The Golden Age of Basketball

() Entering the last month of 1984, in December, the nba game has started for more than a month.

During the offseason, many teams have made personnel adjustments, plus the entry of 84 golden generation rookies, each team has been strengthened or weakened.

But most people still believe that the situation in the East and West will not change much in the 1985 season.

In the East, the defending champion Boston Celtics retained the core lineup that won the championship last season and added veteran Ray Williams on the back line. In his peak season, he averaged 20 points and 6 assists per game. The Celtics strength has been further enhanced.

One month after the start of the new season, they easily climbed to the top of the league with a record of 16 wins and 15 loss in the first 1 games, showing the strength of the green empire to all teams.

The former rulers of the East, the Philadelphia 76ers, experienced a disastrous defeat in the first round of 84, and won the short power forward of Auburn University in the draft, the future famous "Jazz" Charles Barker profit.

At the same time, the core lineup from the championship year in 83 is all retained. Although Moses Malone and Irving have declined year by year, they still have the strength to average 20 points per game. The team still has the ability to win the championship.

In the first month of the game, they also achieved excellent results of 12 wins and 4 losses, clinging to the Celtics in front and not relaxing.

Another green team, the Milwaukee Bucks, who had been struggling to catch up with the Celtics and 76ers in the East, was degraded after Bob Lanier retired after the 1984 season.

Their 11 wins and 7 losses in the first month can only be said to be unsatisfactory. The hole in the inside caused by Lanier's retirement made the Bucks still a little uncomfortable.

But the core figure of the team, Moncrief, gradually entered the peak. In the two seasons of 82-83 and 83-84, he won the best defensive player in a row.

Based on him and Marquis Johnson, Terry Cummins was added during the offseason, and the Bucks, who are all soldiers, still maintain a strong combat effectiveness.

Therefore, it seems that the situation of the three countries in the East will not change much in 85, and the arrival of Jordan is not enough to completely change the image of the Chicago Bulls in the East.

The other teams in the East have either been rotten or have been plagued by injuries, and have become cash machines for strong teams.

Only the Detroit Pistons, a team that currently seems to be struggling in the middle of the Eastern Conference, has a talented point guard, but he is a bit short; there is also a white center who always does some tricks, plus a few who can only attack but not defend. outside attackers.

No one noticed that they were walking step by step on the road to overthrow the old dynasty.

Compared with the East where the top three remain unchanged, the situation in the West seems to be more subtle.

The Houston Rockets used the No. [-] pick to sign city hero Hakeem Olajuwon. The twin towers formed by him and Ralph Sampson made the entire league feel a huge threat.

In November, two first- and second-year rookies have begun to show their powerful power. After losing Moses Malone, the Rockets relied on these two giant towers to win 11 of 18 games, showing unlimited potential .

The Los Angeles Lakers still looked invincible, especially when they won the No. 1982 pick in [-] and selected James Worthy. The stupid trade of the Cavaliers owner may extend the Lakers' dominance in the West for five full years.

After the Lakers lost the extremely important Finals in 1984, they trained crazily in Palm Springs throughout the offseason. Everyone on the team was holding their breath and wanted to complete their revenge against the Celtics in the new season.

However, after the start of the new season, the results of the Lakers are indeed surprising. They lost five games in the first eight games, and once fell to the bottom of the Western Conference.

Afterwards, they adjusted quickly, and after a series of victories, they finally achieved a score of 12 wins and 12 losses before the arrival of December.

The first place in the Pacific region, they handed over to the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Blazers, who played well in the regular season last season and overturned early in the playoffs, made a big deal and got Vandeweghe.And their bigger achievement is that they picked Gan Guoyang in the draft -- this pebble under the wheel of history.

In the original historical trajectory, the Trail Blazers’ deal was not very successful. The Fat Leaf, Calvin Knight, and Wayne Cooper they paid for Vandeweghe greatly strengthened the Nuggets. The thickness of the lineup has improved the rationality of the Nuggets' lineup.

In the first month, the Nuggets had a record of 13 wins and 3 losses, ranking first in the Central and Western Division.

In comparison, the Blazers, who had lost a few capable players, had to recruit a lot of new players. At the same time, although Vandeweghe was good at offense, his defense was a big loophole. Human violence.

