The father’s death, the collapse of the Trail Blazers, the Game 7 loss in the 1993 Eastern Conference Finals, the brand new team lineup in 1994, everything good, bad, all became the force for his takeoff.
At the end of the regular season, the Chicago Bulls topped the regular season with a record of 67 wins and 15 losses.
In comparison, the formerly undisputed king the Trail Blazers only achieved a record of 51 wins and 31 losses, creating Gan Guoyang’s worst regular season record.
Even so, the Trail Blazers still entered the playoffs as the fifth seed in the Western Conference, continuing to be the most feared character.
Gan Guoyang’s performance of averaging 32.5 points, 14 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 9 assists continued to support Portland.
However, this year’s MVP was destined to belong to Michael Jordan, no one could compare to him, and Jordan made an unprecedented victory in the two Gan Qiao battles.
Entering the brutal playoffs, the Western Conference players were amazed to find that the playoffs were still dominated by the Trail Blazers.
In the first round, the Seattle SuperSonics, who scored 63 wins in the regular season, unexpectedly lost 2:3 to the Denver Nuggets, suffering the humiliation of an eighth seed defeating a first seed.
The Nuggets completed the unfinished business from last year’s first-seed defeat and achieved a miracle this season.
The photo of Mutombo lying on the ground holding a basketball and shouting after the fifth game became an eternal pain in the hearts of Seattle people.
The SuperSonics unexpectedly lost, while the Jazz were unsurprisingly defeated by the Trail Blazers 3:1 in the first round.
Gan Guoyang remained as ferocious as ever in the playoffs, showing no mercy against friends and old rivals, thoroughly defeating the Jazz team.
With the SuperSonics eliminated in the first round, the Trail Blazers faced the insufficiently strong Denver Nuggets in the second round.
Gan Guoyang demonstrated his prowess again, leading the team to eliminate the Nuggets team 4:2 and advancing to the Western Conference Finals for the tenth consecutive year of his career!
The undisputed king of the West Finals, touching the floor of the finals year after year, is simply the nightmare of Western Conference fans.
This time in the Western Conference Finals, the Trail Blazers faced the Phoenix Suns once again, with Charles Barkley encountering his destined enemy again.
With the lessons from 1993, Barkley and Westphal didn’t want to make any more mistakes, and coupled with the significant decline in the overall strength of the Trail Blazers, they ushered in the best opportunity to win.
In the first two games, the Suns successfully achieved a 2:0 lead at home, then lost one game in the third before conquering the Rose Garden Arena in the fourth game.
The Suns tried to clinch victory at home in the fifth game, but were thwarted by Mario Ely’s three-pointer, dragging the game back to Portland.
The tension within the Suns team peaked in the sixth game, they didn’t want a Game 7, once it got to the seventh game, the outcome was truly unpredictable.
However, the Trail Blazers really couldn’t hold up anymore, Terry Porter retreated from injury again, Gan Guoyang felt tired, and they suffered a 20-point defeat at the hands of the Suns in the Rose Garden.
Barkley finally crossed over Ah Gan and the Trail Blazers’ mountain and made it to the Finals, winning the Western Conference championship, Barkley roared with arms raised, releasing the pent-up depression in his heart over the years.
After the game, Barkley bluntly said, "At this moment, I can die without regrets."
Shedding the status of an opponent, Barkley expressed gratitude towards Gan Guoyang.
"Thank you, Ah Gan, with him around, I became a better me, I love him, truly, I really love him."
At the end of the series, Barkley also gave Gan Guoyang a gift—a white jade carving of Gan Guoyang’s head.
According to Barkley himself, he had it made by a jade carving master in New York using very good white jade material, and it was quite valuable.
When Gan Guoyang received the gift, he really wanted to tell Barkley, you damn fool, you’ve been tricked.
With jade, the pricing is not as open and transparent as gold, there are too many tricks.
And most importantly, the carving doesn’t damn look like me!
Gan Guoyang held the head sculpture and looked at it for a long time, no matter how much he thought, it didn’t look like him.
But there’s nothing he can do, this was Barkley’s token of friendship, he could only accept it with tears without revealing the truth.
Thereafter, Barkley faced Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, who avenged the Heat 4:1 in the Finals, and the two battled fiercely.
Certainly, the Suns were strong, having defeated the Trail Blazers and Ah Gan in the Western Conference Finals, but it was clear to people with discerning eyes, this Trail Blazers team was exceedingly weak, weaker even than in 1989.
Meanwhile, the 1994 Chicago Bulls might have been one of the strongest teams in NBA history, only peak Ah Gan leading a peak Trail Blazers could compete with them.
Besides, Jordan’s desire for the championship had reached a mad level, he couldn’t wait a second, a minute more, he couldn’t wait anymore.
A Final full of anticipation but lacking suspense, the Chicago Bulls defeated the Suns 4:1 and clinched the long-desired championship!
Post-championship victory, Jordan held the O’Brien Trophy and wept bitterly in the locker room.
Ten years, he fought hard for ten years to acquire this golden trophy, yet his father could never see it.
Gan Guoyang was present, he went to Phoenix to witness Jordan’s championship victory.
This time, Jordan could finally boast with cigars and the championship trophy to Gan Guoyang.
However, those scenes that Jordan imagined countless times in his mind, when the opportunity really came, he didn’t want to do them.
He only wanted to share the joy of the championship with his good friend, they were opponents, but also friends.
Like Barkley, Jordan also believed that Gan Guoyang made him a better, the best version of himself.
After finishing the locker room celebration, he shouted "Sonny", but Gan Guoyang had quietly left and returned to the hotel.