When Akim Olajuwon flew to Houston in Texas Prairie for the first time in his life in 1980, he did not feel like other Africans who had never been to the United States as if he had entered a futuristic world.

On the contrary, at the age of 17, he has already traveled all over his native Nigeria, and his rich experience has always allowed him to be calm and calm in the face of new things.

So, even though the University of Houston, who had summoned him from Africa, didn't send anyone to pick him up, he found a pay phone at the huge, unfamiliar airport, calmly dialed the introducer's number, and was told "You can take a taxi yourself." ”

It was one of the many times in his life that he was despised for being too tall, when he was only ten years old; His first basketball coach asked him to stand on the bench and practice dunking, and he thought it would be nice for this big man who used to play football to learn how to dunk.

But Olajuwon knocked out the guy who was laughing at him with a punch, and he also proved with dunk after dunk that he didn't need the bench at all.

This time, after arriving at the University of Houston alone in a taxi, he was determined never to let anyone despise him again.

In 1980-1981, he was unable to participate in the official NCAA tournament because he was a temporary transfer student, so in a year, he used sweaty training to transform himself from a basketball beginner who could only dunk to a powerful center with comprehensive skills and omnipotence.

In the 1981-1982 season, his Houston Cougars made it to the Final-Four, but lost to future champions North Carolina in the semifinals.

In the 1982-1983 season, they went one step further and reached the NCAA Finals, but lost to the North Carolina State Wolves, a team from North Carolina.

In 1983-1984, his most powerful assistant and best friend on the team graduated and entered the NBA, and he continued to fight for that championship.

Finally they made it to the NCAA Finals again, the Final-Four for the third year in a row, and for him to win this match, he would complete a triple jump and complete the ultimate goal of college basketball, so that he could go to the higher level of the league without regrets and prove to those who despise him on a wider stage.

Now, standing in front of him and the cougar is a pit bull from the Northwest Territories, and a Chinese center who stands opposite him and competes with him - Sunny· Gump。

For him, it's all going to be crushed!

Gan Guoyang looked at Olajuwon's focused and cold expression, and the pressure in his heart suddenly rose.

Among the superstars of the 90s that Gan Guoyang came into contact with in his later life, Olajuwon is definitely one of the most shining ones; Coupled with his status on the Rockets and his extremely beautiful way of playing, he is even more popular and worshiped than the god of basketball.

Gan Guoyang was also impressed by Olajuwon's dreamy performance, and now, he has become Olajuwon's peer, and he has to fight to the death in the NCAA.

Even before the start of the national competition, Gan Guoyang had already imagined the scene of the showdown with Olajuwon in his mind, but when he actually stood face to face with him in the much-anticipated venue, zhōng yāng, it was still a bit strange.

In terms of height, Olajuwon is obviously about the same as Gan Guoyang, only about 6'10, although he shows 7'7 in the registration.

Gan Guoyang, who has played against Ewing, can see at a glance that Olajuwon is shorter than Ewing.

In terms of appearance, the video that Gan Guoyang watched in his later generations was already in his thirties, looking gentle and domineering and restrained, while the young Olajuwang, who was about the same age as Gan Guoyang at this time, looked even more fierce, with a square-shaped face like a witchcraft totem on the Nirìlia steppe, which made people who saw him fearful.

"The centre-forwards of both sides are in position in the centre circle and this will be their first match!" Blackburn's voice travels to homes on the airwaves, and the race is about to begin.

Just when Gan Guoyang was still adjusting his mentality, the referee had already thrown the ball into the air.

Gan Guoyang has always been a player in the opening jump ball in the past, and he has also relied on his extremely fast reaction speed and long arm span to gain the upper hand in the competition with centers of all heights.

But this time his reaction was slow, or Olajuwon's reaction was too fast, Gan Guoyang had just jumped, and Olajuwon had already jumped to the highest point and dialed the ball in the direction of his teammates.

The Houston Cougars gain offensive rights, and the 1984 NCAA Finals officially begin!

"Left, left, left! Matthews left! Looking at the position on the left, Anderson shrank back! After Gan Guoyang came to the three-second zone, he began to command his teammates loudly from the first defense.

The weak side of the team is given to Matthews and Anderson, who are vulnerable to opponents if they spread too wide.

"I don't think you still have the power to care about others." Olajuwang in front of Gan Guoyang said suddenly.

"No, I have." Gan Guoyang responded, but his faint tone was full of provocation.

