The Golden Age of Basketball

In the days when Gan Guoyang was waiting for the finals, none of them felt longer than the finals in 1986.

Since the Trail Blazers and the Rockets fought seven games, the time for the first finals was scheduled for May 28. The Blazers had four days to rest and prepare, while the Celtics had already rested quickly. It's been a week.

However, these five days made Gan Guoyang feel particularly difficult. The seven battles did not make him tired, and he recovered after ten hours of sufficient sleep.

Then the next morning, he went back to the usual way, woke up from his sleep, put on his sports clothes, ran out with bread in his mouth, and went to the training center for training.

In Gan Guoyang's view, everything is as usual, the journey of the season is not over yet, and the most important battle is coming.

But in the eyes of the Portland people, the Blazers have completed their tasks for this season ahead of schedule. No matter what the finals result is, Gan Guoyang is already Portland's hero.

Therefore, Gan Guoyang’s journey to the training hall this morning was quite difficult. Along the way, he met too many enthusiastic citizens, whether it was students cycling to school, office workers driving to work, or grandparents walking to the supermarket for shopping. As long as they saw Gan Guoyang, they would go forward and hug him, and some students would even ask for their autographs.

After all, Gan Guoyang's height and appearance make him so recognizable that a 6-foot-10 Chinese can't hide himself no matter what.

"Come on, Gan! Show some color to the people of Boston!" The taxi drivers on the road also rolled down their windows and shouted at Gan Guoyang.

The twists and turns of the road made it impossible for Gan Guoyang to run to the training hall in one go. He spent nearly an hour on the road. When he arrived at the training hall, he found that a group of fans had already gathered at the entrance of the training hall. Slogans supporting the Blazers and Gan Guoyang are waiting for the arrival of the players.

This time, Gan Guoyang was rarely the first to arrive at the training hall, but his arrival still aroused the emotions of the fans. Some fans even began to sing the song that Campbell sang for the Blazers after the Blazers won the championship in 1977. Song "hts" (Southern Nights).

The fanaticism of the Portland fans was far beyond Gan Guoyang's expectations. This is not over yet. After Gan Guoyang and the Trail Blazers finished the morning training at noon, the number of fans at the entrance of the training hall did not decrease but increased. It's a basketball party here!

At this time, Weinberg called the training center. He heard that there were more and more fans at the entrance of the training hall, so he decided to hold a large-scale meet and greet in the square of the Memorial Stadium. The expedition oath is practiced.

As a result, the Blazers' training in the afternoon was canceled, and the players all drove to the Memorial Stadium after eating. The Blazers' staff also made an announcement to the whole city through radio broadcasts.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the sun was shining brightly in Portland, and the temperature was not too low. Today is not a weekend, but there are still many enthusiastic fans gathered at the gate of the Memorial Stadium to participate in this temporary meet and greet.

At the meeting, coach Ramsey and Gan Guoyang expressed their gratitude to the fans on behalf of the coaching staff and players respectively, and then promised the fans that they would do their best to bring the championship trophy back to Portland.

In the singing of "Southern Night" at the scene, the fans gave the Blazers the greatest cheers. In two days, Portland's only concern will be traveling to the east coast.

^…………

"The fans in Portland are really enthusiastic, but the people in Boston are equally enthusiastic, but they won't cheer for us. I'm afraid we will have trouble."

After the rally, Gan Guoyang and Ramsay took the same car, and they were going to the hospital together. Ramsay went to see his wife, and Gan Guoyang decided to go to Shui Miao for physical therapy on his right arm, hoping to resolve the strain as much as possible. The problem.

After the game last night, Gan Guoyang's right arm injury was further relieved. He took a nap at night and was able to do some simple training in the training hall in the morning, but he was still unable to shoot.

"Boston is notoriously crazy, but we don't have to be afraid. The Lakers can win the championship in Boston, so we can win in Boston too...although it is a bit difficult."

Ramsey is not a coach who likes to talk about frustration, but this year's Celtics are indeed too strong. They only lost one game in the Eastern Conference playoffs, and their edge is close to the Philadelphia 1983ers in 76. Now Some Boston media and fans already believe that the Celtics will sweep the Trail Blazers 4:0, so that they will replicate the miracle of the 76ers' fo, fi, fo in 1983 (the 76ers' first-round bye in the East that year, There were only three rounds in the playoffs)

And they will surpass the 76ers in winning games, becoming the team with the highest winning percentage in the playoffs.

