"Good evening, dear viewers and friends, after almost 4 months of waiting, the new NBA season has once again kicked off. With six games to play today, ABC TV will bring you the Kansas Kings away to the Portland Trail Blazers. ”

"I'm your best friend,"

"The most eye-catching thing about this game is the Portland Trail Blazers' Chinese rookie, this year's star of the list, Sunny-Gump. In previous preseasons, he was not on Portland's line-up and was placed on injury watch. According to the Portland Trail Blazers, he missed the preseason due to a problem with his lower back in practice. ”

"However, he's going to get a chance to play in this game, and he's on the Trail Blazers' lineup, and he's going to play as a starting center."

……

Half an hour before the start of the game, a reporter from ABC TV sent a live report from the Portland Memorial Arena, and behind him, the Trail Blazers players could be seen warming up on the court.

"How's it going, Gan, okay?" Drexler asked Gan Guoyang on the side.

"Yes, no problem, I think I can kill a cow now." Gan Guoyang replied with a smile.

After being injured two days before the preseason, the Trail Blazers canceled Gan Guoyang's plan to participate in the preseason game to be on the safe side, and put Shui Miao in charge of Gan's recovery.

Because the team's other main player, Jim Paxson, has also been hit by injuries, which makes the Trail Blazers' managers have to wonder if the team's team doctor is really incapable as Gan Guoyang said.

But no matter what, under Shui Miao's rehabilitation, Gan Guoyang's minor injury quickly disappeared invisibly, which allowed him to catch the first game of the new season, Gan Guoyang's NBA debut.

Gan Guoyang still clearly remembers that in 2002, Yao Ming made his debut against the Indiana Pacers and did not score a point off the bench.

Although Yao Ming later slapped those critics in the face with his performance, the abnormal performance in the first game has to be said to be a pity.

At this time, Gan Guoyang had a very big advantage over Yao Ming in later generations, that is, he had long been accustomed to the playing environment in the United States.

He didn't feel the slightest strangeness or nervousness when he entered the Portland Memorial Coliseum, and he had been to many NBA arenas before that, in San Francisco, in Los Angeles, in Seattle, in Salt Lake City, where he had watched games and played on the court.

So he didn't feel nervous standing on this field, not to mention that the arena in the 80s was really a bit broken in Gan Guoyang's eyes, and the roof of the stadium was not like the huge quadrangular or octagonal screen of later generations, only a large electronic scoreboard.

There were no mascot performances on the field, no audience interaction, no halftime activities, and even the home team logo on the floor looked very old-fashioned.

NBA games still look more like an old-fashioned theatrical show than a kaleidoscopic entertainment later.

Of course, that's all going to change this season because of Stern and a bunch of talented people.

"Okay, let's go back, I'm going to start the presentation soon." Drexler reminded Gan Guoyang.

"Oh my God, why make it look like people don't know us."

Gan Guoyang hates the most is the lengthy introduction of the players, although the introduction of the appearance in this era is much simpler than the later ones of turning off the lights and playing music, and sprinkling magnesium powder, but Gan Guoyang still can't stand this grinding and chirping ceremony.

Especially before the introduction of the players, the American national anthem must be played and sung throughout the stadium, which makes Gan Guoyang, a Chinese, always in a state of idleness.

However, when the DJ announced Gan Guoyang's English name "Sunny-Gump", the audience reported and his warm applause and cheers, Gan Guoyang's heart was still excited.

This is the second time he's been welcomed by Portland fans, and the Trail Blazers had a team-wide meeting with Portlanders before the regular season officially began, right in the plaza outside Memorial Coliseum.

That meeting gave Gan Guoyang his first taste of the enthusiasm and madness of the Portland fans, which gave him a lot of motivation and a lot of pressure.

Gan knows that without him, Portland fans in history would have to suffer many disappointments, all from centers and injuries.

"I'm going to bring the best times here!" This is the strongest thought that comes to Gan Guoyang's mind.

When everything is ready and the players on both sides step onto the court wearing the sports vests and shorts typical of that era, the game is about to begin, which will be the first NBA game in Gan's life.

The two sides are ready to jump the ball, with the Trail Blazers starting with center Sunny-Gump, power forward Mitchell Sampson, small forward this year's strong man Chiki Vanderwig, scoring guard Clyde Drexler, who started in place of the injured Jim Paxson, and point guard Darnell Valentin. Rookie Gan started in the first game and jumped the ball in the center circle against Kansas Kings center Russell Sampson! ”

Portland TV's Play-to-Play commentators broadcast the game in real time, making it easy for radio subscribers to tune in to the game.

