The Golden Age of Basketball

() The next day, Gan Guoyang woke up early, unexpectedly, the father on the bed next to him was gone.

"Dad is already up?" Gan Guoyang was surprised. He thought that his father was drunk, and he would inevitably have a hangover and headache the next day, and he would not be able to get up. He didn't expect him to wake up earlier than himself.

Gan Guoyang immediately went to the bathroom to wash up and was ready to go downstairs for breakfast.

But when he got downstairs, he realized that the restaurant was already busy.

Working in the catering industry, especially the Chinese catering business, highlights a hard work.Throughout the year, 360 five days a day, you have to get up early and go to bed late every day, and prepare three meals a day for the guests.No way, people have to eat every day.

And Gan Guoyang saw that Gan Youwei had also devoted himself to the busyness of the restaurant at this time.

Although he was drunk last night, it was mainly because of his poor drinking capacity rather than drinking too much, so there was no problem in waking up in the morning.More importantly, today is his real first day in the United States, and he will start to work hard and fight for his son.

"Are you up, Guoyang? Come down and have breakfast!" Gan Youwei said to his son when he saw him go downstairs.

He was busy cleaning the table and setting up the benches. Gan's Restaurant not only provides lunch and dinner service, but also provides morning tea, and the restaurant will open soon.

"Dad, I'm here." Gan Guoyang went downstairs and took Gan Youwei's rag, "You are the chef here, how can you clean the table? I have to help too."

"Hey, what chef, he hasn't officially started work yet."

Although Gan Youwei is the successor of Gan's family cuisine, there must be a transition process when a new chef comes to a restaurant, otherwise the taste suddenly changes, and many old customers will be lost.

Therefore, Gan Youwei started with some simple tasks, and at the same time did some chores in the kitchen, and he could cook some small dishes along the way.

"Come, have breakfast!" At this time, cousin Gan Bingguang brought a pot of porridge and some steamed buns and fried dough sticks to the table. The old man also drank a lot yesterday, but he still looks energetic today, and his body seems to be very strong. .

The four members of Gan's family, together with some waiters and kitchen handymen, ate a traditional Chinese breakfast in the store - rice porridge with fried dough sticks, steamed buns and soy milk.

This is really good for Gan Youwei, who is used to hard times, and it also makes him feel that being in the United States is really good.

"Grandpa, Dad!" At this moment, a boy's voice came from the door, and a tall, fat boy came in.

"It's Guohui, come, come and have breakfast. Come see your uncle and cousin again."

It turned out that this was Gan Bingguang's grandson, Gan Youtang's son, Gan Guohui, a big boy of 1.8 meters five.

The members of the Gan family are all tall, which is relatively rare in Chinatown. Americans have the impression that Chinese people are thin and small, but the Gan family is beyond their common sense.

However, Gan Guohui and Gan Guoyang didn't look alike at all, with round faces and some baby fat.His facial features are not as square as Gan Guoyang, but rather round.

No wonder, although they are all surnamed Gan, they are actually cousins. Their ancestors all lived in Ganjia Village, and the entire village has the surname Gan.Counting up to eight generations, the whole village is relatives.

So it's normal for the two to look alike.

"Morning uncle, good morning cousin." Gan Guohui greeted obediently.

"Hello." Gan Guoyang also smiled at him, and looked at the fat cousin.But what attracted Gan Guoyang the most was not his cousin's round face, but the round ball he put under the table—a basketball in a net pocket.

"Guohui, I got up so early to play basketball." The cousin also saw the basketball brought by his grandson, thinking that he usually wakes up very late, it is rare that he is so early today, so he probably has to play basketball.

"Yeah, some time ago I went to play video games every day, so I didn't play basketball, and I want to play again recently. I made an appointment with Chen Xing yesterday to play in Union Square!"

"I just know what kind of video games to play, they are all messy things! How good it is to play ball!" <, that is, street game machines.This new gadget quickly became popular in the United States.Gan Guohui, who had summer vacation at the end of May and the beginning of June, went to the game center every day to play for a day.

"Cousin, can you play basketball?" Gan Guohui asked when he saw Gan Guoyang sitting there, who seemed to be taller than himself.

"A little bit, I also like playing basketball."

"Okay! You go with me later! Just in time to teach that kid Chen Xing a lesson!"

Gan Guoyang readily agreed.

And when he thought of playing basketball later, he suddenly became excited, and he ate a lot faster.

After a while, the two cousins ​​drank up the porridge in the bowl, said hello, and went out one after the other, rushing to Union Square.

