The Golden Age of Basketball

In the early morning of Portland, a faint mist floats on the Willamette River. The weather is getting colder in November, and the city shrouded in tulle is quietly waiting for the arrival of the sun.

It's still five o'clock in the morning, and the area around the Willamette River is still very quiet, only the postman of the post office rides "fixed-gear" (dead fly) and shuttles through the streets to deliver newspapers and milk to various households.

And on the bridge over the Willamette River, a tall figure ran through the hazy fog, just like he did on the first day he came to Portland.

"Good morning, Gan, running so early again!" A postman yelled loudly when he saw a runner in his car. The runner was Gan Guoyang. His tall figure was attracted by every postman on the streets of Portland. familiar.

"Hello, sir, pay attention to your brakes. I have seen your postman stumble a lot." Gan Guoyang jogged on the bridge in the early morning, watched the postman galloping on the "Dead Fly", and reminded him kindly.

On the way to the training ground every morning, Gan Guoyang often saw the postman wrestling on a dead fly. This kind of bicycle without a flywheel is really hard for ordinary people to control.

"Thank you for the reminder! But the Blazers have fallen quite a lot recently, so you should pay attention." The postman also reminded Gan Guoyang, and then waved his hands and left at a faster speed.

The postman's words just touched Gan Guoyang's heart. The Blazers have lost six games in a row.

What had been covered up during the winning streak came to light, as Ramsey's grip on the team grew weaker and players less connected on and off the field.

Failure was like a sharp knife, cutting open the Blazers' cotton robes that looked gorgeous and beautiful at the beginning of the season, which were full of dirty lice.

Thinking of this, Gan Guoyang accelerated his running speed, as if he wanted to get rid of this bad feeling far away.

In the six games, Gan Guoyang tried his best to contribute to the victory. He tried to communicate with everyone and encourage everyone, but the losses made the situation worse and worse.

When Gan Guoyang arrived at the Jewish Community Training Center, he was still the first to arrive. Looking at the empty arena, Gan Guoyang felt extremely lonely.

After 10 minutes of shooting drills in the arena, a second player finally arrived, Steve Colter.

"Good morning, Colter, you came early." Gan Guoyang felt a lot better when he saw Colter coming.

Since Colter quit marijuana, he resumed normal training, even harder than usual, and Gan Guoyang called him every morning to get him up early.

Such regular training allowed Colter to recover quickly, and he performed well in the next few games, and he was no longer as muddled as before.

Subsequently, Terry Porter was the third to arrive at the training hall. Recently, he and Colter's backup point guard competed fiercely. Although the team's condition is not good, this will not affect the enthusiasm of the two young people for their competition. .

"Good morning Gan! You came so early, don't you have to sleep every night?" Jerome Cosey was still so happy, he was the fourth to arrive.

For these young players selected in the second round, they don't seem to care much about the team's situation. Youth is capital. What they have to do is to perform hard, strive for better statistics, and earn money for themselves in the league. Fight for bigger contracts.

Usually there will be Drexler who arrives earlier, but he suffered another injury during the offseason and was placed on the injury watch list. He has been unable to play for several games, and he will also be unable to play in tomorrow's game .

Gan Guoyang saw that these were about his age, they were all rookies who had just entered the league for a year or two, and they were optimistic about the precarious team. Only Gan Guoyang seemed to be carrying a mountain-like burden on his shoulders.

It was only at this time that Gan Guoyang realized the meaning of the phrase "greater ability comes with greater responsibility". Of course, the phrase "greater ambition" may be added later.

From 05:30 in the morning until [-]:[-] noon, all the players of the Blazers came to start group training. At this time, Gan Guoyang had already practiced for four hours.

In the morning, the Trail Blazers mainly conduct physical training twice a week. This is a relatively torturous training content for veteran players, and it will definitely make everyone exhausted.

After four hours of individual training, Gan Guoyang is still full of energy. In the past, during physical training, Gan Guoyang always liked to chatter endlessly, sarcastically mocking every teammate who couldn't stand it, but in fact he was encouraging them in disguise.

Gan Guoyang was not there today. During training, he was very silent. He didn't communicate with anyone, and he didn't make any sarcasm to those old players who were quietly lazy during training. He just did his own thing silently.

After the training, everyone was quite tired. At this time, the training instructor Karp walked up to Gan Guoyang and handed him a bottle of water and a towel.

"Thank you, Mr. Karp." Gan Guoyang said after receiving the water and towel.

"Gan, you are different today. You seem to be very silent. Are you feeling uncomfortable? Don't worry, we will get out of the predicament." As an "old pioneer", he has seen many storms and waves. see it.

