NOVEL NEXT Chapter 13 Confidence
[In the 1983 NCAA regular season, we started with two away games and won both of them. Then, in the third game back at Kennedy Gymnasium, our opponent was the weak Eastern Washington University, and we beat them by 40 points, with Gan and I only playing for five minutes in the second half before taking a rest.]
[We won our first five games, and I think the sixth game was the one that really built the team's confidence. We played against Weber State from the Big Sky Conference, who were strong, the number one team in the conference.
After this game, we would have a break for Christmas, and Fitz, Beelman, and Delong all told the guys to be prepared to lose a game, as we had already performed very well up to that point.]
[Then that day, at the Kennedy Sports Center, Gan scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the first half, with countless blocks—I can't remember how many.
In any case, he shattered Weber State during his time on the court, and then during the half-time break, he said, "Let's give everyone an early Christmas break." From that game on, we knew that whether it was the Big Sky, West Coast, Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference, or Pacific Top Ten... I'm not targeting any league; we are from the West Coast ourselves, but in Gan's eyes, all these are...
I don't want to say the word.]
[He was destined for a bigger stage, to arm-wrestle with those strong players from the East.]]
———Excerpt from John Stockton's autobiography "Assisted," published in 2012.
[The Bulldogs Team entered the 1983 Christmas break with an undefeated record.]
[Snow had begun to fall in the northern city of Spokane, covering the entire Gonzaga University campus with a blanket of white.]
[Being a Catholic school, there was an even stronger Christmas atmosphere here than in San Francisco, with the annual Christmas candlelight concert taking place in the auditorium, attended by various sports teams from the school.]
[At the event venue, Gonzaga's Track and Field and Wrestling teams took a strong interest in Gan Guoyang. Their coaches came over to chat with him, asking if he would like to try out track and field or wrestling.]
[Gan Guoyang wasn't opposed; he felt that track and field and wrestling could help improve his athletic and confrontational abilities on the basketball court.]
[However, when Beelman noticed this, he immediately switched seats with Gan Guoyang, moving him further inside, away from those extraneous individuals.]
[After the school event ended, the Christmas break began. Stockton and several teammates stayed at the school; they were locals, having grown up in Spokane.]
[Gan Guoyang also wanted to stay and train in preparation for the post-holiday games, but the thought of visiting Big Nate for a chat and some barbecue over Christmas made him decide to board the plane to the Bay Area.]
[Last Christmas, Gan Guoyang went back to San Francisco, where he spent the holiday with Big Nate, Sermonde's cousin, and the neighbors and friends around at the bar.]
[Chamberlain didn't come that time; Sermonde said he was spending Christmas in Hawaii and boasted that he would one day break Gan's arm. However, as Gan Guoyang grew stronger and Chamberlain aged, it seemed less likely.]
[This time, Gan Guoyang arrived at the bar where Nate's Rolls-Royce was parked outside, holding a bottle of Spokane's specialty huckleberry wine as a gift for Sermonde.]
[The bar was as lively as last year, and as he entered, a cheer went up, welcoming Gan Guoyang's arrival.]
[In the crowd, Gan Guoyang spotted a stranger's face, a blonde white man, clearly a basketball player, quite tall as he stood up and walked straight toward Gan Guoyang.]
[Approaching Gan Guoyang, he extended his hand, firmly grabbed the wine bottle from Gan Guoyang's hand, examined it, and said, "Spokane's huckleberry wine, from a private vineyard, right? Not available on the market, where did you get this, kid?"]
[Gan Guoyang thought the man was quite rude but figured he must be a friend of Sermonde's, so he didn't take offense and replied, "It was a gift from my school, and it's my Christmas present for Nate."]
[The white man shouted into the inside, "Nate! Gan has brought you a bottle of wine as a gift. How about you give it to me instead?"]
[Nate, apparently busy making his secret barbecue sauce inside, responded, "Let me think about it; don't make such decisions on your own."]
[As he spoke, Sermonde came out with the savory barbecue.]
[Xie Te, it's just a bottle of wine, and you're begrudging it.]
[It's not that I'm begrudging it; it's a gift from Gan to me, I have to respect that. By the way, Gan, don't you recognize him? Well, you didn't know me before, either. This is my teammate from the Warriors, the NBA's leading scorer surpassing Wilt, a champion, Finals MVP, Rick Barry.]
["I get it; you're that guy Rick Barry who shoots free throws like you're holding a chamber pot."]
[When Gan Guoyang heard the full name, he immediately remembered who the man was. Isn't this the NBA star with the unusual free throw style mentioned in Dr. T's lectures from "Slam Dunk Master"?]
