The Golden Age of Basketball

The men's Olympic basketball final was scheduled to take place on the last day of the Games, between two socialist countries, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.

However, the relationship between these two countries is not much better than that between the United States and the Soviet Union. The two basketball teams have also been fighting for a long time in the European arena. In the first game of the Olympic Games, the Soviet Union was hit hard by Yugoslavia. : With a score of 79, they were defeated by a big score and only won No.92 in the group. This is why the Soviet Union met the United States in the semifinals.

But no one expected that the Soviet Union would advance to the final stepping on the dead body of the United States. This caught Yugoslavia, which was ready to face the United States before the game, by surprise. When the whistle blew the end of the game, the Soviets won the match.

In fact, the strength of this Yugoslavia team is not insignificant. There are three people who even know Gan Guoyang, that is, Divac, Kukoc and Petrovic. Among them, Petrovic is also one of the goals of the pioneers. Inman hopes that he will Can fill the vacancy left by Vandeweghe.

But Gomolsky is indeed too cunning. It can be said that touching the United States in the semifinals is one of Gomolsky's strategies. When encountering the United States, the United States will never be careless, and it will not be so easy to defeat the United States.

Now, the most important and difficult step of his strategy has been realized. The Soviet Union, which entered the final later, has completely overwhelmed Yugoslavia in terms of momentum. Therefore, even if Yugoslavia has so many talented young players, it cannot stop Sabonis from leading the Soviet Union to the Olympics. The throne of champions.

Gan Guoyang watched the Soviets standing on the podium, and the Soviet national anthem "Unbreakable Union" was played in the arena. As athletes, they will no longer be a close-knit, united team as the country disintegrates.

In this regard, all Gan Guoyang can do is to stand on the sidelines, knowing that he only wants to play well, and everything else is out of his consideration.

The next day, before the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games, the Soviet team held a small celebration for their championship. Sabonis, as the number one contributor to the team's championship, left the Olympic Games with Gomolsky after the celebration banquet Village, took a car to the usual training hall of their team.

In addition to Sabonis, Gomolsky also brought four other players, all of whom were starters of the Soviet team, including the main defender Matthew Leonis. I don't know what they will do in the training hall after the game.

When they got to the arena, someone was already waiting for them inside.

"Hello, Mr. Gomolsky, hello, Avidas..." Entering the training hall, Gan Guoyang was greeted by wearing a sports suit. Compared with two years ago, his arms were thicker A lot, but the muscles don't look very exaggerated, but plain but full of strength.

Sabonis had been to Portland once as early as 1986, when Gan Guoyang was injured in the finals, so he also became a signing target of the Blazers and went to try out, but Gan Guoyang had already gone to Santa Barbara for arm training at that time. Injury treatment, the two just passed by.

Now, Sabonis, who is 7 feet 2 and has just won the highest honor in Olympic basketball and is a head taller than Gan Guoyang, stood in front of Gan Guoyang, but seemed a little cautious. He responded in substandard English: "Hi, Gan, nice to meet you."

You know, in the European basketball world, Sabonis wearing No. 11 can be called the Caesar of the basketball world, but in everyone's mind, the No. 11 who often appears on TV and videos is the real sun god of basketball.

This year, the nba and European leagues launched the "McDonald's Championship" championship challenge.

Maccabi's history of playing against NBA teams can be said to have no disadvantages. As early as 1978, they defeated the Washington Bullets and in 1984 they defeated the New York Knicks.

Although the NBA team did not try their best is the main reason for their victory, Maccabi's achievements are also enough to be proud of.

However, this time, the NBA League issued an order to require the Blazers to fight with all their strength, because Stern hoped that the greater the gap between the two sides, the better, so as to open up the European market and allow the audience to focus more on The NBA from the other side of the Atlantic is coming.

So, after the pre-match discussion, the whole team of the Trail Blazers sent the ball to Gan Guoyang. It happened that Gan Guoyang felt hot. He made 66 of 49 shots in the game. Scored 113 points - one more than the 1985 scored by Petrovic in a league game in 112.

This game caused great controversy, because looking at the scene, the Blazers player passed the ball to Gan Guoyang, Gan Guoyang hooked and scored, the Blazers player passed the ball to Gan Guoyang, Gan Guoyang made a jump shot, and scored; the Blazers player passed to Gan Guoyang The ball, Gan Guoyang made a three-pointer and still scored.

