On December 25th, Christmas, the Trail Blazers' Christmas game kicked off at the Memorial Coliseum, against the Los Angeles Clippers, a game that didn't have much to see.

and the Eastern Celtics vs. Knicks, Ewing against the Green Empire's script, the biggest attraction on the Trail Blazers' side, Gan Guoyang, but because of an elbow injury, he missed the game and became a guest on the bench, which was the first game he missed this season.

Prior to this game, the Trail Blazers were already unstoppable, beating the Eastern Conference giants Celtics on the road and then beating the Nets in New Jersey for a perfect four-game winning streak in the East, and with the previous winning streak, they are on an eight-game winning streak after a six-game losing streak.

They returned home on Dec. 10 to extend their winning streak to nine games by a two-point win over the Golden State Warriors, with Gan contributing a key hook shot, a block and a rebound.

This was followed by a five-game road trip to the West, where they took on the Jazz, Warriors, Spurs, Nuggets and SuperSonics on the road.

On December 19, the Trail Blazers' winning streak came to an end when they were stopped by last season's Western Conference semifinals opponent Denver Nuggets on the Colorado Plateau, losing by four points 119-123, ending a 12-game winning streak.

Of course, three days later, back in Portland, the Trail Blazers beat the visiting Denver with a 125-107, 18-point advantage at home, Gan Guoyang grabbed 35 points, 31 rebounds, and contributed 7 blocks, reporting the embarrassment of being limited to only 14 points in a single game in Denver three days ago.

At the same time, this is also the first time in Gan Guoyang's career to get double 30 data, before him, the last double 30 data has to be traced back to 1982, when Moses Malone, who was still in the Rockets, scored a super double-double of 38 points and 32 rebounds against the SuperSonics.

In addition to the team's outstanding record, Gan Guoyang also won the Player of the Month of the Month in November this season, which is the best praise for his four consecutive games with 40 points.

At the same time, his 31 points in a single quarter in early December, along with his excellent performances in other games, also earned him the title of Western Conference Weekly Awards, and he is already in second place behind Larry Bird in the MVP rankings, ahead of Magic Johnson.

It has been more than a year since he came to the NBA, Gan Guoyang finally began to experience the pain caused by the long NBA schedule, one game after another, whether it is a series of defeats or consecutive victories, it will make people feel that this is a long journey with no end in sight.

The former is numbing, the latter anesthetic.

Getting a break at Christmas was a really good adjustment, and Gan Guoyang became a spectator, sitting on the sidelines to watch his teammates perform, and cheering with the crowd for Drexler's dunk, Vanderwig's long shot, and Colt's breakthrough.

A wonderful carnival, the lack of Gan Guoyang's Trailblazers defeated the Los Angeles Clippers at home, and the Clippers who had won the top Clippers at the beginning of the season, after more than 30 games of tempering, still revealed the prototype of strength, and the patchwork of the old lineup could not withstand the high-intensity game, Maxwell, Wilkes and other veterans have long lost the heart to struggle, the team has fallen into disarray, and has been reduced to the belly of the West again, and the Clippers have once again made wedding clothes for others.

After the game, Gan Guoyang and Coach Bellman returned home together, this Christmas Eve, Wang Fuxi rushed from Gonzaga to Portland, and Mrs. Bellman also came over, and the two big men finally did not have to be lonely and lonely.

For Christmas, Gan Guoyang still does not have much feeling, as a Chinese he is still more looking forward to the arrival of the Spring Festival, the number of Chinese in Portland is also very large, the Chinese New Year in Chinatown is a famous festival landscape in Portland, last Spring Festival Gan Guoyang ate a good meal of dumplings in a fan club in Chinatown.

However, since Mr. Bellman's family is here, this Christmas will also have a bit of a family reunion.

As Mr. Bellman's role on the team grew, the family finally decided to relocate to Portland, and the house was booked to move in after Christmas.

So after spending this Christmas Eve at Gan Guoyang's house, Mr. Bellman will use Gan Guoyang's house to move out, and Wang Fuxi will go back to Spokane to go to school, and Gan Guoyang will return to living alone.

This doesn't seem to be anything bad, when Wang Fuxi is there, Gan Guoyang is always a little unwilling, as he grows older, Wang Fuxi, who has white blood, is becoming more and more mature and charming, and his performance on the couch often makes the strong Gan Guoyang feel unbearable, of course his physical strength is fine, but a man can't just have physical strength, he has to be hard.

Let Wang Fuxi stay in Spokane and occasionally go back to Portland, Gan Guoyang thinks it's good, the relationship between the two is not alienated because of separation, on the contrary, they miss and encourage each other, so that the young couple is more loyal and harmonious.

After Christmas, Gan Guoyang quickly resumed training and entered the squad for the next game of the Trail Blazers.

