Although he lost the game, Gan Guoyang still felt calm. Of course, he wasn't happy, but he wasn't too dejected either.
The greatest lesson sports can teach is learning to accept failure, and to summarize and learn from it.
In any competitive sport, failure is the main theme, and champions are no exception.
Behind the most dazzling victories are dim failures.
But failure does not mean annihilation, it does not mean destruction.
They can be the prelude to victory, the steps to progress.
As long as your sports career isn't over, anything is possible.
Gan Guoyang walked to the Mavericks' bench to shake hands and hug Nowitzki, praising his performance tonight.
21 points and 7 rebounds, Nowitzki indeed played well against Gan Guoyang's defense, but Nowitzki knew very well that he was hesitant to take many shots. His role was to hold back Ah Gan, as planned before the game.
Of course, Old Nelson had said to Nowitzki, "If you're not convinced, you can try one-on-one a few times and see how this old guy is doing now."
Nowitzki tried, but it was still hard, hitting only one out of three, finally opting to rely on tactics and the team.
Gan Guoyang's defensive skill and strength were one aspect, but he also had an intimidating presence, making ball handlers internally fear him.
The real game-changers for the Mavericks were Mike Finley and Eddie Jones, who tore apart the Glory Team's porous perimeter defense.
Especially Mike Finley, who scored the game-high of 35 points.
Gan Guoyang said to Old Nelson: "You're truly an old madman, completely ignoring defense for attack, attack after attack. I think you don't want to win the championship."
Compared to over a decade ago, Old Nelson appeared much older, his belly having grown considerably.
Old Nelson laughed heartily, saying: "I just run a little faster than Time, the championship...who knows? Anyway, it's quite effective against you, right? You're getting slower, Sonny."
This type of head-to-head offensive game mode is indeed disadvantageous for a single-core team like Glory, diluting Gan Guoyang's scoring.
This tactic was used as early as the 80s by the Nuggets, considered a decent way to deal with Gan Guoyang, weakening his contributions on both offense and defense.
"Yeah, I'm getting a bit slow. Just as the game started, I felt out of breath, damn it, I used to play whole games without getting winded."
"Heh, give it up Sonny, don't say these things to confuse me. You were out of breath from the start and all the way to the finals, right?"
"Thanks for your good wishes."
"Welcome back."
The two hugged briefly, and Don Nelson could be considered an old rival of Gan Guoyang's.
In 1989, he led the Lakers to defeat the Portland Trail Blazers, one of the few coaches in the league to beat Gan Guoyang in the playoffs.
Gan Guoyang's presence had always made Don Nelson rack his brains, but also gave him a lot of inspiration.
To some extent, Nowitzki was a partial substitute for Gan Guoyang, and it was precisely because Old Nelson saw certain traits in the German that he was steadfast in his decision to choose him.
After greeting the young players and old friends, and signing autographs for a few fans, Gan Guoyang was ready to leave when the owner of the Mavericks, Mark Cuban, came over.
He wanted to shake Gan Guoyang's hand and take a photo together. Gan Guoyang looked at Cuban and said, "Who are you?"
Cuban, who usually dressed casually in hoodies and jeans, or T-shirts and jeans, was a bit embarrassed as he said: "I'm Mark Cuban, the owner of the Mavericks."
"Oh, it's you... the one shouting 'tear them apart, kill them' from behind the bench during the game, right? Back when I was with the Trail Blazers."
Cuban was instantly even more embarrassed, unsure of how to respond, just scratching his head.
Of course, Gan Guoyang knew Cuban; he did it on purpose to tease the big talker.
This time, with Glory Team joining the NBA, Cuban was one of the few owners to vote against it.
He believed that having an NBA team in Las Vegas would undermine the purity of basketball.
Even when the dust settled and the vote passed for Glory Team to join, Cuban still stuck to his beliefs.
In reality, Gan Guoyang knew well that Cuban had backing from Las Vegas capital, and Texas had deep ties with Las Vegas, with many Las Vegas casino owners having businesses in Texas, and vice versa, both wanting to expand their casino business into Texas.
The reason is simple: Nevada has too few people, while Texas has a large population, making it a fertile ground for gambling.
By 2001, Nevada had only 2.1 million people, and Las Vegas had 500,000, which was a small number, not even comparable to a county in China.
Texas had a population of 21.32 million, with Nevada barely making up a fraction.
Without people, there's no consumption, no employment, no economic effects, so many times, Las Vegas's prosperity relied on tourists.
But tourists are like migrating birds, coming last year, coming this year, what if they don't come next year?
So more stable residents are needed, Las Vegas attracts people, while the gambling industry expands towards California, Texas, and other places.
Gan Guoyang's arrival could certainly greatly drive the development of tourism, gambling, and sports in Las Vegas.
But Las Vegas doesn't have a lot of people, and the addition of Glory Team would certainly take away some of the casino business.
As the saying goes, a dragon crossing a river inevitably encounters conflicts of interest with local forces.