At that time, the NBA was not doing well, and some games were recorded on some TV stations but not live, so commentators were needed to transmit the live situation to all parts of the United States.

Gan Guoyang started the first game, which can be said to have surprised many media outlets, and Jack Ramsey also came under a lot of pressure for this, not only from the outside, but also from within the team.

"Gan got the ball! Oh, and his reflexes are so snappy, like a little buck bouncing around, and the Trailblazers will be the first to attack! ”

Gan Guoyang was still a little nervous when he stood in the center circle, but when he won the ball with the opponent's center, another Sampson's jump ball, he suddenly got into the groove.

A small victory like a scrum can give Gan a lot of strength.

"Go cover kid, the inside line is not the place for you to stay!"

Just as Gan Guoyang was about to go to the three-second zone, starting power forwards Mitchell Sampson and Gan Guoyang said, signaling Gan Guoyang to go to the high post to cover for his teammates, and he himself came to the waist position.

Mitchell Sampson, the 1978 No. 1 pick and 6-foot-10 with the same height as Gan, was traded by Wharton at the time, but he still played Lucas off the bench for one year before becoming a starter the following year.

And now Gan Guoyang grabbed his starting position in the first game, although Sampson is also in the starting list, he has been squeezed into the position of power forward.

This also made Sampson quite unhappy, Gan Guoyang is the eye of the example, not as good as him, why let him start the center as soon as he comes up?

At that time, the NBA center was the most important position in the team, and the power forward was the standard coolie position, Ramsey let Sampson, who was also 6-foot-10, play the big forward, and let Gan Guoyang play the center, which obviously meant that Sampson would play Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang listened to Sampson's words, but he didn't care, anyway, Ramsay's pre-game arrangement was to let him cover the outside line more, and the Trail Blazers mainly played Van der Veric and Valentin at the beginning.

Valentine, a Kansas graduate, is a pretty good point guard with a typical pass first and second score.

In the 1983 Christmas game against the Los Angeles Lakers and Magic Johnson, he handed out 13 assists and is also on the list in the history of the Christmas game.

When Gan Guoyang and Valentine trained together, they had the feeling of playing with Stockton.

After making a cover for Valentin from the high post, Gan Guoyang began to go down to the right horn, while Valentin cut in from the left.

Obviously, this is not the whole of the tactics, at this time Van der Vercic has already gone around from the baseline to the outside, just with the help of Gan Guoyang's body, to throw off the defenders who are keeping up.

Valentin passes the ball to Van Dewy, who catches the ball on the right side of the arc and shoots the ball in!

The Trail Blazers scored two points in the opening 10 seconds, and the Kansas Kings' defense was full of holes just because of two screens from Gan Guoyang.

This made Gan Guoyang a little surprised, is this the NBA game?

If such a ball were to be changed to the NCAA to face Georgetown, there would never be such an easy chance to shoot.

"Come back to the boy! Stay a little longer and it's time for us to attack! Mitchell Sampson's voice swept past Gan Guoyang's ears again.

Sure enough, the Kansas Kings players were already dribbling straight to the frontcourt.

"Larry Drew, the point guard of the Kansas Kings, rushed quickly across the half court with the ball, he was quite fast, he gave the ball to small forward Eddie Johnson, Johnson went straight from the center to make a layup! It's too fast! Portland's defense wasn't even ready! ”

The King's counterattack was so fast that Gan didn't have time to run back to the three-second zone.

What puzzled Gan Guoyang was, why didn't his teammates delay it? Slow down the opposing point guard's advance, and Johnson's layup was so easy that no one even tried to block him.

However, Gan Guoyang didn't have time to question his teammates, and now he didn't dare to casually criticize his teammates for not doing well like he did in college, and the Trail Blazers' offense was no slower than the Kings.

"Run, run! Gan, don't stand in the way of the offensive line! Valentine reminded Gan Guoyang.

By this time, Drexler had already rushed to the bottom line.

Valentin handed the ball to Sampson, who was squeezed into the three-second zone, but Sampson didn't force the inside, but as an overdrive, he put the ball back into the hands of Drexler, who was on the baseline.

Drexler took advantage of Sampson's cover and slammed straight into the interior from the side.

His first move was so quick, his pace was so fast, and when he got inside, a follow-up defender and a follow-up player fell behind.

