"Sonny, have you noticed a problem, without me, the Bulls are just a terrible team, constantly vying for the top draft pick. But without you, the Trail Blazers are still doing great; they’ve reached the Western Conference finals consecutively, and this year they have a chance to compete for the championship, Sonny. I think... does this mean..."
"What do you want to say, Michael?"
"I just want to speak some truth."
"You’re spewing nonsense. The roster and players of Portland were all nurtured by me. Those young players were hand-picked and developed by me. Do you think they became stars elsewhere and I recruited them? Or that I traded a bunch for famous stars to form a team? That’s entirely different. Seeing them perform makes me proud," Gan Guoyang defended.
That indeed makes sense, the current success of the Trail Blazers is still a legacy from Gan Guoyang.
Little O’Neal, Kobe, Big Ben were all handpicked and trained by Gan Guoyang, and General Manager Bird was also recruited by him.
Including the rising guard this season, Mike Reed, who was designated by Gan Guoyang before he retired, and he’s proven himself.
Jordan knew that Gan Guoyang was right, but he still said, "But Sonny, you’re starting to care about stats. Do you know what this means? It means you’re getting old, starting to need statistics to embellish yourself."
"Just this game, just this game! I’m returning to Portland, of course, I have to put on a show, that’s my home!"
For Gan Guoyang, the importance of Portland is beyond doubt, akin to returning to one’s hometown, he won’t allow himself to perform poorly.
"I’ll definitely help you, Sonny, I understand. But I have a request."
"What is it?"
"You have to join me in teaching that kid Kobe a lesson; don’t let him play comfortably."
Jordan is a person who holds grudges, and he’s been humiliated quite a bit by Kobe.
People say Kobe is the player most like Jordan, but Kobe never had much respect for Jordan.
Even when Jordan joined the Trail Blazers’ management, this remained unchanged.
Last season with the Supersonics, the Trail Blazers eliminated them in the first round, and Kobe’s outstanding performance during that series left Jordan disgraced.
This Christmas game, Jordan is determined to regain his face; he can’t let Kobe act so arrogantly again.
Gan Guoyang laughed it off, saying: "Hey, Michael, you don’t have to be so harsh on the young ones, do you?"
"You think I’m harsh? Kobe lacks the most basic respect for me."
"Who told you to keep losing."
"That’s because he was on your team, now I’m on your team!"
"I love hearing that. Alright, I’ll do my best. But... Kobe is really strong now, you can’t just decide he’ll play poorly, and if he explodes..."
"There’s no ’if’ Sonny, we will definitely play well in this game. We agreed to do our best at every crucial point this season. I trust you, and you must trust me too."
Gan Guoyang finally got serious, understanding that Jordan was right. At their age, old players couldn’t go all out every game anymore.
regular-season games plus playoffs, it’s important to prioritize; some games can be played more relaxed, some must be won, and some require full effort. They both understood that clearly.
There’re about ten key regular-season battles, focus matches, ranking battles, and morale-boosting revenge matches must be taken seriously.
You can’t go all out against weaker teams to pad stats and then shrink against stronger opponents, leaving the pressure to teammates while conserving your strength?
Weaker teams should be left for young players to practice and develop tactics, while veterans provide the safety valve, beneficial for the development of young players and also good for sharing stats.
When facing tough opponents, focus battles, the leader must step up; you can’t rely on role players to unexpectedly shine. As the core players, they must bear responsibility.
Only then can the team’s spirit and framework stand firm, and come the playoffs and finals, they can display their strongest fighting power.
Under their influence, Glory is gradually becoming a very resilient team, never backing down no matter the adversity.
Soon, Christmas was near, and Glory achieved an 8-2 record before Christmas, with a standing of 22-3 before the Christmas game, ranking first in the league.
In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Celtics closely followed with a 20-4 record, and so far the two teams hadn’t faced off. Their first game would be on January 2, 2003, being Glory’s first match of 2003 and also a focus battle.
Apart from the Celtics, no other Eastern team had achieved a 20-win record so far, with the third-place New Jersey Nets only having a 15-9 record, far behind the top two.
In the Western Conference, the Portland Trail Blazers ranked first with a 21-4 record, leading the second-place Kings by one game, which is a very small gap.
On December 24th, one day before Christmas, the entire Glory team flew to Portland, with the Christmas game imminent.
Compared to the apprehension when visiting Portland last season, Gan Guoyang felt much calmer this season.
They arrived at the airport in the afternoon, greeted by a large group of fans, the scene was grand, yet much more joyous compared to last year, not as heavy.
Among the banners at the airport, there was even one saying, "Ah Gan, we’re gonna kick your butt," which just made Gan Guoyang smile, suggesting Portland fans had accepted Ah Gan’s departure, and began fully supporting the new Trail Blazers centered around Kobe.
In Gan Guoyang’s view, this is a good thing, people need to look forward.
The bus drove along the highway, and the billboards were all about Kobe and Little O’Neal.
The large advertisement of Gan Guoyang at the Rose Garden Arena had long been taken down, but it wasn’t replaced with any of Kobe, Little O’Neal, or Big Ben.
It’s not that they didn’t want to, but Kobe is still with Adidas and Little O’Neal and Ben Wallace are signed with Skyscraper.
As the major shareholder of the Trail Blazers, Nike couldn’t possibly display these two brands’ gigantic ads in their home stadium.
Of course, Nike had been trying to lure Kobe away from Adidas and waiting for Little O and Big Ben’s contracts to expire.
They’re working hard to cleanse and dilute the traces of Gan Guoyang left in Portland. Of course, they can only remove the surface elements because the soul of Portland fans and players had long been deeply imprinted with Ah Gan.
The game was scheduled for 3 PM, convenient for players to go home and celebrate the holiday with family in the evening.
On the evening of the 24th, Gan Guoyang invited Kobe, Little O, Big Ben, Bird, Carl, and others for dinner, bringing along Yao Ming too.
Gan Guoyang asked Jordan if he wanted to come, to which Jordan replied he’d rather eat instant noodles in the hotel than join the gathering with this bunch.
Everyone agreed to meet at a Chinese restaurant downtown, and when Gan Guoyang arrived, he unexpectedly found Porter there.
"What the hell are you doing here? I didn’t invite you, did I!"
"Larry told me you guys were having a dinner tonight. We’ve been teammates for 20 years, and you just have a Trail Blazers reunion dinner without me?"
"I... I thought you didn’t like the crowd, you used to be more of a loner, not keen on hanging out with everyone."
"I’m very lively now, I want to live a different life. What, are you gonna kick me out? Kick me out of the team?"
"Oh no, no no no, I’m delighted you’re here, I shouldn’t have left you out, have a great meal, Terry!"
Naturally, Gan Guoyang didn’t enjoy the meal much; the young ones had all grown up, no longer respecting him like before, each having their own ideas.
Of course, everyone was still happy, with countless memories worth sharing from their former three-peat.
Before parting, Little O’Neal suddenly said, "Sonny, it would have been great if you had stayed in Portland."
Kobe kicked Little O’Neal and said, "In tomorrow’s game, Sonny, you won’t score twenty points."
Gan Guoyang smiled and said, "You mean you won’t, you little punk."