Walking in San Francisco in 1981, Gan Guoyang had a dreamlike feeling, as if he was in a movie.For example, "When Happiness Knocks on the Door", this movie tells the story of a father and son in San Francisco in 1981.

Although the United States at that time was already very developed, it felt almost the same as China in the 21st century, except that the houses were older and more primitive, and there were more parks and green spaces.But from some places, you can still feel the difference from the later generations, such as the old-fashioned billboards, which are full of the atmosphere of oil paintings.

In American cities, street courts can be seen everywhere, and basketball players are everywhere.

The two walked for 10 minutes, chatting all the way, and the two distant cousins ​​who had never met before actually hit it off.Probably because of being in a foreign country, we can better understand the value of family affection.

Finally, when we arrived at a court near Union Square in San Francisco, there was already a Chinese boy waiting there.

This court is small, hidden in the building, and it is not so much called a court as it is an open space with a basket.Because there is no line drawn on the court at all, only a basket.

"That's right here! My friends and I usually play here, and other places are old black, so don't take me to play." Gan Guohui said, took out a beg from the net pocket, and threw it towards the boy in the open space.

The boy saw the brothers too, and when the ball was tossed to his side, he jumped up and caught the ball in the air, but before it could drop, he tossed it toward the hoop.Go in, an alley-oop!

"Not bad, Chen Xing! Can you know alley-oop?" Gan Guohui praised?

"What is 'Ai Liu Slope'?" Gan Guoyang didn't quite understand the word.

"It's an alley-oop, which is throwing the ball in the air, and another player catches the ball in the air and throws the ball directly into the basket."

"That's alley-oop!"

"Alley-oop? Hey, this translation is really good, alley-oop! Chen Xing, let's do another alley-oop!"

It was only then that Gan Guoyang remembered that the NBA hadn't entered China yet, and words like alley-opp didn't have a clear Chinese translation.In this way, Gan Guoyang invented this new vocabulary instead.

"What alley-oop?" The boy named Chen Xing also came up and greeted the two brothers.

"It's alley-opp, how about it, it's appropriate. It's a word my cousin brought from China!"

"Really? Your cousin is really tall. Are all of your Gan family this tall?" Chen Xing is about 1 meters, not too short.But compared with Gan Guohui, who is 75 fat, and Gan Guoyang, who is 185, he looks much smaller.

"Hey, how's it going, are you scared?"

"I'm not afraid, you fat man is not the same as my defeat?"

It can be seen from the alley-oop just now that Chen Xing's jumping is very good, and his waist and abdomen are also very strong, so he is not a mediocre player. <! (You are amazing!) Cut the nonsense, let's practice first. "

As he spoke, he picked up the ball and passed it to Gan Guoyang first.

Gan Guoyang got the ball and looked at the basket with a lot of emotion.A few days ago, I ran to shoot basketball on impulse, and passed out due to a heart attack, but now, I started playing basketball on the streets of the United States.

He followed the past memory, and the action he saw on TV, and threw the ball.

"Boom!" Knocked on the basket's neck.

Just like that, the three of them started to warm up for shooting.

Gan Guohui was a little disappointed to find that his tall cousin's basketball skills didn't seem to be very good.Although his shooting posture is quite standard, his shooting percentage is relatively poor. Basically, he can only score one of five shots.

But Gan Guoyang enjoyed the shot, as if he was desperate to shoot the ball that night, but now he doesn't have to worry about his body.

Soon, Gan Guohui discovered that Gan Guoyang's progress was astonishing.After shooting for more than ten minutes, Gan Guoyang seemed to have found the feeling and began to score consecutive goals, and the distance from the basket was getting farther and farther.

This venue is not a standard venue, it is much smaller.And at that time, the three-point line had just been introduced into the NBA, and it was not yet popular on the streets, and few people shot three-pointers.

Gan Guoyang has already stood on the grass outside the court with the ball, which is about the distance from the national standard three-point line.Bend your knees, raise the ball, bend your arms, shake your wrists, all in one go, and the ball draws a perfect arc.

"Swipe!" Hollow into the net.

Gan Guohui picked up the ball and passed it to Gan Guoyang. The same position, the same posture, the same arc, and the same "swipe" sound.

This scene was repeated six times before the ball came out of the frame.

"It's hidden, cousin! With such a long-distance shot, you will catch up with Maravich!" Pistol Pete Maravich was also the first three-pointer introduced into the NBA in his last season. In the 1979-1980 season, he made 15 three-pointers and hit 10, with a hit rate of 67%.