Some people think that this is not a basketball game, but a massacre, an insult to basketball. Even Stern called Gan Guoyang afterwards and said, "You are too much."

But the shock brought by this game is also unparalleled, allowing Europeans to experience the gap with the top nba teams for the first time. You must know that Maccabi is not an underdog in Yugoslavia's domestic league, but has once defeated the nba team The team is a strong European team, but in front of the Blazers, they look like a high school team.

As a result, Gan Guoyang's name spread throughout the European basketball circle, and the game was even broadcast on China Central Television's news network at that time. Gan Guoyang's name began to be known to the people of his own country.

Because of this, Sabonis felt a little stiff and nervous when he saw Gan Guoyang. Several other players from the Soviet Union also shook hands with Gan Guoyang cautiously.

"First of all, I would like to congratulate you for winning the Olympic championship. This honor may be difficult for me. I envy you very much." Gan Guoyang said to the Soviet players holding the ball.

The English of these players is not bad, especially Sabonis went to the United States for a period of trial training and practiced English well, so they can basically understand what Gan Guoyang said.

Gan Guoyang's half-joking words quickly broke the tense and awkward atmosphere between each other.

Then Gan Guoyang explained the meaning of inviting them here, that he wanted everyone to "experience the fun of high-level basketball" together.

The so-called "fun of high-level basketball" is actually Gan Guoyang playing a three-on-three half-court match with them. The Soviet Union started five players, plus Gan Guoyang happened to be six players.

Although the fierce finals just ended yesterday, the Soviet players felt very excited when they thought of having the opportunity to compete with Gan Guoyang, even in a three-on-three halftime match, but Sabonis seemed a little nervous.

Because Sabonis knew that he would definitely not be in the same team with Gan Guoyang, and he would definitely be Gan Guoyang's opponent.

Sabonis is known as the "roof of the world" and "architect of the air" on the court, which reflects his proud height and extremely creative way of playing. In the Soviet team, it is often not the point guard who organizes the offense , but the center Sabonis.

It is also because of this that Sabonis is very different from Gan Guoyang in terms of playing style. Sabonis is good at supporting and seizing opportunities, and his singles ability is excellent but not strong. Opponents, he relies on his height, weight and awareness in defense, and is the best defender of the penalty area.

Gan Guoyang is completely the opposite. He has a strong style of play, excellent scoring ability, and is proficient in all offensive methods. Scoring in offense is always his first task. His height is his flaw in defense, but he has a huge defensive range and flexible positioning. And his outstanding ability to defend and block is his huge advantage.

Gan Guoyang's style allows him to dare to challenge all opponents in the game, while Sabonis is relatively soft, and the atmosphere in the European basketball world also makes him always put the team first. The reason why he has doubts about going to the NBA this time is that The reason is that he is not very confident in his ability and feels that he cannot gain a foothold in the NBA.

When Gomolsky heard Gan Guoyang's proposal to play a match against the starting players of the Soviet Union yesterday, he was also a little hesitant. He was very worried that Sabonis's unconfident mentality, under the blow of Gan Guoyang, would Even less confident in myself.

After all, Sabonis is only 24 years old this year, so it would be counterproductive.

But Gan Guoyang is full of confidence. He said that using a confrontation game to experience the level of NBA centers is good for Sabonis anyway.

In fact, this year, when Sabonis was in the CSKA team, he had already played a game against the visiting Atlanta Hawks. CSKA also defeated the Eagles 135:126. Sabonis played well.

But everyone knows that the Eagles didn't try their best at all. This game is not even as good as a warm-up match. It can only be called an exhibition game.

In the game, Kevin Willis, the short-armed eagle, did not show the level that a Chunba center should have. In the NBA league, he can still compete with Gan Guoyang.

"Hey, Avidas, let me form a group. You and I will be in a group. You know, we can become teammates in the next season. I think we'd better practice together first to develop some tacit understanding."

To Sabonis' surprise, Gan Guoyang did not choose to be in the confrontation group with Sabonis, but wanted to be on the same team with Sabonis, because the two would soon become teammates.

The other Soviet players did not protest against the pairing of the two centers, Gan Guoyang and Sabonis. On the contrary, they all wanted to join another team to fight against this pair of towers. Only such a game would be interesting.

During the two years of ups and downs in the NBA, Gan Guoyang gradually became the true leader of the Blazers. At the same time, he also understood that the most important thing for a leader is not to always show how strong he is to others, but to make people understand, and we Together, we will be strong.