(Historically, the Trail Blazers only started their Eastern Conference road trip after playing two Eastern Conference teams at home; Here, for the convenience of the plot, the schedule has been modified. ）

The United States has a total of 50 states with a land area of 9.16 million square kilometers, and excluding the two distant territories of Hawaii and Alaska, the mainland of the United States is still a large country spanning more than 4,600 kilometers from east to west and more than 4,500 kilometers from north to south.

After Gan Guoyang came to the United States in 1981, he was based in California, and has already visited all the big cities on the west coast of the United States, and has also been to Utah, Arizona, Denver and other western states because of his NCAA and NBA.

Even so, Gan Guoyang's footprints are still in the western region, and the farthest he has traveled to is central Nebraska, where he played an invitational tournament.

Gan Guoyang's body is also deeply imprinted with the style of western basketball, opening and closing, surging passion, like a fire burning in the western wilderness.

In 10 games against Western teams, Gan Guoyang was full of attacking energy, he adapted to the rhythm of the whirlwind of Western teams, actively participated in quick counter-attacks, and often contributed wonderful goals.

Because of his performance, Portland's ball market is extremely hot, with many consecutive home games full, and even when he plays away from home, the away stadium is also full of fans and spectators because of his arrival.

More importantly, Gan's performance shattered many media's misperception of Gan Guoyang, who believed that Chinese people like Gan Guoyang would not be able to adapt to the NBA game.

This also gave Gan Guoyang the support of the Chinese in the United States, and his presence became the pride of the Chinese in the American sports world — even though his career was just getting started.

When Gan Guoyang arrived in New York, he had a profound understanding of this.

The largest city Gan Guoyang has ever visited is the colorful Los Angeles, where the pleasant climate and colorful life have left an indelible mark on Gan's basketball career.

And New York, the largest city in the United States, the world's financial center, and the place that represents the image of the entire country, appeared for the first time in Gan Guoyang's life.

"I see the World Trade Tower!" Gan Guoyang, who was sitting on the plane, looked at the gradually descending plane and saw the World Trade Center on Maihattan Island through the window, but the Statue of Liberty at the mouth of the Hudson River was blocked by the building and was not seen.

"Hey, don't be so excited, it's just New York, we'll be here twice a year in the future, it's not a big deal." Van Dewych, who was on the side, looked at Gan Guoyang and said in a fuss.

"You don't understand, look at it and look at it less." Gan Guoyang said words that no one could understand, but he was thinking in his heart, he didn't know if he could change the fate of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center after he came to this time and space.

Gan Guoyang once thought that his arrival might change a lot of things, and even he wanted to try to remember the great disasters that might happen in the future, but prevent them from happening.

But then he gave up, not to mention how many disasters are staged in the world every year, and even if he is a superman, he may not have time to save those poor people.

Moreover, no one will believe what he says, and even if anyone does, because of his coming, many things may change the disaster itself.

So Gan Guoyang also gave up the idea of changing the world, and could only go with the flow.

The Trail Blazers arrived in New York at noon on the 19th, but their opponent was not the New York Knicks, but the Nets in New Jersey.

Originally, the Trail Blazers were supposed to go straight to Newark, but there were no direct flights from Portland to Newark at the time, so they had to divert to New York and Jersey City to get to their destination.

When he arrived at Kennedy International Airport near Jamaica Bay, Gan Guoyang was surrounded by a large number of reporters when he left the airport, and they took pictures of Gan Guoyang with their cameras.

Later, some Chinese fans waited for Gan Guoyang's arrival at the airport, pulling poorly made banners and slogans cheering for Gan Guoyang.

At that time, the star effect of the NBA was not as obvious as that of later generations, and the NBA rarely received such treatment except for a few superstars.

Gan Guoyang also knew that he was blessed by his skin color, so he signed for several Chinese fans in a friendly manner, which led to more and more people coming around.

In the end, under the protection of airport security and team staff, Gan Guoyang fought his way through the crowd and boarded a special bus to Newark.

On the way, Gan Guoyang saw the majestic Brooklyn Bridge, passed through Manhattan, crossed the Hudson River twice, and took more than 3 hours to arrive at the hotel arranged by the team.