"It's nothing, it just feels like it's coming." Gan Guoyang said so, but he was very happy in his heart. He didn't expect that he was quite talented, and he felt it after casting for a while.

It's not fun for three people to shoot all the time, but they can't play in groups, so they have to fight one-on-one.

The enemies Chen Xing and Gan Guohui must fight first.

"Come on, I'll give you a chance to serve first!" Chen Xing gave Gan Guohui the right to serve in a very "magnanimous" manner, which also showed his full confidence.

"Humph! Look at my hat-trick today, so you can't even touch the ball!" Bullfighting agreed to hit three balls, and Gan Guohui wanted to score three in a row, to avenge the "deep hatred" that he was always defeated by Chen Xing in the past. .

Although Gan Guohui is taller than Chen Xing, he is also heavier.However, one-on-one bullfighting pays more attention to the speed and flexibility of the body, otherwise how to start the attack from a place far away from the basket?

Gan Guohui naturally has his way, which is to use his own advantages and grind all the way in.

I saw him use his broad back to lean against Chen Xing, who looked a little thinner in comparison, and bit by bit, like a fat pig digging into the soil.

However, although Chen Xing looked thinner and smaller than Gan Guohui, he was very strong. His tendons were exposed under his sweatshirt, and he was obviously a person who exercised regularly.Compared with Gan Guohui, he is a little puffy.

Sure enough, after pushing for a long time, Gan Guohui didn't get too close to the basket. Instead, Chen Xing's hand made him feel uncomfortable. Seeing that he couldn't control the ball, he could only turn around and raise his hand to throw the ball towards the basket. , rely on God to eat.

It's a pity that the ball didn't even touch the frame.

"Air-ball!" Chen Xing shouted loudly, with a hint of sarcasm.

Gan Guohui shook his head, "Damn it!"

"Fatty Gan, I'm too busy playing video games. How long has it been since I played? I work with old blacks every day."

Chen Xing did not go to play video games with Gan Guohui, but always soaked in the street basketball courts in San Francisco, playing with those birds and beasts, and developed a strong physique.

Next, Chen Xing started to attack, and Gan Guohui had no chance.The confrontation between two people is like Sun Wukong beating Zhu Bajie, it is over before it starts - Zhu Bajie wilts as soon as he sees Brother Monkey.

Of course, Gan Guohui still resisted for a while, trying to use his height and weight advantages to cover Chen Xing and prevent him from having shooting space.However, compared to Gan Guohui, Chen Xing was too sensitive. He easily broke through Gan Guohui's defense and sent the ball in easily.three in a row

"Shit! You've made progress, kid. I'm sailing against the current. If I don't advance, I will retreat!" Gan Guohui looked very depressed. Although he and Chen Xing had always lost in the past, they never lost so thoroughly.

"Hehe, if you don't advance, you will retreat. Come on, big cousin, let's try it. Big cousin, please be merciful." Chen Xing is a little proud, it seems that he is being abused by those old blacks every day, isn't it No effect.

Although he was very polite, he didn't pay too much attention to Gan Guoyang.Although Gan Guoyang shot very accurately from behind and hit six long-range shots in a row, Chen Xing knew that shooting without defense was completely different from shooting with confrontation.

Some people are very accurate in shooting open shots. If you add a little defense, your shooting percentage will plummet.

"Star! Cousin kill him!" Gan Guohui couldn't do it himself, so he pinned his hopes on his cousin.

But Gan Guoyang was very confused holding the ball.

The previous shooting gave him a lot of confidence, but when facing the opponent's defense, sending the ball into the basket seems to be different all of a sudden, it is not so easy.

Because he is not even very proficient in basic dribbling. He used to play in Chinese high schools purely based on his height, and the high school students in their school played blindly.

It's different here, this is the United States, and there are countless basketball masters.The Chen Xing in front of him is definitely a master in the eyes of Gan Guoyang.

Fortunately, Gan Guoyang's height is not useless. As soon as Chen Xing, who was 1 meters tall, reached his chin, Gan Guoyang raised the ball over his head, and Chen Xing was gone.

shot!Gan Guoyang, who just got the ball and didn't dribble a few times, shot it, but Chen Xing was not fully ready to be in position, and he didn't even move the ball.

"Shua!" Another hollow entry into the net! 1:0, Gan Guoyang took the lead.

"Good shot! Cousin is doing great!" Gan Guohui, who had just been beaten, came alive again.

