The Golden Age of Basketball

()013-10-22

(For collection, for reward)

Nebraska, a state in the middle of the United States, is located in the very center of the United States.If a dividing line is drawn that divides the United States in two, it can almost also divide Nebraska in half.

Therefore, the time in Nebraska is also divided into two, the west uses the US Mountain Time, and the east uses the US Central Time.

But while it is geographically at the center of America, it is otherwise far from being America's center.

The plains state that flows through Mississippi is nourished by this great river and has beautiful natural landscapes and rich agricultural resources.

Therefore, like the surrounding states of Wyoming, Iowa, and Kansas, it is an important agricultural production state in the United States, and corn, soybeans, pigs, and cattle are the most important products here.

And this time the Gonzaga Bulldogs crossed half of the United States and ran to Nebraska just to play an ordinary invitational game.

Gan Guoyang and his teammates coaches are sitting on the plane to that distant place, and their destination is the largest city in Nebraska, Omaha.

"Why the hell do we come to this shitless place? Just to be beaten up by the home team in the away game and go back to Gonzaga in disgrace?" Gan Guoyang looked down when the plane was about to land Look, except for the city of Omaha, the surrounding areas are almost all large tracts of farmland and woods.

"This is indeed a place where birds don't shit, but we don't necessarily get beaten up by the home team, maybe we beat him up." Behrman next to Gan Guoyang said while sitting on the seat with his eyes closed.

"But I still don't understand. We are not an NBA team. We came all the way to win a victory, and then what? Will President Reagan give me an award?"

"I don't know if President Reagan will give out a prize, but the person who organized this game may give you a big prize. Of course, I don't know who is so boring to let Gonzaga University and Creighton University If you put the two together, you won't be able to play a game with one of the schools." Bellman obviously followed orders, and he couldn't figure out what was going on behind it.

The plane landed at the Blair Municipal Airport in the northwest of Omaha. This airport is located in the suburbs of the northwest of Omaha and is far away from the urban area. So when a group of people got off the plane, they saw a vast sky around them. , there are no buildings.

"Damn, this is really a ghost place." For Gan Guoyang, who played in Los Angeles, Omaha is really like a big countryside.

"Just come here for an outing." Stockton was also a little speechless. In fact, the whole team was a little confused.

They were in a hot state on the west coast, and they were suddenly pulled to the central plains, and they didn't know why, and no one could figure out what was going on.

After getting off the plane, they still need to make a car to go to their destination. Creighton University sent a special bus to wait for these opponents who came from afar at the gate of the airport.

As the largest city in Nebraska, Omaha is the large warehouse and processing plant of this large farm. There are various large warehouses and some meat processing plants along the way by car.

At the same time, as a plain state, the boundaries here are almost endless and flat. Driving in such a place seems to never reach the end.

Fortunately, after driving for an hour, downtown Omaha appeared on the southeast skyline.

American cities really don't have any special features, they are all carved out of the same mold, and Gan Guoyang has long been accustomed to this.

However, the hotel where the Bulldogs stayed was indeed the best hotel in Omaha. When the group got off the bus at this big hotel, Gan Guoyang thought that the city is still a city, and even cities in agricultural states have good places.

On the other hand, he wondered even more, who paid such a high price to pull a little-known team like the Gonzaga Bulldogs to the distant Omaha to play, and gave them the best place to live in the area? hotel.

They are not the Los Angeles Lakers!

But if it comes, let it be. Anyway, I heard that Bellman said that the school will not pay the fee for this competition, let alone the students, so a group of people honestly stayed in a luxury hotel to prepare for the competition that is coming tomorrow. Do rest and prepare.

Because flying around continuously to play away games is almost like an NBA professional team, so Gan Guoyang and other players haven't returned to school for more than a week, and Gan Guoyang naturally hasn't seen Wang Fuxi for more than a week.

Luxury hotels are different from other hotels. Not to mention the large rooms, complete facilities, and luxurious decoration, the long-distance calls inside can also be used for free and unlimited.

In the era without mobile phones, Gan Guoyang could only use these old-fashioned phones to share his thoughts with Wang Fuxi.