When he arrived at the hotel, it was almost dark, and Ramsey decided not to arrange training at night, so that the players could relax, and finally came to the most prosperous state in the United States.

However, Gan Guoyang still gave up the opportunity to go out and have fun, he decided to stay in the hotel to watch TV, and called the Gan family restaurant in San Francisco, knowing that Gan Youwei was relieved to arrive safely.

In addition to Gan Guoyang, there was another person who did not go out, and that was Vanderwich, who also stayed in the hotel, and Gan Guoyang went to his room to look for him.

"KiKi, you're okay with your back injury, right?" Gan Guoyang asked about Van Dewig's injury again, and he always felt that Van Dewig's back didn't look like a big problem, but it didn't seem to be a small problem.

"It's a little unwell, it's already an old injury, I went to Cook and he said there was a little trouble, but there didn't seem to be a good solution." Vanderwich said.

Cook is the head physician for the Trail Blazers, with whom Wharton was in a lawsuit over his own injury; Gan Guoyang also distrusted this future "bad" doctor at first, and almost made him unemployed.

But after spending time with the Trail Blazers, he found that Cook didn't seem that bad, but he was limited to medical care and often couldn't do anything about some injuries.

"I can ask Brumie to help you, I used to be bothered by a back injury, it was the first time I had a serious injury, and then Brumie's treatment made me completely better." Brumi is Shui Miao, who is now Gan Guoyang's personal physician while working in a private practice in Portland.

"Let's hope so, I can barely get involved on the pitch, it's a bit uncomfortable at the back, and the offense is distracting me too much. So, I'm really sorry Gan, I know you're putting a lot of pressure on the defensive end. ”

Van Dewig's words made Gan Guoyang blush a little, and his heart was also warm, and he now knew that the main reason why Van Dewicki's defense was so lax was injury.

Gan Guoyang also knows that Van Devic, as the team's top scorer, has a lot of responsibility in the offense, and he will naturally have no time to take care of it in defense.

"No problem, filling the holes for my teammates is what I, the center, should do!" Gan Guoyang smiled, he had decided not to complain about Van Dewig's performance, he himself had to do more in defense.

"You're great, you're wonderful; But you have to know that the game in the East is not the same as in the West, and you better be prepared, it's okay in New Jersey, and after the game here we have to go to the Middle Race, to Chicago, to Cleveland, to Detroit, and to Philadelphia. Trust me, you're going to have a tough job, even in New Jersey, where there are tough guys. "Vanderwicki, a player who has played in the NBA for 5 years, uses his experience to teach Gan Guoyang.

"Detroit? I remember when you were in Denver, that super scoring battle with Detroit, and I was thinking, is this the NBA? The two sides went back and forth in a shooting game. Gan Guoyang thought of the scoring record battle.

"It was 1983 and now it's probably a little bit different, I didn't have a three-point line when I first came to the NBA, and now it's getting fast." Vanderwich sighed.

Indeed, after Stern officially took office in 1984, the NBA changed more and more rapidly; There are more and more advertisements on the side of the court, the opening ceremonies are getting longer and longer, the rules of the NBA are more and more detailed, and there are more and more gimmicks on the court.

The NBA's style of play seems to be quietly changing, and of course this change is still far from obvious and will take a few seasons to appear, but in any case, the NBA is indeed developing at a high speed.

Gan Guoyang also nodded, he knew what Vanderwig meant, don't stop learning, as a rookie, he still has a lot to learn and improve.

It's just that Gan Guoyang didn't expect that the opportunity to learn would come soon, and in a way he didn't like very much, he poured cold water on him.

On November 20, the Trail Blazers came to Brandon Byrne Coliseum to challenge the New Jersey Nets on the road.

The New Jersey Nets entered the NBA in 1976 with the ABA merger and became a member of the league.

But they lost to the Philadelphia 76ers in the battle for Julius Irving, thus reducing the former ABA hegemon to the belly of the NBA.

After entering the 80th century, the Nets rebuilt through several years of trades and drafts, and finally improved their record in the 1983-1984 season, with a complete and capable roster.

In the first round of the playoffs in 1984, they defeated the defending champion, Irving's Philadelphia 76ers, and broke a big upset, which can be regarded as completing the revenge on Irving.

