The Golden Age of Basketball

The incident of receiving the mysterious note at Zaijiu did not distract Gan Guoyang from these matters, and he quickly focused on basketball again.

However, Gan Guoyang gained an extra fan on the sidelines, that is, the Chinese waitress who worked in a wine shop. After she knew that Gan Guoyang was a player of the Portland Trail Blazers, she paid for preseason tickets to the Memorial Stadium Watch the Blazers game.

This girl is Chen Xiaorui, a common name, a college student who came to Portland to study at her own expense, and is studying for a master's degree in economics at Portland State University.

Her family conditions are not bad, otherwise she would not have the opportunity to study in the United States, but she has to rely on her own part-time work to obtain the funds for studying in the United States. Before that, she was washing dishes in restaurants like many students, which was hard work and low wages , Later she gritted her teeth and decided to work as a waitress in a wine shop, so that her time would not conflict with her studies and her income would be considerable.

Before coming to the United States, Chen Xiaorui didn't know that there was such a Chinese playing professional basketball in the United States. In fact, she didn't even know anything about basketball, but she soon became a fan of Gan Guoyang. In her words, "In There is such an amazing Chinese in the United States, who has done so well in a field that yellow skin has never touched, how can I not support him?"

Therefore, in the preseason games of the first three home games of the Trail Blazers in the regular season, Chen Xiaorui bought tickets and cheered for Gan Guoyang on the sidelines, just like other Chinese fans in Portland.

For some reason, Gan Guoyang felt that this girl was very kind to him. Apart from the inexplicable sense of familiarity, Gan Guoyang also felt that this girl was completely different from those drunk girls with ulterior motives.

At first, Gan Guoyang also thought that this girl was looking for an opportunity to get close to him, and like those women who wanted to rely on Gan Guoyang to win the position, Gan Guoyang was not going to talk to her.

But after several contacts, Gan Guoyang gradually discovered that she really just regarded Gan Guoyang as a friend, as a hometown person she met in a foreign country.

In the past, Gan Guoyang only felt this way with Wang Fuxi and Shui Miao. Wang Fuxi was his lover, and Shui Miao had an inexplicable ambiguous relationship with him, but with Chen Xiaorui and Gan Guoyang, they felt that the relationship between the two was very pure. .

On October 10, the Trail Blazers will have their last preseason game at home, and their opponent is the Golden State Warriors.

When Gan Guoyang was warming up on the court, he looked at the auditorium. Not far from the technical platform, Gan Guoyang could see Chen Xiaorui, wearing the Blazers No. 11 jersey, standing there waving his hands.

Wang Fuxi, like Shui Miao, has become a resident physician at Portland Hospital. At the same time, she is also studying for a master's degree in medicine at the University of Portland. She has a strong personality and is unwilling to rely solely on Gan Guoyang. Although Gan Guoyang's money It was long enough for her to live a life of luxury.

So she is usually very busy, and often stays in the hospital at night, and she can't come to watch some games. Gan Guoyang also persuaded her not to work hard like this, and the response she got was "You yourself are a hard worker. and those who work hard, how can I fall behind?"

There was nothing Gan Guoyang could do about it, but seeing Chen Xiaorui on the sidelines made him feel very at ease.

That's right, it's down-to-earth. Whenever Wang Fuxi watched the game from the sidelines, what Gan Guoyang felt was a kind of great passion and surging motivation, like the eternal embrace at the end of the NCAA Finals that year.

But with Chen Xiaorui here, Gan Guoyang felt like he wanted to "smile knowingly", as if he would be ok after finishing the game easily and steadily, and he didn't know if it was because of the preseason.

The Golden State Warriors team really made Gan Guoyang uninterested, but compared with previous years, the Warriors still made reinforcements and adjustments, the biggest of which was the completion of a No. [-] trade last season.

The Warriors traded Joe Barry Carroll, the No. 1980 pick they got in 1983, for Ralph Sampson, the No. [-] pick in [-] from the Houston Rockets.

This is a transaction between two insiders. After Joe Barry Carroll left the Warriors and returned, his life was not satisfactory, and the team's performance has not improved; Injury, the state is getting worse, and his relationship with Olajuwon is getting worse, the Twin Towers began to compete for the ball.

In the end, the Rockets made a choice between Olajuwon and the Warriors, leaving Olajuwon, who is more talented, younger, and in better condition, in exchange for another insider in order to reorganize the Twin Towers lineup.

The Warriors hope that Sampson's knee can heal as soon as possible, and use him as the core to lead the Warriors back to the ranks of strong teams.

Unfortunately, this deal is not a win-win deal. After Carroll went to the Rockets, his performance was not satisfactory, and the Rockets failed to reorganize the Twin Towers. After the season, the Rockets traded Carroll to New Jersey for A vote of new players announced the failure of the No. [-] trade.

On the other hand, Sampson's life in the Warriors was not good. The people of Oakland put a lot of expectations on him, but Sampson has never been able to return to his peak state. The injury really hurt him too much. some.

And this season his situation seems to be even worse. He missed all the preseason games and is expected to not be able to participate in the game until two weeks after the start of the game. Even if the Warriors want to trade him now, no team is willing to accept it.

It is true that injuries are fiercer than tigers.

Gan Guoyang looked at his old opponent in the Western Conference Finals in the past, and could only sit on the bench and watch his teammates play, and he couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

He was also tormented by injuries, because of that damn football. Now that Gan Guoyang has recovered from his injury, in addition to using hard practice to improve and maintain his state, he also pays great attention to protecting every muscle and bone of himself.

