Scoring 35 points in a single game, quite an easy victory.
Gan Guoyang is now not afraid at all of teams like the Spurs who play a slow, steady inside game.
In half-court set plays, no one is more excellent, more experienced, or has more tricks than he does.
On the contrary, it's teams like the Mavericks, that play run-and-gun offense, which make Gan Guoyang struggle.
It's true what they say about age hitting your legs first.
So two days later, in Houston, the Glory Team unexpectedly lost to the relatively average-strength Rockets.
The Rockets' way of winning was simple: pick up the pace, launch a furious offense, pass the ball to the perimeter, penetrate, pass, shoot, penetrate, pass, shoot.
The Rockets' point guard Steve Francis has matured into quite a decent ball-handling attacker on the perimeter this season.
He and Mobley, with one penetrating and the other shooting, both averaging over 20 points a game, make a very sharp perimeter offensive duo in the current league.
The Rockets' inside line, on the other hand, has become completely blue-collar. In fact, at the draft, the Rockets had a chance to further solidify their frontcourt-backcourt line.
They picked Richard Jefferson in the first round, a very good small forward, a classmate of Gilbert Arenas.
But the Rockets felt they needed an inside player more, a power forward, like Chris Weber from back in the day, to team with Francis for an inside-outside combination.
So they packaged Jefferson in a trade to the New Jersey Nets, acquiring power forward Eddie Griffin in return.
Like many talented players entering the NBA, Eddie Griffin was a prodigy known nationally since high school, having participated in the McDonald's All-American Game, and drawing nationwide attention as a freshman with averages of 17.8 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 4.4 blocks, being considered one of the potential top picks for the 2001 draft.
However, due to issues with his playing attitude, by the time of the draft, his stock had plummeted, and the Nets picked him at the eighth spot and then struck a deal with the Rockets to get Richard Jefferson, leading to a divergence in their paths.
Such stories play out repeatedly in the NBA, bringing both despair and joy.
As the new season just started, whether it's a tragedy or a comedy remains to be seen.
But Houston fans should soon realize that Eddie Griffin can't be compared to Chris Weber.
Because in his youth, Weber could hold his own against peak Ah Gan and even have the upper hand at times in certain possessions.
And Eddie Griffin? In his first game facing Ah Gan, he scored 0 points and had 2 rebounds, while Ah Gan also added two blocks to his stats.
The gap between the NBA and college is so vast that after the game, Rockets' General Manager Carroll Dawson specifically went to the locker room to comfort Eddie Griffin, telling him that not every game or inside confrontation would be as difficult and painful as facing Ah Gan.
At the same time, Carroll Dawson also hoped that the matchup with Ah Gan would straighten Griffin's work attitude.
Since training camp, the Rockets noticed Griffin often arriving late and leaving early from practice, lacking a strong competitive spirit, which is detrimental to the growth of a rookie.
The good news is that, despite this, the Rockets secured a victory, winning the game.
And once the Glory Team loses Gan Guoyang's strong performance on the offensive and defensive ends, their mistakes get magnified.
Facing the Spurs wore out part of Gan Guoyang's touch, and the accumulated fatigue from back-to-back games left him in average form.
At the last stop on this away trip, everyone was eager to fly back to the beautiful Las Vegas. This terrible schedule started with three straight games in Texas.
The Rockets' home venue, the Compaq Center, is rather run-down, and the atmosphere of the game isn't particularly lively, to say the least.
Although the games still sell out, the fans aren't as crazy as those in Dallas and San Antonio.
They are more willing to come to see Ah Gan rather than the Rockets, with fans arriving late or leaving early.
In 1986, the Houston Twin Towers fought a seven-game bloodbath against the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals, looking back over a decade later, that game was a defining moment in the destiny of both teams.
Since then, the Trail Blazers have ascended step by step to the top, while the Houston Twin Towers collapsed, with Sampson retiring due to injury and Olajuwon leaving, and Houston's dreams of a basketball championship have never been realized again.
Upon returning to Las Vegas, the Glory Team got two days to rest.
A 2-2 record doesn't satisfy Gan Guoyang, as he wants to spend all his time on training and tactics research.
But back home, Wang Fuxi told him no, that after the road trip, he should take some time to spend with their two children.
"I'm too busy with work, and there are a lot of things with the team waiting for me to handle. The kids just transferred schools, and you need to spend some time with her. There's a parent activity at our daughter's school tomorrow, you should go, I'm really unavailable this month and a half,"
Since his return, Wang Fuxi has become even busier than Gan Guoyang, leaving Gan Guoyang relatively more relaxed.
Because even though basketball is tiring and requires long trips, the work is single-focused and routine, allowing you to concentrate on just one thing.
Especially at Gan Guoyang's age, he no longer needs very intense training, just moderate intensity to maintain his form.
Advertisements, endorsements, and commercial activities are also reasonably arranged according to your game schedule and training, with a team supporting in the background.
Having been through this kind of life for more than a decade, Gan Guoyang has long adapted, able to manage and balance the rhythm of work and life, maintaining an ease of control over both.