The Golden Age of Basketball

After Christmas, the Blazers finally ushered in good news. Buck Williams, who missed many games due to injury, returned from injury. In the first game after his absence, the Blazers lost to their opponents and ended The winning streak ended, and the Blazers' performance in the subsequent games was obviously struggling.

It was not until before Christmas that the pioneers gradually got back on track, and this was the result of Gan Guoyang's willingness to sacrifice to do dirty work. After Christmas, Gan Guoyang was no longer willing to continue to be a blue-collar coolie.

The performance of the Trail Blazers during Williams' absence fully shows that in a team, there are indeed some players whose role cannot be reflected in the data. Only when you lose him will you feel that he is good at the time.

Another question after Williams' comeback also followed, that is, can Sabonis continue to stay in the starting position?

Regarding the fact that Sabonis performed better and better during the starting period, although Williams did not care on the surface, Buck still had a strong sense of crisis in his heart. He just came back from injury, so he sat on the bench and played as a substitute.

In the last game of the Trail Blazers in 1988, against the Sacramento Kings at home, Gan Guoyang scored 29 points on 20 of 50 shots at home after Christmas. It is fixed at 125 wins and 109 loss, topping the league.

Gan Guoyang's MVP ranking is also leading the league. In the game where Gan Guoyang scored 50 points, all the fans chanted MVP. For Portlanders, even for the entire Oregon people, Gan Guoyang has become their sports heroes.

In this game, Gan Guoyang no longer worked as a blue-collar job like before, but took back the right to attack and fire, showing everyone his superb offensive skills, and also proved to those who questioned his performance in the past few games that as long as He thought that he could become a scoring machine at any time.

Sabonis also fulfilled his task very well. Gan Guoyang's demonstration after several games is not for others to see. Sabonis is extremely proactive in defense, and he has better assumed the responsibility of the defensive end, so that Gan Guoyang can relax. Start killing and killing.

After the first half of the season, he has been undergoing high-intensity training with Gan Guoyang, and his physical strength has no problem at all.

The most important thing is that Sabonis's confidence has come up. For a talented rookie, confidence is sometimes more important than technology and experience. The confidence accumulated from many outstanding performances allows Sabonis to know what he should do on the court. On the defensive end, he is no longer rash and careless. He has learned to control his fouls and learn how to deal with those muscular men.

Of course, it is impossible to make a huge improvement in a short period of time. Another more important factor for Sabonis to perform normally is that other players have begun to adapt and even enjoy the game when Sabonis is on the court.

Although when Sabonis is on the court, Cauchy and Drexler have to disperse part of their energy to the three-second zone to help the inside to help defend and make up for leaks. When Williams and Gan Guoyang were on the court together in the past, the outside players did not need to worry about the inside. On the contrary, the inside line can allocate energy to help the outside line.

Now, both Drexler and Cauchy are used to it. Even if more energy is required on the defensive end, it is really comfortable to have Sabonis on the offensive end.

He is like a watchtower on the field. With the ball in his hands, he can control the overall situation, transforming the air cuts of Drexler and Cauchy into assists and scoring anytime and anywhere. His ability to conduct the ball and his reading of the opponent's defense made the Blazers' offense sharper and smoother. With the team's fierce fast break, the Blazers' offense is at least in the West, and it is invincible.

But because of this, Williams was completely reduced to a substitute. In the comeback game against the Sacramento Kings, Williams only scored 15 point and 1 rebounds in 2 minutes of playing time. It seems that after a minor injury, he lost his vigor. He was originally active and courageous, but his enthusiasm was dampened after he lost his starting guarantee.

And Adelman has always been a stubborn old man, he is not good at adjusting the psychology of the players, in his view, it is only natural for professional players to obey the arrangements when they play in the team.

Sabonis is in good condition, and he is more suitable for the team. He uses Sabonis. Williams is not in good condition when he comes back from injury, so he is put on the bench, but he doesn't take the players' feelings into consideration.

Gan Guoyang still noticed the changes in Williams.

………………

After finishing the game against the Kings on the 27th, the Blazers got a full week of rest. Their next game will not be played until the [-]rd next year. The rest time is too long.

The Blazers also gave the players a vacation, allowing the players with impressive records to take time to relax and prepare better for next year's game.

