(Originally, I wanted to write the game between the Rockets and the Trail Blazers, and I prepared enough information, but before I started writing, I only wrote for a month in the 82 games and four months of regular season, so I only wrote it for a month, so I was too slow to follow this pace. Moreover, the two young teams, the Rockets and the Trail Blazers, have matched each other, and I will definitely have a lot of opportunities to write well in the future, so I have just mentioned it and wrote more about the growth of the protagonist.)

"Beep!" The referee's whistle sounded in the boiling Portland Memorial Stadium. The fans at the scene could not remember how many times the referee had whistle. The frequent whistle made the players and fans seem upset.

"Ralph Sampson's foul! The sixth foul! He was sent off the court after Olajuwon! The Rockets' double towers were all hit! But the Trail Blazers are still eight points behind, and Gan will stand on the free throw line." In the sports broadcast of local radio stations in Portland, Bill Seanley's calm and heavy voice passed the situation on the court to every Portland fan.

On December 8, 1984, the Portland Trail Blazers played against the Houston Rockets at home. Gan Guoyang welcomed the Rockets' double towers on this day - Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson.

The game ended in the fourth quarter, and the whole game was about to end in three minutes. Gan Guoyang grabbed the frontcourt rebound at the basket and made a layup, causing Sampson to foul, and Sampson was sent off for six fouls.

Olajuwon was already a foul by Gan Guoyang a minute ago, and he had finished his graduation.

Gan Guoyang has never been afraid of the double towers. Even in this regard, even facing the most talented Rockets' double towers is no exception - one of them is the No. 1 pick in 1983 and the other is the No. 1 pick in 1984.

This pair of two No. 1 picks combined have amazing height and amazing talent. Before the two were sent off in this game, Sampson scored 22 points and 13 rebounds, and Olajuwon scored 21 points and 11 rebounds and 4 blocks.

After hitting the free throw, Gan Guoyang had already scored 23 points and 13 rebounds, but the Trail Blazers were still 6 points behind the Rockets with 116:122.

The Rockets immediately called a timeout and were sent off from the two inside lines. They must have some offensive tactics and a success rate to consolidate the team's advantage.

"How about Gan? Do you feel okay?" Ramsey asked Gan Guoyang when the player left the court.

At this time, Gan Guoyang was not only sweating heavily, he looked obviously very tired, because he was trembling with the Rockets' two inside players throughout the game until he got the two guys out.

Olajuwon is Gan Guoyang's old rival. After the NCAA finals, the two never met again except for the draft.

This time we met again, the two of us got into trouble at the beginning, and even took a technical foul because of our excessive movements.

Compared with Gan Guoyang, Olajuwon has made great progress. Gan Guoyang can feel that Olajuwon's body is stronger, and his footsteps, shooting skills, and block predictions are more mature.

Compared to playing NCAA, he has more opportunities to play singles at low posts and compete with Gan Guoyang one-on-one.

Gan Guoyang felt that once he had some of his turnover jump shots in the receiving ball, it was really hard to defend against, and he also had a good helper - Ralph Sampson, who was 7-foot-3.

Although Ralph Sampson is tall, he is thin and has good running and jumping, has excellent physical coordination, delicate skills, and is also good at jump shots.

The Trail Blazers' Sampson - Mitchell Sampson, did not suffer any losses in the offense against Ralph, and he could always use his skills and experience to play the time difference.

But when defending, there is no way to deal with Ralph Sampson. The height difference is really big. Gan Guoyang sometimes has to spend his energy to assist in defense.

It was enough to deal with Olajuwon to make Gan Guoyang difficult, and he had to deal with Sampson. However, with the help and cooperation of his teammates, he still defeated the two towers alive.

However, the Trail Blazers still seemed passive in the situation and were still lagging behind much until the last moment of the game.

Because the Rockets' performance is more balanced and comprehensive, they have blossomed more points, with a total of 5 players scoring 15 points. On the Trail Blazers, Van derwich performed well and scored 30 points, Gan Guoyang scored 23 points, Sampson scored 21 points, and the three of them scored nearly 80 points, but the others' contributions are pitifully small.

"The Rockets' performance today is obviously more balanced. They can score every point and each point has very strong personal abilities. This is an unmature but very talented team. In the entire West, except for the Lakers, I think the Rockets' talent is the best." Bill Seanley took advantage of the timeout to make some analysis on the overall situation of the game.

