Because of Gan Guoyang’s outstanding 57 points in three quarters, the Trail Blazers won the game in Salt Lake City without any suspense.
This will undoubtedly become another classic in Gan Guoyang’s career. After the game, news and discussions about his performance will be overwhelming.
In terms of generating topics and news heat, no one in the NBA over these past ten years can compare with Gan Guoyang.
His name is a news flow generator, and his game performances always refresh people’s understanding of basketball.
Tonight, his various skills on the perimeter showcased again, left fans, commentators, and experts in awe.
This isn’t the first time for him; back when Jordan hadn’t retired, the thrilling battles between Gan and Jordan had several such performances.
At that time, Jordan always brought out the best in Gan Guoyang, making people realize how unique of an inside player he was.
Tonight, it was different; his skillset was more refined and clever, as opposed to the raw power of his younger peak days.
In the late 90s, when offensive play was notably dull, his brilliant scoring methods provided a refreshing change for audiences and fans, truly splendid.
Now, many young inside players, like Kevin Garnett and Chris Weber, are influenced by Gan Guoyang, mastering many perimeter skills.
And they frequently use them in games, breaking the past stereotypes of inside and perimeter roles in basketball.
Now, at 36, Gan Guoyang once again challenged this definition; NBC will repeatedly broadcast the clips of his scoring.
News about the NBA is no longer just about Ah Gan’s spy case, the war in Serbia, Larry Miller rushing into the stands to fight fans, or George Shinn (Hornets owner) involved in a sexual harassment case, those negative news.
The entire year of 1999, the NBA was troubled by various scandals and negative news. On the eve of the 21st century, with Michael Jordan retired and Ah Gan likely to retire, the NBA is about to face a challenge, which is David Stern’s biggest concern.
However, Gan Guoyang’s game once again drew people’s attention back to the court, back to pure basketball skills and brilliant plays.
This is undoubtedly beneficial to the NBA; the league office truly hopes for more beneficial scenes like this and fewer terrible controversies.
You know, after Jordan’s retirement, without the Gan-Jordan battles, ratings and attendance both stagnated last season.
Relying on Ah Gan, the Finals ratings were finally preserved, but how much longer can they rely on Ah Gan?
After the game, in the Trail Blazers’ simple away locker room, Gan Guoyang, who offered an extraordinary three-quarter performance, was soaking his hot ankles in an ice bucket.
Tonight, his numerous ball-handling isolations, drives, changes of direction, and step-backs tested both his ankles and knees.
Although Gan Guoyang is as tough as steel, he is, after all, 36 years old. This body has been battling on the highly competitive NBA courts for many years.
Moreover, he is a center, not a smaller player; his ankles and knees bear considerable pressure, and he hasn’t entirely lost weight.
As he moves forward, he needs ever more careful maintenance; now, he spends time daily undergoing therapy to ease muscle, bone, and joint pain and inflammation.
From an injury perspective, Gan Guoyang is considered fortunate. For instance, Charles Barkley has been taking painkillers for many years.
After Sabonis returned to the NBA, he immediately started taking painkillers. Tonight, thanks to Gan Guoyang, he and Kobe didn’t need to play and got two more days of rest.
Of course, for Kobe, in his early 20s, he doesn’t need rest; he wants to play, to fight on the court, to experience the adrenaline rush.
But he was firmly kept on the bench by Gan Guoyang’s performance. Even after being teammates for four seasons, and despite having watched countless tapes of Gan Guoyang’s games over the past decade, Kobe is still mesmerized by Gan Guoyang’s court performance.
He’s tall, strong, fierce, yet also elegant, poised, and skilled. This contradiction makes Gan Guoyang’s style particularly fascinating, worth pondering repeatedly and analyzing from different angles, always yielding new flavors.
Kobe is not just any fan; he diligently draws nourishment from Gan Guoyang, continuously learning various skills and experiences on the court.
This game gave Kobe the greatest insight; he saw that when skills are applied to the extreme, scoring becomes quite an effortless task.
The purpose of skills is to evade and deconstruct defense, especially to deconstruct defense. Gan Guoyang used various skill combinations to deceive opponents, winning cleverly, leaving a deep impression on Kobe.
In many games, Gan Guoyang wins by force; his strength advantage is so overwhelming that an additional touch of finishing skills easily secures points.
In this game, Gan Guoyang demonstrated how to use skills for offensive deception and cleverly score without heavily relying on his strength advantage, which is declining alongside his explosiveness and speed.
On the way to the airport, Kobe kept asking Gan Guoyang, "Sonny, your skill combinations were so great, so fantastic, how do you do it?"
Gan Guoyang replied, "Practice more."
"And then?"
"Play more games."
"And then?"
"Have a good body."
"Is the body really that important?"
"Of course! The body is always the priority. It’s just that skills can make up for some physical disadvantages, and that’s why skills are called skills. But this is the NBA; the part skills can compensate for is limited, about a thirty-to-seventy split. Stop asking, go fall in love, kid."