[{"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-921":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},1444338,1896,"Chapter 921 - 1 Anti-Gan Alliance","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-921",921,"\u003Cp>[In 1991, after losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the playoffs, my wife, kids, and I returned to Spokane to enjoy the summer.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We had a good season and performed well in the playoffs, but we just couldn’t climb over the mountain that was the Los Angeles Lakers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Magic Johnson is the greatest Point Guard, and the gap between us wasn’t just about height.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I hadn’t prepared myself to step into the offseason yet because if we could have gotten past the Lakers, I would’ve faced Ah Gan in the semifinals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sadly, I let myself down once again. It made me upset, feeling that my basketball career still had a long way to go before I could call it complete.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But in the end, I accepted the early elimination and decided to adjust my training plan during the offseason, making some changes to both my body and technique to recover from this loss.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coach Sloan made me understand that at this stage of my career, recovery is more important than training every single day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After all, not everyone is Ah Gan. His training load has been the same for over ten years, like a machine that only gets smoother with use.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The 1991 season once again belonged to him and the Portland Trail Blazers. I watched every game and witnessed their fifth championship in Portland.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In July, Ah Gan and I went back to Spokane together to take part in the annual celebration of \"Gan Guoyang Day\" held there.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The townsfolk erected a new statue for him. Although it didn’t look much like him, Ah Gan still smiled, accepted it, and attended the unveiling ceremony.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I joined Ah Gan for one last basketball summer league in Spokane, which caused a sensation locally. Ah Gan is now a true basketball superhero.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But after the league ended, Sloan called me and told me not to participate in such amateur games in the summer anymore, to avoid injury.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I also ended my softball career, retiring from Jack and Dan’s softball team, and fully committed myself to basketball training and physical recovery.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ah Gan is a very busy man. After the summer league, he quickly left to attend countless business and social events.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I envied Ah Gan’s accomplishments on the court and his astonishing basketball skills, but I didn’t envy his lifestyle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I spent most of my free time during the summer at the lake with Nada and the kids.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’m not someone who loves sunbathing. I prefer to spend my free time doing physical labor—chopping wood, splitting logs, and stacking firewood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If the weather permitted, I would go water skiing; if it got windy, I’d mountain bike, jog, or try windsurfing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Following me, the kids quickly learned all these sports—they’re naturally athletic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the same time, to maintain my basic basketball skills, I’d lift weights and shoot pinecones into trash cans.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I didn’t need any fancy equipment or devices—just simple activities to keep my touch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Exploration, play, creative activities, tracking wild animals in the forest, telling scary bedtime stories by the campfire, and so on.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These carefree times created cherished memories of our family life. Apart from werewolves and Bigfoot, the kids’ favorite stories were the legendary tales of Ah Gan during his college days.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My eldest son Houston’s room was covered with Ah Gan posters, each one autographed by Ah Gan himself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, he said his admiration for Ah Gan came from those fascinating legendary stories—the guy really is a legend.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After the kids fell asleep, Nada and I would sit by the campfire, chatting while watching the stars and the northern lights overtake the daylight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When we weren’t at the lake, we’d stay at home or visit my parents. During that time, I was still incrementally renovating my house. I didn’t want to spend too much money all at once—not my style. I’d hunt for cheap but suitable furniture and materials to gradually bring home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On one uneventful day, as I was considering going to the second-hand market to buy some decent sofa cushions and table pads, the phone rang.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It rang several times, but I had no intention of picking it up. I don’t like people calling me—every phone call always seems to bring some kind of trouble.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The phone wouldn’t stop ringing, as if it was determined not to give up. So I had no choice but to answer it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"John, this is Rod Thorn from the NBA office.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damn, Thorn. This couldn’t be good—every time he called, it was to inform me about fines.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A few years ago, I had called his office to discuss my first-ever technical foul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I told him, \"Yes, I did swear at the ref, but I was just using it as an adverb.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He laughed—it was the first time he’d ever heard that kind of explanation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If he had known Ah Gan earlier, he would’ve heard it plenty by now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every time Ah Gan swore, he claimed it was just an interjection or an adverb, purely to express emotion, not meant as an insult.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The good news was, Thorn accepted my explanation and waived my fine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That practically saved my life—I didn’t want to get fined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After that, I became extra careful not to use \"adverbs\" so lightly again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, Thorn wasn’t calling about a fine. Instead, he brought good news.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Congratulations, John. You’ve been selected as a representative player for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics U.S. national team.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I was so excited that I didn’t know what to say at first. After a pause, I heard, \"Are you interested?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All I could do was stammer, \"You... you’re serious?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Why else would I be calling? Just to joke with you?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I never expected to really make it onto the Olympic roster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the regular season, Ah Gan had mentioned it to me, saying that if I were on the Olympic team’s list, he would make sure I got to play in the Olympics.\u003C\u002Fp>",991,"2026-06-06T01:41:39.741Z",1,"novelbin.me","b20befd82290f8cac22585ae3d515c0c042a36e52a9da618ca868755da1ed3a5","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-922","the-golden-age-of-basketball-chapter-920",2033,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthe-golden-age-of-basketball-cover.jpg"]