"No I'm fine with Karp, I just figured something out. I used to try to inspire everyone around me to move forward with me, but now I'm not going to do that. I want to run fast and shake everyone off. Then see who will catch up and run with them. I don't want to drag my family, I need to lead the way." Gan Guoyang said to Karp.

"Oh~ sounds good, but the basketball game is for five people, I believe you will be a good leader... However, the team is really bad now, and Mr. Ramsay is getting more and more careless." Culp said , looked at Ramsey standing on the sidelines in a daze, this meritorious coach now looks like a retired old man.

"I can't help him, but I want to win, as long as I can win, everything will be fine."

………………

The next day, Nov. 11, the Blazers host the Houston Rockets after a six-game losing streak.

"Is it a 7-game losing streak for the Blazers, or a long-lost victory? Let's cheer for the Blazers at the Memorial Stadium." Before the start of the game, Seanley looked at the two sides warming up and expressed his worries.

The Blazers, who had been making great strides and firmly occupying the top spot in the Western Conference, suddenly fell into a vicious circle of losing streak, which made the Portland fans very anxious, so even the postman reminded Gan Guoyang to work harder.

"We lacked Drexler in this game, which will make it more difficult for the Blazers. The already poor perimeter defense of the Blazers will only make things worse." Sean Li is also very worried about Drexler's absence. , The Blazers' perimeter defense is not very good at all, and without Drexler it is even more riddled with holes.

"Paxson, let them in, and I will take care of them." Gan Guoyang, who was warming up, suddenly walked up to Jim Paxson and said to him. Tonight, Paxson replaced Drexler and returned to the starting lineup.

Paxson was taken aback when he heard this, and Gan Guoyang walked away immediately after he finished speaking. He understood what Gan Guoyang meant, which was to let the Rockets' outside line break free, and he would come inside to wipe their butt.

"The game is about to begin. The Houston Rockets challenge the Portland Trail Blazers away! The duel between Olajuwon and Gan, I hope Gan can get rid of the shame!"

The game started, Gan Guoyang tried his best to win the ball in the jump ball, and the Blazers launched an attack.

Gan Guoyang showed a strong desire to attack at the beginning of the game. He took the lead in the low position on the left, and Valentine also decisively handed the ball to Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang's steel-like footwork can't even be shaken by Olajuwon. Olajuwon can feel Gan Guoyang's abnormal firmness. He is sure that Gan Guoyang will play singles and not pass the ball.

"Gan received the ball, opened Olajuwon, and made a small hook! It's a neat goal. I haven't seen Gan attack so neatly at the beginning of several games." Xiao Enli sighed, During the losing streak, Gan Guoyang seemed a little hesitant, because he always wanted to warm up his teammates first.

"You haven't improved at all, Akim." Gan Guoyang said to Olajuwon coldly.

Of course Olajuwon has improved in the summer, and his improvement this season can be described as huge, but Gan Guoyang scored two points on Olajuwon's head with the small hook newly learned during the offseason confrontation between the two. Humiliate Olajuwon-because Olajuwon couldn't stand Gan Guoyang one-on-one throughout the summer.

But the Rockets' counterattack came quickly. This year, their overall height has reached a terrifying level, and the confrontation intensity of outside players has further increased.

The Blazers' outside line was easily torn apart like paper, Lewis Lloyd broke through and scored a layup, 2:2.

Immediately afterwards, the Rockets succeeded in stealing again and scored two points in a counterattack. Their oppressive outside defense began to have the demeanor of the Los Angeles Lakers.

"The Blazers should be careful. Most of the games the Blazers lost to the Rockets were on the outside, especially on defense, not on the inside. Although they have twin towers." Xiao Enli also hit the nail on the head. Gan Guoyang never fears the twin towers , But the Blazers' perimeter defense has been criticized since last season, and there is still no sign of improvement until now.

"Vanderweghe hit a two-point jumper from the outside, and the two sides tied." The Blazers' outside offense was no problem.

The first 5 minutes of the first quarter were uneventful, and the two sides had exchanges with each other. The score was tied at 12:12, and the first timeout was ushered in.

Sitting on the bench, Gan Guoyang did not listen to Ramsey's arrangement, but had his own ideas.

Returning to the field after the timeout, the Blazers serve in the frontcourt.

"Valentin... threw the ball directly to the basket, Gan jumped to catch the ball, and dunked the basket vigorously with both hands! He bypassed the defense of the twin towers! A beautiful cooperation!" Gan Guoyang gave the first ball after the timeout The Rockets got off their horses.

He has decided to let go of the restrictions and pour all the firepower on the opponent. This is the choice any superstar on the losing streak will make.

They want to use their personal strength to help the team out of the woods.

I just don't know what is the difference between Gan Guoyang and those master scorers, and what will be the different results.