The Houston Rockets in the 1985 season were another three-leader lineup besides the Los Angeles Lakers. In addition to Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson, their point guard John Lucas (the one who was with the Spurs last year) was the No. 1 pick in 1976.

And their small forward Rodney McCree, who was the 1983 Tetra Show - the Rockets could have used this pick to choose Drexler.

So this is a team full of extremely high talent and very young. Their flaw is that they lack experience and have not reached their peak.

Unfortunately, the Houston Rockets were in a clear-headed period tonight. They did not make too many mistakes that young teams were prone to make. Instead, they brought out their talent in athletic ability.

"The Trail Blazers' offense today is not bad, and the rhythm is also great, but obviously, the Rockets are very adapted to the Trail Blazers' rhythm, or their rhythm is stronger and faster than the Trail Blazers' fast attack did not drag down the Rockets, but dragged down itself." Bill Seanley's words were full of helplessness.

The Trail Blazers are a team that relies on fast offense and smooth cooperation to defeat the opponent, but the Rockets are a tall, strong and unbeatable giant.

The Rockets have a height advantage in every position. They are not the Spurs, and the Trail Blazers can take it away with just one wave of attacks.

The Rockets' physical pressure on the team made the Trail Blazers players extremely tired. In the fourth quarter, they began to make consecutive mistakes, and their shooting percentage decreased, which gradually widened the score that had been staggering.

Even if Gan Guoyang relied on personal struggles and singles to crippled the Rockets' inside line, it was too late.

After the timeout, the Trail Blazers reached an offensive climax, but the Rockets' outside line could continue to output, and the time was consumed bit by bit.

The score was finally frozen at 127:122, and the Trail Blazers lost to the Houston Rockets 5 points at home.

After the game, Gan Guoyang stood in the center of the stadium for a long time before he recovered. Looking at the audience gradually dissipating from the stands, he felt an indescribable feeling in his heart.

He was also very excited about this game before the game, looking forward to the fight with Olajuwon and the dialogue with the Rockets' double towers. In the game, he tried his best and almost fought with the two black towers in the inside.

He took five fouls and then curled all the opponent's two inside lines, but the final loss made all this meaningless.

"I don't know what happened. We were in good shape in the last game. In fact, we played very well in this game. Everyone tried their best, but we still lost. This feeling was very bad, very bad." In the locker room interview after the game, Gan Guoyang did not hide his disappointment and sadness.

He was not as sad as losing to the Lakers because it was indeed lack of strength; the Rockets are now ranked fifth in the Western Conference, and their record is not as good as the Trail Blazers, and the opponent is still Olajuwon. Of course, the feeling of losing with all his strength is very bad.

The media naturally had room for performance again. Gan Guoyang said before the game, "I don't know who the opponent is." Now they have lost again. Although Gan Guoyang performed well, he inevitably became the target of complaints.

The Houston Chronicle published a report on the same day, recording the grievances between Gan Guoyang, Olajuwon and Drexler, and then took out the remarks before the game, distorted and ridiculed them.

This is already a measure used by the media. Gan Guoyang, who is not a superstar, can only swallow his anger. Moreover, he has no time to deal with those messy things now, because the Trail Blazers are about to start another away trip.

Unlike the last stinky and long away trip to the East, this time it was a four-game visit to the West, and the schedule was not intensive, but it was easier.

Trail Blazers will visit Denver, Los Angeles, Seattle and Gan Guoyang in the United States' hometown, San Francisco.

After losing to the Rockets, the Trail Blazers were still relatively calm. After all, victory and defeat were common in military affairs. Even the most saddest Gan Guoyang quickly recovered and was ready to go to Denver to play against the Nuggets.

After a long talk with Kenny Carl, Gan Guoyang made some changes. He began to become more obedient, began to take into account the thoughts and feelings of every teammate, and began to pay attention to the team.

In the game against the Spurs, his changes made Ramsey's eyes shine. He saw Gan Guoyang's efforts to change himself.

But the Trail Blazers won the game against the Spurs, and in the lost game against the Rockets, Gan Guoyang couldn't help but yell at Corte in the game, or fell into a single fight.

Obviously, Gan Guoyang's "maturity" performance is still unstable. Once the team falls into crisis or some players are in a state of ups and downs, Gan Guoyang will still be furious.

Of course, after the game, Gan Guoyang also took the initiative to apologize to Corte, hoping that he would not mind his recklessness.