Olajuwon didn't speak, and his reaction was to suddenly move laterally from the right side to the middle, trying to quickly get stuck in front of the basket and occupy the most advantageous offensive position.

But the reason why Gan Guoyang commanded his teammates was actually in the hope that they could lock the opponent's breakthrough line, so that he didn't have to make up for the defense and could concentrate on dealing with Olajuwon.

So how could he let Olajuwon grab a favorable position, Gan Guoyang did not simply push Olajuwon in the back, but used a sideways body to half-circle the front, on the one hand, to jam Olajuwon, and on the other hand, to interfere with Olajuwon's catch.

Franklin, the Puma's point guard, tried to stuff the ball inside on the perimeter, but found that the passing route was blocked so he had to give up.

Olajuwon, on the other hand, saw that he couldn't catch the ball and stayed inside for three seconds, so he could only give up his key position and move to the left side of the basket.

In the first meeting between the two, Olajuwon did not take advantage, and Gan Guoyang slowly threw away the reverence for Olajuwon brought by the memory of later generations, and treated him as an enemy on the field.

"The first confrontation between the two centers, Olajuwon was quite beautiful, but Gan's defense around the front was also very tight, and the Pumas couldn't play the ball inside, but they also had Michael Young, Michael Young...... Oh! He was slapped by Gan and flew out! However, Olajuwon picked up the rebound and hit the shot. Blackburn was still sitting in his loud voice play-by-play.

Although Olajuwon is the core player of the Puma, he is not the team's leading scorer, and the Puma's top scorer is their small forward Michael Young.

Olajuwon didn't have a chance on the inside, and the Pumas put the ball in the hands of Michael Young and wanted to rely on his breakthrough to open things up.

As a result, he was pressed down by Gan Guoyang after breaking through to the inside line.

After the ball hit the floor, Olajuwon got the ball in the chaos, but instead of forcing a layup or dunk, he scored two points with a turnaround jumper. 2：0。

"Why not dunk? Afraid of my cap? Gan Guoyang said after Olajuwon's throw.

Gan Guoyang is not so much provoking Olajuwon as he is provoking himself, and he wants to use trash talk to completely erase his worship of Olajuwon.

"I can beat you just by shooting." Olajuwon's expression remained calm, but there was anger in his eyes.

When it came to the attack, the Gonzaga Bulldog did not start with Gan Guoyang first, but let Gan Guoyang go to a high position to cover for Stockton.

Not only Gan Guoyang, but Anderson also came out to cover for Stockton, a double screen, Stockton went straight from the top of the arc to the right 45 degrees near the three-second zone.

Gan Guoyang and Anderson walked in from the front, and the other followed Stockton's side, and it seemed that they would continue to cooperate with Stockton.

The entire Puma's defensive attention was drawn to the three-second zone, and no one noticed that Matthews, who was on the right side, slipped all the way from the baseline to the bottom left corner before Stockton moved.

Stockton had already seen Matthews ambushed on the left, and a cross over the top was comfortably received by Matthews on the left.

Jump shot! Ball in, 2:2.

"Gunzaga's No. 17 Matthews shot, very, very beautiful coordination, the whole Puma was stunned by the pit bull's cover and running, so that Matthews had a good shot, and he took it."

The University of Houston is very similar to Gonzaga on the defensive end, that is, it relies heavily on super centers on the inside, and the outside defense of the guard line is insufficient.

As a result, their defensive lines tend to shrink more sharply, allowing weaker defenders to be supported by a centre-forward, who in turn can properly protect their centre-forwards.

Bellman is all too familiar with this defensive pattern, so he opened up his players to open up space and run more, finishing the offense with mid-range jumpers.

And how to prevent the opponent from using the same tricks against himself? The only best way Bellman has is naturally the trump card in his hand, Gan Guoyang.

As if returning to the years when he played in Palo Alto, Gan Guoyang was once again like a big spider, moving quickly around the perimeter, delaying every perimeter pass and transfer of the ball by the Puma.

The task of defending Olajuwon was temporarily handed over to Anderson, who was to circumvent Olajuwon and prevent him from receiving the ball, and the other players were ready to wrap it up at any time.

This kind of defense made the Puma's offense instantly sluggish, and if there were 24 seconds in the game at that time, they would have overtimed their offense.

But the cougar still found a gap, and Olajuwon, who was strong and nimble, was like a real cougar, and he couldn't stop him at all.

