The Golden Age of Basketball

() (I was in a hurry yesterday, my writing was overwhelmed, and I was criticized. But I, like the protagonist, will never shrink from criticism. Today there are two updates.)

When Gan Guoyang was wearing a blue training uniform and standing on the floor of the Lakers training facility, he couldn't contain the excitement in his heart. He finally had the opportunity to play with the Lakers' superstars.

At noon, during the Lakers training break, Gan Guoyang ran into Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who came out of the arena for a meal. Of course, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar knew this UCLA "traitor" and this year's No. [-] center.

Abdul-Jabbar did not dislike Gan Guoyang because of his "betrayal" to UCLA, and still enthusiastically invited him and Drexler to have a buffet in the hotel next to the arena.

Of course, Gan Guoyang also met "Magic" Johnson and the Lakers coach, Pat Riley.

Contrary to Gan Guoyang's imagination, Johnson and Riley were surprisingly indifferent. They just nodded at Gan Guoyang and ignored them.

Even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar talked very little during the meal, and it seemed that the morning training made him very tired.

In Gan Guoyang's impression, "Magic" Johnson has always been friendly and enthusiastic. When he watched the Lakers game in the Great Western Forum, he could always see the magician's bright smile and exaggerated movements.

His popularity among fans is also very, very good.

"Maybe it's the loss in this year's finals that made him so serious?" Gan Guoyang looked at the magician standing beside him at this time, staring at the opposite basket with a serious face.

Gan Guoyang and Drexler had the honor to join the Lakers in the team match in the afternoon. Gan Guoyang was assigned to the magician's group, while Drexler was with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

"Riley, do you think it's okay to let these two Trail Blazers guys come to us for training?" Bill Betka, the Lakers' assistant coach, asked on the sidelines.

"I'm very upset when I see their confident look, do you understand? They think the NBA is just a game, hmph, I want them to experience it." Standing aside, the par Te Riley said.

Gan Guoyang looked at Riley standing on the sidelines. At that time, Riley had only been the head coach of the Lakers for three years, and he was still very young, but his face was as sharp as a knife, and there was already a hint of aging. sly.

"Concentrate your attention, the game is about to start!" Gan Guoyang heard the magician's reminder, and his tone of voice was very rude.

"no problem."

In the afternoon, the Lakers' in-team training match began. The two sides did not jump the ball, but the Magicians took the lead in attacking.

Gan Guoyang began to run on the court. Of course, his mind was a little confused, because the Lakers were a completely unfamiliar team to him. Although he had watched many Lakers games, it felt completely different when he came to the court. .

He didn't know where to run, should he go to the low post to fight against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, or go to the high post to cover for the Magician?

But as a semi-professional player, Gan Guoyang has the minimum tactical quality. At this time, he heard the shouts of the magician from the outside.

"Bottom line, bottom line! Don't fucking stand around!"

Gan Guoyang knew that he should go around the baseline on the other side to make room for the magician on the right to break through and score the ball.

So he quickly slid from the bottom line from the right to the left, leaving a large space for the right; but Kareem did not keep up with Gan Guoyang, he knew that the defense on the right could not be taken away so easily.

Gan Guoyang went to the left side, turned around to check the situation on the court, but found that a basketball was heading straight for him!

Gan Guoyang didn't expect the magician to pass the ball at all. In fact, there was a small gap under the basket when he slipped the baseline, but Gan Guoyang himself didn't notice it.

Caught off guard, the ball hit Gan Guoyang's hands and fell out of the baseline.

"Concentrate your attention! I told you the fuck, focus! This is not a college basketball game, this is the NBA." Magic Johnson scolded unceremoniously from the side.

This is not at all the same as the magician Johnson that Gan Guoyang usually recognizes. Johnson in media interviews is so funny, so humorous, and approachable.

On the training ground today, he seemed to have eaten gunpowder.

"I'm just not ready, I didn't expect your pass to be so fast..." Gan Guoyang tried to defend himself while returning to defense.

"Although you are not a Lakers player, if you can't catch my pass again, I don't mind throwing the ball on your head, rookie." The magician was completely uninterested in Gan Guoyang's explanation and interrupted him directly.

Gan Guoyang had a hard time with the magician, and he didn't know how to answer. His perception of the magician dropped a lot.

But there is no time to compete with the magician, the opponent has already attacked.

What Gan Guoyang has to face is "Sky Hook" Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

The groups on both sides are actually very targeted. The magician group includes Gan Guoyang, James Worthy, Michael Cooper and Mike McGee. This is the fast group.

In Kareem's group, there are Drexler, Jamal Wilkes, Byron Scott and Bob McAdoo. This is a slow group.

And Riley deliberately assigned center Gan Guoyang to the fast play group and Drexler to the slow play group, just to teach these two new Blazers who came out of nowhere some lessons.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is in the low post, which is very positive, and one foot has already stepped into the three-second zone.

