The team arrived at the Kezar Stadium ahead of schedule. This ancient sports building built in 1924 exuded a pink glow in the afternoon sun.
This place carries the glorious history of San Francisco basketball. Bill Russell made his debut at Kezar Stadium in 1953 wearing the jersey of the University of San Francisco. After defeating his opponent, Russell was lifted up by the crowd to celebrate the victory like a hero.
In the game, Bill Russell scored 23 points and blocked 13 shots. He defeated the University of California, ranked 10th in the country, and McKean, who is known as the strongest player on the West Coast. Prior to that, the University of San Francisco was in He is unknown in the country and has never entered a national competition.
That night, the 4,000-seat Kezar Stadium was packed with probably more than 5,000 people.
Outside the stadium, there were more than 1,000 people waiting in line in the cold Pacific sea breeze in December. Hundreds of people climbed up the walls of the stadium and the surrounding trees, trying to see the game inside the stadium through the large glass windows.
Many more people were stopped on the road due to traffic jams and had no chance to even get close to the stadium.
From 1954 to 1956, Russell led the University of San Francisco to a 60-game winning streak and two NCAA championships, a quarter of which were won at Kezar Stadium.
Although the Kezar Stadium this afternoon was not as crazy as that night more than 20 years ago, the scene still made the players of the Water Bell team feel weak in their legs and feet and very nervous.
In Gan Guohui's words, "I feel like the whole Chinatown has been mobilized." All 4,000 seats were packed at 2:30 in the afternoon. Even the aisles were filled with people, all with yellow skin and black hair.
Students from both schools came to watch the game, wearing uniform T-shirts to cheer for their schools.
The Lai Hwa Middle School Tigers wore jerseys with white background, gold and black tiger stripes. They looked well-trained and were warming up on the field in an orderly manner.
The color of Beiqiao Middle School's jersey is red with black edges. The red symbolizes the fiery sun and also represents time, while the black represents water, which is consistent with the team's name, Water Clock.
Before the start of the game, Bellman called the players together. He had nothing to say about these stragglers who had just gathered for training for a week.
He knew that the most important thing at this time was to relax, not to be nervous, and to make the players confident, so he changed his usual irritability and calmly asked the players to play well and play in style.
"Defense, remember, we must defend well. Only with a strong defense can we have everything possible."
Bellman repeatedly emphasized defense. He knew that as long as the others held on and allowed Gan Guoyang to hold on to the attack, they would have hope of victory.
But he cursed in his heart, thinking that the school was too anxious. Why did they have to play a game against Lihua Middle School just a week after forming the team?
The school and the foundation are indeed a little anxious, mainly based on various considerations. The first reason is that Lihua Middle School started issuing a challenge early after learning that Beiqiao Middle School had formed a basketball team.
The leaders of the Straits Self-Strength Foundation behind Lihua called Huang Shaohua more than once and asked him when the two teams would play a game. Huang Shaohua wanted to push it, but the other side said that Beiqiao Middle School was timid, which made it difficult for him to do so. People are very angry.
Another reason is that it is August, not yet the basketball and volleyball seasons for various high schools and colleges, so venues are easy to rent.
After October, when various high school and college sports leagues begin, this space will no longer be available for rent.
Simply, let's have a warm-up match right after school starts, and let both sides test the waters and compete.
If you win, it's good. If you lose, you should learn a lesson. It's no big deal.
I just didn't expect that the game would attract so much attention and enthusiasm. The whole street of Chinatown was out and the arena was overcrowded.
The newspaper also filmed reporters arriving at the scene, holding pens and cameras, ready to record the Chinese civil war.
There is both the gimmick of the duel between two Chinese-American teams and the curiosity caused by Gan Guoyang's reputation.
Everyone wants to know whether this big man, who has quickly gained fame on the street, is still that good in official games.
The crowd likes to create gods, but they also like to watch gods fall. Some in the audience expect Gan Guoyang to perform well, and naturally there are also those who want to watch jokes.
All this is a huge pressure. For the new team Shui Zhong, it is not a good thing for the first game to be such a big scene.
People's psychology will collapse under heavy pressure. If they suffer a tragic defeat in front of so many people in their first battle, it may take a long time to get over this psychological shadow.
Bellman was very worried about this. The only thing that reassured him was that Gan Guoyang looked normal. When he walked onto the court, he even patted everyone's butt.
"Cheer up, I'm here."
"Cheer up and keep an eye on it."
"Don't be in a daze, stay focused."
His words relieved the nervousness of the players, and Chen Xing's hands were shaking a little when he came on the stage.
Is Gan Guoyang not nervous at all?
Obviously not, he was also very nervous. This was the first official game of his basketball career.
Being in front of so many spectators, including family, friends, and neighbors, is a completely different experience than an ordinary game.
However, while others were trembling with nervousness and their legs were weak, Gan Guoyang was so nervous that he was extremely excited.
As the game approached, the sound became louder and louder, his heartbeat accelerated and his blood pumped.
The referee read out the rules of the game, the players from both sides shook hands, and the center stood in the center circle to jump the ball.
