[Legend is a processed material, not a recorded fact.]
————Harvey Allen, "Carolina Chorale"
Years later, when the plump Shawn Kemp reminisced about his rookie season’s face-to-face confrontation with Ah Gan, his once sharp-edged face shone with a long-missing luster, his gaze drifting into the far-off emptiness, as if transporting back to the vigorous and youthful 1989-1990, his rookie season.
"That was the second eting in the season between the Supersonics and the Trail Blazers, the first ti I didn’t get the chance to play, I could only watch from the sidelines, the Trail Blazers were strong, and Guoyang was particularly intimidating, but I was eager to try."
"The second ti was after the All-Star ga, I had more confidence in myself because Xavier McDaniel was injured, so I started the ga and directly faced Guoyang. Wow, he was as solid as a steam locomotive, an amplified version of Karl Malone."
"All through the ga he was talking trash to ; it must have been my dunk early in the ga that annoyed him. His trash talk was always intense; he said to , ’I am the Dunk King,’ ’Your dunking is like a monkey picking bananas.’"
"At that ti, only Guoyang dared to call a black player a monkey during a ga; nowadays, it’s simply unimaginable."
"During halfti, Guoyang said to , ’Guarding you is too boring; in the second half, I’ll play with my left hand only. Pay attention and defend properly.’"
"Then in the second half, he scored 30 points over using just his left hand. Dunks, layups, hooks, jump shots, lay-ins, all left-handed... I was completely unable to stop him; he was unshakable and unstoppable like steel."
"In the third quarter, he made a beautiful long-range left-handed hook shot. Our defense was tight, pushing the Trail Blazers to the last second of the 24-second clock, and the ball ended up in Guoyang’s hands with no ti left. Just one step inside the three-point line, Guoyang turned around, lifted his leg, and executed a classic hook shot to finish what seed like a failed offense."
"Everyone wanted to rush to grab the rebound, but the ball swished into the net. You can imagine the surprise in everyone’s eyes. I stood one step away from Guoyang, and at that mont I really wanted to ask him if he could perform that shot again, how did he make it?"
"I have tried that shot in private and couldn’t even hit the backboard."
"My rear end got blown open in Portland."
The retired Shawn Kemp recalled his rookie season ga confrontation with Gan Guoyang, in which Guoyang, as usual, demolished the opponent with his dramatic tactics, sothing he did for most of his professional career.
Bird, Jordan also liked to do this, teaching the rookies a lesson and letting them feel the intensity of the NBA.
However, unfortunately, Kemp’s recollections are not accurate; in fact, many players have mistaken mories of past gas.
Throughout statistical information, playing ti, or ga counts, there are often exaggerations, omissions, confusions, and mix-ups.
Especially during the long regular season, players and audiences are like having a McDonald’s feast together; they may rember the taste of a certain burger, but no one will know exactly how many fries they ate.
Regarding the ga Kemp described:
First, the post-All-Star ga between the Trail Blazers and the Supersonics was their third encounter of the 1989-1990 season, not the second.
Secondly, Xavier McDaniel was not injured. He started the ga while Shawn Kemp, as a substitute big man, played 21 minutes and matched up against Guoyang for a short ti.
Third, Guoyang didn’t trash-talk Kemp much in that ga. In fact, Guoyang was different from Jordan and Bird; he didn’t take pleasure in tornting rookies unless provoked. He would give a clear-cut defeat to the contentious counterpart.
Kemp was a promising rookie but didn’t draw much of Guoyang’s attention; he certainly wasn’t the focus of Guoyang’s trash-talking for the entire ga.
Kemp obviously condensed his career-long suffering at the hands of Guoyang into this single ga when he reminisced.
Kemp did rember one thing correctly: Guoyang finished with his left hand in the second half and did hit a buzzer-beating long-range left-handed hook shot. This mory is accurate.
Gan Guoyang did this because he found the ga against the Supersonics sowhat dull, and Xavier McDaniel was very pumped up the entire ga, trying to provoke Guoyang.
Guoyang then said to McDaniel in the second half, "I’ll play with my left hand; next, we’re going to Chicago, I need to save my right hand to play against Jordan, for you, the left hand is enough."
Shawn Kemp, who overheard this comnt, after decades of ferntation, rembered it as if Guoyang had spoken to him.
Gan Guoyang scored 27 points in the second half with his left hand, not 30, and ended with 45 points for the ga, leading the Trail Blazers to an easy victory against the Supersonics at ho for their first win after the All-Star break.
Though Kemp’s mory had many flaws and confusions, perhaps related to his long-term marijuana use which ssed up his brain.
But the ssed-up brain, while jumbling mories, retained the correct impression—that in the 1989-1990 season, Guoyang was dominating the League and the court with his peak performance.
Of course, reality is seldom as charming as mory; people always recall the thrilling shots and selectively overlook the missed shots and bad errors, unless they are too nurous to ignore.
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