On January 28, 1986, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA's space shuttle Challenger exploded in the air and fell into the sea 73 seconds after liftoff.

That same night, at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, players from both sides observed a moment of silence in honor of the Challenger's martyred astronauts at the opening ceremony before the NBA's regular season Portland Trail Blazers game against the Suns.

In this game, Gan Guoyang and Vanderwig combined to score 75 points, more than half of the team's total score, helping the Trail Blazers defeat the Suns 133-126.

The Trail Blazers added another win record to 39-9, losing just one game on the road to the Bucks after a win over the Los Angeles Lakers in early January, and then an impressive eight-game winning streak against the Suns.

Although the strength of the opponents is not strong, all of them are the Cavaliers, Kings, Pacers and the like, but for a strong team in the NBA, how to stably take out a weak team is also a knowledge.

The Trail Blazers' method is very simple, which is to bombard the opponent with strong firepower, just like in this game against the Suns, the inside and outside offensive combination of Gan Guoyang and Van Dewych, with Drexler, Sampson, Paxson and other score-grabbing masters, their attack power is too strong.

The only game they lost in January was against the old nemesis Milwaukee Bucks, and the Trail Blazers' offense was greatly curbed, scoring only 89 points per game, well below the season average of points per game.

But in any case, the consecutive victories made the whole team happy, and in the locker room after the game, Gan Guoyang constantly made fun of Drexler, because Drexler got a "triple-double" in this game, with 14 points, 10 assists, and 10 turnovers.

"Interview our triple-double little prince, how do you feel about getting the 25th triple-double in your career today? We hope you can share ...... with us."

"Damn it, Gan, take your mineral water bottle away, don't use it as a microphone, and when did I get 25 triple-doubles?"

"If you count your playing time, I'm sure you've had more than 25 triple-doubles, hahaha!"

“………………”

Victory is such sweetness that any bitter joke can seem cute at times like this, but for any player, the sweetest victory is always on the next one.

"Alright, pack up the boys, and get ready to fly to Indiana." Ramsey reminded the player.

The Trail Blazers and Indiana Pacers game was supposed to be played on January 15, but due to a fire at the arena in Indianapolis that day, the game between the Trail Blazers and Pacers was canceled and postponed to the end of January.

"I really don't understand how the league arranges games, why don't they schedule the make-up matches until the end of the season? Now we are even going to play away back-to-back! How many fucking games have we already played? It's nothing short of abuse, abuse! ”

An hour later, the whole Trail Blazers team was already sitting on the plane to Indiana, and Gan Guoyang, who was sitting in the front row, complained twice, they just finished the game, they were going to take a late flight to Indiana, and then they had to play the next night, and they had to go back to Portland immediately after the game, and they had to rest for a day to prepare to play the Lakers, and the schedule was really very tight.

And the Trail Blazers have played 48 games so far, and after tomorrow's game it will be 49, which is the team that plays the most games in the league at the same time, while the Celtics only played 41 games and the Lakers only played 43 in the same period, so it's no wonder Gan Guoyang complained.

"Maybe they think we've won too many games and want to cool us down!" Jim Paxson, who was sitting next to Gan Guoyang, said.

"You don't have to go to Indiana to cool down, you might as well go back to Portland and take a cold shower. I really need to relax, and mentally I mean, it's a really unbearable schedule. "The thought of fighting the Lakers again the day after tomorrow made Gan Guoyang have a headache.

"Maybe we can really relax~ You know, the NCAA game is in full swing, and when we get to Indiana, we can go and watch those little cubs play together." Paxson suggested.

For the vast majority of NBA players who graduated from college, it's a great relief to watch college games during the season, to catch up on the rising stars of the United States who could be a formidable future in the NBA, and to reminisce about their college years.

"If I could, I'd rather go back to Portland, go back to Gonzaga and see Chris."

"Gonzaga I don't know who else can watch besides you and Stockton? This year they are not destined to make it to the national races again. Indiana was different, there was a supernova coming the day after tomorrow, and at the University of Notre Dame, my brother gave me a ticket. Jim Paxson said.

