Even many years later, Riley would not admit to having fanned the flas of internal turmoil within the Portland Trail Blazers in 1988.
Stu-Inman and Spoelstra, two long-standing mbers of the Trail Blazers, stepped forward to assert that they had access to so inside information about the team but absolutely did not sabotage the Trail Blazers by leaking it.
Buckwalter and Yin Man, friends of many years, had a huge argunt and almost cut ties, with Buckwalter not communicating with Yin Man for over a year.
Little Spo also had conflicts with his father, leading to him being unwilling to work in Miami many years later.
Jero Kossie eventually reconciled with his father, but it is said that he did not give his father a penny; they rely shared drinks and chatted together.
Of course, the sumr of 1988 saw many things happen, such as the changing of the team’s franchise ownership, player departures, the old coach’s resignation, and the managent’s overhaul, all of which shrouded everything in layers of fog.
In the end, these all beca enigmas, and along with who punched Ah Gan during the 1984 Christmas Battle, beca so of the great unresolved mysteries of the Trail Blazers.
But one thing was undoubted and beyond certain: Ah Gan was continually climbing towards the crown of the greatest player in NBA history, leaving everyone else further and further behind.
In 1988, people thought he had reached the pinnacle, but in reality, he was just standing at the foot of the mountain of his life.
————Excerpt from the 2025 published biography of Gan Guoyang, "The True Story of Ah Gan," written by Wu Zhixiong.
The plane carrying the Trail Blazers slowly landed at Portland Airport.
The Portland Police Departnt had been managing the airport lockdown since the early hours of the morning to prevent too many fans from coming to pick up the team, to avoid affecting traffic and causing accidents.
Even so, more than 5,000 fans still gathered near the airport to welco the Portland Trail Blazers ho.
Although they did not bring back the championship trophy, everyone understood that the Trail Blazers hoped to complete their three-peat on their ho court.
The massive parade in 1977 when the Trail Blazers won the championship on their ho turf was unforgettable, and the insanity of the fans on-site later beca known as "Trail Blazers Fever."
A decade had gone by, and the Trail Blazers were on the verge of even greater achievents; if they beca champions, they would be the third team after the Minneapolis Lakers and the Boston Celtics to complete a three-peat.
Unlike the discounted prices at the Bullets’ ho ga, tickets for the sixth ga at the morial Coliseum were next to impossible to find.
Whoever had a ticket to the sixth ga of the Finals would beco the most shining star among the Portland crowd.
To satisfy the fans’ desire to watch the ga live as much as possible, the Trail Blazers temporarily added more than 200 seats.
But 200 tickets was just a drop in the bucket, and even the adjacent Paramount Theatre increased its seating by 100 and opened up so standing tickets.
On the day of the match, Portland experienced an unprecedented traffic jam, with a large number of fans driving to the morial Coliseum.
In fact, most people didn’t even have tickets; they just wanted to get as close as they could to the Coliseum to feel the championship atmosphere.
The ga was in the evening, but many schools started their holidays at noon, shops closed, and businesses ended work early.
It was all to facilitate everyone’s ability to go to the ga or to wait in front of their ho TVs for the start of the match.
Gan Guoyang went to the training gym with his teammates in the morning, and in the afternoon Quentin drove him to the morial Coliseum, but the closer they got to the Coliseum, the worse the traffic jam beca.
When the Portland Police Departnt received news, they dispatched helicopters and police cars to direct traffic, clearing the way for Gan Guoyang to reach the Coliseum.
On the way, all vehicles made way for Ah Gan, clearing the roads so that he could arrive at the morial Coliseum smoothly at three in the afternoon.
The outside of the Coliseum could be described as a sea of people; many without tickets camped outside the venue, ready to celebrate the Trail Blazers’ victory.
This placed no small amount of pressure on the Trail Blazers’ players, with many thinking they might as well have won the championship in Washington.
If they couldn’t win at ho, wouldn’t they be dood?
However, when Ah Gan entered the locker room, those doubts vanished.
Upon entering the locker room, he shouted, "Everyone tidy up a bit, get your hair done, put on so hair gel, and look sharp tonight when accepting the award. Don’t embarrass ourselves."
Ah Gan was the confidence of everyone; with him on the court, each player would play with much more confidence.
Yes, with Ah Gan there, what was there to fear? They would certainly win.
Just before the ga started, Jack Ramsay dropped a tear grenade in the locker room during the final rally.
He openly admitted that this would be his last NBA series, and if they won this ga, it would be the last ga of his career.
He was about to retire.
Although the players had heard rumors about the coach’s retirent while in Washington, actually hearing Ramsay admit it shocked everyone.
Ramsay grew increasingly emotional as he spoke, tears streaming down his face. Mitchell Thompson, who had played under Ramsay for 10 years and spent his entire career with him, couldn’t help but cry out loud.
Everyone’s emotions were incredibly mixed at that mont.
If they won the championship, they would reach the pinnacle of glory, but they would also face disbandnt.
The team was to be sold, and they still didn’t know who the new owner was.
The head coach was retiring, marking the end of the Jack Ramsay era.
And they would beco the last champions of the Ronald Reagan era.
Everyone was filled with a mix of sadness and joy, longing for the glory of a three-peat, while also making plans for their own futures.
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