[While other players shoot normally, this guy's style has been dubbed "holding a chamber pot," also known as "upside-down toilet" in some places.]
[Despite the odd posture, his accuracy was incredibly high; his best season's free throw percentage was an astounding 94%, one of the highest in NBA history.]
[In English, this weird shooting style is called an "underhand shot" or jokingly referred to as a "granny shot."]
[But Americans never imagined that the Chinese had an even more vivid and everyday term for it. When Gan Guoyang explained the meaning of "holding a chamber pot" and "upside-down toilet" to everyone, the whole bar laughed, filling the place with the joyful spirit of Christmas.]
[The only one who wasn't happy was definitely Barry, who didn't get his wine and got teased about his free throw style.]
[This might be the least liked and most hot-tempered star in NBA history; his face immediately darkened as he pointed at Gan Guoyang and said, "If you think your style is prettier, I don't mind having a little competition with you."]
[Seeing Barry getting competitive again, Sermonde said, "Hey Rick, when you came over today, it was to meet this friend from China. You should be a little more friendly."]
Barry said, "I was very friendly! I took the initiative to shake hands with him! But he just laughed at my shooting stance!"
Sermonde muttered, that wasn't really a handshake, you were just eyeing the wine in his hand.
Last time Chamberlain wanted to arm wrestle with Gan Guoyang, and now Barry wants to have a shooting contest with him, having already played one-on-one himself.
Sermonde wondered, was it his friends' problem, or was it Ah Gan's problem?
However, a friendly competition on the basketball court isn't a bad thing; it's fun and also a good way to blow off steam.
Any anger or disagreements should be left on the court once the game was over.
So Gan Guoyang didn't refuse Barry's challenge and agreed to play a game of HORSE with this legendary star.
As soon as everyone heard Gan Guoyang had accepted, they got excited and all moved to the basketball court behind the bar.
Barry, who retired in '80, was 39 this year, and his body hadn't completely declined yet; his shooting level was still very high.
After a brief warm-up, Barry went first, performing his signature move—a basin shot.
The ball went straight in without even touching the rim, passing through the center of the hoop.
This didn't challenge Gan Guoyang, who easily made a basin shot himself.
Then, Barry made a left-handed layup, which Gan Guoyang completed with ease as well.
"Could we raise the difficulty a bit? You think I play soccer or something?" Gan Guoyang asked.
Barry, with a cold face, stood far from the hoop and scored a long shot.
Gan Guoyang still scored, then said, "How about I take a turn, and you imitate? You really lack creativity."
Barry hadn't expected the kid to be so precise, especially with such a distant shot, which was particularly rare for an inside player in the '80s, to do with such ease and comfort.
"Okay, your turn. I want to see what kind of tricks you have up your sleeve."
It was Gan Guoyang's turn to demonstrate, and this kid had plenty of tricks.
He started with a left-hand tap-off-the-backboard followed by a right-hand layup, a move that tested jumping, core strength, and the ability to catch the ball with one hand.
Barry was 39, retired for several years; asking him to tap the board or finish a layup was one thing, but linking the two moves together was beyond him. That was taking advantage of an old man.
After failing, Barry was either tired or angry, wheezing as Sermonde reminded him to let it go if he couldn't do it, and not to take it too seriously with the young folks.
Barry, stubborn, tried two more ultra-long shots, but Gan Guoyang followed through each time.
Even when he attempted a behind-the-backboard shot, Gan Guoyang could still make it; his shooting was better than Barry expected.
When it was Gan Guoyang's turn again to design a move, he came up with one that left Barry dumbfounded:
He made a low post left spin, faked a right-hand sky hook, then spun again—shifting the ball from his right to his left hand, lifting it high over his head for a left-handed sky hook. The ball arced like a crescent moon, swishing through the net!
Gan Guoyang was excited after the shot, saying, "Come on! It's your turn!"
Barry's expression was as if a toilet and basin were stuck on his head—he couldn't even begin to imitate that shot; he didn't understand how it was done.
"Fuck this, I'm done playing!"
["...Larry steals the ball! Boston wins! They clinch the 1985 Eastern Conference Championship and are into the Finals. A beautiful steal, Larry is the third most confident basketball player I've ever seen, he's amazing!"
"Third most confident? Are you saying there's someone more confident than Larry, slotting in at second place?"
"No, I'm second."
"He's first!? Who?"
"I can't say."]
————An excerpt from Rick Barry's live commentary during the final second steal by Larry Bird in Game 5 of the 1985 Eastern Conference Finals, securing the victory.