[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-the-golden-age-of-basketball":3,"chapter-the-golden-age-of-basketball-the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1447":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","The Golden Age of Basketball",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1445014,1896,"Chapter 1447 - 48: A Great Player (Part 5)","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1447",1447,"\u003Cp>Usually, I feel like I don’t belong in this league.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We can’t attract big crowds at home, and there are no Milwaukee Bucks fans cheering for us on the road.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Green Bay Packers own this city and this state, and they still played in Milwaukee until the mid-1990s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I feel like I’m back in high school, where football is the sport everyone is passionate about. Every time my teammates and I run into someone we know on the way to practice, our conversation usually goes like this:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You’re so tall, you must be on the basketball team.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes, that’s right.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"So you’re players at Marquette University?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"No, we’re players for the Bucks.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh, nice, nice.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then they walk off, without any excitement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After every game at the Bradley Center, I’d order a pizza and then go home to watch The X-Files.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Don’t I know how to have fun?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the road, we were often just a filler.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The only thing people knew about Milwaukee was that it was the place where Lavinie and Shirley lived. Every time we played, we’d hear the theme song from that sitcom.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When I played, I wasn’t happy; I was just going through the motions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking back, it wasn’t much different from my early days at the University of Connecticut, always trying to find a way to fit in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But there was one very different thing about the NBA: here, you’re on your own, unlike in college where there were so many things to distract you from thinking about your struggles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A bad shooting night? No worries, you didn’t have to think about it, you had exams to study for.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The NBA is much harder. I didn’t understand the system, the offense, the rules. Defense? Forget it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seriously, how could I guard Reggie Miller, Mitch Richmond, Dell Curry—Stephen’s father, Michael Jordan, and that number 11 from Portland?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Okay, I wouldn’t be primarily guarding Portland’s number 11, but playing against him was a nightmare for every young player, especially in 1996.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ever since I checked the Bucks’ schedule in training camp and noticed that I would be playing in the Portland Rose Garden Arena, I’d been looking forward to that day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I told myself, this is really happening, I’m going to meet that miracle on the court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That night was surreal. I was doing stretches when the Trail Blazers jogged onto the court, with Ah Gan appearing last.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He looked even stronger and more majestic than on TV. People were right, he was like a statue of a god. If you knew everything about him, you’d have the urge to kneel when seeing him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I stared at him in a daze, and before I knew it, I found myself standing in the center circle with him, about to jump ball... Oh my God, he was walking toward me!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ray,\" he said, extending his hand, \"welcome to the NBA.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thank you,\" I replied. It was the only word I dared to say, not a syllable more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I probably had no expression on my face at the time, fearing that saying too much would provoke a mental attack from Ah Gan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Many young players have been driven to collapse by him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in my heart, I was thinking, oh my, Ah Gan knows my name!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I guessed he must have glanced at the scouting report before the game, so of course, he knew my name.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later in my rookie season, I learned that Ah Gan was indeed a demon on the court, but if you didn’t provoke him, he was a very nice person.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And off the court, the encouragement and support he gave to young players won over many hearts. He is a great player.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>——Excerpt from Ray Allen’s autobiography \"From the Outside,\" published in 2014.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>```\u003C\u002Fp>",631,"2026-06-06T01:41:56.049Z",1,"novelbin.me","fe2f157d547fdd7a6e1b39f265e1494e1f868b9bfe110b6e36ded0117c1a4dca","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1448","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1446",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]