For a star accustomed to being in the spotlight every night and receiving the cheers of thousands of fans, not having a game to play is really more painful than exhausting for the sake of playing.

But for the sake of insurance, Ramsey still did not send Gan Guoyang to play, he just followed the team to Texas to experience the famous Texas Triangle.

Against the Mavericks, the Trail Blazers without Gan Guoyang played extremely hard, and after two overtime battles, the Trail Blazers narrowly defeated the Mavericks by 1 point 143-142 away, and after losing to the Nuggets, they got four consecutive wins.

But then they went to Houston against the Rockets, and the Trail Blazers were not so lucky.

Before the game, Gan Guoyang actively sought to fight, he felt that his elbow was no longer a problem, and he was completely ready to play, and Gan Guoyang did not want to give up any opportunity to face Olajuwon.

Gan Guoyang's performance this season is naturally soaring, and he instantly became a strong contender for the regular season MVP, and Olajuwon, who is at the same level as Gan Guoyang, has also made great progress, and in the selection of the best player in the league in November, Olajuwon was second only to Gan Guoyang as a candidate.

The Rockets twin towers formed by him and Ralph Sampson have become the league's most feared duo, invincible in the West, and together with the Trail Blazers, they have become the new powerhouse in the West.

The Trailblazers ended their losing streak and started their winning streak by starting against the Rockets, and in that game, Gan Guoyang killed the Rocket Twin Towers by himself and stopped the Trailblazers' decline.

Olajuwon and Gan Guoyang are both thinking about the next battle against each other.

However, the coaching staff of the Trail Blazers still asked Gan Guoyang to continue to recuperate from the injury and not ruin the Trail Blazers' entire season plan for the sake of momentary will.

In the end, Gan Guoyang compromised, and he could only sit on the sidelines and watch his teammates play against the Rockets on the court.

In the first quarter, the Trail Blazers were completely inferior, without Gan Guoyang's interior barrier, the Trail Blazers' interior line only had a combination of Sampson and Kenny Carr, the two veterans were experienced but lacked ability, and there was no way to withstand the impact of the twin towers, and they lost backcourt rebounds many times and were beaten by the Rockets for a second offense.

At the end of the first quarter, the Trail Blazers trailed the Rockets by 10 points at 24:34, and the game was one-sided again.

In the second quarter, Bellman's defensive strategy worked, and the Trail Blazers began to actively fill in the Rockets' twin towers from the outside, although they were blown a few illegal defenses, but they still caused a lot of trouble for the Rockets' offense, and the ball could not be fed to Olajuwon and Sampson at all.

Coupled with the fact that the two sides entered the roster rotation stage, the young players of the Trail Blazers played a great role in the middle of the season, and Porter and Colter were both mature and sophisticated, as well as energetic and driven, and the two began a healthy competition within the team, no matter who is on the court, they can always play quickly, like a microwave oven.

In this game, Valentin and Gan Guoyang are as high as the exemption card, so Colter, who has played well recently, started the game, and Porter came off the bench, and the two actively packed and attacked in the backcourt, revitalizing the Trail Blazers' offense.

The Trail Blazers, who had improved both offense and defense, turned the score over in the second quarter and beat the Rockets 33-24, so at halftime, they only trailed the Rockets by one point.

At halftime, Drexler also joked to Gan Guoyang, "Without a center, we can also take out the twin towers!" Half of your salary should be given to the players who are on the perimeter. ”

But Drexler's words were just a joke after all, and in the third quarter that set the situation in place, the Rockets' outside line began to explode.

The reason why the Trail Blazers were able to unscrupulously wrap the twin towers in the first half was because the Rockets' outside line was not open and their shooting percentage was low.

Every time the Trail Blazers played against the Rockets before, Gan Guoyang was generally able to redeem with the Twin Towers, or even slightly better, in this case, the Trail Blazers lost often because the outside line was not good and was broken through by the Rockets, and this season is even more so, the Rockets' outside line is completely configured according to the standard configuration against the Lakers, and the Trail Blazers are completely more than offensive and not enough to defend.

Soon, in the third quarter, the Rockets hit the Trail Blazers with an 18:5 attack wave, and suddenly laid the lead, although the Trail Blazers struggled to catch up, once narrowed the gap to 3 points, but they really couldn't prevent the Rockets' offense, and finally lost the game with a 108:118 disadvantage on the road, ending a four-game winning streak.

After the game, Drexler had to admit to Gan Guoyang in the locker room, "It's really not possible without you." ”

At the same time, Cook, the chief physician of the medical team, also diagnosed that Gan Guoyang's injury is no longer serious and can make a complete comeback in the next game.

Gan Guoyang, who has only rested for three games, will embark on a long journey again.