[{"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-798":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},1444215,1896,"Chapter 798 - 23: The Power of Opposition","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-798",798,"\u003Cp>The Trail Blazers ended their away games with a 3-2 record.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Due to injuries, Mychal Thompson, Dražen Petrović, and Reggie Lewis did not join the team on this trip.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three wins are considered a passing grade for the current Trail Blazers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Trail Blazers still maintain the top position in the Western Conference, with the Los Angeles Lakers and Phoenix Suns closely following, the team is not too worried about that.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Regular season records are no longer their most important metric, player health and fitness are of utmost importance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the game against the Timberwolves in Minnesota, Beelman only let Gan Guoyang play for 30 minutes as he was very concerned about the possibility of Guoyang’s body breaking down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In that game, the Trail Blazers easily defeated the Timberwolves with a score of 129:110, wrapping up the trip successfully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Calvin, who once focused on serving Bill Walton, has now turned his attention to Gan Guoyang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This veteran rehabilitation therapist, who has been with the Trail Blazers for twenty years, spends a lot of time every day helping Gan Guoyang with muscle relaxation and massage to ensure that he is in good physical condition.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After returning to Portland, the team had a three-day holiday to rest and recuperate, but Guoyang still insisted on going to the arena to train.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Calvin told him that he should rest and allow his fatigued body to recover well to prevent injuries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang said, \"I’ve rested enough in recent games; I need to maintain exercise intensity so that my body is less prone to injuries.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang was right; he is like a machine that needs to keep running and will have problems if it stops or slows down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Out of responsibility, Calvin voluntarily gave up his holiday to accompany Gan Guoyang to train at the arena to prevent accidents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They drove together to Willamette University and encountered a protest at the school gate, with people holding banners opposing the Gulf War.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In America, various protests are very common; when people have opinions, they find ways to demonstrate, and such situations are even more common in Portland.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang signaled Quentin Stephenson to drive around the crowd, but then he saw a familiar figure in the crowd: it was Bill Walton!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had Quentin stop the car, rolled down the window, and shouted at Walton, \"Hey Bill, Bill!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Walton’s red hair and tall stature were too conspicuous in the crowd; it was hard not to see him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After retiring in the 1987 season, Walton became a basketball commentator, and in 1990 he was hired by CBS.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the collaboration between CBS and NBA ended, he contracted with NBC and currently mainly commentates on NCAA and NBA Trail Blazers games.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This guy was well-known in college for participating in anti-war demonstrations and was even taken to the police station, making John Wooden go bail him out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now he’s \"resuming his old business,\" blending into the anti-war crowd again, undoubtedly a key person.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing Gan Guoyang’s voice, Walton turned his head and jogged over to the car, leaning on the window and said, \"Sonny! You’ve come at just the right time, we need you to attend a rally.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gan Guoyang waved his hand and said, \"No, no, no, I’m not American, I don’t have an opinion on this war. I’m here to train; why don’t you join me for some basketball instead?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Walton said, \"Basketball? I can’t play anymore, sorry... Are you sure you won’t join the rally? I think you could say a few words. Of course, considering your nationality and business issues, it’s normal for you to avoid it.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I’m not avoiding it, Bill, I... what is this rally about? To oppose the war, to support Saddam?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh no, of course not, we do not support Saddam, we’re just fighting to keep the right to dissent. You know the current situation, it’s not like the ’60s and ’70s anymore, everyone loves their country and supports the war. It’s become a sin not just to oppose, but even to not support. Everyone suddenly became like Richie Monti, but they forgot, we should have the right to dissent; we should have the tolerance to accept different viewpoints,\" Walton said somewhat helplessly, as college students were the main force of the anti-war movement in the ’60s and ’70s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In just over a decade, with the improvement of the American economy and the decline of the Soviet Union, Americans’ patriotism soared to unprecedented heights in the 1990s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the ’70s, Richie Monti was a center fielder for the Chicago Cubs, during an MLB game, two protesters rushed onto the field and set the American flag ablaze with a lighter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that moment, Richie Monti rushed towards the burning flag, snatched it from the two men’s hands, and put out the flames on it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because of this act, Monti became a national hero, but it also sparked a lot of controversy. Since this incident, the flag has become a symbol for different camps to express their stance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the outbreak of the Gulf War, American universities demanded their basketball players to wear badges of the American flag on their sports jackets, most complied, but some did not.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mark Luka, an Italian player from Seton Hall University’s basketball team, refused to wear a jacket embroidered with the American flag, stating that supporting the war conflicted with his Christian beliefs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luka had played professionally in Italy for two years before coming to America to play for West Holden University’s NCAA, going straight to the NBA was challenging for him, more like trying out the NCAA to see if there was a chance to attract an NBA team’s interest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, Luka’s height was just 187 cm, and his talent seemed quite ordinary amidst the abundant talent in America; coupled with the incident of refusing to wear the flag, his reputation among fans plummeted quickly.\u003C\u002Fp>",982,"2026-06-06T01:41:38.168Z",1,"novelbin.me","9cc3cf4dbd1389d56561ffc38f3d7620170481c44566a4c51180de7d289e5cb1","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-799","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-797",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]