[In the 1983 NCAA regular season, starting from two road trips, we won both of them. Then we returned to Kennedy Stadium for the third game. Our opponent was a very weak Eastern Washington University. We beat our opponent by 40 points. Gan and I played five minutes in the second half and then took a rest.
We won the first five games, and I think the sixth game was a game that really built the team's confidence. We played Weber State in the Big Sky Conference. They are very strong and are the No. 1 team in the Big Sky Conference. After this game, we will take some time off for Christmas. Fitz, Behrman and Deron all asked everyone to be more cautious and be prepared to lose a game. Our previous performance has been great.
Then that day, at the Kennedy Sports Center, Gan scored 25 points and 10 rebounds in the first half. I can’t remember how many blocks he blocked. In short, he defeated Weber State in half the game, and then during the halftime break He said, "Give everyone an early Christmas vacation." We knew from that game that the Big Sky, the West Coast, the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference or the Pac-10...I'm not targeting any conference, we are also from the West Coast, these are all in Gan's eyes...I don't want to say that word .
He is destined to belong to a bigger stage and arm-wrestle with those strong players in the East. 】
——Excerpts from John Stockton's autobiography "Assisted" published in 2012.
The Bulldogs entered the 1983 Christmas break with an undefeated record.
It has snowed in Spokane in the north, and the entire Gonzaga University campus is covered in white snow.
As a Catholic school, it has a stronger Christmas atmosphere than San Francisco. The annual Christmas candlelight concert is held in the auditorium, and all the school's sports teams are present.
At the performance venue, Gonzaga's track and field team and wrestling team all had a strong interest in Gan Guoyang. Their coach came to talk to Gan Guoyang and asked him if he had time to play track and field or wrestling.
Gan Guoyang did not resist. He felt that track and field and wrestling would help improve his athletic and confrontational abilities on the basketball court.
However, when Behrman noticed the signs, he immediately changed seats with Gan Guoyang and asked him to sit inside instead of sitting next to the other people.
After the school activities ended and the Christmas break began, Stockton and a group of teammates were still at the school. They had grown up in Spokane and were locals.
Gan Guoyang also wanted to stay for training and prepare for the post-holiday games, but thinking about chatting with Big Nate and eating barbecue on Christmas, he still got on the plane to the Bay Area.
Last Christmas, Gan Guoyang also returned to San Francisco and spent the holiday with Big Nate and the surrounding neighbors and friends at Thurmond's cousin's bar.
But Chamberlain didn't come that time. Thurmond said that when he spent Christmas in Hawaii, he clamored to break Gan's arm one day. However, as Gan Guoyang's strength continued to grow, the possibility of Chamberlain getting old was not very high. .
This time Gan Guoyang came to the bar where Nate's Rolls-Royce was parked at the door. He was holding a bottle of Spokane's specialty huckleberry wine as a gift for Thurmond.
The bar was as lively as last year. When they pushed the door open, everyone cheered to welcome Gan Guoyang.
Gan Guoyang found an unfamiliar face in the crowd, a blond white man, who was obviously a basketball player. He stood up very tall and walked straight towards Gan Guoyang.
Walking up to Gan Guoyang, he stretched out his hand and firmly grasped the wine bottle in Gan Guoyang's hand. He took it over and looked at it in his hand, and said: "The lingonberry wine in Spokane is from a private winery, right? It's on the market. It’s not in circulation, where did you get it?”
Gan Guoyang thought that this person was really rude, but he must be a friend of Thurmond, so he replied without hesitation: "The school gave it to me. This is my Christmas gift to Nate."
The white man shouted toward the inside, "Nate! Gan brought you a bottle of wine as a gift. How about giving it to me!?"
Nate was apparently inside making his secret barbecue, and his response was heard: "Let me think about it, don't make a decision so privately."
With that said, Thurmond came out carrying fragrant barbecue.
"Shet, it's just a bottle of wine, and you can't bear to part with it."
"It's not that I can't part with it, this is something Gan gave me, and I have to respect him. By the way, Gan, don't you know him? Okay, you didn't know me before. This is my teammate in the Warriors. The NBA can beat him." Wilt's scoring champion, championship winner, Finals MVP, Rick Barry."
"I get it, you're the Barry who pisses on free throws."
When Gan Guoyang heard the whole name, he immediately remembered who this person was. Isn't this the NBA star with a unique free throw posture mentioned in Dr. T's lecture in "Slam Dunk"?
Others shoot normally, but this guy uses a "urinal pot", which is also called "emptying the toilet" in some places.