Wang Fuxi is still in the freshman period at Gonzaga University. It is the time when there are various general education courses and the schoolwork is heavy, so Gan Guoyang can only make phone calls at night to talk to Wang Fuxi in the dormitory. talk.

Anyway, they all communicate in Chinese, so no matter who they live with, Gan Guoyang is always unscrupulous on the phone, saying whatever he wants.

Since the two had that first intimate contact, Wang Fuxi's affection for Gan Guoyang became deeper and more attached.

Unlike some American girls, especially those in Los Angeles, Wang Fuxi is still a traditional Chinese girl at heart, especially when it comes to love.

Gan Guoyang, the man who suddenly appeared in her life, has left an indelible mark on her life. No matter what happens in the future, the two are destined to be entangled for life.

Of course, this is already something to say. At this time, after making sweet long-distance calls, Gan Guoyang ran to the bathroom to take a cold shower in the winter.

Since the hard training at Gonzaga University, Gan Guoyang has been kept in prison, just to put all his energy into basketball.

And Wang Fuxi's soft and waxy voice undoubtedly aroused the flames in Gan Guoyang's heart, and he had to use ice-cold water to cool himself down.

After all, he lived with Anderson, a 6-foot-8 black man.

This time, Stockton did not go to Gan Guoyang's room to discuss tactics, because they knew nothing about Creighton University, and the two teams from different leagues were far apart. final-four, ncaa's semi-finals.

But these two teams used to have a hard time even making it to the NCAA National Championships, let alone the final-four, so this meeting is really an accident within an accident, a coincidence among coincidences.

The next day, Gan Guoyang didn't sleep well all night and had to get up early. After breakfast, he followed the team to the Creighton University gymnasium for adaptive training.

Compared with UC's stadium, Creighton's stadium is smaller, but it can accommodate 4000 spectators.

Just when the Bulldogs arrived at the stadium, the home team, the Creighton Blue Jays, had also arrived at the practice field, and the two teams met before the game started in the morning.

Logically speaking, the home and away teams train separately, or use the venue in turn for training.

Apparently, the guy who organized the game didn't quite understand the details, and didn't inform the Bulldogs what time and what time they should be in the gym for practice, and the two teams crashed.

But these two teams didn't feel jealous when their opponents met each other. Instead, they came to the gymnasium early in the morning to occupy half of the field, and they chatted with each other while doing warm-up exercises.

There was no enmity between the two sides at all. They were simply two teams that had no connection with each other. They were drawn together inexplicably, and the players on both sides were at a loss.

Gan Guoyang was doing hook practice and shooting practice under the basket.When he saw that other players were also absent-minded during training, and even started chatting with the opponent's player, Behrman stood aside in a daze, and did not go to greet the opponent's coach.

"Mr. Behrman, why don't you go talk to the opponent's coach?" Gan Guoyang asked.He remembered that Bellman would always chat with the opponent's coach before the game. According to Bellman, he wanted to learn some experience from the opponent.

But Gan Guoyang very much suspected that Behrman was going to spray the other party to teach trash talk.

"Oh no, no, it's still not necessary, hurry up... hurry up and practice your hook, you don't seem to be in a good state today?" Bellman changed the subject.

Seeing Behrman like this, Gan Guoyang couldn't help but look at the opponent's coach, only to find that the opponent's coach was a black man, and he was a very tall black man.

Gan Guoyang looked over half the field, and felt that this coach with a round face and bulging cheeks looked like Corleone, and he should be about the same size as himself.

But his size is obviously bigger than Gan Guoyang, maybe because of his fat, but maybe this guy is a very strong person.

"Could it be that the coach of the Blue Jays is a former professional basketball player?" Gan Guoyang looked at it and wondered.

"Mr. Behrman, was the opponent's coach a professional player before? He looks so strong." Gan Guoyang asked.

"You don't even know him... well, I think since you know Mr. Thurmond, you should know Willis Reed too." Bellman gave Gan Guoyang a sideways look, his eyes full of contempt.

"Willis Reed?" Hearing this name, Gan Guoyang flashed a word - "The Return of the King".

