On January 28, 1986, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA's space shuttle "Challenger" exploded and disintegrated into the sea after 73 seconds of launching.

On the same night, before the NBA regular season Portland Trail Blazers vs. Suns, players from both sides watched silence for the Challenger martyred astronauts in the opening ceremony at the opening ceremony.

In this game, Gan Guoyang and Van dervich scored 75 points together, exceeding half of the team's total score, helping the Trail Blazers defeat the Suns 133:126.

The Trail Blazers' record of winnings added another trick, turning it into 39 wins and 9 losses. After defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in early January, the Trail Blazers only lost to the Bucks one away game. In the subsequent games, with the match against the Suns, they achieved an impressive 8 consecutive wins.

Although the opponents are not strong, they are all Cavaliers, Kings, Pacers, but in the NBA, how to stably kill a weak team is also a knowledge.

The Trail Blazers' method is very simple, which is to use strong firepower to kill the opponent. Just like in this game against the Suns, Gan Guoyang and Van derwich's internal and external offensive combination, coupled with Drexler, Sampson, and Paxson, the group of point-grabbing masters, their attack power is too strong.

The only game they lost in January was facing the old nemesis Milwaukee Bucks. The Trail Blazers' offense was greatly curbed, with only 89 points in the game, far lower than the average score per game in the season.

But no matter what, the continuous victory made the entire team happy. In the locker room after the game, Gan Guoyang kept making fun of Drexler because Drexler scored a "triple double" in this game, with 14 points and 10 assists, plus 10 turnovers.

"I'll interview our little prince with triple-doubles. What do you think of getting triple-doubles for the 25th time in your career today? I hope you can share it with us..."

"Damn it, Gan, take your mineral water bottle away and don't use it as a microphone. Also, when did I get a triple-double 25 times?"

"If you count your playing time, I believe your triple-double should have exceeded 25 times, hahaha!"

“……………………”

Victory is so sweet, any sarcastic joke will look cute at this time, but for any player, the sweetest victory is always in the next game.

"Okay, pack up the guys and get ready to fly to Indiana." Ramsey reminded the players.

The Trail Blazers and Indiana Pacers match was originally supposed to be held on January 15, but due to a fire in the Indianapolis stadium that day, the Trail Blazers and Pacers match was cancelled and postponed to the end of January.

"I really don't understand how the league arranges the game, why don't we arrange the make-up game until the end of the season? Now we are going to play back-to-back away games! How many fucking games have we played? This is simply abuse, abuse!"

An hour later, the entire Trail Blazers team was already sitting on the plane to Indiana. Gan Guoyang, who was sitting in the front row, complained a few times. They had just finished the game and immediately took the evening flight to Indiana, and then they had to play the next night. After the game, they had to go back to Portland immediately, rest for a day to prepare for the Lakers. The schedule was really tense.

Moreover, the Trail Blazers have played 48 games so far, and they will have 49 games tomorrow. They are the team with the most games in the league at the same time. During the same period, the Celtics only played 41 games, and the Lakers only played 43. No wonder Gan Guoyang complained.

"Maybe they think we have won too many games and want to cool us down!" Jim Paxson, who was sitting next to Gan Guoyang, said.

"You don't have to go to Indiana if you cool down. It's better to go back to Portland to take a cold shower. I really need to relax. Of course, I mean, this kind of schedule is really unbearable." Gan Guoyang felt a little trouble when he thought of playing against the Lakers the day after tomorrow.

"Maybe we can really relax~ You know, the NCAA game is in full swing, and when we arrive in Indiana, we can go and see the game of those little boys together," Paxson suggested.

The vast majority of NBA players graduated from college. For them, watching college games during the season is a good relaxation. They can observe the stars who are well-known throughout the United States - they may become strong opponents in the NBA in the future, and they can also recall their college years.

"If possible, I would rather go back to Portland and gonzaga to watch the game, and by the way I could meet Chris."

"I really don't know who else can watch the game except you and Stockton of Gonzaga? They are destined to be unable to enter the national competition this year. Indiana's game is different. A superstar is coming to the competition the day after tomorrow. At Notre Dame, my brother gave me the tickets." Jim Paxson said.