In the game, the Warriors formed a strange lineup. The tallest of their starting five players turned out to be 6-foot-8 power forward Larry Smith, which means that this is a purely small lineup without a center.

It's an odd lineup, but you only have to look at who the Warriors' coach is sitting courtside to figure it out -- it's Don Nicholson.

Faced with such a lineup, Gan Guoyang didn't make any effort to play inside. He only dangled on the court for 20 minutes, got 10 points and 7 rebounds, and then rested and waited for the end of the game.

Because of this, the game has become extremely fierce. Chris Mullin, who was a rookie a few years ago, has grown into an excellent and powerful scorer. He has begun to win the title of "God's Left Hand" for his excellent left-handed shooting.

There is another rookie whose performance is equally staggering. This is a tough guard selected by the Warriors with the fifth overall pick, and the scorer who happens to be partnered with the white Mullin-Mitch Richmond.

In the performance of the first few preseason games, Richmond has fully proved his talent on the offensive end, and now what he needs is to prove himself in the regular season.

The strange formation of the Warriors, coupled with the strong firepower in the backcourt, made the Blazers feel a little uncomfortable for a while, but Adelman also reused Sabonis in the game, and Sabonis is now getting better and better with the team. , Has been able to integrate well into the team's offense.

An insignificant preseason game was full of passion, and the two sides kept biting until the last moment. However, the Blazers were all off the field at that time and let the substitutes play in the final period. As a result, Mullin scored two goals in a row, and his own team scored two goals. Missed the shot and ended up losing the game.

Although the home team lost the game, the fans were quite happy. Anyway, this game is irrelevant and regardless of the results. If the preseason game is played until the last minute, the ticket price is already worth it.

For Gan Guoyang, the day's work was over again. After changing clothes in the locker room, Gan Guoyang left the Memorial Gymnasium under the escort of Feng Guangyao and Feng Peiyu.

Sitting in his car, Gan Guoyang was about to leave, when Feng Guangyao in the front row suddenly said: "Yangtou, there is a girl in front waving at us!"

Feng Peiyu said: "Which night is there no girl waving to Yangtou? What are you meddling in?"

"No! It seems that the girl from the wine is Yangtou's fan, what kind of Rui is that?"

At this time, Gan Guoyang took a look and found that it was Chen Xiaorui who was wearing the No. 11 jersey. The previous few times she watched Gan Guoyang's games and left directly. I don't know what happened this time.

"Peiyu, drive the car over there." Gan Guoyang asked Feng Peiyu to drive the car to Chen Xiaorui's side, and then opened the door, motioning for Chen Xiaorui to come in.

Chen Xiaorui hesitated for a moment, but got into the car anyway.

"Will this be photographed by newspaper reporters?" Chen Xiaorui said worriedly after getting into the car, she was afraid that if she got into Gan Guoyang's car like this, she would be photographed by reporters as sex news.

"It's okay, these two guys are here, they can be witnesses." Gan Guoyang pointed to Feng Peiyu and Feng Guangyao.

Feng Guangyao looked back at Gan Guoyang and Chen Xiaorui, and suddenly he pressed a button, and the partition between the front seat and the back seat slowly rose, and Feng Guangyao said with a lewd smile: "Yangtou, I don't have anything. Saw! Saw nothing!"

"........."

Gan Guoyang had a strong urge to send Feng Guangyao to the Portland Hospital for his behavior of not having 300 taels of silver here.

But at this moment Chen Xiaorui said suddenly: "I'm going back to China tomorrow."

Hearing this, Gan Guoyang didn't bother to pursue Feng Guangyao any more, and asked, "Why did you suddenly want to go back? Did you stop studying?"

"I've come to watch your games these few days and you should be able to tell. I'm not going to drink or work anymore. I'm going back to China, so naturally I don't have to work part-time."

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"My studies ended in September, but I haven't made up enough money for the air ticket to go back. I also have a small loan from school that I haven't paid back, so I worked part-time in the hotel. Now that I have finally paid it off, I can go back. gone."

It turned out that Chen Xiaorui's part-time job in the hotel was more to repay the loan and raise money for air tickets.

"It's great to stay in the United States, and you can still watch me play. Gan Guoyang really hopes that Chen Xiaorui can stay.

"My boyfriend is still waiting for me in China. I agreed to go back." Chen Xiaorui said with a smile.

Only then did Gan Guoyang know that Chen Xiaorui had a boyfriend in China, and it seemed that he was going back to get married.

"Are you going to get married? Congratulations, you can immigrate to the United States together in the future." Gan Guoyang seemed to really hope that Chen Xiaorui could come to the United States.

"Okay, it's a deal. He majors in sociology and really wants to come to America to study."

Gan Guoyang knew that Chen Xiaorui had a fiancé, but there was nothing abrupt in his heart. Instead, he was very peaceful and peaceful, even with a trace of warmth.

Soon, the car drove near Portland State University, and Chen Xiaorui was about to get off.

Gan Guoyang suddenly proposed that he wanted to hug Chen Xiaorui, Chen Xiaorui nodded, and Gan Guoyang stepped forward to give Chen Xiaorui a strong hug.

Then, watching Chen Xiaorui's figure disappear into the dim street light after getting off the car, Gan Guoyang felt that maybe he would never see her again.

"Why is this? We've only known each other for a dozen days, why does it feel like an old friend we've known for a long time..." Gan Guoyang didn't notice that a tear fell from the corner of his eye as he sat in the car.