And the ball from the outside line is also very fast. After receiving the ball, Abdul-Jabbar looked around with his head, no one was double-teaming, so he turned inside and made a hook with his left hand.

"Shua!" The ball went in.

The whole movement was done in one go. During this process, Gan Guoyang failed to see Kareem's face. After the ball was scored, Kareem retreated and ran away.

"How the hell are you defending! Go around!" the magician yelled at Gan Guoyang again.

During the defense, Gan Guoyang was completely crushed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. From blocking to turning to hooking, Gan Guoyang felt like a stake and did nothing.

Because everything is too fast, the offense and defense and passing of the entire Lakers are so fast, even the 37-year-old Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is so agile in running, blocking, and shooting, and the fast Gan Guoyang has no time to react.

"The little guy is a little confused, he doesn't know what to do on the field." Betel said on the sidelines.

"Hmph, he will be more confused after a while." Riley still looked indifferent.

Returning to the offense, Gan Guoyang found that the Lakers were advancing at an astonishingly fast speed. As soon as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored, Worthy immediately served the ball to the Magician.

Gan Guoyang was still thinking about the defense just now, and the magician had already dribbled the ball past half court.

"Quick! Gan, what the hell are you doing! Quick! Do you think you're here for a walk?" Riley shouted from the sidelines.

Gan Guoyang came back to his senses and immediately ran towards the frontcourt.

Only then did Gan Guoyang understand that he didn't come here to practice for fun, but to really experience the training of the strongest team in NBA.

In just one round, Gan Guoyang began to understand the gap between him and these top players on the field-he was too slow.

Gan Guoyang's running speed is not slow, and his reaction is not slow, but he is used to the game in college where there is no 24-second attack time limit, where they always have enough time to hang around on the field, with full thinking and preparation Take the time to do every move well and run every tactic well.

After two months of training in the NBA, what Gan Guoyang improved was his technique and physical fitness, but his awareness and experience did not improve because he had no exposure to real NBA games.

Now, in the extremely intense training of the Lakers, Gan Guoyang began to experience "what is the NBA" for the first time.

"Cover cover!" The magician called for cover from the outside. Gan Guoyang, as the only insider in their lineup, naturally had to mention a high position to cover for the magician.

It was Gan Guoyang's Blazers teammate, Drexler, who defended Johnson, and now they are assigned to different teams.

Relying on Gan Guoyang's cover, the magician easily got rid of Drexler and rushed to the inside with big strides.

Just when Gan Guoyang thought that the magician was about to go straight to the layup and he was ready to grab the offensive rebound, the magician suddenly split the ball to the right and passed the ball to Cooper who was ambushing on the baseline.

Cooper opened his hand and hit a two-pointer, and the entire offensive process did not exceed 15 seconds.

Seeing that his teammate had scored a goal, Gan Guoyang retreated immediately, and kept a close eye on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as he ran back to the backcourt.

"This guy seems to have realized what he should do." Riley said from the side, and the expression on his face loosened a bit.

At this time, Drexler's life is not easy.

To defend China, he has to face Magic Johnson. Regardless of height, strength, weight, or experience, he has no advantage.

His only advantage is his speed and jumping, but this is almost useless in perimeter defense.

When it comes to offense, his team is centered on Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, playing positional offense, which makes Drexler, who likes to rush and fight, a little unaccustomed. <! "(Shoot, shoot!)

During the offense, Kareem was defended by Gan Guoyang, and the ball couldn't reach Kareem's hands.

After a few passes, Drexler, who was ambushing on the right baseline, got the ball and there was no defender in front of him.

Since the fast-break team only has Gan Guoyang as a center, and his height is not enough, everyone else must pay attention to helping Gan Guoyang flank Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

In this way, the Drexler team will often have the opportunity to shoot the point guard, which is also the benefit of having a super center team.

"Boom!" Drexler made a shot, but the ball hit the left side of the basket. The ball was too hard.

"What's the matter with this guy's shooting? His shooting posture is really weird. It was like this last year. Didn't Ramsey let him correct it this summer?" Riley muttered.

Drexler's shooting has always been problematic. He always likes to put the ball on the waist before releasing it, and then lift it up, which makes his shot preparation time very long.

Also in the air, he always bends his legs back to maintain his balance, which makes his jumper look weird.

Drexler's mid-range shots are actually quite accurate, but he is very, very dependent on the overall rhythm. Once the rhythm is destroyed, his shooting percentage will be very bad.

And it's obviously not his shooting habit to catch and shoot in the open.

Seeing that Drexler missed the shot, Gan Guoyang was going to grab the rebound and launch a fast break.

He saw the ball right in front of his eyes, and he could get it with his hands when he took off, but when he jumped in the air, he felt his neck was hit hard, and he lost his balance instantly.