The relationship between Gan Guoyang and Sampson, which Ramsey cares most, did not seem to have improved completely, but the contradictions did not intensify, and everything returned to the way the two of them at the beginning of the season.

Ramsey also thinks it's good to do this. It doesn't matter if you don't deal with it off the court, just play well on the court.

In this way, the Trail Blazers, who were in good condition, embarked on a away trip to the West.

Among the 12 teams in the West, the Trail Blazers have played against 10 opponents, and the only remaining is the Golden State Warriors.

During this away trip, the other three teams are also familiar opponents Gan Guoyang. They have now reached the Denver Nuggets, the No. 1 in the Western Conference, and the bad team Seattle Supersonics and the Los Angeles Clippers.

The battle with the Nuggets will be the top two in the West, and the Trail Blazers have also made sufficient preparations before the game.

In this plateau battle, the Trail Blazers successfully blocked the Nuggets' offense. Gan Guoyang's attack from all sides made the Nuggets' outside Gunners' shooting rate greatly reduced and they firmly controlled the backcourt rebounds.

Van dervich scored 30 points again, including 14 free throws and 12 free throws; Mitchell Sampson scored 28 points on Wayne Cooper's head.

The Trail Blazers broke through the Nuggets' plateau home court and regained the No. 1 position in the West.

But the next two games surprised everyone.

In November after the start of the season, the Trail Blazers fought against the Supersonics twice, and both retreated and easily won against the Los Angeles Clippers.

In the away game against the Los Angeles Clippers on December 13, Gan Guoyang once again came to the ragged Los Angeles Memorial Stadium. Amid the cheers of the home fans, he was beaten to a scumbag by Bill Walton.

Walton only made 28 points in this game, but made 8 of 13 shots, made 4 of 6 free throws and scored 20 points, and won 13 rebounds.

The Lakers won the championship and siege Nom Nixon also led the team with 10 points and 11 assists. The Trail Blazers were beaten 15:0 by their opponents in the second quarter, and the score was suddenly widened.

The Trail Blazers, who were prone to losing as soon as they fell behind in the first half, even though they caught up in the third quarter, were finally suppressed by the Clippers in a very good state and lost the game at 100:106.

This made the Trail Blazers' first throne in the West, which had just been obtained, immediately handed over to the Denver Nuggets.

Gan Guoyang played in this game so depressed that he could not be more depressed. Walton, an old slippery guy, made Gan Guoyang substitute twice for fouls at the beginning, and then teased Gan Guoyang with various beautiful support passes on the offensive end.

Gan Guoyang was like sleepwalking throughout the game, playing without any passion, and only scored 10 points and 8 rebounds.

Even worse is still behind. After just finishing the game against the Clippers, the Trail Blazers immediately switched to Seattle and ushered in a back-to-back away game on December 14.

This time, Gan Guoyang has to face another veteran center - Jack Sikma.

In the previous two fights, Sikma was trapped by injuries and was suppressed by the young and powerful Gan Guoyang.

But no NBA star can be restricted forever. Whether from a game or a season, sometimes they will be down, and more often they will burst out.

Gan Guoyang is so dying that he just happened to catch up with Sikma's old horse in the stable.

Sikma used a double 20 performance of 27 points and 22 rebounds to make the Trail Blazers' inside dizzy.

The Supersonics grabbed 17 more rebounds than the Trail Blazers, and the four scored 20 points. They were in the Seattle Dome Stadium, and 109:96 soldier without bloodshed to send the Trail Blazers to lose two consecutive losses.

Gan Guoyang's performance in this game was better than the previous game, scoring 18 points and 10 rebounds, but he could not limit Sikma at all.

Sikma's flexible and changeable steps, agile and fast "Sikma step" and accurate jump shots left Gan Guoyang helpless.

After two games, Gan Guoyang suddenly felt that his mind was being shaken by these two white centers. It was quite easy to deal with them the previous month. Why are they like taking the rejuvenation pill now?

Since Gan Guoyang himself decided to pay more attention to the team and take care of his teammates' feelings, he rarely forces his position and ball.

If he had been beaten by his opponent a few times, he would have to return a few times. Even if he couldn't make a move, he would have to make a sigh of relief.

Now facing this situation, Gan Guoyang seems to have hit a cotton wall, and it cannot be used with force or fire.
Chapter completed!