Jim Paxson's brother also plays in the NBA. He is now the Bulls' shooting guard John Paxson - an important helper around Jordan in the future. John Paxson graduated from Notre Dame, so it's easy to get a few tickets to the game.

"Rookie? I don't care about these guys now... Also, when did we have such a good relationship? Let's go to the college basketball game together?" Gan Guoyang suddenly asked Jim Paxson. The relationship between the two has always been average in the past because of Drexler's relationship.

Especially in the Western Conference semi-finals last season, Gan Guoyang wanted to beat this guy several times.

After the new season, Paxson seemed to have accepted his position as a substitute, and he seemed to feel guilty about Ramsey. At the beginning of the season, Paxson maintained his stability no matter how panic the team was.

After Ramsey regained his role, Paxson became a reliable and stable scoring point on the bench, and when Drexler was unable to start, he could always stand the position of the Trail Blazers as the starting shooting guard.

"Uh...I think we should have a better relationship, right, Gan?" Parkson paused for a while after hearing Gan Guoyang's words.

"Well, that's right, I'm happy to maintain a good relationship with everyone." Gan Guoyang nodded.

In his rookie season, Gan Guoyang wanted to be the boss, but even if he defeated Sampson in a one-on-one single challenge, it would not be possible because he was not qualified.

As Gan Guoyang uses his performance to make a name for himself in the league, especially at the MVP level this season, the players on the team will automatically move closer to him.

This is the world. When you have enough abilities, you will have enough relationships. Your own level is a powerful bond that maintains relationships. If you want to use relationships to strengthen yourself, you are often a castle in the air. This is more naked in the NBA's Vanity Fair.

"Which two teams are playing? I haven't heard of any famous new stars recently." Gan Guoyang said this because he was "ignorant". Every year, a bunch of super new stars emerged in the American basketball world.

But Gan Guoyang has his own reason to say this, because judging from his later experience, since Patrick Ewing's draft in 1985, until the 1990s, the number of superstars in the NBA draft was significantly smaller than in the first half of the 1980s.

"It's the University of Maryland of ACC, and I'll challenge Notre Dame away, across the region."

……………………

On January 29, at the Indiana City Plaza Arena, the Trail Blazers and Pacers held the game, which was postponed due to a small fire, and the venue quickly returned to normal within two days.

The Pacers' record this season is still very bad. In the draft, they won the second pick after the New York Knicks, but they missed Ewing because of this.

But there were many other high-quality rookies in the 85 draft, such as Mullin, Malone, Oakley, and Joe Dumas, but the Pacers "skilledly" avoided these players and chose Tesdale, a forward with musical achievements higher than basketball achievements.

Tisdale's strength is actually not bad, but as an inside player, his biggest problem is "Under-size". He is 6-foot-9 in height, but he is actually only about 6-foot-7. The small forward is taller than the power forward.

You know, not every short and fat man can become Charles Barkley.

The biggest problem with Under-size inside is that the defensive end cannot provide more energy, and it is more likely to become the biggest loophole in inside defense.

The Trail Blazers seized this loophole and attacked the power forward.

Trail Blazers veteran Mitchell Sampson's data has declined severely this season, and his average score has dropped below 15 points. In addition to the increase in Gan Guoyang's strength, he has occupied more shooting space, his decline in his own strength is also a major factor.

But in this game, Mitchell Sampson beat Tisdale to no arrogance on the offensive end. As long as Tisdale defends alone, Sampson will play accurately and hit the key ball at a critical moment in the fourth quarter.

Originally, the Trail Blazers were not physically strong and they were running away for a long distance, so the game was very anxious.

It was precisely because of Sampson's goal at a critical moment and the Trail Blazers gritted their teeth and defended the last minute that they saved the advantage of four points, defeated the Pacers 105:101, turning their record into 40 wins and 9 losses, and continuing to maintain the first place in the West, which is only a little worse than the Celtics in the entire league.

Since the game was held in the afternoon, after the game, Gan Guoyang immediately ran to Nottman with Paxson and Corte, and went to Notre Dame University to wait for the competition between the University of Maryland and Notre Dame University.

"Hey Paxson, you haven't told me yet, which awesome guy is worth running all the way to watch these kids' games?"

"Horse! (Horse!)" said Paxson.

"Horse?" Gan Guoyang said strangely.
Chapter completed!