Facing the Kansas center Sampson who was squatting in the three-second zone, Drexler, who lowered his head, directly strengthened, faced Sampson's block, and smashed the ball into the basket!

"Clyde ~~ Dre ~~ Ksler! A beautiful dunk on Russell Sampson's head! It was Portland's first dunk of the season at home, and it came from Drexler, and I'm sure he'll have more of that in this year's game. ”

Drexler's dunk was quite beautiful, showing his superior first step and strong aerial confrontation ability, and this dunk also ignited the enthusiasm of the audience at the Memorial Coliseum, and the atmosphere of the game began to gradually heat up.

It's just that Gan Guoyang is a little uncomfortable, because the pace of the game between the two sides is really too fast, and this kind of speed is not the same as the fast training with the Lakers in Palm Springs City that day, this is a kind of fast that does not defend but only attack.

Gan Guoyang feels like he is running back and forth on the court, one of his main functions is to run, the second is to cover his teammates, to receive the ball and transition, and the third is to pick up a few rebounds.

After half a quarter of the game, Gan Guoyang felt that he hadn't touched the ball a few times, and just ran behind the butts of the small players on both sides.

"This is the fucking NBA?" This is the sentence that Gan Guoyang thinks about the most.

The pace of the game between the two sides was quite fast, almost every attack ended in about 13 seconds, and some were direct attacks without any cooperation after halftime.

This also makes Gan Guoyang, who is accustomed to playing tactics in the NCAA, uncomfortable, especially when defending, because the NBA does not allow the use of joint defense, the monotonous man-marking makes Gan Guoyang under the basket a little faded out.

The opposing center, Russell Sampson, is purely a blue-collar center, mainly responsible for defense and rebounding, and the main corner of the offense is to cover for his teammates, occasionally picking up a leak and scoring two or three points.

"Forrest Gump is a little overwhelmed, and it seems that he is still not used to the rhythm of the NBA." Adelman, who was sitting on the sidelines, said.

"The NCAA and the NBA are two worlds, and it's only the first quarter, so it's still early." Another assistant coach, Buck Buckwater, said.

The Trail Blazers' offense was quite smooth in the first quarter, and the new signing, Vanderwicki, integrated quite well, gave full play to his abilities, and was in demand in front of the already weak Kings, who had scored 10 points in seven minutes in the first quarter.

Mitchell Sampson, the main player of the Trail Blazers' interior line, also relied on solid interior skills, seized several opportunities to force the interior successfully, and scored 8 points in 7 minutes.

Drexler didn't get any more scoring opportunities other than that dunk, but he contributed three rebounds and one steal.

In seven minutes, the Trail Blazers had scored 30 points, which was the full game scored by the Texas El Paso miners in a 32-16 game against the Gunzaga Bulldogs, who had only scored 35 points in that game.

Now, the Trail Blazers did it in seven minutes.

But the Trail Blazers didn't pull the score away because their opponents were just as sharp on offense, relying on their top scorer, small forward Eddie Johnson.

Johnson's form is as good as his opponent Van der Wijk, with an inside and outside shot, and no one can stop him, or no one wants to stop him, except Gan Guoyang.

But Gan Guoyang, who lacked the help of his teammates, faced the impact of Fang Feng's line, and he could only suffer.

"Beep!" After Johnson hit the basket directly inside with the help of a block, Gan Guoyang faced Johnson and wanted to block him in the three-second zone.

Unexpectedly, Johnson was very cunning, his body shrank and hit Gan Guoyang's arms directly, and the ball was thrown casually into the air, and then the whole person fell to the ground.

The referee naturally blew the whistle, this was Gan Guoyang's second foul in the first quarter, and he also committed the last foul on Johnson.

“Goodbye，Fish。” (Goodbye, rookie.) Johnson got up from the ground and said a word to Gan Guoyang.

Gan Guoyang went off the court with his head drooping, and he knew that the two fouls in the first quarter would definitely be replaced.

Sure enough, Ramsay replaced Gan Guoyang with Tom Scheffler.

"Don't be discouraged, you've done a good job and created a lot of opportunities for your team-mates." Ramsey, who was standing on the sidelines, patted Gan Guoyang and said to him.

Gan Guoyang just nodded and didn't speak, obviously he was very dissatisfied with his performance.

Sitting on the bench, Gan Guoyang watched the game on the court and began to seriously think about what was wrong. Was this what your long-awaited first NBA game looked like?

"It seems that our Chinese list is in a little trouble, 2 rebounds, 2 fouls, 1 assist, no points, this is his current stats, let's wish him good luck."