After trying to get rid of it a few times, Olajuwon suddenly made a reverse run, which Anderson did not expect, and the Puma player passed a beautiful lob ball to the inside, Olajuwon received the ball unguarded and scored with a strong dunk! 4：2。

However, Gonzaga immediately returned the favor, and before Olajuwon could dunk in the arena, the Bulldogs launched a quick attack, and Claremont received a pass from Stockton in a quick advance and hit a shot into the bottom right corner to level the score.

In the opening game, the two sides began to fight wits and courage, but from the perspective of the scene, it was the Pumas who fell behind and relied on Olajuwon's individual ability to score two goals.

In the previous game, Gonzaga, who gave the impression that "they are not even as good as without No. 11", did rely on tactics and shooting to score 4 points, but Gan Guoyang was unknown on the offensive end.

But the situation on the field soon changed, and the pit bulls began to quickly move closer to the cougars.

"The situation on the court, let me see, both sides are locked in a struggle, the bulldogs have been tightly sealed by the cougar since they threw two mid-range shots in the opening game, and their individual ability doesn't seem to be very strong. Their No. 12 Stockton is still excellent with his passing, but his teammates are always unable to convert chances into scores...... Another missed shot, and the third one...... Oh my! No. 11 Gan, suddenly appeared, suddenly appeared! A nice buckle! Buckle! He was like corn popping out of a vegetable field! It also caused a foul on Olajuwon! Penalties! ”

Blackburn's roar sent all the fans who stood in front of the radio in support of Gunzaga University cheering.

After scoring two goals in the opening game, the Cougars strengthened their defense on the outside, and Stockton burst out on the inside, because of Olajuwon's presence, Stockton ate two blocks in a row, but fortunately Anderson performed bravely and grabbed rebounds in the front court many times.

But Gonzaga's outside touch suddenly disappeared, and there was no way to put the basketball into the basket again.

But Gan Guoyang used a hook hand and a dunk after a frontcourt rebound to stabilize the situation for Gonzaga.

The dunk also resulted in a foul on Olajuwon and a penalty was required.

"If only Clyde were here, he should be watching me in front of the TV right now." Seeing Gan Guoyang walk to the free throw line and score the ball, Olajuwon thought of his teammates who had graduated, and if he was still there, he wouldn't have lost the rebound so much.

There was no time to miss the old man, Olajuwon immediately threw himself into the intense competition, and the Chinese No. 11 made him feel a lot of pressure.

Olajuwon was the first time he had encountered a player who was equal in strength in a college game, and he even felt that this guy was stronger than himself, even though he looked thinner than himself.

Olajuwon hadn't run past half of the pitch before Stockton stole Franklin's ball and launched a counter-attack.

Olajuwon immediately returned to the three-second zone, and Stockton knew that the fast break should not be able to play, and he did not want to be hatted again.

Gonzaga gave up the fast break and moved into position, and their tactics at this time have changed, Gan Guoyang began to play in the low post, which is Gonzaga's safest scoring tactic.

However, this time Gan Guoyang will face Olajuwon.

Gan Guoyang's card position is still domineering, and Olajuwon's top person is also extremely fierce, but Gan Guoyang is still firmly stuck in the position.

This kind of strength and skill, which Olajuwon has never encountered in a college game, reminds him of Moses Malone, who came to Houston to train with him in the offseason, and the power and positioning of the super center impressed him immensely.

Now Gan Guoyang has a faint shadow of Moses Malone.

Gan Guoyang received the ball smoothly, dribbled to the right with his left hand, and Olajuwon opened his arms and pressed his whole body forward, and blocked the route from the right side to the baseline.

But this was just a feint by Gan Guoyang, who only turned to the right, and after grasping Olajuwon's defense with his back, he turned left and attacked the front of the basket.

Hook!

Olajuwon was about to move sideways to continue to block Gan Guoyang, but he didn't expect Gan Guoyang to hook his hand, he seemed to see the sky hook.

"Huh!" The ball goes in, and Gonzaga adds another 2 points.

This was the first direct dialogue between Gan Guoyang and Olajuwon, and Gan Guoyang used sè's key position technique and skillful hook hand to take the lead.

Gan Guoyang looked at Olajuwon, shook his head slightly, and turned to leave.

Olajuwon remained calm, but returned to the offensive end in the same position, asking for the ball from his teammates.

"Oh, let's see, Olajuwon, obviously Gan's goal stimulated him, he was in the same position, he was in a beautiful position, and he turned his back and threw a jumper straight after receiving the ball! Pretty! Ball in! Although his shooting posture was a little strange, the ball still went into the basket steadily! ”

"It's destined to be a race that doesn't disappoint!"