[{"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-1984":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},1445534,1896,"Chapter 1984 37: Outlasting You","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1984",1984,"\u003Cp>Of course, he didn't expect Gan to pull off some kind of reincarnation and come out of retirement again, damn it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, he didn't change his mind, deciding to end his 19-year basketball career in Salt Lake City.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone has their own choices and persistence. For him, winning a championship in another city wouldn't make him happy; it wouldn't feel like a real championship to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the night's game, the Glory Team performed excellently, as Gan Guoyang and Van Exel broke through the Jazz's defense with a barrage of three-pointers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Glory secured a significant victory with a 104-91 win, a 13-point advantage over their opponents, capturing a key victory in the battle for the top eight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the end of the game, Stockton wasn't upset about the loss; he simply asked Gan Guoyang, \"Sonny, how do you still manage to participate in the game with such enthusiasm? It's unbelievable.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang said, \"I plan to outlast all of you into retirement! That way, I'll be the best in the world, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What are you talking about? We thought we'd outlast you, but it turns out none of us can outlast you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Stockton admitted that in the art of outlasting others, Ah Gan was truly top-notch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>[To prove Larry's confidence in my abilities, I generously accepted the two-year lucrative salary he offered.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When I closed the door and left his office, I intended to continue immersing myself in the game I love, satisfying both the team and myself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They'd have to tear the jersey off my back and drag me out of the arena to stop me from playing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, I underestimated the emotional burden a player feels when ending a career. I didn't want to disappoint my teammates, coaches, or fans in any way, and that weighed heavily on me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Loyal relationships drove me forward, but they also placed a heavy burden on me, which grew heavier over time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I struggled, not knowing if I could still muster up the courage to fight with all my might on the court every night, and the feeling of frustration consistently enveloped me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I expected more cracks to appear in my armor, but when it actually came time to take it off, it was another matter entirely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I had watched two outstanding teammates, Darrell Griffith and Mark-Eaton, retire during my first decade with the Jazz team.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the time, I thought these guys were too good to retire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing someone hang up their boots when they could still contribute significantly to the team was confusing to young me, only partially understandable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I vaguely knew what kind of physical pain they endured just to play every day, but I couldn't completely empathize.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Naively, I thought, why would anyone retire from this sport?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You get to play basketball and earn money, and a lot of it – what a great job!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Frank Layden used to say, \"This damn thing is better than any job!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, I watched as two more teammates decided to end their careers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One was Antoine Carr, who found me on a team flight and talked to me about the idea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was feeling down, frustrated with many things. I later realized that frustration was common for players past a certain age.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because in society, at 35 and above, your career is just beginning, and you're in your prime.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But here, in the NBA, you retire by 35-40! That's actually when one is most mentally mature, yet you have to leave.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, I didn't quite understand then, and I regret not comforting him, telling him how important he was to us.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another to leave was Jeff Hornacek, whose departure in 1998 didn't surprise me as much.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because I knew he was content, we talked to each other a lot about retirement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, I understood Darrell, Mark, and Antoine's mindsets better than before.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I begged Hornacek to reconsider, but his mind was set, and the guy even flashed his ring at me.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I guess he might be tired of running around with an injured leg and fighting hard against two much stronger defenders.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then of course, there's the ring.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Jeff's departure touched me deeply. Many changes happened to the Jazz; we got younger, but not as cohesive, with more new faces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Across the league, more unfamiliar faces appeared, along with their attire and playstyles, making me look more like an antique.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As I was about to leave, I increasingly understood my old teammates, but found it harder to understand Ah Gan.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I once thought I could, watching him retire and return, I knew he couldn't stay away from the court.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, when he retired in 2000 and then returned, I couldn't fathom how he continued to sustain himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the past, no matter how many championships he won or how many times I lost, I still felt I could keep up with him. One day, I could catch up and beat him to win a championship; in 1997, I almost did it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this time, I really couldn't catch up. He was too far, too far away.]\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>———2012 excerpt from John Stockton's autobiography \"Assisted\".\u003C\u002Fp>",857,"2026-06-06T01:42:09.674Z",1,"novelbin.me","86356a101f55d4101bcd0f3696cef314d0c9a45dc9cbf0c118183d30b26887b3","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1985","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-1983",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]