"Continue," Chen Xing picked up the ball and handed it to Gan Guoyang, and said casually.Apparently, caught off guard, he decided to get serious.

<k的防守技术，用手来感知对方的动向，阻挠对方的行动，是一种实用并非常讨厌的防守方式。

Gan Guoyang was very uncomfortable being made like this, and his dribbling was not good. He dribbled back and forth a few times and couldn't get in. He was stuck tightly.

He could only repeat the same trick, raising the ball above his head and shooting from a height that Chen Xing couldn't interfere with.

But this time, there was no pleasant sound of brushing the frame, not even the sound of hitting the rim or the backboard, an air-ball!

Because of Chen Xing's defense, Gan Guoyang couldn't complete his shooting movements at all, and he was very hasty in accumulating and exerting his strength, so he shot such a stinky ball.

"Damn! Don't stick to it!" Gan Guoyang also felt very depressed, why was it so uncomfortable to be pushed on by this little man.

"Three non-sticks? Is it air-ball? Hey, cousin, your Chinese is really profound and profound! Don't stick to the frame, don't stick to the board, and don't stick to the net, it's so fucking appropriate."

Although the goal was not scored, Gan Guohui admired his cousin's Chinese proficiency. He had a "alley-oop" and a "three non-sticks", and his image was smooth.Gan Guoyang also did not expect that he would become a master of Chinese basketball vocabulary creation in the future.

The bullfight was still going on, this time it was Chen Xing who attacked.

Gan Guoyang also didn't have any defensive skills, he only knew how to keep up with Chen Xing as much as possible.And he was a big man defending a small man, and he didn't even know how to lower the center, so he just watched Chen Xing pass through his armpit like a mouse, and scored an easy layup.

Chen Xing made two consecutive breakthroughs, 2:1.

"Lower the center of gravity, cousin! Don't get too close to him, stay a little farther away! Prevent him from breaking through, let him shoot!" Gan Guohui still knows basketball, and reminded Gan Guoyang from the side.

Gan Guoyang immediately understood what he meant, and he did not let go. He often heard it when watching TV broadcasts in later generations. It is a gambling-style defensive tactic, which can sometimes have miraculous effects.

So, he lowered his center of gravity, took two steps away from Chen Xing, and focused his attention on Chen Xing's footsteps.

Seeing this, Chen Xing didn't shoot easily, but after adjusting his pace, he suddenly accelerated and broke through with his left hand.Gan Guoyang immediately moved laterally to the right. Since he was far away, he had plenty of room to move and blocked Chen Xing's breakthrough route.

At this time, Chen Xing retracted his left foot, and with his right foot as the axis, he turned around Gan Guoyang's body and left Gan Guoyang behind, ready to end the bullfight with a basket .

However, he ignored Gan Guoyang's reaction speed.Gan Guoyang saw Chen Xing turned around and subconsciously stretched out his left hand to catch his ball.

However, because Chen Xing was picking the basket, his shot point was very low. As a result, Gan Guoyang's left hand stretched out backwards happened to touch him, and he was slapped out, and the ball went out of bounds.

And Chen Xing was still very calm, but from his calm but somewhat stiff face, it could be seen that the ball made him feel very embarrassed. He thought he could win easily, but he didn't expect to continue.

And Gan Guoyang gained confidence from it, and he will be more energetic to defend him next time.Finally relying on his height, Chen Xing had to stop for a jump shot, but the ball knocked out of the frame under the interference of Gan Guoyang.

Offensive and defensive conversion!

Just like that, the two came and went, and in the end, Chen Xing won 3:2. In the future, this also became a big capital for his bragging, "I beat Forrest Gump in a heads-up match!"

He is not so happy now, and his contempt for Gan Guoyang has been swept away.

Although Gan Guoyang lost, he was also very excited. On the one hand, he could finally play basketball to his heart's content; on the other hand, he found that he seemed to learn things very quickly.

For example, the pace of defense, I always react slowly at the beginning, and I can only rely on my height and defensive strategy to make up for it.And after the two of them fought each other for two or three rounds, he found that he could judge Chen Xing's breakthrough route, because Chen Xing's small movement of tiptoe before the breakthrough was particularly obvious, and he could quickly block it.

In this way, the three of them fought in this small basketball court near Union Square all morning until lunch time.Later in the game, Gan Guoyang was able to win the ball occasionally with a good touch, and he gradually adapted to his shots under defensive pressure.

Only Gan Guohui, who had been shaking off his fat all morning and didn't win a game, should have lost weight.

And from this bullfight, Gan Guoyang's basketball career officially began.