Jim Paxson's older brother, who also plays in the NBA, is now the Bulls' shooting guard John Paxson, an important helper next to Jordan in the future, John Paxson is a graduate of Notre Dame, and it couldn't be easier to get a few tickets to the game.

"Nova? I don't care about these guys right now... Also, when did we get on such good terms with Jim? Going to a college basketball game together? Gan Guoyang suddenly asked Jim Paxson, the relationship between the two has been average in the past, because of Drexler's relationship.

Especially in the Western Conference semifinals last season, Gan Guoyang wanted to beat this guy several times.

After the new season, Paxson seemed to accept his position as a substitute, and he seemed guilty about Ramsey, who maintained his consistency in the early stages of the season, despite the team's panic.

After Ramsey regained his role, Paxson became a reliable and consistent scorer on the bench and was ready to step up to the Trail Blazers' starting point guard when Drexler was unavailable.

"Uh... I guess we should have a better relationship, didn't we, Gan? Paxson listened to Gan Guoyang's words, paused for a while and said.

"Well, yes, I'm happy to have a good relationship with everyone." Gan Guoyang nodded.

In his rookie season, Gan Guoyang wanted to be the boss, but even if he defeated Sampson in a one-on-one heads-up, he couldn't because he was not qualified.

As Gan Guoyang makes a name for himself in the league with his performance, especially this season's MVP-level performance, the players on the team will automatically move closer to him.

This world is like this, when you have enough ability, you will have enough relationships, your own level is a strong bond to maintain relationships, and trying to strengthen yourself with relationships is often in the air, which is even more naked in the NBA, Vanity Fair.

"Which two teams are playing? I haven't heard of any notable new stars lately. Gan Guoyang said this because he was naturally "unheard", and a bunch of superstars emerge in the American basketball world every year.

But Gan Guoyang has a point, because from his later experience, since the 1985 Patrick Ewing draft, until the 90s, the number of superstars in the NBA draft is significantly lower than in the first half of the 80s.

"It's the University of Maryland at ACC, going to the University of Notre Dame away, a cross-district challenge."

………………

On Jan. 29, at the Indiana City Square Arena, the Trail Blazers and Pacers played the game, which was postponed due to a minor fire, and the arena quickly returned to normal within two days.

The Pacers' record this season is still terrible, and they are second only to the New York Knicks in the draft, but they also missed out on Ewing.

But there were many other high-quality rookies in the '85 draft, such as Mullin, Malone, Oakley, and Joe Dumas, but the Pacers "cleverly" avoided those players and chose Tisdale — a forward whose musical achievements were higher than his basketball achievements.

Tisdale's strength is actually not bad, but as an insider, his biggest problem is "Under-size", he is 6-foot-9 tall, but he is actually only about 6 to 7, and the height of a small forward is a big forward.

You know, not every Humpty Dumpty can be Charles Barkley.

The biggest problem with the under-size interior is that the defense can't provide more energy, which is more likely to be the biggest hole in the interior defense.

The Trail Blazers seized on the hole and stormed the power forward.

The Trail Blazers' veteran Mitchell Sampson's statistics have declined seriously this season, and his average points per game have dropped below 15 points.

But it was in this game that Mitchell Sampson beat Tisdale without temper on the offensive end, as long as Tisdale defended alone, Sampson hit a key shot and hit a key shot at a critical moment in the fourth quarter.

Originally, the Trail Blazers lacked physical strength, and they were away from home and running for a long distance, so the game was very anxious.

It was Sampson's crucial goal and the Trail Blazers gritted their teeth in the last minute to maintain a four-point advantage, defeating the Pacers 105-101, changing the record to 40-9, continuing to maintain the first place in the West, and only a little worse than the Celtics in the entire league.

Since the game was held in the afternoon, after the game, Gan Guoyang immediately ran to Notterdam with Paxson and Colt to wait for the match between the University of Maryland and the University of Notre Dame.

"Hey Paxson, you haven't told me what kind of awesome guy is worth running all the way to watch these kids play?"

“Horse！ (Horses!) "Paxson said.

"Horses?" Gan Guoyang said strangely.

"I know, Horse, Len Byas." Colte, who was in the same room, interjected.