Although his posture is weird, his shooting rate is extremely high. His free throw shooting rate was an astonishing 94% in the season with the highest rate, which is the strongest rate in NBA history.
In English, this strange shooting posture is called "undershoot", or jokingly called "grand shot".
But Americans did not expect that Chinese people have more vivid and life-oriented names. When Gan Guoyang explained the meaning of "holding the urinal" and "emptying the toilet" to everyone, everyone in the bar laughed, and Christmas was full of joy. A happy atmosphere.
The only unhappy person was definitely Barry. He didn't get the wine and was laughed at for his free throw gesture.
This player, who may be the most unpopular and bad-tempered star in NBA history, immediately darkened his face, pointed at Gan Guoyang and said, "If you think your posture is more beautiful, I don't mind competing with you."
Seeing that Barry was competing with others again, Thurmond said: "Hey Rick, you came here today because you want to meet this Chinese friend, so you should be more friendly."
Barry said: "I was already very friendly! I took the initiative to shake his hand! But he laughed at my shooting posture!"
Thurmond muttered, were you shaking hands with him? You were interested in the wine in his hand.
Last time Chamberlain wanted to compete with Gan Guoyang, and this time Barry wanted to compete with Gan Guoyang in shooting. He also played one-on-one with Gan Guoyang.
Thurmond thought to himself, is it my friends' problem or Forrest Gump's problem?
However, competing on the basketball court is not a bad thing. It is fun and can relieve anger.
Any anger or conflict will be over after a battle on the court.
Therefore, Gan Guoyang did not reject Barry's challenge and agreed to play a game of Horse with the legendary superstar.
When everyone heard that Gan Guoyang agreed, they all became interested and moved to the basketball court behind the bar.
Barry retired in 1980 and is now 39 years old. His body has not completely deteriorated and his shooting level is still very high.
The two warmed up for a while, and Barry came first and did one of his signature moves, holding a urinal and shooting.
The ball hit the ball steadily, without even touching the side of the basket. It went in from the center of the basket.
This was not a problem for Gan Guoyang, he easily carried a urinal and put one in.
Then, Barry came up with a left-hand layup, and Gan Guoyang also completed it easily.
"Can you do something difficult? Do you think I play football?" Gan Guoyang asked.
With a cold face, Barry stood far away from the basket and hit a long shot.
Gan Guoyang still hit the ball with this shot, and then he said: "Why don't you let me do it and you can imitate it? You are too uncreative."
Barry didn't expect that this kid's shooting was really accurate, especially a shot from such a distance. As an insider in the 1980s, it was quite rare for him to hit the ball so easily.
"Okay, come here, I want to see what you can do."
It's Gan Guoyang's turn to demonstrate. This kid has many tricks up his sleeve.
He first hit a rebound with his left hand and then made a layup with his right hand. This action tested his ability to bounce, waist and abdomen and catch the ball with one hand.
Barry is already 39 and has been retired for several years. It would be fine to let him make a shot alone or grab the ball for a layup. It is really impossible to do it in a coherent manner. He is bullying the elderly.
After Barry failed, he didn't know whether he was tired or angry. He was panting. Thurmond reminded him to forget it if he couldn't do it and not to be serious with the young people.
Barry did not believe in evil and continued to try two long-range shots, but Gan Guoyang still followed.
He even tried to shoot from behind the backboard, and Gan Guoyang was able to score as well. His shooting was beyond Barry's expectation.
When it was Gan Guoyang's turn to design another action, he made an action that made Barry collapse:
He turned left in the low position, pretending to be a skyhook with his right hand, but turned around again and switched the ball from his right hand to his left hand. He raised the ball high above his head and came up with a skyhook with his left hand. The ball drew a crescent-like arc and hit the net!
After scoring the goal, Gan Guoyang was very excited and said: "Come on! It's up to you!"
Barry's expression is like a toilet and urinal being slapped on his head. Is this guy still imitating it? He didn't even understand how it was done.
"Fake, no more fun!"
["...Larry made a steal! Boston won! They won the 1985 Eastern Conference Championship and reached the Finals. Beautiful steal. Larry is the third most confident basketball player I have ever seen. He is great! "
"Third confidence? Are you saying that besides you, is there anyone else who can be more confident than Larry and be ranked second?"
"No, I'm second."
"Is he number one!? Who?"
"can not say."】
———— Larry Bird’s last-second steal to seal the victory in Game 5 of the 1985 Eastern Conference Finals, excerpt from Rick Barry’s live commentary.
