experienced, and had used his other hand to press down on Thurmond, the ball might have gone in.

He had only trained here for two days, yet he was already able to find weaknesses in a five-year-old retired NBA legend's interior defense.

"Let's continue." Gan Guoyang's temper flared up; he insisted on having one go.

Thurmond shook his head and said, "Do you know how much it costs to hire a private tutor like me for an hour?"

Gan Guoyang said, "My dad makes crystal sweet and sour pork, and no one else in the whole of America can make it like him. We are exchanging it on equal terms."

Thurmond was speechless. The sweet and sour pork with crystals that he had eaten at noon was indeed amazing. He thought to himself that if THE BEGINING had a chef like that, it probably wouldn't have closed down.

Because he felt obligated to provide the food, and because Thurmond valued Gan Guoyang's talent, he continued to provide him with one-on-one guidance.

The two fought until sunset, when Thurmond finally gave up; his knees couldn't withstand the intense exercise.

Having not had systematic training for a long time, he was panting heavily and was no longer the "juicy juicer" under the basket who could drain every last bit of energy from his opponents.

Although Gan Guoyang was drenched in sweat, he still had plenty of energy. When Thurmond was exhausted, he was alone under the basket, making various spin moves to attack.

Thurmond also taught him the Mikan hook shot technique to help him develop his feel for scoring under the basket. Gan Guoyang patiently went through these mechanical and tedious movements again and again.

Thurmond grabbed a beer, called his wife to explain the situation, and returned to the sidelines. Looking at the boy in the summer sunset, he remembered when he was Gan Guoyang's age, he spent an entire summer in Akron honing his basketball skills on the basketball court at home.

He practiced shooting from 12-15 feet and trained his footwork in the low post, but by the time he went to school, apart from significant improvement in his shooting, his low post offense showed very limited growth.

At that time, he was like Gan Guoyang, muscular but lean, but his coordination was average. When facing defensive confrontations, his offense seemed very clumsy. He still preferred to defend and stop his opponents.

Therefore, he prefers to play center rather than power forward.

Now, Nate, who played in the league for 14 years, has been retired for 5 years.

The new generation of young men are dreaming of playing in the NBA, but their journey has not yet begun.

As darkness fell, Thurmond had to go home, and Gan Guoyang had no choice but to leave.

Before parting, Thurmond patted Gan Guoyang on the shoulder and said, "Gan, maybe one day you really will make it to the NBA. You must remember that a real basketball game is a war, and the paint is the most intense battleground in this war. A center must fight like a warrior every moment on the court; it's either you or me. If you don't have the determination to fight your opponent for three hours straight, then no matter how good your back-to-the-basket skills are, you are not a qualified inside player, not a true center. This is the most important lesson in my training course, please remember it."

Gan Guoyang nodded and said, "I understand. A center should die in the paint, right?"

"That's right, but it's best to die later."

"I will not die; I will live to the very end."

(End of this chapter)