Magic Johnson had a chance to turn the ga around.
But in the final defense, Drexler did an excellent job, closely blocking Johnson’s shooting space.
When Johnson tried to cut into the middle with a hook shot to end the ga, Gan Guoyang’s help defense caused his hook to miss.
Then Jabbar’s follow-up shot was disrupted by Thompson, and Jero Kossie rushed to the basket, boxed out Worthy, and grabbed the rebound, securing the victory for his team.
122:121, the first battle of the season between the Trail Blazers and the Lakers, ended with the Trail Blazers’ last-minute coback victory.
Gan Guoyang scored 46 points tonight, grabbed 18 rebounds, and dished out 7 assists, including a critical three-point assist.
The Lakers players walked off the court with their heads down, dejected, while the Trail Blazers players ca forward to high-five Gan Guoyang. Fans in the Great Western Forum started to leave, another bad night for them.
Los Angelenos’ feelings toward Gan Guoyang are getting more and more complex. It’s not quite hate since the guy plays beautifully, and it’s just basketball after all, nothing to hate.
But it’s definitely not love either. After all, he’s an opponent who keeps injuring the Lakers and their fans in the Great Western Forum, to the point where it’s said that "no child in Los Angeles dares to cry out at night."
In any case, Gan Guoyang has played one classic ga after another in the Great Western Forum, earning one honor after another, making Los Angeles fans both respect and fear him, just like Madison Square Garden does for Michael Jordan.
At the post-ga press conference, Gan Guoyang praised Curry, saying, "Dell Curry’s three-point shot was very important. I believed he could make it, so I passed him the ball. We practice long-range shooting after practice every day, he’s a very talented shooter. He seized the opportunity and helped us win the ga."
Curry also received his first post-ga interview in his career. In the locker room, he was stopped by reporters and said, "I had been preparing for that shot for a long ti. It felt great, really good. I hope this is a good start, and there will be many more such goals waiting for in the future."
This victory is undoubtedly important for the Trail Blazers, proving that their style can stand up to the powerful Lakers.
Of course, this was a very close win. The Lakers held the advantage from start to finish, but just failed to secure the final stages and were defeated by Gan Guoyang’s individualism.
Riley tried to control his emotions at the press conference, but his complaints about the "one vs. four" tactic were evident: "I think the Lakers are playing the most beautiful basketball in history, which has both entertainnt and competitiveness. We have superstars, but we play very much as a team, very evenly. Our tactics and willpower have always been underestimated. Now the League is developing in a worrying direction, advocating individualism, extre heroism, like Hollywood movies shown in cinemas, more and more heroes overshadow the light of the real world, the real people."
Riley’s words weren’t entirely out of bitterness. Indeed, the world was undergoing significant changes in the mid to late ’80s.
The aftershocks of various sports movents from the ’60s and ’70s had completely dissipated, and the rapid economic developnt had made the material and entertainnt life of ordinary people increasingly rich and colorful.
Individualism began to prevail, the younger generation liked stars, heroes, fresh, vibrant, and eye-catching elents.
Disco began to spread, curly hair, sequins, jeans, miniskirts, Avia sneakers, and Nike air-Jordan frequently appeared in lively TV comrcials.
Pat Riley, once a trendsetter, now felt like he was suddenly becoming the spokesperson for conservatives overnight—his shiny hair and immaculate Armani were about to beco symbols of being stodgy and stubborn.
The show-ti, once criticized as superficial, had actually beco a representative of team basketball because it’s motherfucking no. 11 and Eastern no. 23 did sothing outrageously excessive.
Of course, Riley’s ranting won’t change the direction of the world’s developnt. In fact, individual heroism had not yet reached its peak in the ’80s. This was just the beginning.
As Gan Guoyang scored 46 points against the Lakers, his average scoring successfully surpassed Michael Jordan, climbing to the top of the scoring list, though only leading Jordan by 0.1 points.
Jordan imdiately responded by scoring 43 points against the Cleveland Cavaliers on December 23rd, while Gan Guoyang only managed 35 points in the ga against the Suns, hence Jordan leapfrogged over Gan Guoyang to retake the top spot on the scorers’ leaderboard.
The battle for the scoring title between the two intensified, but in an interview with The Oregonian’s Steve Kelly, Gan Guoyang made it clear: "I’m not aiming for the scoring title. I score points just to win gas, not for the sake of scoring."
Gan Guoyang was just expressing his feelings, but once a statent is disseminated, it inevitably gets processed, especially comnts from celebrities. Exaggeration or even distortion is commonplace. Otherwise, what would those journalists feed on?
