NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11 Noise
Gan Guoyang never had any aspirations for UCLA, and not getting there wasn't a regret for him.
Even though there was a glorious history, what did it have to do with him?
Inheriting this history wouldn't make him play basketball any better.
The longer he stayed on the court, the more he saw and experienced, the less he believed in the glory of history.
Time would shroud history in a hazy grey; memory would sift out the bad parts and retain the essence, making it look blurrier but more beautiful.
And all of that could be deceiving.
Gan Guoyang only believed in taking action and living in the moment, steadfastly taking each step before him, with neither the past nor the future in his considerations.
When the timeout ended, Gan Guoyang wiped his sweat and re-entered the game; by then, no Los Angeles fan by the sidelines was shouting at him anymore.
In this respect, Los Angeles fans weren't bad, they knew to shut up after getting hit.
Farmar hadn't given up on his Twin Towers strategy in the paint; as a result, when Gan Guoyang came back on, he single-handedly took on Gray.
With Gray's large build, Gan Guoyang skillfully used his mid-range shots and face-up hook shots, putting Gray in a difficult spot.
As long as Leight came over to help, Gan Guoyang would temporarily pass to avoid a double team, and whenever he received the ball on the outside, the double team was ineffective, leaving a huge gap on the weak side and under the basket.
Gan Guoyang's flexible inside play was something college teams from the '80s struggled with because they hadn't been brought up to play that way, and the coaches didn't teach it; they didn't know how to defend against it.
In the second half, Farmar finally decided to abandon the Twin Towers and use a normal-sized power forward, substituting Gray and having Leight defend Gan Guoyang.
However, Gan Guoyang's offensive feeling had been nurtured in the first half; his hand was so hot it couldn't be stopped.
"John, give me the ball more, no matter where I am."
"Hurry it up, it's going to get cold soon."
"Run, run, you're all as slow as turtles!"
The whole team was spurred on by Gan Guoyang's offense because they were leading in the first half, so Gonzaga was slightly more relaxed, and everyone was a bit tired.
Only Gan Guoyang was bouncing around energetically; Beelman believed he really hadn't messed around with the girls the night before.
A distinct feature of Gan Guoyang's game also emerged in the second half: his vigor and boisterousness.
Unless he wanted to conserve energy by laziness, once he started to get involved, he was always brimming with energy, incredibly noisy, and exceptionally rowdy.
When he got excited, he wouldn't stop jabbering. Engaged in a whole game's worth of head-to-head confrontations with the opponent's lead player, he could play the entire game plus two or three overtimes without feeling tired.
This was entirely different from some big guys who, after a few runs, would start panting with their heads down, or lean on their knees during timeouts.
Any remarkable person must have an abundance of energy beyond the average, and this is true in any field of human endeavor.
Physical stamina, for big men in the paint, often became the bottleneck that held them back. Yao Ming, for instance, was greatly hindered by his own physical endurance, often only able to play well for three quarters or half a season.
Gan Guoyang was very foresighted in setting the highest values for his template's endurance and health, and with his self-discipline and rigorous, scientific training, he was like a catfish in a sardine can on the court.
He abandoned the energy-saving hook shots from the first half, opting for a more aggressive approach by attacking the basket, rushing for offensive rebounds, following up with attacks on the hoop, and even using deep positioning to fend off defenders with his back to the basket before slam-dunking with both hands.
He poured all his offensive skills into the Pauley Pavilion, holding nothing back from the Los Angeles basketball fans and audience. If it weren't for the fact that college basketball did not have a three-point line, he definitely would have shown off with a long-range shot.
He created an atmosphere that was hot and noisy, raising the temperature inside the Pauley Pavilion as if in tandem with the action.
This excited his teammates, exhausted the opponents, and filled the Los Angeles fans with dread.
Because it reminded them of Moses Malone, of how the Lakers and Jabbar felt helpless facing the 6-foot-10 beast.
The wild, aggressive aura disrupted Jabbar's elegant hook shot rhythm and caused the entire Lakers team to lose their steady pace towards victory.
But in the first half, this kid played quite steadily. His hook shots were impressive. How could he switch to such an aggressive mode in the second half?
Beelman, sitting courtside, watched Gan Guoyang brimming with vitality and thought to himself, Ah Gan saying he wouldn't target UCLA in the first half was definitely a lie. Today he used all sorts of tricks in a spectacular offering, just to show the UCLA management and Farmar what kind of player they had lost.
Gan was a man with a strong sense of revenge, just not one to reveal it easily.
As for Farmar, he was foolish enough. In '77, he tried to recruit Magic Johnson with a phone call but ended up giving up, causing UCLA to miss out on a chance for rebirth.
In 1981, Bill Walton strongly recommended Michael Jordan to UCLA. Jordan was keen to play for the Golden Bears, but Farmar said, "There's no spot for you here."
Now they had given up on Ah Gan. There wasn't much UCLA could achieve under his management.
Many examples over the years prove that when picking players, talent is the most important criterion, not which position they play or whether they fit into the team's configuration, reasonable or not.
Unreasonable lineups can be adjusted. What seems to be a well-coordinated team now might completely change in a year or two, but high-quality talent can serve as a foundation for a long time.
The second half gradually became Gan Guoyang's personal showcase. After scoring 17 points in the first half, he added another 26 points in the second, totaling 43 points for the game.
Although it was just an exhibition match and both sides did not give their full effort on offense and defense, scoring 43 points in a single game at Pauley Pavilion, making UCLA lose face, was quite embarrassing for the university leaders and local fans.
Those who came to watch the game were not just ordinary students and citizens, but also political figures and entertainment stars from Los Angeles. Watching UCLA being thrashed by a Chinese center they had once given up on left everyone with mixed feelings.
Worried that Gan Guoyang would get too excited and provoke the opponents to play dirty, Beelman substituted him out during a timeout and didn't plan to put him back in the game.
Gan Guoyang said, "I haven't had enough, Bobby, why are you taking me out?"
"It's enough. Are you trying to rack up stats?"
"Oh no, I'm just enjoying basketball. You know I haven't played a proper game in a long time."
"There will be plenty of opportunities later, take a rest."
The game that started at 7 p.m. ended before 8:30 p.m., indicating that the match flowed smoothly without many fluctuations or suspense.
Reggie Miller only got the chance to play as a substitute after Gan Guoyang left the game. He played a few minutes, shot two balls and missed both, completely out of form.
Watching Miller, Gan Guoyang thought that if he came to UCLA, maybe he would receive the same treatment.
When the game ended and it was time to leave the court, Gan Guoyang glanced over the audience and spotted Wang Fuxi's pink hat, very conspicuous.
Wang Fuxi waved at him, and Gan Guoyang waved back, made a phone call gesture, then left the Pauley Pavilion, got in the car, and went with the team to their next destination.