This is the only impression Gan Guoyang, a fake fan, has of this name. In the last game of the 1970 Finals, Reed, who suffered a serious thigh injury, appeared in the player tunnel with his legs that could hardly walk after playing the blockade.

His appearance encouraged all the Knicks players and fans on the scene, and he used the opening two mid-range shots to take the lead for the Knicks.

Although he left the game due to serious injuries and only scored 4 points in the opening game, the Knicks, encouraged by Reed, defeated the powerful Los Angeles Lakers in one go and won the game with a total score of 4:3. Won the first championship trophy in Knicks history.

Reid's "Return of the King" this time has also become an eternal classic in NBA history.

But Gan Guoyang's memory of Reed is limited to this. He doesn't know how tall, strong and what other Reeds look like, what their technical characteristics are, and what honors they have.

He didn't expect that the tall and fat black coach not far away from the opponent was the superstar in Knicks history.

"Then...then why is he here as a coach?" Gan Guoyang asked again.

"Don't ask idiot questions! It's normal for a player to retire and become a coach. Hurry up and go to warm-up training. We don't know each other at all, so we still have to prepare well," Bellman said.

Gan Guoyang understood now. It seemed that Behrman was also afraid of being the opponent's coach, and he didn't dare to go up and chat nonsense like usual.

But Behrman didn't dare, but it didn't mean Gan Guoyang didn't dare. This guy and Chamberlain were good friends, not to mention Willis Reed, who was not as famous as Chamberlain?

Bellman asked Gan Guoyang to warm up for training, but the whole team didn't have the energy to train, and Gan Guoyang couldn't concentrate because he didn't sleep well.

So, he even wobbled to the opponent's half with the ball and walked next to Willis Reed.

"Hi, good morning, Mr. Reed." Gan Guoyang said politely. After all, this is the top 50 superstars in the NBA.

"Hey, what's the matter, young man." Reed looked serious, but not repulsive.

"Do you know why we came here to play against your team? I think we should all be confused." Behrman dared not ask, so Gan Guoyang asked.

Bellman saw that Gan Guoyang went to talk to the opponent's coach on his behalf, and didn't know what to say about him, because all the Bulldogs players were staring at Gan Guoyang, and it seemed that they had recognized Reid long ago.

Reed is also a little strange. Since he retired and became a coach, there will often be situations where opponent coaches respect him and dare not talk to him, and he is used to this.

However, this yellow-skinned, black-haired player actually ran over to chat with him instead of their coach?

However, the United States is not a country that pays special attention to dignity, and the relationship between the elders and the younger generations is often more casual.

"Sorry, I'm not very clear, but when the game is played tonight, the organizers of the game will also come to watch the game, and then you will know."

It seems that Reed, the star coach, was also kept in the dark, and he didn't know who was organizing such an inexplicable game.

"Your hook is very good, but there seems to be some problems with shooting." At this time, Reed took the initiative to talk to Gan Guoyang.

This made Gan Guoyang a little flattered, and quickly replied: "Yes, Mr. Reed, my shooting was not bad before, but after I did strength training, my strength improved, but my shooting became worse."

"Does the sudden increase in strength lead to a decrease in shooting percentage? It's all too common among athletes, especially post players. But strength and shooting are not a pair of contradictory aspects, it's just that you're not taking advantage of your new muscle and strength. That's all."

Reed's words made Gan Guoyang suddenly interested. Every time he accepts the guidance of those superstars, Gan Guoyang can always get a lot of benefits from it.

For example, Thurmond's defense, King's turnaround jumper, Chamberlain's fadeaway jumper, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's skyhook.

But now he has a problem with the most basic technical shooting. In addition to repeated practice, it is also very beneficial to be able to get the guidance of a master.

And just when Gan Guoyang was about to have a good discussion with Reid about how to solve this problem, another person came to the gymnasium.

It was still in the morning, and no one else could come in except for the two teams.

But Gan Guoyang looked at the person who suddenly came in from the player tunnel, but found that it turned out to be his old acquaintance, a scout who had helped him a lot-David Falk.

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