The center of Lihua Middle School is a player in his early 19s, half a head shorter than Gan Guoyang - Gan Guoyang recently measured his height, and he has grown more than 1 inch taller than when he first arrived in the United States, reaching 6 feet 9 (206) .
There was no suspense when the two sides competed for the ball. Gan Guoyang passed the ball to Chen Xing and the game began.
The decibel level at the scene instantly increased by at least 30%, and Chen Xing made a mistake on his first goal.
The pass was intercepted by the opponent, who counterattacked on both sides. The pass was combined with a layup, and he scored the first point of the game.
Gan Guoyang chased all the way but failed to catch up with his opponent and served from the baseline.
"Don't panic, just follow our usual coordination and I will provide you with cover and support."
Gan Guoyang served the ball to Chen Xing and comforted him not to be nervous.
Bellman was pacing back and forth with his arms folded on the sidelines. It was a bad start.
Chen Xing can pass the ball dribbling, but he is thin and lacks confrontation.
How can we play this game if we can't even organize an offense by dribbling the ball?
Lihua Middle School knew that Gan Guoyang was the core of Beiqiao, so they attacked him as soon as he came up.
Chen Xing hesitated in passing the ball, almost made another mistake, and finally gave the ball to Big Bear.
Big Bear held the ball and spun around twice on the edge of the three-second zone, not knowing what to do. After hesitation, he was intercepted by his opponent.
Lihua Middle School launched a counterattack again. Bellman shouted on the sidelines, "Back off, run, run! Son of a bitch!"
Seeing that he was intercepted twice at the beginning, Bellman couldn't pretend anymore and began to curse on the sidelines.
This time he retreated in time, and Gan Guoyang immediately came to the basket.
The opponent's No. 5 point guard controlled the speed for a while, but seeing Chen Xing's unstable defensive position, he immediately accelerated and broke through the middle.
Beiqiao's foothold was not stable. Gan Guoyang took off to block the opponent's layup. However, No. 5 faked a pass and passed the ball behind the back to the opponent who followed up. He easily scored two points.
The students of Lihua Middle School were in jubilation and shouted the school slogan, "Lihua Lihua, stand tall in China!"
"It's okay, remember it later, vote if you have the chance, don't hesitate, I'm here."
Gan Guoyang comforted Da Xiong with a few words. Everyone was nervous at the start. They made consecutive mistakes and were scored, and their morale was instantly low.
Lihua Middle School is well-trained. Their players are not tall, but they all have shaved heads and uniform hairstyles. The whole team cooperates very skillfully.
"Gan, attack and hit your opponent!"
Bellman was directing from the sidelines, and the team needed to score goals to stabilize their morale.
But Gan Guoyang did not ask for the ball in the low post in the subsequent attack, but came out to cover and support Chen Xing.
In the end, Xu Xun took the ball, accelerated to the basket, and layup with the ball in his arms. However, the ball was not scored as many people surrounded him.
He doesn't have enough speed or skill, and you can tell he doesn't as soon as he takes the shot.
At this time, Gan Guoyang jumped up, tapped the ball, and then tapped it again, grabbing an offensive rebound in front of two Lihua Middle School players.
After getting the ball, he pretended to attack to attract the defense, and then gave the ball to Chen Xing. Chen Xing broke through with the ball and threw.
The ball bounced on the basket twice and was about to fall out. Somehow, Gan Guoyang squeezed into the basket, jumped up, and sent the ball into the basket with a single tap.
After a tip-in, Beiqiao Middle School also scored its first point. The Beiqiao students who had been silent for a while also cheered.
"As long as I'm here, everyone can vote with confidence, but remember to retreat quickly!"
Gan Guoyang returned to the backcourt and passed on confidence and encouragement to every teammate on the court.
When the opponent's No. 5 point guard wanted to repeat his old trick of breaking through and passing the ball, Gan Guoyang did not fall for the trick again.
He blocked his breakthrough and passing routes. When the ball was given to another person and he tried to catch the ball and throw it, Gan Guoyang turned back and jumped to block his shot.
As soon as his fingertips touched the ball, the ball lost its forward momentum, fell straight down, and was controlled by Gan Guoyang.
When he handed the ball to Chen Xing this time, Chen Xing's hands had stopped shaking. He successfully passed the half and began to organize the offense.
Others in Beiqiao began to act decisively, because insider Gan Guoyang would provide them with a steady stream of ammunition.
When the first half lasted about five minutes, the score had become 8:6, with Beiqiao Middle School leading by 2 points.
As Xu Xun counterattacked and broke through, resulting in a foul and a dead ball, Lihua Middle School called a timeout.
Gan Guoyang walked off the court with his teammates, and everyone's nervousness was gone.
"Four points, seven rebounds, two assists, and three blocks are all yours, Forrest Gump."
Bellman watched Gan Guoyang sitting calmly on the bench. He was the only one who knew exactly what this guy did in the first five minutes.
It's not just the data.
"Well done, Gan." Behrman patted Gan Guoyang on the shoulder.
Gan Guoyang glanced at Behrman and said calmly: "The game hasn't started yet, Bobby."
