[{"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-430":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},1443972,1896,"Chapter 430 - 48 Bird vs Doctor G","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-430",430,"\u003Cp>As the final buzzer sounded, Larry Bird and Gan Guoyang shook hands and embraced.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bird had scored 28 points and dished out 11 assists for the game, performing admirably, but he couldn’t lead the Celtics in mounting a comeback in the fourth quarter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang racked up 33 points and 23 rebounds, Robert Parish was completely unable to stop Gan Guoyang from doing as he pleased in the paint; he snatched 10 offensive rebounds that night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The average number of offensive rebounds per game for Gan Guoyang had been on a further decline this season, but tonight’s performance proved that it wasn’t that he couldn’t grab them, but that the team’s tactics required him to pull back on the offensive glass.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whenever he wished, he could still be a monster on the offensive boards; not even the Celtics’ front-court trident could stop him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moreover, in the fourth quarter, he took on the task of guarding Bird himself, causing Bird’s personal offense to go silent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bird undoubtedly felt frustrated, realizing with his growing age, it was becoming difficult to make significant improvements.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the summer, he had focused on enhancing his three-point shooting and added long-range shots in the new season, which had some effect.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, against Ah Gan, everything seemed futile because Ah Gan was still improving while he had begun to decline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This season, he’d already fallen behind in his matchups with Magic Johnson.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In December, during a home game against the Lakers, the Celtics led for three quarters, with Bird playing smoothly and shooting at an extremely high percentage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He felt like a loaded machine gun—spraying bullets with no one able to stop him; Michael Cooper was simply his plaything.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The entire Celtics team performed exceptionally well, shooting at a very high percentage, and victory seemed within easy reach.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, the Celtics had just gone public, and the fans at Boston Garden were extremely enthusiastic, believing they could defeat the Lakers again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But come the fourth quarter, the Celtics completely fizzled out, scoring only 29:16 against the Lakers, with their 16 points setting the Celtics’ season low for a single quarter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that time, Bird felt a bit powerless; they had played the main players too long in the first three quarters, with Bird logging 43 minutes and Parish playing 44 minutes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The team had no complaints about KC Jones’s farmer-like substitution strategy; back then, everyone thought it was appropriate—you earned the most money, so naturally, you should bear the heaviest responsibility.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Celtics’ bench didn’t really have good options, so naturally, the starters had to hold the fort until the end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was alright against average teams, but facing strong teams like the Lakers and the Trail Blazers meant they were bound to run out of steam.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bird was amazed by Gan Guoyang’s incredible stamina, and his unexpected rate of improvement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Like Jordan, Bird was convinced that Gan Guoyang was holding back during the regular season, conserving his energy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That is, this superstar center, averaging 38 points and 15 rebounds per game, with 3.1 blocks and 4.7 assists in the regular season, was not going all-out in the games.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was only in his third year, and he was already hiding his true strength.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the brief exchange after the game, Bird tried to confirm this with Gan Guoyang. After they shook hands and embraced, Bird asked, \"Sonny, did you go all out tonight?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang shrugged and said, \"Of course, didn’t you see I was sweating?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bird laughed disdainfully, thinking he really wanted to slap this guy, but he still patiently said, \"Sonny, I have a question for you.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What? I can answer anything except personal stuff, including how we beat you guys.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m not interested in how I lost,\" Bird said. \"I want to ask you, on the ceiling of Boston Garden Plaza, within the circle outside the retired jersey number 4 of the Boston Bruins, how many black vertical lines are there?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bird asked an unexpected question. In the airspace of Boston Garden, many championship banners and retired jerseys dangled densely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some belonged to the Celtics, and some were the NHL’s Boston Bruins property, among them number 4 was the retired jersey of the Bruins’ legendary star Bobby Orr.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every night during the game, looking up at the ceiling during the national anthem in the pre-game ceremony, players would lift their eyes to the ceiling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bird would always stare at those retired jerseys and championship banners, but actually, every time, he was focused on Bobby Orr’s number 4 jersey, being overly familiar with that retired jersey banner.