The Golden Age of Basketball

On April 1989, 4, the Portland Trail Blazers went to Sacramento for an away game against the Kings. This was the fourth-to-last game of the Trail Blazers this season. If they win the next game, they will be able to tie the record of 18 wins in a single season created by the Los Angeles Lakers in the 68 season, and at the same time hope to hit the unprecedented 10 wins.

Then, the Blazers, who were caught up in the boss's racial discrimination storm, encountered Waterloo in Sacramento. The Blazers with internal problems, the Kings showed no mercy to become the Blazers' record-setter.

The original Boston veteran Danny Ainge became a killer. He scored 32 points and hit a fatal three-pointer at a critical moment. His three-pointers were 7 of 5 in the game. The Kings made 13 of 9 three-pointers. With such a high shooting percentage, even if the Blazers have no internal problems, it is not so easy to win.

Facing the explosive Kings, the Trail Blazers' players such as Cauchy and Williams were obviously emotional, and they were not working hard on the court. Porter and Drexler seemed rather hesitant. They wanted to play hard, but It seemed like playing well was a mistake at this point, and they had to do something to counter Weinberg.

On the other hand, Gan Guoyang, he did not slack off in the audience. As the protagonist of the incident, he worked hard to carry the team's offense and defense alone, allowing the team to keep the score against the Kings. In the fourth quarter, some Kings fans Start to applaud Gan Guoyang, the king's inside line is like paper in front of Gan Guoyang.

However, Gan Guoyang, who scored 39 points and 16 rebounds with two fists and four hands, still failed to stop the team's explosive Kings. Gan Guoyang couldn't go on fighting so hard, and he started to fight hard with a correct attitude, but he fell behind too much, and the king felt that he couldn't defend himself. In the end, the Blazers lost to the king by two points in the away game, and the distance record was still one game away. .

After the game, Adelman went into a rage in the locker room, scolding the players for not working hard, saying that Cosey and others had nothing to say, but Adelman also knew in his heart that the players had no idea what the boss said. It is impossible, and not everyone is Gan Guoyang, even Gan Guoyang, a few days after the recording time broke out, he remained silent and did not accept any media interviews, even Wu Zhiwen did not have any revelations, everyone does not know Gan Guoyang gourd What kind of medicine is sold here.

However, the answer was soon revealed. On April 4, the day after the game between the Kings and the Trail Blazers, and the fifth day after the recording incident broke out, Weinberg made a live apology to the nation on ESPN TV, and Accepted the host's live interview and explained the ins and outs of the matter. Gan Guoyang also arrived at the scene of ESPN and accepted Weinberg's apology. Nothing wrong with it.

It can be said that this broadcast made ESPN an instant hit. Unlike the interview with Isiah Thomas on CBS TV in 1987, this apology can be said to have been carefully prepared, and every detail and every question has been carefully considered and discussed. After consideration, the TV station even wrote the script to ensure that nothing goes wrong.

Gan Guoyang and Weinberg made a scene together, and gave the public an explanation. In this way, Gan Guoyang not only regained face for his own race, but also gave Weinberg a step to step down, so that he would not be like 1987 In that way, Bird left the field, Thomas and the home team were embarrassed and speechless. In the end, Gan Guoyang supported ESPN and gave ESPN a big chance to show their faces.

As for Sterling, this guy is actually the real racist. His conversation with Weinberg is also a topic of conversation. Weinberg is just a loader, but just like Rodman and Thomas in 1987, the words Rodman said it, and Rodman’s point of view is Rodman’s. Thomas just echoed a sentence, but he is the boss of the team, he must be in charge, and he must bear the storm of public opinion behind him. care.

But this time, Weinberg and Gan Guoyang are the protagonists. For a bad team like the Clippers, no one cares about Sterling's discrimination against anyone, so he was able to escape. It is really possible to step into a river at the same time, and the punishment for Sterling's big mouth has not yet come.

The real hidden protagonist of the incident, the behind-the-scenes driving force, Paul Allen, was in his mansion in Seattle. After watching the live broadcast of the apology, he kept repeating his evaluation of Gan Guoyang in his heart, "You are indeed an excellent capitalist."

An excellent capitalist should turn unfavorable factors into favorable factors, resolve conflicts, and value harmony. This is incompatible with the character of "you die or I live" as a competitive player. The two characteristics are mixed in Gan Guoyang's Even Paul Allen couldn't figure him out.

Of course, Paul Allen would not know that there are two souls hidden in Gan Guoyang's body. Although the original Gan Guoyang was replaced, his memory and personality were not completely replaced. Formed the seemingly contradictory personality traits of Gan Guoyang now.

The turmoil has not completely subsided so far. There are still two problems. One is the laxity within the Trail Blazers team. This laxity reached its peak on August 8. The players immediately returned to Portland non-stop. This is their penultimate game of the season, a home game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Blazers have remained undefeated against the Lakers this season. In the past ten years, no team in the West has been able to do so. If they win this game again, they will become the first Western Conference team to sweep the Lakers in a single season in the 80s. Team.

But the Lakers obviously won't give the Blazers such an opportunity, and the Blazers are not ready. After a few days, the players' attitudes have slowly recovered, and they have re-invested in training, but they have lost a lot of heart. The damage to the morale of the team was indeed too great.

As a result, on his own home court, the Portland Trail Blazers lost 110:124 to the Lakers. All kinds of tactics and strategies used to deal with the Lakers before were all invalid. Magic Johnson scored a triple-double on their heads. Li Zhi proudly led the Lakers away from Portland. Winning this victory means that it is impossible for the Blazers to break the record of wins created by the Lakers in 1972!

After the game, Gan Guoyang was rarely furious. Unlike usual, Gan Guoyang was always the last one to go back to the locker room, but this time he was the first one to go back to the locker room. It was kicked to death, and the loud sound made all the players behind Gan Guoyang shiver.

"This is the worst team I've ever seen in the world. Worst! Worse than the Palo Alto East high school team, because there is no team that, when faced with such a record-setting opportunity, will choose Losing! What's more, the opponent is the record maker! This is the most embarrassing thing I have ever encountered in my life. In our home court, I missed the chance of 70 wins, and at most they were equal to the Los Angeles Lakers. This is what they are What do you want? Look how bad you have been in the last few games? What the hell are you trying to prove? Ignore him on the ground? What kind of fucking team is this! What team?**!**!**!"

Gan Guoyang was so emotional that he even uttered three times, the whole locker room was almost overturned by him, but when he stopped cursing, the whole locker room could hear the needles drop quietly again. The young players who didn't play hard all sat there with their heads down and bit their fingers, while Jones, the team's big brother, stepped forward and patted Gan Guoyang on the shoulder to express his apology.

In fact, in the past few days, no one is under more pressure than Gan Guoyang. He is in the vortex of the storm off the court. A large number of media keep asking, and many fans are also asking whether Gan Guoyang is leaving the Blazers. Gan Guoyang has withstood everything and continues to be on the court. Stable performance, but other players who had nothing to do went on strike.

"I'm sorry, Gan." Kexi was straightforward, he was the first to apologize to Gan Guoyang, and then Williams, Drexler, Porter and others apologized to Gan Guoyang one after another.

"Tomorrow, at six o'clock, I'll be at the practice facility, and I hope everyone's there, and we're going to start getting ready for the playoffs!"