Coupled with the fact that they missed Michael Jordan in the draft and chose Sam Bowie, the medicine pot, the strength of the entire team has not been significantly enhanced, and their original performance in the 85 season was only average.

However, Gan Guoyang's time travel in 1981 benefited the Blazers in 1984.

In the first month of the new season, they ranked first in the Western Conference in most events, including an 8-game winning streak.

They also won the first three games of their consecutive Eastern Conference road trips.It was just a battle with Detroit that caused the Blazers to suffer a losing streak, and Gan Guoyang was suspended.

The suspension lasted for three games. After the home game against the Suns on December 12, Gan Guoyang will usher in his lifting of the ban.

Now, Gan Guoyang can only sit on the bench in casual clothes, watching his teammates start a battle against their old rival Sun at the Portland Memorial Stadium.

Gan Guoyang really, really hates the feeling of sitting on the sidelines and watching his teammates play, which makes him feel that winning or losing has nothing to do with him, and he can do nothing about everything.

Sitting on the edge of the bench, Gan Guoyang, who was wearing a casual suit and a turtleneck sweater, looked very anxious. He kept looking around, left and right, and seemed not to be paying attention to the game at all.

In addition to the fact that the Blazers have always had the advantage on the field and suppressed the Suns, Gan Guoyang is still thinking about the one-on-one scene with Sampson yesterday.

In professional teams, it is also very common for players to fight one-on-one. Players can use this to improve their personal abilities, and they can also bet on games.

It's just that the heads-up between Gan Guoyang and Sampson is obviously not a gambling game, it's as simple as improving skills.

Gan Guoyang wanted to use this kind of heads-up to challenge Sampson's authority, especially in the presence of several core players, defeating Sampson with basketball was really the best.

Sampson also wanted to take this opportunity to teach a lesson to this brat who "doesn't know the heights of the world" and doesn't know how to respect his predecessors.

Gan Guoyang was quite satisfied with the heads-up result. Gan Guoyang took the lead in scoring 5 goals and successfully defended against an attack by Sampson, winning the heads-up victory 5:4.

Sampson couldn't defend Gan Guoyang's turnaround hook in the low post at all, and Gan Guoyang, who had rested for several days, was full of energy and well-prepared. He had been studying the video footage of Sampson's singles for two consecutive days to find the way to defend him. trick.

However, looking at Sampson's sad back after the heads-up ended, Gan Guoyang didn't seem to have much joy in winning.

Others didn't seem to have too much reaction to Gan Guoyang's victory, as if it was just an ordinary one-on-one match in the team.

Gan Guoyang obviously miscalculated the complexity of the internal relationship of professional teams, thinking that he could become the boss by following the high school and university "convincing people with strength".

Later, during the shooting practice, Vandeweghe also told Gan Guoyang that in the NBA team, the real boss must be able to lead the team to victory on the court, not be aggressive in training.

More importantly, Gan Guoyang did not get the support of Ramsey.

In Gonzaga University, the reason why Gan Guoyang quickly became the absolute core of the Bulldogs is not only his strength, but also the full support of Bellman.

But now, although Ramsey is focusing on cultivating Gan Guoyang, he does not immediately establish Gan Guoyang as the core idea.

If Gan Guoyang wants to become the core boss, he still has to rely on his own performance.

Gan Guoyang sat on the bench, looking at Ramsay standing in front of him, while his mind was full of messy thoughts.

He felt ridiculous for his previous childish behavior, but at the same time he did not give up the idea of ​​​​becoming the core of the Blazers.

Gan Guoyang's desire to become the core is not because he has such a strong desire for fame and wealth, but because he desires to be the best player in a team, and he desires to make his teammates better.

He is eager to lead the team to victory, extremely eager, not to sit on the bench and watch his teammates play.

"Beep!" The referee's whistle interrupted Gan Guoyang's thoughts, and the Blazers requested a timeout.

The game has progressed to the second half. In the first half, the two sides were inseparable. The Blazers only led the Suns by 53 point with 52:1.

In the critical third quarter, Vandeweghe and Kenny Carr supported the team on both ends of the offense and defense. Vandeweghe's goals and Carl's rebounds allowed the Blazers to control the situation.