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Faced with Bird’s tricky question, Gan Guoyang didn’t even raise his head and said, \"There are eight stripes.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What’s the time?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"1966-1976.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What’s Bobby Orr’s real name?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Robert.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bird was surprised by Gan Guoyang’s rapid-fire answers and said, \"How do you know all of this so clearly?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang replied, \"During the national anthem, I scan the jerseys and flags above, and I can memorize the sequence of those raggedy jersey numbers since I don’t sing along.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Boston Garden is home to the Celtics, and Bird, playing more than fifty games there a year, is naturally familiar with every detail of the place.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While Gan Guoyang came from a Western Conference team, he’d only play there once a season, yet he played three games during the finals and knew every retired jersey hanging there like the back of his hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bird truly respected Gan Guoyang, but from this level of observation, he knew this young man was definitely no simple character.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The focus and dedication he had for basketball, along with his astounding physical capabilities, had already surpassed the current state of the league.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This guy might just be a fully realized version of Wilt Chamberlain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Good luck, Sonny. I’ll see you in the Finals. Make sure your ass is clean,\" Bird finally said to Gan Guoyang, still refusing to concede verbally.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It should be me wishing you good luck. I hope to see you again in the Finals. I’ve still got a few cigars left from last season,\" replied Gan Guoyang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang had bought a big box of cigars last season, and after winning the championship, there were still a few left in the locker room cabinet because his teammates had one each.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After this game, Gan Guoyang thought he wouldn’t see Bird until March in Portland or in the June finals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But to his surprise, the next afternoon, Larry Flesher called, asking him to take part in a brand event in the Boston area, which many sports media from Boston and New York were attending.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every time they were in the Northeast area, Flesher always had something arranged for Gan Guoyang to do, like interviews, commercial events, or promoting Avia, and so on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Flesher would say that Boston-New York was America’s voice box, a loudspeaker; the sounds made here were much louder than in other regions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>And then Gan Guoyang would usually retort that Los Angeles was the butt; though it didn’t speak, when it farted, the sound was not small either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang was not keen on participating in this kind of event because the team wouldn’t wait for him; they would head to the next stop by bus, and after the event, he would have to drive to Philadelphia by himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, upon hearing that Larry Bird would also participate in the brand event, Gan Guoyang happily went. Being with Larry was interesting, and he even hoped to get a chance to compete in a three-point shootout with him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that thought, Gan Guoyang was quite excited.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when he arrived at the event, he found out that this so-called brand event was actually for a video game!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The game was called \"Larry Bird vs. Dr. Gan,\" a sequel to the previous similar game, \"Larry Bird vs. Dr. J. Irving!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang thought to himself, it’s a duel, why don’t you let us actually play one, maybe provide a basketball court or something.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead of a basketball court, they had the opportunity to play a few rounds of the game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since Bird hardly ever played video games, and being a transmigrator who played plenty with Gan Guohui, Gan Guoyang was no match for him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After several rounds, Bird was beaten black and blue by Gan Guoyang, without raising the slightest bit of temper.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was one thing not to beat Gan Guoyang in reality but in the game as well, which suddenly made Bird angry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was said that from that point on, he started practicing hard at video games and became a gaming expert.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the latter part of the event, both men posed together for photos for this unfortunate game’s cover.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang asked Bird, \"Why did you agree to participate in something like this?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bird replied, \"They said you were coming. Why did you agree to it?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang responded, \"Same reason, they said you were coming.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two laughed, but internally both cursed their agents.\u003C\u002Fp>",1500,"2026-06-06T01:41:13.548Z",1,"novelbin.me","e92a242739bb54e952b3bd3b4acd8b8ac6d498555a5d6fc7d9cd7abecc57d86f","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-376","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-375",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]