Gan Guoyang’s concern about Ramsey is also understandable. The Celtics are indeed invincible. Although the Blazers double-killed the Celtics in the regular season, the playoffs are two worlds after all, and the finals are a new world. .

The Celtics have entered the finals for the third consecutive year, and they just suffered a humiliating defeat last year. Their desire for revenge is extremely strong. Since their number one target of revenge, the Lakers, has already fallen into the sand, it is natural to vent their anger on the On the Trail Blazers, by the way, he avenged the double-kill in the regular season.

Thinking of this, Gan Guoyang was a little worried, but also excited. He couldn't wait to have a taste of the finals.

^…………

After receiving physical therapy at Shui Miao in the afternoon, the pain in Gan Guoyang's right arm was greatly relieved. When he returned home by car, he found that a guest had come to the house—his manager, David Falk .

Since the start of the playoffs, Falk has rarely come to harass Gan Guoyang, because Gan Guoyang has made it clear that during the playoffs all business matters will be pushed aside, and he must concentrate on the game.

Now, seeing that Gan Guoyang has entered the finals, Falk must not be able to sit still. He must come to see Gan Guoyang. He didn't even make a phone call, so he flew directly to Portland. Anyway, he is not This was the first time he had made such a surprise attack. Now as long as he didn't make arrangements for Gan Guoyang casually, he would not be surprised by his sudden attack on Gan Guoyang.

After the meeting, Falk went straight to the point and told Gan Guoyang that his current commercial value had increased by at least five times.

"Now not only sporting goods companies will ask you to advertise, sports drinks, cars, TVs, puffed food, and even house humidifiers may ask you to endorse their products. This is the charm of the finals, even if It doesn't matter if you haven't played a game yet, or you're going to get your head shaved by the Celtics, the finals are just different from the normal playoffs."

"Hey, hey, don't talk about David like that. Before the game started, you cursed us to be shaved by the Celtics. I'm not happy to hear that." Gan Guoyang shook his head and said with a smile when he heard what Falk said. .

"That's not me saying it, everybody is saying it, I think every state in America except Oregonians thinks the Celtics are going to win -- oh no, Californians don't think that. The point is just that they It's just a matter of a few games, they're mostly leaning towards four."

What Falk said is the truth, no matter how Portland fans rejoice for the Blazers' victory, other neutral fans will think that the Blazers are not the Celtics' opponents-no matter how you look at it.

"Okay, if we can drag the game to the fifth game, we will win and the O'Brien trophy will be awarded directly to us." Gan Guoyang joked to himself.

"Okay, let's talk about business. First of all, the issue of advertising. I brought a list. You can choose the following during the offseason..." Falk took out a stack of documents from his briefcase and handed it to Gan Guoyang.

"Okay, I don't want to watch it. I'll leave it to you. The season is not over yet. I don't want to be distracted by these things. I believe you will make a good choice for me." Gan Guoyang didn't watch it, he didn't want to be distracted.

"...Well, trust me, I think you are more accurate in your judgment... One more thing, a Hollywood director called me, and he said he wanted to invite you to invest in the production of a movie. That Back to the Future director, Robert Zemeckis... how do you know him? This guy is said to have potential...

"Think about how I met you, Mr. Falk. I believe in Zemeckis's potential, just as you believe in mine. I would consider working with him, but I would say, not yet The time is up to you."

Although Gan Guoyang was trying his best to get rid of Falke's absolute control over him before, after experiencing the turmoil at the police station, Gan Guoyang understood that Falke was still on his side, and he was indeed capable and trustworthy, so Gan Guoyang now handed over all the affairs to Falk, but he had to ask Gan Guoyang's consent in person.

"Okay, I don't know what film I can cooperate with you, sports film?"

"Who knows, maybe it's a cartoon?" Gan Guoyang said casually, but he didn't know that he would really cooperate with Zemeckis to make a cartoon.

Falke came and went in a hurry, declined Wang Fuxi's invitation to stay for dinner, left Gan Guoyang's house, and went back to his lair to continue working, leaving Gan Guoyang alone as an experimental product, tasting Wang Fuxi new dishes.

"Forrest Gump, is the whole wheat bread I made delicious?"

"Well, it's not bad, it looks a bit like bread... huh? But why is there stuffing in it? What the hell is this?"