They are full of ambition for the new season and are ready to take the next step this year, but soon after the season began, they lost the big man on the bench - the former 76ers veteran, "Chocolate Bomb" Darryl Dawkins.

When Gan Guoyang looked at Darryl Dawkins in civilian clothes, he couldn't help but feel a little regretful in his heart.

He still remembers watching the Finals in Los Angeles in 1981, when the main center of the 76ers was Dawkins, and his violent dunk left a deep impression on Gan Guoyang, for which Gan Guoyang also gave himself the nickname "Butter Bomb".

But Dawkins can't play, it doesn't mean that Gan Guoyang can easily face the Nets, on the contrary, Gan Guoyang is in a lot of trouble in this game, because he finds that he can't defend the center opposite, the No. 42, Mike Gominsky.

After entering the NBA, Gan Guoyang has encountered a lot of white centers, Jack Sikma, Bill Wharton, Mark Eaton, and Gan Guoyang don't think they have encountered any problems.

His buggy strength and superior awareness allow him to play against white centers who also rely on strength and awareness to fall behind.

Moreover, Sikma and Wharton were both struggling with injuries at the time, and their performance was average, and they were often exhausted when they encountered a super athletic team like the Trail Blazers, and Gan Guoyang naturally had no problem dealing with them.

But against the Nets today, the 6-foot-11 tall man he met looked ordinary, and the only thing that attracted attention was the white center with a golden beard, but Gan Guoyang felt that he couldn't do it.

The Gominski is an unusually smart player, rarely playing low singles, but he is very good at picking up leaks, cutting off the ball and shooting from mid-range.

And although he is a right-handed player, his left hand is quite good, which has made Gan Guoyang's block useless many times.

"Beep!" "Judge the location in advance! Don't foul it senselessly! ”

The referee's whistle sounded, accompanied by Ramsay's roar, and Gan Guoyang fouled Gominsky while blocking Gominsky.

"Come over to Gan!" Ramsey called Gan Guoyang to the sidelines, "You have to judge his position in advance, they are now inside from the big forward to the low post, and the center is raised to the top of the arc, you have to pay attention to the position of the opponent's big forward, cut off the connection between the two, don't chase people, don't chase the ball!" Stand in the right position in advance, do you understand?"

A common tactic used by the Nets inside is that the power forward falls to the low post, and then Gominski goes to the high post, relying on the outside cover, waiting for the opportunity to cut inside to receive the ball and make a layup.

Gominsky has a very good left and right hand, and he feels good on the layup, Gan Guoyang has to defend Gominsky alone, but also pay attention to interior protection, so he is easy to be deceived by his elegant movement and lose his defensive position several times.

"I see." Gan Guoyang had to nod.

"You can get off the pitch for a while and let Sampson defend Gominsky." Ramsey replaced Gan Guoyang and brought Kenny Karl on the field to replace Sampson to defend Gominski.

Gan Guoyang sat on the sidelines and watched how the team's veteran ball Pi Sampson defended Gominsky, who was also slippery.

Sampson is also 6-foot-10 tall, his strength and arm span are not as good as Gan Guoyang's, and his running and jumping have also decreased due to his age, but Gan Guoyang found that he was very effective when defending against Gominsky alone.

Rather than defending with kraft candy or wrapping up with his teammates, Sampson was always in the right position to block Gominski's receiving path or interfere with his receiving route.

Gominski couldn't receive the ball comfortably, so he immediately degenerated into an ordinary center, and he couldn't carry Sampson on his back and was hit with a big hat.

Although the relationship between Sampson and Gan Guoyang is the worst in the Trail Blazers, Gan Guoyang has to admit that this old champion has two brushes, at least the defensive experience is far better than himself.

And Sampson's offensive skills are also very well-rounded, and in direct conversations with Gominsky, Sampson has the all-round upper hand.

He scored 26 points in this game, and with the explosion of the Trail Blazers' bench backup center Norris - he scored 17 points and 14 rebounds, and finally the Trail Blazers beat the Nets 123-106 on the road and continued to soar.

Although Gan Guoyang did not perform well on defense, he still unstoppably scored 24 points and grabbed 6 rebounds on offense.

As soon as the eastern journey began, Gan Guoyang felt that he was not very satisfied.

And their next stop will be Chicago.