The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 1733 - 38: The Atmosphere Peaks (Part 3)
This subjected Van Exel to ridicule from fans and pundits, deeming him a cancerous player, causing him not only to suffer reputational damage but also mental anguish.
As a maverick player, Van Exel decided to retaliate. So every time he faced the Trail Blazers, he came alive, firing on all cylinders.
Even if the team couldn’t beat the Trail Blazers, he would still showcase his skills in the stats to prove his own prowess.
In this game, when other teammates were intimidated before the match even started, Van Exel stepped up and said, "I’m going to score big in this game, pass me the ball!"
Nearby, Jamison asked, "How big? 50 points?"
Van Exel is not Gan Guoyang, not Jordan, he doesn’t have that confidence to say he’ll get 50 points and actually achieve it.
"Stop talking nonsense, be careful or Ah Gan will crush you," Van Exel replied impatiently.
Jamison indeed felt a bit nervous, facing off against Ah Gan always set his heart racing.
Especially since in the last game Gan Guoyang scored 57 points in three quarters and shook the League, in the current League’s offensive and defensive environment, such a scoring feat is truly rare.
But thinking that it was Ah Gan, who once scored 81 points in a single game, it’s not surprising.
Before the game began, the entire Oakland Center was packed, with a large number of Chinese fans present to watch the match.
This has been a tradition for more than a decade, with Chinese people in San Francisco taking pride in watching a game played by Gan Guoyang.
In the past ten years, Gan Guoyang has not missed a single away game in the Bay Area, ensuring that ticket-buying spectators could enjoy the matches.
Due to the espionage incident, everyone knows that Gan Guoyang is very likely to choose retirement after this season ends.
If retirement is indeed on the horizon, then there will be no way to watch Gan Guoyang play live in the future, so recently the ticket prices for Trail Blazers’ away games have been climbing to new heights.
Let alone the Warriors’ home games, the ticket prices have soared, yet this still cannot dampen the enthusiasm of the fans; the allure of the Basketball God, the Mazu of sports, is unparalleled.
After the warm-up session ended and the players were introduced onto the court, when it was Gan Guoyang’s turn, the DJ’s voice was even louder than when introducing the home team players.
The scene erupted with deafening cheers and prolonged applause, followed by a short film recalling Gan Guoyang’s games in San Francisco playing on the large screen above the arena.
The short film even started by directly reaching back to 1981, when Gan Guoyang was still a high school student leading his team to the CIF California League, with the semifinals played at Oakland Arena.
Later, since the 1984-1985 season when he entered the NBA, Gan Guoyang has played numerous classic games in Oakland, scoring high points, hitting three-point buzzer-beaters in the playoffs, each game thrilling, leaving profound memories for Bay Area fans.
In just two minutes, the highlights of Gan Guoyang’s career in the Bay Area played through, accompanied by stirring music, even Gan Guoyang himself felt his eyes getting moist, a bit moved.
After the playback ended, there was another round of warm applause; some fans even held up signs that read, "We will miss you in the NBA days without you."
Gan Guoyang wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes, thinking to himself, damn it, I haven’t even said I’m retiring yet, why is this happening? Why is everyone starting to treat it like a retirement ceremony?
This trend is not good, the Warriors started this, what if other teams begin imitating them, maybe even giving him gifts? What should I do then?
When the atmosphere is elevated to this point, should I retire or not?