But the Blazers still couldn't contain Larry Nance.

The defensive strategy of double-teaming after the pick-and-roll that was practiced yesterday was still ineffective against the quick Larry Nance in the official game.

Because the double-teaming of the ball-handler after the pick-and-roll is mainly to cut off the connection between the pick-and-roll, but the Suns simply don't let Nance pick-and-roll, but make more use of Nance's ball-handling breakthrough and quick play.

Mitchell Sampson didn't know if it was because of the failure of the one-on-one with Gan Guoyang yesterday, so he was out of form in this game.

More than halfway through the third quarter, he scored 5 points and 2 rebounds, and was beaten badly by Larry Nance regardless of offense or defense.

"Rebounds, our rebounds! We must protect the backcourt rebounds! Our rebounds can no longer be lost! Everyone is involved in the rebound!" Ramsey yelled, and the Blazers played without Gan Guoyang. , The rebounding is terrible.

In this game, Drexler was unable to play again because of a cold, and the Blazers' rebounding ability further declined. The Suns have been hit by the Suns many times because of poor rebound protection.

"Mitchell, what's the matter with you today? Pull yourself together!" Ramsey said, looking at Sampson, who was in a sluggish state.

"I'm fine, continue the game." Sampson said lightly.

Sitting on the side, Gan Guoyang looked at Sampson and felt a little complicated. He didn't know why he had such a trouble with such a good player.

Maybe he just doesn't like the way Sampson always looks down on and loves everyone. Sampson has had trouble with the Trail Blazers in the past because of the team doctor problem. In this regard, he and Gan Guoyang are on the same front.

After the game restarted, the Blazers obviously strengthened the protection of rebounds, and outside players no longer blindly pursued speed, but controlled the ball steadily and steadily.

With Drexler and Gan Guoyang unable to play, Valentine on the outside and Kenny Carr on the inside took on more responsibilities.

The two contributed 16 rebounds and 13 assists.

In comparison, the Suns' starters are all great, but the bench is too weak, and they still couldn't make it to the end in the contest with the Blazers.

In the end, the Blazers defeated their old rival Phoenix Suns at home with a 114:106 advantage of 8 points. After suffering two consecutive losses, they ushered in two consecutive victories.

Of course, the victorious Blazers had to celebrate a little bit. After the game, Kenny Karl called the young people to go to the wine to get some wine.

Gan Guoyang did not refuse this time. In most cases before, he would choose to go home and have a good rest after the game, and he felt that how could athletes get involved in tobacco and alcohol?

But now Gan Guoyang's mentality is a little different. He thinks that maybe he should communicate with his teammates outside of the basketball court, especially with Kenny Karl, and he may learn a lot.

Portland is not a city suitable for nightlife, especially in the 80s, there were few nightlife venues here, and it was relatively monotonous, and it was still cold in winter.

Of course Kenny Carr, an old man, can find a place. He took Gan Guoyang, Kexi, Colter, and Vandeweghe, a total of five people, to a winery called Andy.

Kenny Karl and Gan Guoyang are completely different types of people, he is not as talented as Gan Guoyang, he is a role player wandering in various teams.

But because of this, he is more down-to-earth and more friendly than Gan Guoyang, including some other stars. He regards playing more as a job, a job to support his family.

He is not like Gan Guoyang or the magician, who is obsessed with competition and wants to win the first place on the court.Train well, play well, do your best, and relax your mind is his credo.

In his life, basketball is not the only one, or not the most important, but a relatively important one, because he has to eat.

Karl has mentioned more than once that he wants to open a construction company after retiring to install floors for the stadium.

Anyway, he has a lot of ideas.

Therefore, he is often the center of everyone outside the arena, especially the young Blazers who like to hang out with this "old guy".

In Andy, these people have long been acquaintances, the boss opened a private room for them early, and the boss was very surprised when he saw Gan Guoyang, and immediately took out a Gan Guoyang jersey and asked for an autograph.

"You are now the most famous player in Portland." Kenny Karl said with a smile when he saw this scene.

"I also want to become more famous, not just in Portland." Gan Guoyang looked at Carl and expressed his thoughts.