So a regular interview article in The Oregonian got turned into the following when reproduced in other newspapers:
"Ah Gan is not interested in the scoring title; the scoring title can’t bring victory." This version is one of the less distorted ones. Who says a scoring champion can’t bring victory? Last year Gan Guoyang was the scoring champion.
"Compared to the scoring title, Ah Gan is more interested in victory and championships, unlike so people who are only scoring for the sake of scoring." This started to add fuel to the fire, insinuating soone, even though Gan Guoyang’s original words were not targeted at anyone.
"Ah Gan said, ’You can have the scoring title, but victory and the championship belong to .’" This was purely fabricated, with the insinuation throughout that Ah Gan was targeting Michael Jordan.
Later, as his words were reproduced and spread more and more, the original aning beca increasingly distorted.
Years later, there was a story circulating among the fans: Ah Gan mocked Michael Jordan during the 1987 season, saying Jordan sacrificed victory for the scoring title, yet still couldn’t surpass Gan Guoyang.
Gan Guoyang’s response was always the sa, "Michael is my best friend, I would never say sothing like that."
Then the story added another layer: Ah Gan and Jordan were once best friends, but not anymore after the mockery...
In fact, they had always been very good friends, even with the fierce competition for the scoring title, and despite the dia frenzy, neither Jordan nor Gan Guoyang ever really attacked each other publicly—of course, according to the dia’s fabrication, they were arch enemies locked in a fight to the death.
Behind this were Nike and Avia stirring the pot, as they did not want to miss this rare opportunity to create confrontation, to exploit each other and promote their own brands.
As Christmas 1986 approached, this atmosphere was built up more and more, as this year’s Christmas Day ga was set between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Chicago Bulls.
In the early years, Christmas Day gas didn’t feature Eastern against Western teams, as transportation wasn’t so advanced, and it was quite painful for away teams to travel to a far-off city over the holiday, not being able to reunite with family in ti to celebrate.
So typically, Christmas Day gas would choose teams from closer cities, or at least within the sa conference.
For example, with the Boston Celtics versus the New York Knicks, the Celtics players could drive themselves to New York, play the match, and then drive ho to celebrate; they didn’t have to stay overnight in another city.
Gas between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Clippers were even more convenient, as ho and away didn’t make a difference, and teams from California were well-suited for the Christmas Day gas.
Gas like Lakers against Celtics, being the League’s biggest rivalry, would logically be the best choice for Christmas Day gas.
But the two cities, one in the northeast corner and the other in the southwest corner, are over 4,800 kiloters apart, taking more than seven hours by plane.
Definitely not being able to leave the sa evening after the ga, they would have to stay an extra night in another city, then fly almost an entire day to get ho the next day, effectively ruining the holiday.
Therefore, such a highly anticipated matchup had never featured in the Christmas Day gas in the 1980s, with both players and managent disagreeing.
Of course, as a businessman, David Stern undoubtedly wanted the Christmas Day gas to feature the most followed teams.
So, during the pre-season scheduling, Stern overca objections, insisting on arranging a Christmas Day ga featuring an Eastern vs. Western Conference battle between the Chicago Bulls and the Portland Trail Blazers.
Despite protests from the managent of both the Bulls and the Trail Blazers, Nike and Avia, as League sponsors, pushed hard behind the scenes for this eye-catching showdown.
After discussions, communication, and the special arrangent of flights for the visiting team from Arican Airlines, this unprecedented East vs. West Christmas Day ga appeared on the schedule, a matchup that would not have any like it for a long ti afterward.
Once it was confird that the Bulls and the Trail Blazers would play on Christmas Day, the two teams stopped protesting and began to argue over whether the ga would be played in Chicago or Portland instead.
Portland easily won this battle because the headquarters of both Avia and Nike were in Portland; Chicago had no chance.
As Christmas approached, Nike and Avia both began to hype up this long-awaited scoring champion battle.
[The] Portland downtown area was filled with advertisents from both companies, with Gan Guoyang and Jordan’s sneaker ads appearing in large numbers on television, bombarding the ordinary person’s visual nerves.
In modern society, the television is the new gospel of religion, the priest of consurist deities preaching in the mortal world, and advertisents are the scriptures in the hands of the priest, repeatedly inputting concepts and symbols into the brains of the public, making them willing to pay with their ti, money, and sincere passion.
This is collectively referred to as faith.
Only in this new religion, one Jesus is black, and the other Jesus is yellow.
The two Jesuses would et on Christmas Day, to see who is the real strongest idol.
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