"Beep beep!" The team referee on the sidelines blew his whistle, and the opponent fouled.

Gan Guoyang fell to the ground, feeling a great pain in his neck, probably because he was pushed by the opponent's elbow.

Except for Drexler, no one came forward to ask if Gan Guoyang was okay. Even Jabbar just patted Gan Guoyang on the head, signaling him to stand up as soon as possible.

Gan Guoyang suddenly felt angry. He didn't mind fierce confrontation in training, but he hated the feeling of being knocked down. In addition, since the start of the training match, he had almost no sense of presence on the field, which made him extremely annoyed. .

He stood up suddenly, looked around, and shouted loudly: "Which bastard is attacking from behind!"

All the Lakers players, including their coach, are a little confused by this shout. Who does this guy think of himself?

"It's me, rookie, who do you think you are?" Someone spoke up. It was the opposite power forward, Bob McAdoo, who wore the same number 11 as Gan Guoyang.

"You'd better be careful, I can blow you up at any time." Gan Guoyang saw the "assailant" and pointed to his nose without hesitation that it was the Lakers' place.

"Don't fucking talk nonsense, rookie, when I won the mvp, you Chinese were still eating shit." McAdoo said with disdain. He once won the nba regular season mvp in 1975, which can be said to be in the 70s He is also the top superstar in nba.

But he has never been able to lead the team to a breakthrough in the playoffs. In the 80s, he came to the Lakers, shined as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's substitute, and won the coveted championship ring.

In his opinion, a brat like Gan Guoyang, a Chinese center, dared to come to the Lakers' training hall to act wildly, saying that he wanted to participate in their training without shame.

So, McAdoo found such an opportunity and gave Gan Guoyang a hard elbow, wanting him to remember better.

I thought it would be fine for the two to spray each other, but I didn't expect that just after McAdoo said "the Chinese are still eating shit", Gan Guoyang rushed directly in front of McAdoo, punched McAdoo in the chest, and knocked him out. I took a few steps back!

This time the Lakers players exploded in an instant. This kid is too courageous. He dared to beat the Lakers players on the Lakers' territory, and he was an old man like McAdoo.

McAdoo himself was a little dazed, and his chest was still aching from the heavy blow.

"Hey, Gan, what do you want to do! I asked you to play, not to cause trouble!" Kareem Abdul-Jabbar first rushed to Gan Guoyang and accused him. It was he who suggested Coach Riley to let the two come in for a try.

"I'm here to play, and I'm a rookie, but that doesn't mean I'm easy to bully! Especially since he insulted my country, no way!" Gan Guoyang didn't back down, even the respectable Kareem Abdul-Jabbar couldn't stop him.

At this time, other players gathered around, cursing at Gan Guoyang, and some pushed and shoved, it seemed that they all wanted to stand up for McAdoo.

"Hey hey! Don't move, don't move, get out of the way, it's over, it's over! He didn't mean it, he was just impulsive, we shouldn't insult his country and nation, stop doing this!" Suddenly it was Magician Johnson who stood up to speak for Gan Guoyang. He hugged Gan Guoyang with one hand and blocked the others with the other.

"Okay, don't let non-basketball-related topics exist on the court, and our training will continue. If you are not afraid, you can continue to stay here and train with us; if you feel insulted and don't want to stay here , you can leave immediately so that we can continue training." Riley spoke, and he stopped the conflict and asked the game to continue.

"No problem, I never fucking back down!" Gan Guoyang's anger also came up, and it is impossible to let him go now.

So in the next four hours, exactly four hours, from [-]:[-] p.m. to [-]:[-] p.m., Gan Guoyang and other Lakers players rushed on the basketball court, trying their best for every ball.

Gan Guoyang finally began to adapt to the high rhythm of the Lakers, but even though he had amazing physical strength, he felt a little depleted of energy when the sky slowly darkened.

When the training finally ended, Gan Guoyang felt that he had some difficulty even walking, and the same was true for Drexler. He wondered if he could still step on the accelerator.

"Magic, what do you think of this kid?" Riley asked in the Lakers locker room.At this time, Gan Guoyang and Drexler had left first, because Gan Guoyang was going to fly to Portland tomorrow.

"Inexperienced, a pure rookie, but his progress is quite amazing. In four hours, he felt like two people in the first minute and the 1th minute. And he persisted for four hours. I couldn't bear it." ’” Johnson said while changing clothes.

"Don't you think he's like you, magic? I remember when you were a rookie, you punched Boone down in practice and you said 'no one can bully me'!"

"Hahaha, yes, indeed, that's why I want to protect him. This is an interesting guy, maybe he will be great. I used to think he was only famous because of his skin color."

"Perhaps the Trail Blazers in the West will be a strong opponent in the future, but we still have only one goal now."

"I get it, beat Larry."