As usual, Gan Guoyang did not give himself a holiday. For him, two hours of ball training in the training hall was the best way to relax. Therefore, in addition to taking one day out of the seven days to accompany Wang Fuxi, Gan Guoyang and Get up early as usual and go to the training center for training.

There is another person with Gan Guoyang, that is Buck Williams. During the seven days, he did not rest a day and spent all of it in the training hall. Due to the absence of injuries, he needed a lot of training to recover.

Gan Guoyang not only regarded Williams as a partner in training, but also regarded himself as Williams' partner to help the Bucks recover.

"Dribble, dribble, get away, get away! Your speed is there, your speed! I'm going to break your ball, protect your ball, protect your ball...you can't get past me, you can't get past me I..." In the gymnasium, Gan Guoyang and Williams were practicing one-on-one. Gan Guoyang's oppressive defense and endless trash talk annoyed Williams so much that his original offensive ability was degraded. How could he deal with Gan Guoyang who was defending with all his might.

The physical confrontation between the two became more and more intense. Williams kept pushing Gan Guoyang with the other hand, and Gan Guoyang was like an iron gate, no matter how hard he pushed, he would not move, and Gan Guoyang kept posting to find Williams' physical contact. .

"Come on, Buck, aren't you a buck? Come and push me away, where is your strength? Show your strength, we have played so many games, count how many times you have blocked me? How many times have you been blocked by you?" Gan Guoyang continued to spout trash talk at Williams. In the past, the two were not on the same team, and they would fight each other on the field. Williams was often slapped by Gan Guoyang because of his height disadvantage.

These words of Gan Guoyang undoubtedly angered Williams. Williams, who had his back to Gan Guoyang, suddenly turned to face Gan Guoyang, and then accelerated suddenly, regardless of whether his body passed Gan Guoyang or not. Gan Guoyang slammed, trying to push Gan Guoyang away for a layup.

This is not a formal game, Gan Guoyang will not pretend to fall and make a foul, he saw Williams hit him with all his strength, and Gan Guoyang also rushed to meet him with all his strength, and the two collided head-on.

Gan Guoyang was tall and strong, and Williams was staggered by Gan Guoyang, so Gan Guoyang reluctantly reached out for the ball in Williams' hands. Now Williams was angry, and he hugged him without saying a word before. With a sudden flick of the ball, Gan Guoyang's hand was knocked away.

Gan Guoyang got angry when Williams came to him. He pushed Williams with both hands. Gan Guoyang's strength was so great that Williams took several steps back and almost fell down. on the ground.

Now both of them got angry, Williams threw down the basketball in his hand and rushed towards Gan Guoyang, and the two wrestled together.

Gan Guoyang is tall and strong, with long arms, while Williams has a low center of gravity, trying to knock Gan Guoyang down from below, but Gan Guoyang's chassis is so stable, he is like a yokozuna-level sumo wrestler, grabbing Williams A flick of James' shoulder sent Williams to the ground.

But Williams did not give up, and immediately got up and rushed towards Gan Guoyang. This time he directly punched, and Gan Guoyang was also unceremonious. Si greeted the past.

The two fought on the training ground like this. Fortunately, the staff in the training hall heard the abnormal noise. They ran to the field and saw that the two guys had changed from practicing basketball to boxing. open.

For aggressive professional players, it is not uncommon for teammates to quarrel or even fight on the training ground. When Gan Guoyang just came back last season, he used his fists to teach Kenny, who had just been transferred to the team. Johnson, he and Gan Guoyang Dingzhen finally fought against each other in the confrontation training.

Williams is really not in a good mood recently, coupled with Gan Guoyang's "ignorance of good and bad" provocations frequently, he finally couldn't hold back. In the past, he was the team leader at any rate in the Nets, but he was willing to help Gan Guoyang in the Blazers. But getting such treatment made him very angry.

Williams, who was pulled away, turned around not to look at Gan Guoyang, and the two stood awkwardly on the court like this.

Williams was hesitating whether he should leave directly, but he was also thinking about whether he should say something.

At this time, Williams saw a hand stretched out in front of him, and it was Gan Guoyang who came over on his own initiative.

"Buck, if a fight with me can make you vent, I am willing to accompany you. However, the team needs you, and I need you too. You must come back as soon as possible."